This is Halloween

Hope helped pass out our candy this year.

Our pumpkins--we ran out of time to do Ariel's face.

We were pretty serious trick-or-treaters this year. I took the boys and Faith around, and I would have kept going but they complained their bags were too heavy and wanted to go home.

Quite the loot.

Quite the cute ballerina. She is great at standing up now.

Blast from the Past

We haven't hosted a murder party since Long Beach, so it was high time for a night of murder, food and 1980's costumes. We had a fun night at the '80's murder party where we had to remember songs, movies and trivia from the '80's. It was totally tubular.

Thanks to the Allens, Roneys and Browns for a fun time.

Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight we had a great time at the Trunk-or-Treat where the kids played lots of games and ate lots of candy.

James was a Weasley from Harry Potter. He could be any Weasley since they all have orange hair and James sprayed his hair orange.

Spencer had to have this costume after he saw his cousin Megan had this costume.

Faith is Ariel the Little Mermaid.

Hope is Cinderella.

Someone thought Doug was a lunch lady, but he's a doctor from the Pyscho Ward. I'm Rosie the Riveter.

This girl knows exactly what candy is and brings it to me all the time to open for her.

Hope at One

My baby is one! I can't believe it. Hope is such a great blessing to our family.

She reminds me of James. When she is funny and sweet, she is the sweetest. When she's mad, she lets you know it. At one-year-old, Hope:

can wave bye, bye

walks along furniture and can stand on her own

loves to clap and laugh

she can finally go up and down the stairs

her favorite place in the house is hanging out on the stairs holding onto the banister

she doesn't talk, like at all

she doesn't sleep very well some nights

she loves to get on her knees and bounce up and down like she's dancing

Hope weighs 19 1/2 pounds and measures 29 inches.

Faith at Three

Three always sneaks up on me. When my babies turn three, well, they're not babies anymore.

I don't know what our family would do without Faith. She keeps me laughing, and I love her to pieces. She has so much spunk! Total strangers will come up to us and tell us they have been watching Faith and there is something special about her. They say she is charming. As a three-year-old, Faith:

loves purses and make-up and getting her toes painted

loves Barbies and princesses

loves her dance class

loves to torment Hope

loves pink, she even loves the pink Power Ranger

loves to play outside

loves to answer the door and then when people leave she always says, "Thank you for coming to our home."

Faith weighs 31 pounds and measures 36 inches.

Another Soccer Game

I can't believe James only has three more games this season.

It really wasn't that cold.

James was the team captain today and had a great game.

We were in charge of the snack, and Faith was ready for the boys to come get our ghost sugar cookies.

James has been doing really well in school lately too. His teacher gave him their class horse to take home this weekend. I'm sure Redford had a great time at the soccer game.

When Every Leaf is a Flower

Ahhh, Autumn. We took the kids on a drive today to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park where indeed every leaf is truly a flower. Today was supposedly the peak weekend to look at the leaves, and it was pretty crowded, but it was stunning.

The visitors' center.

What happens to your hair if you rip out the pony tail.

James and his pet for the weekend, Redford.

We drove through tree lined streets and then stopped at the scenic pullouts to look at the valley below.

We couldn't drag our kids out of the car for one more picture so we took one without them.

We loved this old tree.