Rebecca, 19 mos

Rebecca has become very fond of drawing, and she's not limited to paper. She draws on the cabinets, the walls, trash cans, clothes, furniture, the kids' homework....We try to keep writing utensils out of her reach, but with 6 other people in the house that all write, it's just hard to always keep things out of her reach!
 
She loves her siblings so much and gets so excited when it's time to go get them every day. But she also really enjoys our time without them during the day. We go for a walk almost every day, and it still amazes me how she sits in her stroller so contentedly for HOURS while we walk (knock on wood!).  She still doesn't talk much...she can say "Dada", "No", "Uh-oh", and most recently she learned "Mama". Definitely our latest talker! But as soon as I'm getting concerned, I hear the roar of talking from the other 4 and realize I can wait a little bit to add another talker to the mix. :)

Apple Picking

In October we took our first ever trip to go apple picking!   We went to Sky Top Orchards. The scenery and the weather were gorgeous!  They had so many types of apples to choose from. We grabbed several baskets at the beginning and everyone just went crazy picking the apples. Before we knew it, we had so many we could barely pull the wagon!  Oops!!  Rookie mistake, we shouldn't let the kids pick and pick without limiting them. We ended up having $50 worth of apples, which was 220 apples!  I wasn't sure we'd ever eat them all, but we actually ate them in just a couple of weeks! We discovered lots of new ways that we like to eat apples, with the most popular being peeled and sliced in the crock pot with sugar and cinnamon. I think everyone's favorite part of the apple orchard, however, were the fresh donuts. Oh my, they were melt in your mouth!!!  We can't wait to go back next year, when we'll get the donuts first and then once the kids are all worn out from playing, we'll pick apples. :) 
 

Pumpkins and Halloween

Rebecca and I were able to tag along on Daniel's class trip to the pumpkin patch this year. It was lots of fun!  She loves Daniel so much and was THRILLED when the bus pulled up at the farm and she saw him waving from the window!
We carved pumpkins on the Sunday  before Halloween this year.  The weather was perfect for spending the afternoon on the deck and everyone had their own ideas for how they wanted their pumpkins. They pretty much did it themselves, except Emily still hates getting her hands messy in the pumpkin. :) On Halloween, Daniel was Ironman, Lexi was a pirate, Elaine was a horse, Rebecca was a pumpkin, and Emily was a queen. We went out as soon as we finished dinner (6:30ish) and trick-or-treated until 9pm. I couldn't believe Rebecca lasted so long! 

Liberty Homecoming 2013

I LOVE the tradition of taking our family back to Liberty for homecoming with our college friends each year.  It's such a great environment and so fun to see "old" faces and places each fall.
This year, we once again made it a day trip.  We left home at breakfast time and arrived just in time to meet up with friends, enjoy some carnival rides, and have the alumni lunch.  After lunch we watched the parade, then headed to the football game. After halftime it started raining, so we packed up and went to the mall together for dinner before parting ways to go home. A LOOONG but very fun day!!