Halloween

I realize that this sounds quite "scrooge-ish" but this is the first year that we've done anything for Halloween. It's just kind of a weird holiday, that we always prefered to ignore (along with St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's etc...) However, Emelyn is really into dressing up at this age and so the thought of dressing up in a fun costume and playing games with friends and getting candy has been quite appealing! Not to mention, that today was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. So... after naps, we went to the square from 3-5 for their 10th annual trick or treat with local businesses. We met Hayley and Hannah there:

 Then tonight, Hayley came over for supper and helped walk Emelyn to our neighbors to let them see her costume. I love how much these two love each other. Aren't they cute in their costumes?!

Little Logan was a blue crayon - couldn't help but to take a picture of these two! 

Isaiah didn't dress up (again, remember the part about it being a not so favorite holiday??) but I'm sure if he asks to dress up in the future we'll let him. I'm also wondering if this is the beginning of us celebrating every holiday? Emelyn was so excited to dress up that I'm sure she'll be just as excited to wear green for St. Patricks, to play jokes in April and to make May Day baskets come May.

Take Steps Be Heard

Yesterday we participated in the NW Arkansas Take Steps Be Heard walk. It's a national walk that raises awareness and funds for Crohn's/Colitis Disease research. Of course this is a cause that is close to our hearts since Jake has been dealing with this since age 14. After 3 surgeries that have removed a significant portion of his small intestines, it will be something we have to adjust to and battle the side effects of the rest of his life. Just in the last few months he had routine lab work showing severe anemia once again (but we're happy to report that after 2 weeks of supplements, purposeful eating/diet and daily juicing of raw veggies, he went from 7.3 to 9.6 and just this past week went up to 10.8... closer to the normal range again! Praising God for that answered prayer!)

Anyways... we had a great time at the walk. We are so thankful for the support of our family and friends - both by giving to CCFA for research and by spending the evening with us.

A family picture:

And a more extended family picture - Jake's parents arrived late Friday night and then left today (Sunday) after church - even though it was a short weekend, they wanted to make sure they were here for the walk. We are so grateful for their constant love and support!

A group picture: 

Two of my best friends - so thankful for these girls! 

Eric and Kelsey came out to support Jake too:

This is Emelyn and her best friend William. Literally, that's what she calls him. They fought over leaves half of the walk, but ended it holding hands and chasing each other - such a sweet friendship!

Fall Festival

Wednesday night we went to our church's Fall Festival. Emelyn has really enjoyed playing dressup this year and was especially excited to get to wear her lady bug costume to the festival.

Concentrating very hard on a bean bag toss...

Very excited to win a prize! 

Fishing for stickers (Emelyn's favorite game!) 

Our best family picture attempt: 

Thursday nights with Hayley

I'm on a blogging roll! We'll see how many more pictures I can get around to posting this evening...

Every Thursday night, Hayley comes over to spend the evening, and it's become a regular thing for Emelyn to have her nails painted. A couple of weeks ago, Hayley brought Emelyn a birthday present - lots of new fun fingernail polish colors! Of course they went right to work...

Any guesses as to what happens to little boys in the house when the girls are having some girly time? 

Decorating pumpkin

We divided our pumpkin into thirds... I did the typical jack-o-latern face...

Emelyn drew something... 

And Jake drew a powercat.

And Isaiah just sat nearby and watched. Afterwards we went on a nice long walk which was probably his favorite part of the evening.

More KS Pics

I'm hoping to finish posting pictures from our week in Kansas... here are some more:

Monday night we went to watch my nephew's football game and Emelyn and Janessa had a lot of fun playing together. Uncle Joe bought the girls ring pops and they enjoyed them!



Isaiah snuggled with grandma during the game:

Monday night Emelyn enjoyed playing games with grandpa and grandma C before leaving the spend the next few days with grandma and grandma B: 

On Tuesday we went to grandpa and grandma B's and since it was a beautiful day, we spent a lot of time outside. Here's Isaiah and Grandma watching baby pigs: 

Emelyn equally enjoyed playing outside: 

Grandpa and Isaiah: 

Happy boy after his morning nap: 

Pulling carrots for supper:

On Thursday we went to Riley to spend the last few days there before Jake picked us up. Emelyn and Aunt Valerie made a Dutch Apple Pie for supper:

My brothers came over mid-afternoon and we all pitched in to make a yummy eggplant parmesan.

Melissa flew into Manhattan to spend the weekend as well:

Isaac also came for the weekend from Hays:

Great-Grandma's birthday party

Grandma Emelyn turned 88 the day before Emelyn and we were grateful to be home to be able to celebrate with her at the manor. A lot of my dad's siblings were there as well as cousins so we had the rare chance to catch up with everyone.

The birthday honoree:

Everyone but Melissa made it from our family: 

Emelyn and Janessa had a lot of fun watching the birds: 

And Jake and Isaiah took a snooze after lunch: 

Emelyn braved the "cooler" weather and went straight to the leaves to throw in the air (?!?) 

Aunt Valerie snuggled with and fed Isaiah: 

And the three littlest cousins had fun sharing toys. They'll all turn 1 in February! 

One of my favorite parts of the day was getting to watch old home videos of my dad's family and grandparents. My siblings and I walked away saying we definitely need to be purposeful to record get togethers from now on!

Emelyn's Third Birthday!

Our sweet little Emelyn turned 3 on Wednesday, October 12th, but we had a small birthday party for her Sunday evening before Jake returned to Arkansas. She was surrounded by lots of family and even though we requested no gifts, she received a lot of new fun things. She had great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and lots of cousins present (all but 2 cousins.) 

Riding her new trike (Jake likes it as much as she does!)

Eating pizza with cousins Janessa, Amanda and Caleb: 

Opening presents: 

A picture with a very tired mom and dad :)
Something funny about the cupcakes I want to remember. When we told her we were going to have a small party for her and asked her what food she wanted, she asked for pizza and cupcakes. So we called to "order" the cupcakes and she made all of the decisions. White cake, pink frosting, orange letters that say "Happy third birthday Emelyn" and 1 yellow sprinkle. And as an afterthought, she decided she wanted a surprise in each one... specifically a cookie or candy. She received just what she ordered! The cupcakes had either mini oreos or else a mini Snickers in each one and hers had one yellow sprinkle. After we ordered them, we went to Hobby Lobby (for fabric) and she exclaimed that we couldn't forget to buy her a birthday hat and candle for her birthday. Not sure where that came from, but she picked out this hat and big yellow "3" candle:

On her actual birthday, it was a cold day and we spent the morning at great-grandma and grandpa's house. Emelyn and I went to check on the cows with great grandpa to see if any more babies had been born over night and it was super chilly (yet fun!)

After lunch, we went back to my mom's house to get ready to go swimming. Yes, she asked if we could swim for her birthday (mainly because her friend Benjamin who shares her birthday was having a swim party for his birthday and she was going to be missing it.) Here she is with cousin Joe and Janessa swimming (indoors.) 

At three years old, Emelyn is 31 pounds and 37 inches tall. She is quite the talker and helper. She is also quite stubborn and strong willed a lot of the times. She also gets quiet and super shy when in large groups or with new people. She loves to be outside and playing with her best friends. Her favorite "special" places to go are Chuck E Cheese, Silver Dollar City, Fun City and Chick-fil-A.

We love you Emelyn Catherine! You are such a fun, energetic and loving girl. Our family wouldn't be the same without you!

Lloyd & Nicole's Wedding

On Saturday, October 8th, Jake's brother was married and Emelyn was a flower girl and Jake was a groomsmen. Emelyn looked forward to this day for months and was quite excited the day finally arrived! Here she is ready for pictures:

The first thing she wanted to do was go show daddy "what a pretty princess" she was. (She thinks her dad hung the moon.)

I also got to help Emma get ready. :)

My beautiful new sister-in-law!

Nicole with the three granddaughters! 

Family picture:

Dancing with my little man: 

...while Emelyn conked out around 9pm. Poor girl had had a long day with no nap! 

If you ask Emelyn what the highlight of her day was she would say either 1) getting to dress up like a pretty princess or 2) getting to ride in the RV with the wedding party from the church to the reception site (20 miles apart.) Getting to ride in a house on wheels is quite exciting at her age apparently!