Sunday night fire:

Sunday evenings we normally spend at my parent's house (weekly dinner together as an extended family), but as they are often gone/out of the country these days, we have a few more lazy Sunday nights alone at home.  :)  It was a chilly, gray November day...so we didn't need much more of an excuse than that to make a fire.  It was lovely.  

No better vantage point than right on Papa.

Telling silly stories together.  

Layla was pretty sure she was wicked funny.  

Winter prep:

Jonas is in full-on "Winter prep" mode around here.  I think he really loves being a home owner and doing all of these little upkeep chores, and for that, I am very grateful.  :)

Saturday was a beautiful fall day around these parts, so Jonas spent a good portion of the day outside, working in the yard and on the exterior of the house.

Our bedroom windows look out over our backyard, the garage, and over the roof of our 3-season-porch.  Layla had the thrill of her young life when she was allowed to go UP ON THE ROOF with Papa and help him install a new window.  She had to just sit still and hold screws, but still--she loved it.  :)

Getting ready to hold the screws.  

Taking her job seriously.  

It was rather bright...

The view from inside one of our bedroom windows.  

Labor Day

I've been trying to be intentional about being "in the moment" more, so I've taken fewer pictures and videos at bigger family gatherings.  Here are three videos I took from our Labor Day celebration at my parent's house.  It was PERFECT weather:  65/70, then cooled off a bit more to have a fire.

(Side note:  I'm pretty sure I never complained about the hot weather this year, mostly because we have such great central air, but I'm not sad to see fall coming, that's for sure!!)

We had a wonderful time celebrating with the DeGeorge family from IL, the Horsmans, the Davis family from our church, and others.  The food, as always, was to die for.  Susie made a coleslaw with blue cheese and bacon that was heavenly.  I normally can't STAND any kind of coleslaw, but this?  This was excellent. Mike, again, made his grilled honey-balsamic eggplant--fantastic.  Just fantastic.

We miss you Greg and Andrea, and Eric!  :(

A little fun after church...

...also, Finn screams like a girl.  ;)

A long cabin rehash:

So, while at the cabin I really only took pictures for the first 3 days or so, give or take a moment, and then just sat around with the fam for the rest of the time.  It was fantastic.  :)  That's just a FYI for why there are SO many pictures of one or two particular "events," and not much else from later on:  I was vegging! 

Finn and Layla both had SO much fun playing with Claire and Anja's little LaLaLoopsy dolls.  They were the "it" toy of the vacation.  ;)

Anja was super sweet to Layla the entire vacation.  She is an amazing cousin to her.  :)  

Playing sticker paper dolls together, and laughing.  

On the first day there, when I gave the kids a freezie, I had them eat it outside, on the side of the house, near the side stairs and a bunch of large rocks.  From then on Layla was convinced that it was pretty much the ONLY place someone could eat a freezie...

Something of interest, far off...

Finn is very generous.  

But then when you take him up on his generosity he gets sad that his food is gone. :)  Another really funny example of this was at Chase on the Lake, where we went for dinner on Friday night...by boat.  Sweeeeet.  ;)  It was 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and we had the best outdoor seating.  Renee and I both make a point to not take our kids to restaurants very often...because really, what's the point?  Much better to leave kids at HOME and go alone as adults until kids are at a much better "social" age.  ;)  However, they all did pretty great at the restaurant, give or take a few incidents.  ANYWAY, sorry, back to the story:  Finn was wanting to feed Grandma his chicken nuggets.  She finally agreed to eat a bite, then he FREAKED.OUT screaming "HEY!!!!  Where's my CHICKEN???" Maybe you had to be there, but it had us all rolling for a while... :)

Together in freezie heaven.  

Love the hand gestures.  

Papa.  Chillaxin.  Keeping 'em company.  

At one point he put the stick in his mouth rather than the freezie.  

NOT quite the taste or texture he was looking for.  

Differences:  Layla puts the whole freezie in her mouth and sucks the juice up.  Finn rubs the freezie down the whole length of his tongue.  The random things mothers know...

Anja, again being sweet with Layla.

A few pictures of the main floor of the home...I even forgot to take a picture of all the bedrooms!  

Mom in the kitchen.  

Dining room.  

View from dining room into living room.  

Dad, delighted in the living room, because they had Twins TV.  ;)

View from the dining room into the outside deck.  

The screened in porch off of the living room.  

Another view.  

View from the top of the deck down to the lake.  130 steps.  My calves HURT.  Evidently calf work is not part of any workout routine I have even done, maybe? ;)  Yowza.  

The view from the living room, up to the front door, and the stairs turn to go upstairs to the bedrooms/bathrooms.  

Hallway off the living room down to the garage.  

The main floor powder room.  NOT a good picture, I know, but Aunt Andrea I am posting this specifically for you.  There were THREE bathrooms, all amazing and clean.  ;)  

Sitting area off the garage and another exit door.  

This was a VERY useful space for music and loud toys.  ;)  

The Carons came for a steak dinner on Sunday night--what FUN!  Here is Finn playing with Grace and Logan.  

Sawyer is a DOLL.  And Angie looks like she hasn't given birth to one child, let alone 6.  What else is new, right??  :)

Catching up.  

Jonas threw Sawyer around like it was his job.  This was the only non-fuzzy picture I had.  ;)  

Anytime Layla can play chase, she's good to go!

Post-dinner discussions and debates.  The usual.  ;)

Layla loved these little dolls.  She would daily steal some and put them under her pillow.  Hmmmmmm...

Layla in her bathing suit and fairy wings.  What else WOULD she be wearing, anyway??

Sawyer was being SO stinking CUTE for Mom, but we were sitting in darkness, and the camera doesn't have a fast shutter speed, so these were the best I could do.  :)  

Adorable.  

Rolling down the hill in the front yard.  

Finn is always VERY concerned if his shoes are untied.  

Dancing and singing.  

Back up to the top!

Forest observations.  

Finn LOVED the 4-wheeler and the boat.  He always wanted to go FASTER.  

A ride around the property for Finn...

...at the end of the driveway they collected a few more girls...

Layla was VERY unsure of the whole experience.  She was glad to be done.  

These guys all loved it.  

I just love Jon holding the bottle.  :)

Layla and Grandpa were having a conversation about hair, here.  She was explaining to him why her hair was beautiful, because it was yellow.  But his was...not.  Because it was white.  ;)

We boated over to the Walker beach one day for easier swimming for the kids.  

GORGEOUS weather, COLD lake.  ;)

Grandma, looking very cool and hip, watching Henry.  

Watching a water plane take off...

"Hey guys!  What'cha doing?"

Off to play some baseball.  

Henry digging in the sand.  

Claire on the ride home.  The girls LOVED the tube.  :)

Layla HATED the boat, and wind in her hair.  I had to cover her with a towel most times.  If Jonas went VERY slow, then she was okay.  :)

My Granny was able to come for one night--it was so nice to have her!  :)  Finn adored her cane and stomped around with it often.  

So, that's the end of my physical pictures.  I'll post more videos soon.