November

November seems like a LONG time ago already.  So I'm thankful for the pictures that I did take to help me remember the good memories from our month!

Mason loves Molly and I often find them together!

Getting ready to explore a new area: Palisades State Park.  Mason was trying out his daddy's hiking boots.  :)

 What a fun spot!  The boys loved it and even wanted me to take their pictures while we were there!

We figured it would be one of the last warm Fall days so we took advantage of our Sunday afternoon/evening together.

Mason loves the bike trailer and one day when Daddy took him on a bike ride, they even got to stop to play at a park!

We don't have a lot of leaves to clean up on our yard but it's still amazing how many van loads of grass and leaves that we had to bring to the dump this Fall.  Thankful for little helpers!

It's become our tradition to feed the kids Jack's pizza on Sunday nights.  After they are in bed Nathan makes homemade pizza for us!  It's our weekly "date night".  The pizza is always delicious and way more than we need.  And we look forward to the down time each week!

A family movie and popcorn night!

Yeah, my Snapfish order arrived.  Time to get Christmas cards ready!  And I love how the boys' pictures look in the frames in our kitchen!

Congrats to Ashley for making it to the State Volleyball Tournaments!  It was so fun to watch a couple of her games, especially since they won 1st place!!!  So proud of her accomplishments.

Cuddle time by the warm fire!

The first big snowfall of the season!  The boys were so excited to play in it.

Sleepy baby.  How cute is that!

Molly's favorite spot!

No electricity!  We woke up early on a Saturday morning to a power outage. Our lifestyles reflect the fact that we are rarely without it, so after nearly 24 hours, we were excited that things were back to normal again!

Mason likes to help with shoveling the sidewalk!

Dorian and Levi created this huge banner at home one evening.  I was very impressed!  It shows many of the things that they are thankful for.

Dorian: Jesus, shelter, cousins, trees, food, Christian school, Levi, Mom, Dad, Mason, seasons of the year, warm bed, books, clothes, churches, Bible

Levi: Jesus, Dad, Mom, Mason, Dorian, Molly Bible, music, God, my birthday

Dorian and Levi both brought home some great Thanksgiving themed art and writing projects from school!

Dorian wrote, "I am thankful for Jesus because he died on the cross for us.  I am thankful for my mom and dad because they bring me on vacation.  I am thankful for food so we can stay alive.  I am thankful for school so we can learn, read, and learn how to write.  I am thankful for shelter because I would get too cold in the winter.  I am also thankful for my friends because I need friends to play with me.  I am thankful for the Bible because it helps you learn about Bible times."

Levi wrote a note to Mason saying that he was thankful because "you give me water".  Levi thinks it's awesome that when he asks Mason to get his water bottle at home, he does!  And Mrs. Rozenboom wrote about how Levi is kind and a hard worker!

Levi wrote, "I am thankful for my big brother Dorian and my mom and my dad and my little brother Mason because they all play with me.  My Grandma plays Whack a Mole.  She wacks her card instead of the chip in the middle."

Dorian wrote about how instead of having turkey, you might consider trying pizza instead!  :)

Levi did a report on the Wampanoags (the Native Americans who shared the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims) to share with his class!

Levi had a very special Pilgrims and Indians party at school just before Thanksgiving which he was super excited about!

For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of our Thanksgiving weekend this year.  Everyone was healthy and we had a great time eating the traditional Thanksgiving meal at mom and dad's house. Our whole family plus some extended family were there!  What a blessing!  And then on Saturday of that weekend I had a lot of fun decorating our house for Christmas!

More snow!  We're thankful to our neighbor who owns a bobcat and often clears our driveway for us before we can get to it.  Mason watched from inside the house while his brothers watched from the fort that they made.

Levi, Dorian, and Jayden warming up with hot chocolate!  I love it that they can literally spend hours building forts, sledding, digging tunnels, etc.

October

Crazy house full of kids playing the Wii after crazy hair day at school for the 3rd graders!  Dorian was very brave and wore spiked, blue hair!!!

My heart melted to see this note from Levi.  "I love you 'you' are the best mom".  He couldn't wait for me to open up the taped corner which read "evr" (ever).

Birthday celebrations begin... On October 10 Dorian invited Jayden and Asa to come along with our family to Sky Zone and to eat cupcakes at the park!  It was nearly 80 degrees that day!

5 energetic boys to keep track of!!!

I love how this picture shows Levi's genuine enthusiasm for Dorian to open the birthday card that he made.

Mason colored a picture for the birthday boy as well, but he wanted to help open it.  :)

9 balloons for Dorian's 9th birthday!  We were excited to have a birthday party after church with the Bolkema's.

How fun!  2 new telescopes to explore with your brothers, Dorian!

Money is just as exciting as gifts these days.  Thanks Great Grandma.

Oh, boy.  Lego sets from your aunts and uncle!

Dorian chose chocolate cake topped with Oreos.

One more big present from Grandpa and Grandma Bolkema.

Just a little excited!  :)

It's amazing how quickly and completely independently he can build new Lego sets!

October 12.  Monday.  The birthday boy suggested cinnamon rolls for breakfast!  We were excited to give him a Rubix cube since we know he's good with spacial organizing.  And we also gave him his first Bible!  Our prayer is that he will pick it up and read it often and that he will come to love the God who inspired those words.  We love you Dorian.  Happy 9th Birthday!

Here's my attempt at taking photos of the boys instead of hiring a professional photographer.  The setting was beautiful!

Levi's expression says it all.  Ready to be done with Daddy's silly faces which were making him smile.

A new game from Aunt Suzanne!

Having these end tables painted feels like I've now completed the organizing and decorating tasks that I started in the Spring.  Well, I guess it really started last winter when I picked out a new paint color for the Sun Room.  Summer was too busy to think about doing anything extra.  And now it's already October!

I had to take a picture of the storage room which I've spent a lot of time organizing.  I'm so glad that it's now more of an exercise room than a storage room!  I have a stack of 8 empty tubs!  I know there is always more to do, but I feel like we've finally settled into our house after living here for 4 years now.  How satisfying.  Speaking of an exercise room, I've started running!!  And I ran my first 5K on the 24th!!!  I was convinced that when the boys went back to school this year that I was going to regularly exercise.  I didn't know what, but it was going to be a priority once and for all.  I was also convinced that there was no way I could run.  But after being thrilled about jogging a mile on the treadmill in the beginning of September, I've been inspired and found that I'm capable of much more than I thought.

Grandparent's Day turned into Parent's Day with last minute change of plans.  Grandpa and Grandma Tintle's flight was delayed so it was quite a disappointment that they couldn't make it as planned.  Thankfully Nathan and I were able to work it out to go and we had fun seeing what the boys are up to at school!!!  It really was special to see all the projects that they've been working so hard on, play games with them, and hear them each sing a couple of songs with their classes.  How blessed we are to have such a great school system here.

Even though their visit was short, the boys sure had fun reading, playing Grandma's iPad, and playing many other games with Grandpa and Grandma Tintle.

I love to see all of their giggling faces together!

Mason had a dress up day and a Halloween party for Kindermusik!  He was a super cute mailman!

Ahhhh!  I was dreaming of the day when I could sit on a comfy chair with a book and the fireplace on!  And it turned out to be the perfect day for it since it happened to be the first day with snow flurries for the season.

I've been meeting a friend and her little boy that's Mason's age at the rec center on Friday mornings.  We take turns working out, while the other one of us watches the boys.  It's been good for accountability and to talk with each other.

Dorian was pretty excited when his present arrived from Grandpa and Grandma Tintle.  It's been a lot of fun programming his new Rover to go on different missions around our house!

When I explained to the boys the options of Halloween costumes that we had at home, they thought it would be fun to be pirates this year.  However, they convinced me to check out if Walmart had swords to go with their costumes and then we found Ninja swords that they loved!  So here are my 2 very excited Ninjas!!!

And Mason had fun wearing the Firefighter costume!

We went to the Hallelujah party again this year, at the boys request.  Mason was even old enough to enjoy many of the games!  How great to have an indoor, safe and fun place that all of the boys enjoyed!