Fall fun....

We are enjoying the beautiful fall season here in Indiana.....my all-time favorite time of the year! Although it's been unseasonable warm this time around....I'm ready for chilly weather, sweaters and the smell of a bonfire every night! : ) We have been able to take advantage of our fire pit and great woods next to the house and have already had a couple nights of roasting marshmallows and sitting around the fire, one of our favorite past-times as a family! This past weekend we decorated pumpkins, had our family over for soup and yummy bread, celebrated my youngest niece's 17th birthday (where does the time go?) and spent a day at King's Island amusement park with the kiddos and some friends! What fun times! Here are a few photos from recently. Just trying to take time every single day to thank God for who He is and all that He has given us!!!!

Enjoying Life... : )

School is now in full gear as the girls have been back on our "routine" for about a month now. They are all still enjoying their new year so far. We've been busy with Allie and Lauren also getting back into their music lessons once a week....Lauren decided to stick with piano again this year while Allison wanted to take a break from her guitar and take some voice lessons this time around....she is loving it and is doing really well! We are also back into the swing of Wed night small group Biblestudy at church as well as Mommy and Allie heading to a new girls Bible study night (called Girls Night Out!) on Monday nights for just the local 6th grade girls to attend....it is so fun and a wonderful way for her to connect with other girls her age and learn about Jesus a bit more and Mommy is really enjoying helping with it as well. Katelyn enjoys heading to her "class" on Fridays again this school year....she is getting so big! Jason has been busy traveling alot this month.....all of his girls will be glad when that slows down a bit! We have enjoyed recent trips to our favorite orchard here in town for raspberry picking as well as heading out to a local church festival. And we've celebrated our niece's (Abby!) 18th birthday recently! Other than enjoying the business of life while trying to remember to slow down to take it all in....we are doing great! Ready for the gorgeous fall season to make its way into Indiana....one of my all-time favorite times of the year!!!

Lauren Turns 7!!!! : )

Lauren turned 7 this past week....just seems like yesterday that we spent the day before she was born at the State Fair walking around (and yes, me eating everything in sight! HA!) and then coming home to anxiously await the night before she arrived into our family....and now 7 years later...she's started 1st grade, loves playing with her friends, riding her big girl bike, creating lots of arts and crafts, and thinks it's pretty neat to sleep on the top bunk of her bunkbeds! ; ) We celebrated with two parties this year......one for her and some of her friends last weekend...she wanted a pirate themed party! ARGHHH!! : ) And then one this past Sat for our family to come over, eat, play in the water and have fun! What a great couple of weekends we have had!!! Here are some photos to share from our celebration....and again, Happy birthday to one of the sweetest, prettiest and compassionate little girls we know! We love you Lauren Elizabeth Massey and are so thankful God has blessed us with you in our family!!!

First day of school! : )

Cannot believe that we are ready to start school again! Summer has flown by! The girls are both pretty excited about it....Allie (given that she is a 6th grader this year) is glad to be able to see her friends every day again but not so glad to have to wake up early and have homework during the week! Lauren, heading into 1st grade, could not be more excited! She told me this morning while we were waiting on the bus that she was so excited she could almost pee her pants! ; ) I told her she better not do that! HA! I cannot wait until they get home so I can hear all about their first day back! Now on to the rest of our day.....spending a little time one-on-one with my sweet Katelyn! Just think....a couple of more years and she'll be getting on that bus as well....ugh, I don't even wanna think about that yet! : )

Fun at the State Fair!

We carried on our family tradition and took a day before school starts to head out to the State Fair for some fun and good deals! We always go on the $2 discount day....$2 for food, $2 for rides and $2 to get in...woohoo! : ) This year we got a bit later start (Allie was at the movies with some friends earlier in the day as a treat!) so we stayed the latest we've ever stayed....got home at 11:30pm! But had a great time. The kiddos always love seeing all of the animals, as well as playing a couple of games, riding a few rides and...the best part of all.....eating all of the fair food! :) What a great way to round out an absolutely awesome summer!!!!!!