Happy Halloween (plus the latest news!)

We have been SOOOOOOOO busy lately that it is becoming a luxury to get 5-hours of sleep a night! The day after Bethanie's birthday party, Tony and I left for a business trip in Florida. So what have we REALLY been up to...?

The Annual Pumpkin Patch Visit:

Dalton's "Extended" Football Season:

Dalton was hand-picked and invited to join an all-area 8th grade "All Star" football team in the off season. (As you can see, he chose to stick with his instincts towards Darren Sproles' K-State number of 43). So, aside from additional football practices every night... we have tournaments throughout the midwest to look forward to attending. It is a GREAT team of kids. Dalton is really looking forward to playing against Barry Sanders and Emmit Smith's teams during the big Dallas tournament before Thanksgiving!

Playing Dress-Up (of course)!

Emmalie and Bethanie are the "Queen of Hearts/Red Queen" and "Alice in Wonderland" for Halloween. They are so excited. (Emma said I have to also share with everyone that their bears are Rapunzle and Rainbow Fairy too!).

In Other News:

Devin has completed his first half of classes to start his college studies and seems to be liking it, well all except for the drive two days a week. Devin and his girlfriend of two months, Sabrina, have also been coming over a lot. She is keeping that boy in line! (Needless to say... I like her!)

That is about it as far as updates go. Hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Halloween!

3 Years + 1 Girl = Blessings Gallore

BETHANIE AILENE... AKA "Monkey"! She truly is our bundle of energy and bounds about like a little monkey. It is not uncommon to find her climbing up to Emmalie's bunk of their bunk-beds either! So how fitting that she would pick out a monkey theme for her 3rd birthday party:)

Another year... Another wish!

Bethanie: "This is GOOD cake Daddy!"

Bethanie's favorite present- a Truly Real baby doll

Bethanie poses for a birthday picture :)

That's right! Our little baby is growing up... FAST. At her 3-yr check up Friday, Bethie weighed in at 27 lbs and stood just under 3 ft tall. She is still a tiny little thing (10th percentile across the board), but she makes up for it in her personality- which is definitely NOT small! Bethanie knows all of her colors, numbers and such... and is starting to write the letters of her name. Bethanie is utterly obsessed with putting puzzles together. It is a task that will literally keep the girl entertained for an hour. She is the first to clean up and help others at preschool, and the most sensitive to hearing the word "NO". But Bethie also is the silent instigator ;0 When she is in another room and all goes silent for over 5-minutes... BEWARE! Usually it means she is coming up with a plan for self-decorating something she shouldn't or preparing to pick on poor Emmalie. (She picks on the older kids at school, too).

Overall, we couldn't be happier with how our baby girl has grown up so far. Bethanie still wakes up and goes to bed every day with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye... taking in everything around her and holding back nothing. It's like she's preparing herself to take on the world someday. But not too soon... we don't want her growing up any faster than she already has!

Hope everyone has a great end to their weekend.