Caleb Turns EIGHT!

Corey was gone on Caleb's birthday to a manager's thing in California.  So we waited to celebrate Caleb's birthday until after he got back.  Caleb had the choice between a birthday party with friends or a fun family activity.  He chose a family activity, which was miniature golfing.  The kids had a great time, although it was a little cold.

I also didn't make him a creative cake like I usually do.  I just didn't have time that day--we had things going on besides doing his birthday activity.  So I bought a cake instead, which was decorated to look like a mummy.  I have to say, it was a nice break from making a cake, but my cakes are much better-tasting!

Toothless

Poor Caleb's permanent teeth have been coming in on top of his baby teeth. His baby teeth have just been refusing to fall out, so he's had to have several teeth pulled in the last few years. This was round three of teeth pulling, and he had four teeth pulled. Two were much more ready to come out, but two were not ready at all. The orthodontist recommends his teeth being pulled so that his permanent teeth can come in straight and hopefully he can avoid braces. He had this done in the morning before school and still went to school that day.

A Beautiful Day

We have had a beautiful fall here with lots of warm days and sunshine. This was in early October on a Friday afternoon. We rode bikes to the big neighborhood park and the kids spent time playing on the playground. My kids are obsessed with the monkey bars and they all took turns showing me how good they were at it
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The other thing that happened this day was when we got home from the park, we got a phone call from someone who had found our dog out wandering.  He was quite far away from the house, and we didn't even know he had gotten out.  Corey  had been home earlier and gone to work and I'm pretty sure Snoopy was still in the yard when Corey left, so we guessed that right after Corey left, somebody had let Snoopy in the house and then left the door to the garage open and he got out.  Westley said that while we were at the park, he had seen a dog on the other side of the park that looked like Snoopy, but he thought Snoopy was in the yard, just like I did (and I saw a dog too that looked like Snoopy).  We are so glad that Snoopy was wearing his collar (sometimes we take it off him for Jonah's naps and forget to put it back on) and that somebody was kind enough to take him in and not leave him roaming on the streets and then call us after looking at his tags.  We have certainly done that enough times, bringing in a stray dog with a collar and license and calling the number for the owner that we felt this was truly Karma.  It was definitely an adventure for the evening!

Marriage Retreat at Aspen Grove

Every September since 2010, Corey and I have signed up to go to the Marriage Getaway at Aspen Grove. It's a two-day, one-night little getaway that includes a room, meals, and workshops on marriage. This year we invited my brother and his wife to come along. We really enjoyed it, as usual, and will probably return next fall.

Randomness

 My kids love to have their picture taken and they love to get all together for a picture.  On this day, they had all just jumped on the couch and asked if I would take their picture together, so here it is!  I love that Travis and Eliza are holding hands and that all the kids have their arms around each other.

 This is proof that my house does get messy.  

I came down the stairs one morning to find this--Westley looking at the American Girl doll catalog with Eliza, and even talking about some of the items they were seeing.  What a good big brother to take an interest in what interests her!