Let Me Sum Up The Last Few Weeks. . .

Vance received treasures from his Grandma Godfrey and has been putting them to good use--but not sharing them with his brother.

Flynn discovered that he loves listening to music on the TV --once the music stops, though, he's done watching.

Nutmeg's been acting old and grouchy and she got a swipe of Vanilla's ear.  I hate when they fight!

Vance picked his little watermelon he's been growing.  It was just getting too cold for it outside.  The kids said it tasted terrible -- so I took their word for it. I was just impressed that he grew on a watermelon at all.

Noah got his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts!  Super proud of him!

We got a few pumpkins to carve . . . just a few.  Flynn thought they were pretty awesome, but not too tasty.  He did nibble on a few.

Carving pumpkins is always fun at our house!

Myshel carved all 3 of their pumpkins by herself.  She was very determined.

We had a few seeds when we were done.  Myshel cooked them for us and even made some with pumpkin spices.  They're very yummy!

Noah turned 11!  Wow, where does the time go!?

All Noah talked about for a month was that he wanted a jean jacket.  When he opened his present, though, he thought it was just a pair of jeans and was completely disgusted with us. Kids!!

Happy Birthday, Noah!  We love you so much!

Trunk-or-Treating  on Wednesday night AND Trick-or-Treating on Thursday night!  What was I thinking???  Flynn made an awful cute giraffe.

And Noah was a handsome, little cowboy.  Boy, it's a good thing he got that jean jacket, huh.

Carved pumpkins all lit up . . . they're just really fun!

Checking out his stash.  I'd love to say this was all he got, but I think this was only about a third of his take for the 2 nights.

Someone else thought he should have a birthday, too.  I just can't believe it's been a year since he was born.  What a sweet little guy he is!  He's such a blessing to our family.

This is what Flynn did while his parents opened his presents.  He wasn't interested in them at all.

He did like the lollipop his Oma gave him, though.  Silly, Oma!

Happy 1st Birthday, Flynn!!

He thought the cake was pretty good.

 . . . needed some milk to wash it down.

He didn't get too messy, though.

Chad and I helped take the youth on their temple trip.  I always love being in the temple with the youth.  It was especially fun this year, because there were several kids that just turned 12.  So, I've known them in Primary and then got to be in the temple with them.  Such a great experience!  This is McKaylie and her 2 friends that rode up with us.

These were actually taken the beginning of October, but I decided to add them here.  We had a friend of ours take some family pictures for us -- before Vance leaves.  She always does a great job.

It was the beginning of October and we were thinking that we would have wonderful weather for our pictures.  It turned out to be the hottest day in weeks.  We were dying.  I'm amazed that the pictures turned out so well, considering.

Flynn did so good that day.  He complained the least of all of us.

Chad and I

We really won't be together like this for much longer.  Next year will bring a lot of changes for our family.

Flynn and his Momma

4th of July Fun

Flynn and Opa

 We had a great time on the 4th.  It was all family time,  laid back and easy going.  Love those kind of days!  We spent most of our time at Myshel's house . . . swam for about 5 hours, ate yummy hamburgers and hotdogs . . . chilled with some popsicles and roasted a few mellows and made s'mores.

Noah

McKaylie using her noodle

Just hanging . . .

 Later that night we headed back over the bridge to Virginia Beach and went to the Dam Neck Navy Base to watch fireworks.  It was nice and relaxing with a cool breeze coming off the water and really no crowds to speak of.

Sitting at the beach waiting for the fireworks to start

Saw a whole lot of these little guys . . .

 Noah was especially excited to see that the sand crabs had come out and spent most of his night chasing them around.  He actually got brave enough to catch one.  They were fun to watch, but when it started getting dark, the bigger ones came out and ventured pretty close to us . . . I was a little worried they'd come pinch at my toes. :)  Just a great day, appreciating the freedoms and rights we have here in the country and feeling very blessed!

McKaylie and Noah . . . Crab Hunters!

Crickets, Be Gone!!!

Wow, it's been even longer than I thought since I've been on my blog. Shame on me! I've once again been chastised for it's neglect, so I've decided to take action.

I'll start with a super quick summary of the last few months. We moved from Maine to Virginia (again). Can't say that I was thrilled about it--the kids definitely were not thrilled. Chad was out to sea for about 6 weeks right after we moved--did not help our happiness levels! However it's nice, now, after 16 months of living apart, to finally be under the same roof.

Had a fun, little Halloween, a nice, quiet Thanksgiving, and a good Christmas, too.

Now we're into a new year, hoping that this is a better year than our last, but it's not really starting out that way.

I'll finish posting pictures of our vacation we took in August, interspersed with more recent info as time goes by. I've made it a goal to do better about posting. I'll start by posting our Halloween pics, since they'll be the easiest.

Halloween 2011

Here's the kids carving away on their pumpkins

And the final result. We always have fun carving pumpkins!

Here's McKaylie and Noah trick-or-treating with some friends of ours. I realized later, that I didn't get a picture of just them--wasn't too happy with myself. McKaylie was a cowgirl and Noah was a hunter. I love it when they pick easy costumes!!!

Our friends invited us to their ward's Halloween trunk-or-treating, too. Here's McKaylie and her friend Ellen at that party. Our families met when these 2 girls were just starting nursery (18 months old) in Pensacola. Time has certainly flown by!

And here's Ellen's mom, Christy, and me. She's one of my sweetest, dearest friends and one of the few reasons I'm glad to be back in Virginia. I've missed her so much and it's so nice to live so close to her again!

Turkey Bread

Last year for Christmas we made Santa Bread. Noah had the idea to make Turkey Bread for Thanksgiving. So, Myshel took on the task and I think she did a great job!

Happy Memorial Day!

Watching the Parade in Topsham . . .

Halloween Pictures . . . finally!

Ok, so I'm finally updating my blog and posting Halloween pictures. Here's everyone dressed for the trunk-or-treat. Myshel's a gypsy (I think) McKaylie's a dog (what else?) Noah's a ghost and Chad is a TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) investigator. It was a very fun night. There was a pizza potluck and then trunk-or-treating. Here's Noah and his best buddy, Colby. Carving Pumpkins. This is McKaylie and her best friend, Maxine, getting ready to go trick-or-treating.