Misty's Birthday Surprise...

Okay, so I am officially married to the coolest husband ever. On Friday night before my birthday, my birthday surprise showed up... Becky!! Apparently he and Becky have been in cahoots for the last few months planning this, and she flew in from San Diego to hang with me for a few days. I have to say, I think it was the best birthday present ever. My life has been sad and empty since my best friend Becky moved away and left me in June... okay, so maybe not that bad, but close! Either way, I have missed her a ton and cannot tell you how happy I was to see her and be able to hang out and play. Larry took a couple days off work to hang out with us and help with the kids so the we could go play! Like I said... coolest husband ever! I guess that's why I love him so much.

Misty's Birthday

Okay, so besides the awesome surprise of having Becky come out for my birthday, Larry also took me to the spa for a massage and facial.
Once again.... the coolest husband ever! The kids were off school that day for Rosh Hashana, so Julie watched them for us in the morning, and after the spa we all had Chipotle for lunch, and hung out and relaxed. Of course, after Chipotle mid-afternoon, no one was hungry for dinner, so we went to Coldstone and called it dinner. Come on,
how can you top ice cream for dinner! I have a feeling the next time I ask one of my kids what they want for their birthday
dinner, I aleady know what the answer will be!

And this is what you get when you feed your kids ice cream for dinner...

Picking Pumpkins

We went to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins for Halloween this year. The kids had a great time running
through the field and finding the perfect pumpkin. Now all we have to do is get them all decked out for halloween!

Picking Apples

Rhyan and Asher went with me to pick apples for apple butter. We have a big fruit farm out here that is a lot of fun for the kids. Rhyan loved picking the apples... Asher was maybe not quite as entertained by it.

Rhyan loved the apples. I don't blame her, fresh from the tree they are really good! As you can see... one in each hand is the only way to go. Then again, the apples didn't sound quite as good when she realized that they also had donuts!
She was also impressed with all the pumpkins they had. She wanted to get one, but at our house that is something we do as a family, so she had to wait.

No picture mommy!

We were sitting in the car waiting for the kids to come out of school & Rhyan was being grumpy because she needed a nap. I had my phone out and decided to take a picture of her. She scowled at me and said "No picture mommy!" When I took one anyway she put her hands over her face and yelled "no picture, no picture!" It was pretty funny. Apparently she didn't want any photos to document her grumpiness!

Asher's 3 Month Pictures

Here are Asher's three month pictures. I don't think there's really much to say here... he's just adorable!!

The Hurricane Hits Cleveland

Well, Wes & Emily want to get all the glory from living through the hurricane, but the remnants of hurricane Ike came through Cleveland last night, and we got quite the storm too. We had some serious wind gusts, surprisingly not a ton of rain, but when we went out this morning it was amazing how many trees, branches, fences & power lines were down all over everywhere. With all the debris on the ground, I swear it looked like a tornado hit. Apparently there were six deaths here due to the storm, and huge areas of Cleveland are out of power. They said on the news the 84 of the 88 counties in Ohio have been declared state of emergency. Last night when Larry & I were sitting on the couch, we were watching the fire show as the sparks were flying in the air from the power lines behind our house. I'm really glad nothing started on fire, but it was kind of cool to watch! When we were out today there were telephone poles down that were snapped in half. There are streets that are all blocked off with police tape to keep people away from the live lines that are down. The kids had fun looking at everything as we walked around. I can't believe we didn't lose the tree in our front yard as much as it seems to be struggling. Thankfully we only had a few branches down in the backyard, nothing too major. I'm just kidding about Wes & Emily by the way, we know they were much worse off than us, and we're really glad that they are okay, as well as Larry's family down there!

The Mystery of the Missing Camera

Well, unfortunately we may have a dry spell in our pictures on the blog. My camera has unfortunately disappeared. It coincidentally coincided with the delivery of our new fridge, but I am sure the delivery man had nothing to do with my camera walking off. The fact that I know it was there before and now it has mysteriously disappeared means nothing. Larry thinks it has been misplaced, but it has been over a week now, and it hasn't turned up. Luckily I had just downloaded all of the pictures off of it, so at least we didn't lose any of them. So, until it turns up or we have the money for a new camera, pictures may be a little more scarce. I'll try to get some on my phone, and maybe use Larry's camera that he takes to the clinic with him. Either way, we aren't trying to neglect all of our faithful blog viewers, we just might not have much to post. Hopefully it turns up soon!!

In his Sisters Footsteps

Well, ever since Mayson I have been anti-thumb and pushing a pacifier. I have always hated pacifiers, but I figure it's easier to take away than a thumb. Mayson cured us of thinking it is cute. Either way, Asher refuses to use a pacifier, and wouldn't you know it, just like Kaleb and Mayson, the kid loves his thumb! What to do? I have to admit he looks really cute, and when I want him to go to sleep I get really tempted to just let him do it, but then I remember our four year old Mayson who wouldn't quit until we bribed her with all that is good and exciting to a four year old. I don't know what to do with him. He is the baby after all, does that mean he's going to get to do whatever he wants?

Three Months Old

Can you believe it... Asher is three months old. I can't believe he is that big already. And when I say that big, I am not exaggerating. The kid weighs about 15 1/2 pounds. For those of you who saw Rhyan and thought she was fat, he has over two pounds on her at the same age! He is very tubby. The thing is, he doesn't look that fat, he's just heavy! He is smiling and jabbering, he is trying to play with toys, and he is just so dang cute. Everyone loves him and he knows it. He is definitely a mama's boy right now though, which is okay with me. He goes to bed between 7:30 & 8:00, and most nights he's been getting up about 6:00 or 6:30. He eats & goes right back to sleep, so not too shabby! We thought he looks pretty spiffy in his church clothes... such a little man!

Labor Day at the Beach

Larry was off for Labor Day and it was sunny and hot, so what better thing to do than to head to the beach. We at a healthy lunch of McDonalds on the way, and settled in for an afternoon of fun in the sun and sand. Asher had a blow out about halfway through, so being the good mom that I am, I was a little worried about him in the sun once his clothes were unwearable. So, he got to wear Mayson's pink shirt with the sparkly " Daddy's little Girl" on the front of it, and Rhyan's little sunhat with the strawberries (by that point she wouldn't wear it anymore anyway so it's not like we took it from her to give to the baby!) Anyway, he looked pretty cute, and I really wanted a picture for the blog, but dad refused to have his son photographed looking like a girl. I think he still looked like a boy, but Larry says it's just because I know he's a boy. Either way, it would have been a good blackmail picture, but dad shot down the idea. So, the only picture we have of Asher was a boring, pre-blowout one of him in his car seat. Oh well, the rest of the kids had a blast, and I was reminded of what a pain sand is to deal with!