Ross Reflections. . .

Superman, Cinderella and a Jedi This was the first time Logan and Isaiah had gone trick-or-treating and it was wonderful. (Noah did when he was 2) To briefly summarize why this was our first time, Gary is strongly against Halloween and I see Gary's point and have always wanted to respect it but I also see the innocence of trick or treating in Upland and on Taylor's campus. This year, I threw out the idea of taking the kids, Gary didn't say much so I moved forward. I was just beaming watching the kids run from house to house and dorm room to dorm room. They were having so much fun. Isaiah carried his pumpkin until it was too heavy for him and Logan clomped around in her plastic high heals for over an hour before I suggested she take them off. Her comment when she started walking without the shoes, "That's easy to walk mom." Jon and Jaclyn (above) and Zaino and Meg (below) are all so ADORED by my children. ( by Gary and me too) We trick or treated at their hou...

I take the same pictures of pulling the "slimey pulp" out of the pumpkin, carving and each child with their finished pumpkin product. This year we got crazy at the Ross house and turn off all the lights, pitch black, except the pumpkins. It was really cool and the kids thought it was the greatest night ever!! I tried taking pictures, not the clearest but I liked the idea of them. Logan didn't want to go to bed because she didn't want Halloween to end. Little does she know that Halloween is tomorrow.

What can I say, Isaiah has always LOVED shoes. I think the word Gary used when he saw Isaiah walking around the house in Logan's princess shoes was, "unfortunate." At least our boy thought the princess wand was a bat.

Isaiah has been very interested in "Croaker" our frog lately. He insists we take him down from the shelf so he can see him. This morning Grandpa joined the observations. I thought this was a sweet picture. "Hi Croaker" and "swim" are really the only things Isaiah says while he watches him. I am waiting for the day he gets overly friendly and dumps the tank.

Today was a rainy day and we had planned a family movie for our evening activity, so I tortured myself by telling my children early on in the day that we wouldn't be watching tv because we were going to watch a movie that night. DUMB!!! This picture was taken at 5:20 pm. We were leaving at 6 and I was out of ideas. I pulled this one out of my teacher's hat and they loved it. Seriously, do they come any cuter? (Not bragging, just asking?) I think we are ready for another haircut.

We headed over to IWU to the Globe Theatre to watch Kung Fu Panda as a family on Friday night. Once last spring we attempted to go to a movie as a family and Isaiah and I didn't see the entire thing. (we were proud of ourselves for attempting the outing.) Tonight's movie out was a complete success, a complete blast and best of all two of our favorite families were there to join all the fun. The Spiegels and the Syswerdas also had the brilliant idea of a family movie night also but the Syswerda's get the prize for swimming and eating out as a family before the movie. This great day ended with a spontaneous game of Settler's of Catan. The Spiegels introduced us to the game last spring and we look for any excuse or way to get together with them to play it. Thanks for a great night and your willingness to put your kiddos to bed at our place.

The same rainy day as the movie, shaving cream post, we did it all this day. Playdough is a usual activity in our house and when the excitement wears off all I do is make more. They love to play with it when it is warm. I also change up the color and it is brand new again. My younger two will play for hours, Noah joins in when it's new and still enjoys it but not as often. He would rather curl up on the couch with a book.

This was such a fun day!!! I love my friends and I love it when we all get our kids together. Today was a huge memory making day and Dez, thank you so much for your effort, organization and willingness to have us all over. Sorry for posting so many pictures but I LOVE to relive this day through each one. I thoroughly enjoyed the relay games. Each and every child participated and had a ton of fun. To watch everyone do the races we grew up doing as kids was hilarious because to them it was all new. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. Thank you Traci for being the resident professional photographer and capturing the moments. The three legged race. Someone made the comment of seeing "future prom dates" together, how funny would that be. I am thankful for every child there, what a blessing these amazing kids are!!! Millie was hilarious laughing the entire time while Logan dragged her around. Red Rover, Red Rover send Logan on over. Seriously Carrie, she's four and ...

Below is Logan's entire class of twelve. She absolutely LOVES school. Mrs. Van is such a great teacher for Logan. Logan adores her and asks everyday if she gets to go to school. During this field trip I had to ask Mrs. Van to clarify something for me. For a few days I have been asking Logan what she wanted to dress up and be for her costume party. Logan would always say, Mrs. Van says it's a secret. She would never answer my question. This has bothered Noah for days because we have always taught our kids that they shouldn't keep secrets from mom and dad. Noah was insisting that I make Logan tell. I really couldn't get Logan to break which is hilarious to me because she can't keep a secret for anything, unless Mrs. Van says it. So I found out from Mrs. Van that when Logan decides what she is going to dress up as, THAT is the secret and she should keep it a surprise for the costume party day. I found it funny. Logan has decided to dress up as Cinderella. T...

Spencer Farm has become a favorite place for my kids to visit and for me to pick up delicious apples for pie and just to eat. I love how all three of my children bust out of the car and run to the pumpkins. Noah loves to see how big they are compared to how much they cost. Logan is all about the little ones and Isaiah kicks them like a soccer ball. On this visit the Demorest's joined us and Kailey and Logan found the perfect pumpkins.

The Chalkbox Kid was the title of a book I used to have in my classroom when I was teaching. I keep thinking of that book as Logan has daily been spending hours beautifying my driveway. She usually creates the same picutre, just as she is in this picuture. Quite abstract but there is a plan and system to her creations. I just had to capture her in action.

We have no trees, so we have no leaves. Noah has been eager to get over to Mrs. Demorest's house to rake her front yard. This pile was the result of his efforts. Kailey and Logan got to play in Noah's labor of love. They had a lot of fun jumping, playing and laughing. I love when my kids experience seasonal activities that they can look forward to each Fall.

The forecast was calling for 70 degrees and sunny, who can home school on a day like that? We blew off school and headed to Ft. Wayne. We took Conner with us and we all had a lot of fun. I took more pictures but they all are your typical zoo pictures that look the same as every other visit. But I do love this one, I asked Noah to sit up straight right before I took the picture, he took me quite seriously. I am thankful for gorgeous fall days and I am even more thankful for my three precious children.

This pictures sums up Noah's season. I didn't take my camera until tonight, (the next to last game) because year to year it all looks the same except for the uniform color. You can see Noah's determination and seriousness in which he takes each game captured in this picture. His team is undefeated this year and Noah thinks that is pretty cool. I love the corn fields, it couldn't be more obvious we live in Indiana. My two youngest angels, sitting, lovingly cheering on their older brother out of the deep desire to show their support and love of the game of soccer. They are just captivated. The truth, I threatened them to stay still, on the bleachers and watch until I got a few pictures of Noah taken because two seconds earlier they were running around like wild children. I think there was a threat of a spanking involved too. (What's a mom to do?? For the record, 10 minutes later it started raining and I spent the game under an umbrella with the two of them piled on ...

If there is one thing Logan loves it is ANY kind of accessory. I had to capture this one on my camera phone. OK, I know these pictures of Logan aren't great, disgusting a bit due to the half eaten chocolate doughnut smeared all over her mouth but this is how she PROUDLY walked around Walmart this afternoon wearing her Colts "ear puffs." She kept telling me, "Mom, they are kind of like headphones." The entire shopping trip she was wearing these and talking extremely loud. She is a hoot!!! I just wanted to remember this, she looks so ridiculous, I know it is a face only a mother could love. It wasn't a school day so she picked her clothes (thank you Amanda for the Blue's Clues t-shirt) and did her own hair, could you tell? She is the BEST!!!!