Happy Halloween!!

As I’m sitting here typing this post and looking at Christmas stockings I realize I am a little behind on my Halloween post, but tis the season for being busy and trying to play catch-up when you can.  This year Kaylee went as a leopard and Ainsley went as one of her faves Strawberry Shortcake, she had pink hair and all.

This is Kaylee after her school parade. Each year her school has a Halloween parade and then they all gather in front of the school for a school photo. A benefit to a smaller school.

Kaylee in her classroom waiting for their Halloween party to begin.

Making her craft at her party.

In years past we have always carved pumpkins about  a week before Halloween, however this year we did them the night before. I was worried we weren’t going to be able to get them carved. Time seem to just fly by!!

The girls hard at work getting the “goop” out.

The final product! These were completely designed by Kaylee and Ainsley.

Here is Ainsley “Miss Strawberry Shortcake” herself in the Montessori Halloween parade. She didn’t have pink hair for this, but did that night for Halloween.

Happy Anniversary Bentley and Ginny!!

In August Brad's parents, Bentley and Ginny, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! As this special day was approaching I asked what they would like us to do for them and they opted for a intimate family dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.

The happy couple!! 40 years of wedded bliss....


My Mom and Tim were there to join in the fun.

Mee-Maw and Ainsley

The four of us. I did bring in some flowers and their wedding photo in a frame for a little table decoration:)

Kaylee and Brad's sister Kristin

We had a nice dinner with good company. It's not every day that you get to celebrate something of this magnitude! Forty years is a long time to be married and I've been blessed to be a part of their life. They exemplify everything a marriage should be and make the work that you need to put into a marriage look easy. I only hope that Brad and I can follow in their footsteps and be the same amazing example for our own children. They are such a great pair, somedays similar to the Barone's on Everybody Loves Raymond but in a very good way! Here's is to 40 more!!!!

Fall Fun

Our fall has flown by! I can't believe that Thanksgiving week is here. Although I do love the Holiday Season it is still a little bittersweet to see all the festive decorations up in the stores. Even though I have started my shopping and even created our cards I'm still clinging to colored leaves on trees and all the pumpkin spice smells and tastes I can get. So what are some of things we've been doing, you might ask? Here are some of the photos to show you.

(Again all photos in random order, but at least I got the photos on here:))

Jumping on the large "inflatable pillow" at Rader's Farm. We go every year. I have to say it has changed a bit since attending bon-fires there in high school, Brad and I went to school with Adam, one of the sons. I asked Adam this year if after hours they have wrestling matches on it and if so could we come:).

Trying to lasso. Daddy helping Kaylee.

Grandpa helping Ainsley. Brad's parents always go with us. Brad's dad sells farm equipment and does a lot of business with the Raders. They are a great family!

Kaylee is now 4 foot 2 inches, exactly 1 foot shorter than myself. While I realize it doesn't take much to become taller then me I didn't think she would be catching up so quickly.

While Ainsley remains a peanut she is still sprouting right up!

We went to an ISU Fall Festival thing with some of Kaylee's school friends and their moms. This was on the hay rack ride.
Celebrated Brad's birthday!

It has certainly been a fun-filled fall!!!

Go Upward Go!

Kaylee was involved with a program called Upward this fall. It's an athletic program put on through a church in Bloomington-Normal. In the fall they offer Flag Football and Cheerleading. At first, I admit, I was a little hesitant to have her do this. I'm not sure why. However, several girls in her class were participating, and it is a program that teaches good sportsmanship and offers spiritual lessons as well. So we signed-up. We were very fortunate because one of Kaylee's classmates Mom was the coach and all she and her classmates all got to be on the same team. They had 1 practice during the week and a game on Saturday, each lasting an hour. It was cute to watch them and each week after practice and a game they got a star sticker to place on their megaphones. There were different color stickers each representing a different characteristic. The coach would go around and give each girl their sticker and say why they earned it. I have to say I was really glad we did this and I think it was the first activity that Kaylee did that she didn't ask when it was going to be over. At the end of the season they had a final celebration where the girls did a dance and all the kids received their participation gift. All in all it was a great season. Go Upward Go!! Here are some of the photos (I've been having issues getting my photos added to posts, so they aren't in order but I got photos on her so I'm going with it. See if I can get some of my draft posts actually posted:)):

Kaylee before her first game.

Brad and Ainsley at the end of the season celebration.

This is Ainsley with Ava. Ava's sister is in Kaylee's class and was on the squad with Kaylee. Ainsley and Ava will be in Kindergarten together next year. Side note there are 6 or 7 kids in Kaylee's class who have siblings that will all be in Kindergarten together next year.

Pre-game prayer huddle.
Kaylee and one of her best buddies Grace!!

Kaylee in the ready position, waiting for the cheer to start.

This was taken at the end of the season celebration. What a great squad!!!

Mexico

In September Brad and I, along with Brian and Sarah and her brother Adam and his wife Karen, went to Mexico. We started talking about doing an all inclusive this year in honor of our 10 year wedding anniversary. We opted for the 5 night stay, the others stayed for 7. Since this was the longest I had ever been away from the girls I figured 5 nights would be a good start:)

We went to the Secrets Silversands in Rivera Maya. We had an amazing time and I would love to go back. Get ready for potential photo overload below.:)


Sitting at the airport in our bus waiting to go to our resort. I loved the Corona tower.

The view from our balcony.

These little geckos were all over the place. Especially at night.

Hanging out one night after dinner. This night all the girls decided to wear flowers in our hair:) (Thank you Stef for your assistance in this:))
The boys playing some pool.

Part of the lobby.

Another lobby view. They had a bar in the middle and a lot cushy lounge chairs and couches all over the lobby.

My toes in the water on the beach:)

A bar on the beach. We spent many evenings their playing cards and hanging out.

Pre-dinner couple photo shoot. Just like Prom...haha! The boys loved it:) Just one more...

Brian and Sarah

Adam and Karen

Me and my hubby. Loved the infinity pool:)

We went deep sea fishing this day. We were super excited as it was just our group on the boat. However I ended up getting sea sick, as did Sarah:( Karen kept it together pretty well and the boys all handled it great. One barracuda was caught, I spent 4 hours trying to focus on one spot in the horizon to keep my hanging over the side moments to a minimum. The waves were 4-5 feet when we got out to middle of nowhere and needless to say it threw the boat around pretty good. I have never been seasick before so I was a little surprised. After we got back I took a 4 hour nap and felt much better:)

These iguanas were also all over the place. Some would even get close enough to eat from your hand. You had to be careful though because they had sharp little teeth.

This was a crew on the catamaran we went on one day. It was so fun. We got on in the morning, went snorkeling, to an island for lunch, another island for shopping, had some fun dancing and relaxing on the way back and were dropped off late afternoon. A great day!

Saw this flag while leaving the shore on the boat. I think it was the biggest flag I have ever seen!

Sarah and I on the boat.

I saw these pirate ships while we waiting to board the boat. They were pretty cool looking! I wonder if Captain Jack was anywhere to be found?

When we got out of the taxi at the marina I saw this Sponge Bob poster that was printed in Spanish, of course. I thought the girls would get a kick out of it.

Happy 10 year wedding anniversary and a great vacation!!!!

Blog Pause

Well Brad and his dad went to check the trail cameras as deer season is rapidly approaching. When doing this they always take the laptop to load the photos from the camera and then put the memory card back into the cameras. Unfortunately yesterday that also involved Brad's dad sitting on the backpack which contained our laptop.

It was sitting on the 4-wheeler and he totally missed seeing it when he sat down. The computer still boots up but the screen is gone. While this is far from the worst thing that can ever happen to us it does mean that until we get a new laptop, which will hopefully be soon, my blog will be on pause.

What to look forward to upon my return? Photos of our Mexico trip, which are up via Facebook, as well as other highlights from things that we have been up to lately.

Stay tuned!

Memories

Memories, honestly I don't know if that's a good title for this post or not. I've been thinking that I needed to do a post. Lots of random things rattling around in my brain. Really lots of things I could do lots of different posts on, but I'm not. I'm not because lately it's hard to find time to blog. School is back in session and we are re-settling into our school year routine, although thus far it's pretty smooth. My "to-do" lists multiply and I am forever running through them in my mind.

In almost a week, 8 days to be exact, Brad and I will be heading to Mexico! I'm very excited although I'm starting to drift over into the anxiety arena and wondering "Should I really be going?" "What if something happens?" "My poor Mom and Tim!" "Am I asking too much of them to be doing this?" and so on. I wonder where Kaylee gets her anxiety trait from?:) I know it will be fine and while I also know there will be tears when I say bye to the girls, more from me as we are driving after leaving them, I know they will be fine. I know once we get in the air, OK maybe once in Mexico with a drink in my hand:) I'll be fine. I've just never left them this long and honestly even if it's for a night I still go through the same anxiety.

Last week when we lost our sweet black lab Abby, she was 10 1/2, I kept feeling that I needed to post. It was really hard though. She was our wedding gift to each other the spring before we got married. She kept me company many a nights while Brad was traveling for work. She was my snuggle buddy in the winter and would lay on my feet at night to keep them warm. She was one of the most sweet and sensitive dogs I have ever known. We were so blessed to have her as a member of our family. The girls have done well. They were pretty upset the day we lost her, but have done very well since. In fact one morning she and Ainsley were having a discussion about Abby. Ainsley, all 4 years and not really getting death, was asking Brad some questions. Trying to understand where Abby was now that she died. She asked Brad if we could still pet her. To which Kaylee expressed how silly she thought that idea was. Few minutes later Kaylee was looking up at the sky and said "Theoretically if we throw a bone high enough in the sky I bet we can get it to Abby in Heaven." That makes my heart smile and hurt all at the same time. I smile because of the innocent and sincere thought of my 6 year old trying to figure it all out, and there's a little pride mixed in due to her using the word "theoretically" in the appropriate context. My heart hurts because I know it isn't possible, and it reminds me of other's that we've lost. Wouldn't it be great if there was one of those things like they use at bank drive-thrus. We could just put something in it and shoot it up to the sky into Heaven.

I suppose in a way we do, maybe not physically but we do. We do when we have those memories. For example when Kaylee recites one of the million "As Seen on TV" commercials or oohs and aahhs when we get a new catalog. I know my Grandpa Duffy is laughing and feeling prideful of her for her love of catalog orders. It must be something in the Duffy DNA. When Ainsley could just lay in water all day, I think of how my Grandma Riker is joyful in her love of the water. Again must be something in the DNA as my Grandma was an alternate swimmer for one of the Olympic swim teams.

I have a doll in my china cabinet in the living room. It's one my Grandma Duffy gave to me. The girls like to look at it but know they shouldn't open the door to play with her. Although as I am typing I looked over at it and noticed someone has so kindly put a book in there for her to read. Ironically it's a Precious Moments coloring book. The rest of the cabinet is filled with Precious Moments. They know it's from my grandma. The other day Ainsley was asking me about it and she said "I wish we had pictures of your Grandma so we could remember her." I said "We do." I proceeded to show her photos on the computer and got some albums out to show her some other photos. Some of the photos are of Ainsley and her. Memories that I have that Ainsley was too young to hold onto.

Memories, they are like are little Heaven message senders. They are what keeps our minds, hearts and spirits connected to those that are watching from above. Thankfully through photos and written words we can pass these memories on to those that were too young to retain the experience or who aren't yet here. A great way to keep memories of lost ones alive!

These are some of the million things that float around in my head, next to the "to-do lists", all 5,000 of them.