First family bike ride

 Kayla's with us, just her usual 50 yards in front of us "racing" to the next destination.

 Can this really be happening? All four of us each on our own bike? Together? At the same time? What a special BIG moment! Khloe just LOVES her Dora bike and insists on spending 75% of her day riding it. Just mention the word "bike ride" and Khloe yells in excitement, jumping up and down, "I ride my Dora bike mom!" making sure I know that she is NOT riding in the bike trailer. I think our bike trailer might be a thing of the past. I'll never get Khloe in that again I was thinking as I unhooked it from my bike for the first time in over a year. Sigh....And just like that, one chapter closes and another one begins.

Orchard time

We wrapped up our vacation with the Jensen's with a trip to the apple orchard. We looked at the weather forecast and picked what we thought would be the nicest day. So Tuesday morning, after Khloe's gymnastics, we packed up all the kids - and Grandpa - and visited an orchard we had not been to before, Blake's Orchard and Cider Mill. We lucked out with the most perfect day! Bright blue skies, warm sun, cool air - beautiful! Days like that in October make me so happy! And what's better, we were on vacation with our family!

 Matching birthday outfits! Even Travis wasn't left out of the coordinating fox outfits.

(Cassidy thought the sun was too bright!)

 To purchase one of these large pumpkins will only set you back 30 bucks.

They had these silly animated characters in various spots throughout the property, playing instruments and singing (think Showbiz Pizza or Chuck E Cheese). The kids didn't know what to think about them; the adults just thought they were creepy.

 There were so many fun activities to do at Blake's; the kids had a ball. And at $8/ person, I'm glad we got our money's worth of activities and fun. What was supposed to be a quick 1.5 hour visit turned into 3!

 A straw climbing mountain. I want one of these in our backyard. This was the smaller of the two climbing mountains, you can see the much taller one in the background. 

 There was playground after playground after playground, it went on and on. Each time we tried to move the kids on to the next activity, they'd say "Awwwwwww! But we want to (fill in the black with:) swing/play/ride/climb/bounce more!"

 The John Deere race track was a riot. These bikes? off road vehicles? dune buggies? were so fun. The seats on them were adjustable so Aaron could ride it, I could and even Kayla could. The track was hilly, rocky and bumpy, making it even that more challenging, and exhausting! I didn't know it was going to be such hard work! This would be awesome to have in our backyard. Aaron's already thinking of a way to construct his own.

 Aaron and Kayla racing. I could barely pull Aaron away from this race track.

 Kayla taking the easy way around, on Daddy's lap

And there was a pint-sized tricycle derby race track too. 

 They had a very large and very nice petting farm area. The girls got a kick out of seeing sheep, goats, horses, rabbits, calves, a donkey, baby chicks, ducks, baby pigs, and peacocks, which is what Khloe is checking out.

 Next was this awesome jumpy pillow, or bouncy. It was so fun! I want one of these in our backyard. How could you not? This was definitely hard to pull the kids (and me) away from! (Hey, check out at the air I'm getting!)

 The fun just doesn't stop! Next up was the train ride. It was a relaxing ride through the orchards and around the property. Another 30 seconds on the train and Travis would've been asleep.

 Just take a look at the size of their pick-your-own pumpkin patch! And this was wasn't the only field of them!

 After Sarah and the kids and Grandpa headed home, we stuck around to pick apples and raspberries. 

 Kayla did a great job of picking raspberries and filling her container. Khloe, on the other hand, not so much...

After 20 minutes of picking and filling their containers with equal amounts of raspberries, this is what was left! Hmmmmmm Khloe, what happened to all those raspberries???

Cassidy and Travis arrive!

And they brought their parents too! We've been having lots of fun with all of them here. It's been too long since they were last here in Michigan, we can't believe its been a year and a half! We've had this date on the calendar for a long time, and for the longest time October seemed so far away, but school started and before we knew it, October was here! We're glad they choose to stay with us for six days!

 We got to celebrate Cassidy's 5th, Travis's 3rd, Sarah's and Kristi's birthdays! Here are the kids (and Kristi) eating their birthday cupcake treats after opening presents. (In case you were wondering why Kristi is sitting with the kids, she doubled up and celebrated again later with the adults for more birthday treats.) 

 Sarah and I don't know how to plan a vacation together without coordinating at least one outfit! In the case of this trip the kids have two matching outfit sets and matching pj's! How long do you think they'll let us do this?! Hopefully until they're at least 22.

Sarah picked out these dresses for the girls. The girls, and Travis who choose to sit on the stairs behind the girls, wore matching outfits to church on Sunday!
Sunday breakfast was memorable because it was the first time I made overnight rolls for everyone - they were a hit. Glad our family could introduce the tradition to their family and cousins visiting from Iowa deserves a special treat like this! I think Travis liked them the most with Sarah at a close second. 

Caught 'cha Travis!

 The two weeks prior to their arrival we had nothing but bright blue skies and warm sunny weather. Unfortunately the grey clouds and rain showed up for the weekend they arrived, but Sunday was nice and warm enough that we all got outside to play on the playset, ride bikes and fly a kite.

Fish tail bracelets

Kristi comes home and keeps us busy in her sweat shop making bracelets, hour after hour, day after day. Just kidding, we had fun making all these bracelets! We have more than we know what to do with!

 Teaching Kayla how to make her first fish tail bracelet. Kayla was hooked.

 Kristi's bracelet sweat shop

Ha! Even the neighbor girls got into it!

Thanks for making us hip and cool Kiki! And stylish too!

Silly girl

Never a dull moment with our Khloe! Forever our crazy party girl!

Big, big and bigger

From big girl bed to a big girl bike! So many BIG things happening around here! She's getting too BIG too quickly! Wasn't it Kayla that was just riding her toddler bike down the street, like last year? (Okay, so maybe not really). This feels like Kayla deja vu all over again!

Khloe's favorite thing to do is ride her bike. She's so happy and proud! You'll hear her exclaim, "Look! I a big girl now!"

Her own personal escort! Thanks Gina for providing the umbrella on this sunny day! 

Khloe, please remember you are not even 2.5 years old yet! I look at this video and think you look so old. I think it's time to put your big girl bed and big girl bike away. This getting big thing is a little out of control lately. Crib and stroller please!

Angels from above

I get to be a mommy to these two sweet souls? No matter how I may stumble and fall through this "mommy" parenting thing, they still think I'm the best. How did I become so blessed!? Every day these precious girls humble me and make me want to be a better person. As their mommy, I'm supposed to teach them life's important lessons, but they are teaching me things every day! They teach me patience, to open my heart even wider, to open my arms even more, to let go, and to see the joy in the simple things of life. I always want to protect them from being hurt or sad or lonely or scared. I  always want to be by their side. 

Lord, I know I fall short of meeting their every need, so please help guide me so that they can see Your love for them through me. Give me the confidence and strength and wisdom to be the best mommy and always protect them!