Recently...

The boys' school pictures came back. We love them!

Earlier this month we celebrated our sweet friend Hayden's birthday at Kingpin Bowling. The boys loved bowling, but their favorite part of the party was definitely the arcade!

For our 9th wedding anniversary, Creed and I got away to the Smokey Mountains for three nights. It was the perfect long weekend, and also happened to fall on my birthday. 

The deck on our cabin was simply the best place for a morning cup of coffee!

The view while riding the Aerial Tram down the mountain. 

Each year we go up to Ober Gatlinburg to race the Alpine Sleds. It's was a blast, even though Creed won...on my birthday. ;)

That's Gatlinburg in the distance.

While we were gone...my aunt and uncle came to town and brought a birthday cake for me and Grandma, not realizing that I was gone.  Thankfully they saved me a piece!

One afternoon we took a quick drive through the mountains and stopped to walk across this bridge. It is so, so gorgeous there! This was the extent of our hiking. :)

Marshma and Papa got Caleb a new Lego set, and after we got home from our trip, Creed and Caleb spent an hour or two building.

The finished product- the ice cream truck from the Lego Movie.

Last Friday night Creed and I got to get away again! We spent the evening in a suite at Churchill Downs for the nights races for his work. It was freezing...so we were super thankful to be inside!

After the races we stayed at the Galt House, which was already decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful!

Yesterday we went to court...

However,  it was for a wonderful occasion- Ed officially adopted sweet Ava! So, so happy for them!

An Early First Snow Day

When my phone rang at 5:30 this morning with the boys' school on caller ID, I wasn't surprised. My meteorologist of a husband told me last Thursday that today would be a snow day and he was right. The boys were thrilled to play in the snow and have a simple, low key day at home.

Apparently snow means it is acceptable to run and tackle your brother!

We even did a little sledding, although it isn't nearly as fun when Daddy isn't there.

Our day also consisted of a trip to the Redbox for a movie (since the roads were perfectly fine to drive on- ha!) and hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.

We also brought the snap blocks down from the playroom and the boys played for over an hour building wild creations. It was a great, snowy day!

Trick or Treating

We had two red Power Rangers this year for Halloween! The boys decided their costumes months ago, and while we waited until the last minute to buy them, they never wavered on their decision.

We actually started out trick or treating early, with the threat of rainy, cold weather. While Caleb was tough and unfazed from the dropping temperatures, Luke was not the happiest trick or treater...unless he was digging in someone's candy bowl. ;)

Our favorite stop- Marshma and Papa's house. It was shortly after this picture that it started sleeting, so we headed back towards home.

While Luke quickly unloaded his candy and warmed up, Caleb and Creed went back out for another hour. They did take gloves and hats before they went back out.

Later that night, after the boys were already tucked in their beds, we had to call them back down. It was snowing! On Halloween! Big, fluffy snowflakes. And while they didn't stick, it was still exciting for the boys.

Our Trip to Huber's

On Sunday, October 26th, we ventured up to Huber's farm for our annual pumpkin picking trip with the Durst family. This was our seventh year in a row visiting the farm, and quite possibly the best. It was a sunny, warm afternoon and surprisingly, not crowded at all! We all had a great time finding the perfect pumpkin.

Madalyn, Hayden, Caleb, Luke, and Kathryn

Silly faces on the tractor ride back. We had the wagon all to ourselves!

Instead of venturing into the barnyard play area, the kids all agreed that the corn maze sounded more fun.

And the big kids had fun too. ;) 

Bennett's 1st Birthday

Two Saturdays ago we went up to Cincinnati to celebrate Bennett's 1st Birthday! He is growing so fast and it was great to get to love and hug on him.

Happy Birthday, Bennett!

Garrett, Leah, and the birthday boy

He was loving the cake!

Spiderman enjoyed his cake as well. :)

The highlight of Caleb's day was getting to play their beautiful piano! He was so, so happy!