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!