Fall

Even though the weather has been warm and it feels more like summer, it is the middle of September and school, AWANA and swimming lessons are on their way.
Kylie has started swimming lessons this week, she loves it! She has advanced to the next level and has 3 other children in her group now.
AWANA started last week. Kylie moved from Cubbies to Sparks this year. She had to memorize John 3:16 and learned new words like, everlasting and perish, and I am sure she will be using them in sentences soon. Because she knew her verse, she earned her Sparks membership card. When we arrived home she informed her dad that she has a "credit card"...I'm not sure if she knows what a credit card is, and if she does, she doesn't know it from me.... :)

We have been walking Kylie back and forth to school. Today instead of a walk, it was a waggon ride. I surely thought Brayden will be riding in the waggon both ways. WRONG....he pulled the waggon all the way there and pushed on the way back...such a guy thing!

My sweetheart!

My "twins"!

Enjoying the warm weather...and the fallen leaves!

Simply Elegant

This weekend Galena hosted "Ladies Getaway Weekend '09". The weekend kicked off with a fashion show on Friday night. My friend, Robin owns a clothing shop in Galena (she has the best clothes in Galena, check it out if you don't believe me http://www.simplyelegantboutique.com/ )and asked a few ladies from our church if we would like to model for her store. Of course we all accepted and we had an AMAZING time!!!! We had our make-up done by Robin (who has her own make-up line called :"Patricia") and our hair done by Emily, her store employee.

Here we all are posing for the camera!

There was an actual tent outside the building where ladies were getting ready for the cat walk(23 stores were represented.) We got ready at the store.

The runway - Me and Amy

Cat walk (Amy looks so good in the little black dress with the choker necklace)

My outfit

I wore this coat when I stepped on the runway but took it off to show the rest of the outfit. I think it looks very high fashion.

Me and Ale (she's so beautiful!)

Some of us ladies, dinning at Vinny Vanucchy's.

Later that evening, we went out to dinner at "Vinny Vanucchy's". When we were done, Ale and I went back to the store with Robin and shopped until 11:00p.m. it was fun to have the store to ourselves. I found a pair of LTB jeans that I love! We didn't get home until 11:30 and found Brett and Sam *Ale's hubby* sleeping on the couch! Thank you guys for letting us have our fun!!!

What an incredible night...i am still on cloud 9 from the fun we had!

Preschool

This has been one of the most exciting weeks for my daughter Kylie, and for everyone who loves this beauty to pieces! On Tuesday we embarked on a new adventure when Kylie started Preschool at Our Redeemer. She is loving it so far!

Grandma and grandpa were here to support Kylie at the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
I also think they were here for emotional support for me.
Me with my sweet preschooler!

Daddy, grandpa and I went to pick Kylie up from school (me and gma walked Kylie to school). Me and the boys have been walking Kylie to school for the rest of the week (Wed. and Th). After their naps, we walk back to the school to pick Kylie up. We're planning on walking back and forth as long as the weather permits us.

Kylie telling grandpa all about her 1st day on the walk home.

1st art project in school

Grandma and Grandpa took us out for dinner to celebrate the beginning of an era...from now on, there will be school work to do until my little girl is an adult and hopefully beyond.

Dear Lord, please protect this little heart and mind. I pray her education will equipe her well to face this world and take it by storm and I BEG that her heart and soul will be YOURS! Amen.

Labor Day Weekend

I can't believe our very much anticipated 3day weekend is OvEr...but I can say we've made the best of it.
On Friday night Sam and Ale came over for movie night and dessert. After we watched an action movie "U-571", we decided we needed to watch a chick flick as well, so we ended up staying up very late watching "Life or Something Like It". What can I say, we like movies!
Saturday morning, Kylie and I had some mother/daughter bonding time. We went shopping for some clothes for Kylie and some other fun stuff (NO GROCERIES ON OUR LIST!) Saturday night we went to Benji and Abby's for dinner.
Also on Saturday i cleaned up my front door and did a little decorating. I hardly ever use my front door (we use the back or garage door), so I failed to notice that a family of spiders made its home outside my front door. QUitE the welcome for people that come to visit us- scare the life out of them...Anyways, I cleaned it up, wiped the windows, rearranged the decorations I already had. Kylie and I bought a bouquet of fresh orange/gold Victorias (Kylie picked them, good taste darling) and I repoted them into an antique tin box that was once a gift from Nicole (my sister-n-law).
My front door ready to welcome visitors!

On Sunday we went to church and after nap time we headed over to Jumping Jane's to celebrate our friends' daughter's 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday Emma! It was loads of fun!

Staff T-shirts...LOL

On Monday we went to the Madison Zoo for the day. It was a last minute plan so not very many of our friends were able to come, BUT some came and we had a great time!

Me and my sweet peas!

Sam and Ale-- sweet friends!

We made it to Madison just on time for lunch and had a picnic at a park near the Zoo.

My favorite from this Zoo...

After a tiring day at the Zoo, we enjoyed a very YUMMMYYYY dinner at HuHot-Mongolian Grill. Yes, it's true what you see with your own eyes, my kiddies are eating with chopsticks! It was delicious!

We had a wonderful weekend and it seems like it has flown by in the blink of an eye. I am trying really hard not to be too emotional about Kylie starting Preschool tomorrow so I think my way of not being a wreck was to keep busy. I will post pictures of Kylie's 1st day of school soon!

Sleepover

Kylie and Brayden had been anxiously waiting to someday have a sleepover with a couple of their friends. Last night, Mya and Lauren came over and spent the night! It was a fun filled night that went on WAY past their bedtime. Here are some highlights of the much anticipated sleepover....
Dancing and wrestling...


Watched "Tinkerbell" until 12:00 a.m.

Hunger set in at about 11:30pm, so mommy made some popcorn...


Finally in bed...But not ready to sleep...

For going to bed at almost 1am, the munchkins were up by 8...They came into our room and started pulling the covers off chanting:"Wake-up! Wake-up! Sleepy heads!"

....ANd they awoke the tickle monster!

Colton is watching all the commotion from his pack-n-play...

Brayden and the girls colored while Brett and I made pancakes...

Chocolate chips pancakes for breakfast!
Coloring before breakfast, painting after breakfast....

It was a beautiful day, so we went outside to play awhile until Mya and Lauren had to head home. The sleepover was a lot of fun, we'll have to do it again, soon!

Look who's crawling!!!!

This is old news for our immediate family, Colton has been crawling for the past week and a half, almost 2 weeks!!! Mommy has been slacking on updating everyone plus we filmed him crawling with our video camera and I have no idea how to download it onto the computer :D. Before he started army crawling, he was rolling to where he wanted to get to, but n-o-w he is one fast and busy little man. This accomplishment has added a new dimension to the business of being a mom. I am excited and a little sad...he is growing up a bit too fast for mommy.

Colton's Dedication

This Sunday was Colton's baby dedication. This means that Brett and I make a commitment to raise Colton with the knowledge of Jesus and pray that he will honor HIM when he grows up.
It was quite the party!! We had 4 babies being dedicated (for those of you who know our church: Aiden Barkhurst-Clark and his 2 toddler brothers, Jackson Leverentz, Iain Pitman, and of course our Colton Hoben). At least one set of grandparents were present and from a couple of families (including ours) great-grandparents were there!
Church was held at Flora Park. Thankfully the weather was beautiful so we could enjoy the service and the Taco Bar lunch that followed! It was perfect!

Colton with parents and great-grandparents.

Sam Janecke prayed for Colton and our family.

Colton with parents, grandparents, brother and our friend, Sam.

The cake!! And Anita, the cake cuter.

The pavilion was packed because of all the extended families being there and also because the Emmaus students are back to school. This was the students' first Sunday back!!!

** After a very busy weekend with a wedding on Saturday, a bean-toss tournament on Saturday afternoon till late at night, preparations for Sunday, and the dedication, I was pretty pooped by Sunday afternoon. But I had a chance to relax with a nap and a manicure party at a beauty salon, where my friend, Mikaela works. Thank you Mik for the manicure, it was just what I needed!