Fall Day

I'm loving how these pictures turned out on these scrapbooking pages.





Journaling reads:

We have been lucky to have many nice days this fall like today was.  Slowly we are working at raking all of the  leaves in the front yard down to the road for  the Holland fall pick up.  Michael, Jon, and Becca like to help rake, so we purchased three child sized rakes this season.

While raking, Jon made an amazing discovery.  A small birds nest had fallen out of one of the trees.  We had so much fun looking at it.


We also used the nice weather to finally go ahead and carve out pumpkins.  Michael chose a scary face
and Jon wanted a silly face.  After posing with our pumpkins for pictures, we set about cutting off the tops.  Grandma Haig helped Jon while Mommy and Becca worked on Michael’s pumpkin.  Becca was truly fascinated by the whole process and didn’t seem to know what to make of it all although she was very curious.  At first the boys were grossed out by the slimy insides, but they soon dug in and got to work scooping it out using their hands and the large spoons. Then we could carve out the faces, creating scary and silly pumpkins to display on the porch.


Scrapbooking Credits:
Kit is Pumpkin and Spice by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Template is from Scrumpilicious by Little Green Frog Designs
Font is Graphite Std

A Few Updates

The Family:

Check out what wandered through our backyard this month:


And what we were finally able to purchase:


We have also made a transition in our church life.  While we LOVED our church, it was located in Grand Rapids and we really felt that it was time to find a church family closer to home where we can invest in our local community.  We were nervous about the search, especially since we didn't want to put the kids through visiting 30 different places.  We are so blessed to have found a new church home quickly.  If you would like to check it out, here is the website: Engedi.


Becca:

Oh my goodness, my baby girl is entirely gone.  Isn't she getting so big and cute?!!





Jon:

Jon is proving to be our builder.  His favorite thing to build has been "shooters" but as I try not to pay much attention to them, I one day told him that I'd love to take a picture of his buildings if he built something other than a gun.  A few minutes later he came down with this, announcing that he didn't even have to use "structions."


And then he wanted pictures of more and more creations.





Michael:

Because Michael is in school all day 5 days a week, I am finding that I don't have near as many pictures of him, but here are a couple of fun things:

Michael finished his fall soccer, loving every minute of it:


And he is one of the stars in a new movie that has come out: STACKER.  You can check out the trailer here and see if you catch the shot of Michael.

Becca's Bedroom

Last month I spent a few days painting Becca's bedroom.  We then took the opportunity to pack up her crib and put up her "big girl" bed.  I'm so excited by how it turned out.

Let me give you a tour:

My Superheroes

It was a while ago, but I never shared pictures from Halloween.

GG-Pa

Last week Tim's precious grandfather past away.  He was 88 and the last surviving great grandfather for our kids.  They called him GG-Pa as a nickname for GreatGrandpa and I do think he was very fond of that name.  We tried to get out to visit at least once a year which was always a treat.  Grandpa and Sandy would take us to adorable cafes or pizza parlors and once the kids were old enough ice cream shops.  In fact, Michael had his first restaurant meal of a grilled cheese sandwich with them, followed by some delectable bites of cheese cake that he fell in love with shortly before his first birthday.  Then there was often a walk around Central Park or some time visiting in their apartment.

As we always try to get some good pictures when we visit, I thought it would be fun to share some of the scrapbooking pages I've done with those treasured pictures.

There was a memorial service that was originally scheduled for Tuesday but postponed to Thursday because of the weather.  Tim was hoping to go, but because airport traffic and public transportation were still so unreliable still it did not work out.  Sandy, we are so sorry that we could not be there to give you a big hug.  You are in our prayers and we hope to be able to see you again soon.

We loved you GG-Pa and will miss you greatly.