fall birthdays

with 10 adults and 7 grandchildren it makes it hard to get together for "everyone's" exact birthday so here's the fall birthday clan. (with a few helpers for blowing out the candles...i.e. ryan!)
ok, so here's the run down of birthdays:
matt - 36 (i think)
josh - 28
olivia- 7
garrett- 5
matilyn - 4
ellery - 1
we had a great time visiting with my family and elle even learned to climb stairs while we were there. she took one look at the staircase and UP she went. (video to come!) she is definitely a mover. we also took some family shots of each husband and wife for my parent's family photo album. obviously josh and i did not discuss what we packed for the trip...check out the embarrassing photo below. pretty sure that one's going to be in the album for some time. so typically!

the birthday gang + ryan

G-man loves his Star Wars Lego set...enjoy the tiny pieces dad!

what's up littl' buddy?

ahhh...matilyn

yep! that's embarrassing!!

GR 1/2 marathon

we've been quite busy lately from keeping up with our jobs & school to chasing after elle. so where did i find time to train for a 1/2 marathon you ask...well i didn't exactly train for this one. surprise, surprise right? actually surprisingly enough it was my personal best 1/2 time. 2 hrs. 10min. it was a great race with my sister, elizabeth.

our cheerleaders!!!

elle was quite the trooper, snuggled up in her stroller! she even took a short nap during the race.

jolly orchards

fall isn't complete until you've visited the apple orchard. last year we went with our small group (thomases & schoonvelds) and each year it gets better and better. you can't beat a fall afternoon hanging with some of your favorite people. not to mention the donuts and hot apple cider that await you at the end of your trip. the kids had a blast checking out the baby farm animals, climbing through the blow up caterpillar and of course jumping in a pile of hay...who wouldn't love that??

odds n'ends

morning cartoons...blue's clues!

like the chair? my teaching partner's daughter gave it to elle. definitely matches our living room furniture. :)

helping mommy fold laundry. who doesn't like sitting in the warm clothes?

she's on the move....

this post is a little late, since elle's been crawling for a few weeks now and is actually starting to walk by herself a little bit. she's getting faster and has also learned how to pull herself up to a standing position. her favorite place to stand is at the window. she stays there for a while just watching the leaves blow off the trees or laughs at the squirrels and doggies that run by. of course it's even more fun when her BIG doggy joins her at the window. they're too cute together. as much as tackle pretends he doesn't like her climbing on him he always seems to come back for more.

now that elle can move from place to place by herself it's fun to see where she ends up. you start to realize all the small spaces in your house. she loves her exploring time and is really proud of herself when she finds me, dad or her new love....her bike! i love the few hours i get with her in the evening, usually it's just the two of us girls and tackle hanging out till bath time, when daddy usually joins us. even though i'm totally exhausted from the day she makes it easy to drop everything.

after a morning with daddy elle is walking by herself behind her little walker!