Happy New Year...2010!

Wow, it's hard to believe that it is 2010! As I look back on 2009, I feel so blessed. It has been a great year for our family. We have been so glad to be back in Iowa, feeling settled and peaceful. And we were so blessed to get to have our little man join our family back in March. During 2009, I had a private blog where I wrote a short journal entry each day and posted one picture. While it will be a treasured possession and something I am so glad that I did, I cannot attempt to do that again. It was a lot of work. This year, I am going to try for weekly updates and photos. That way, the granparents can see some pictures of the kids and I can at least jot down a few things that we are doing.

A Look Back at Halloween

Since Thanksgiving is almost here, I wanted to get a few pictures posted from our Halloween fun. We really did have a good time and did a lot of fun things this year. Some favorite memories:

-Carving pumpkins- I love it, Tod tolerates it! After all the pumpkins were carved, we took them out to the porch, then realized that the door had locked behind us and we were stuck out in the cold. Even worse, Cole was in the house. Thanks to our trusty, resourceful neighbors for helping us get back inside!

-Parties, parties and more parties. The girls had a very fun Girl Scout Halloween party and also celebrated at school. I loved going to see them in the traditional school Halloween parade- brings back lots of memories from my elementary days.

-Trick or treating as a family on Oct. 30- our city's rule! It was a cold, blustery Iowa night, but we still managed to cover most of the neighborhood and get a ton of candy! This year we had the Cat in the Hat, High School Musical Cheerleader, Tigger (she insisted it was just a tiger) and a baseball player (who stayed snuggled in his stroller) We live in one of the best "trick-or-treating" neighborhoods ever- nearly everyone participates and lots of people dress up and decorate their porches, doors, etc.

-Tod's family came up for the weekend, and we had such a good time together. The kids loved seeing cousins Kayla and Leah and going to the trunk-or-treat at church- again more candy!!!

Pride of the Wapsi

We couldn't miss out on our yearly pumpkin patch tradition! October was very cold here, so when we finally had a free Saturday and it wasn't rainy, we decided to just go a head and go. I'm so glad we did. It was so fun to take the girls and Cole was a good sport too. I took one of my favorite pictures of him and Tod together. The girls favorite part was the blow up haunted house.

San Antonio Trip

So my blog has really suffered the last few months with things being so busy. Not many folks are probably looking at it anymore, which is fine. I need to do a better job of updating it though, because it is all that I have for a journal right now. As I look back on old entries, a blog is such a good record of what has been going on. So I am going to try to do better.

In October, Cole and I flew down to San Antonio to see my sister Katy. We were also able to see Melissa and her family as well, since they had come from Utah. This trip was amazing and so much fun! It was the first time for me to meet baby Sutton and baby Skye and for Cole to meet my sisters. I know babies don't really know, but it was so good to have these little ones together finally! We had such a nice relaxing weekend, going to Nick's football game, cooking, talking and laughing so much!!! It is so amazing to see your little sisters grow to become such wonderful mothers and women. They are incredible, and it is so hard to live so far apart. But the memories of this weekend will be treasured for a very long time!!!

(Tod did a phenomenal job with the girls at home...I really think they hardly missed me at all!)

Regan Goes to Preschool!

Regan is finally in preschool! She is having such a great time and wishes she could go every day. The first time I dropped her off, she just said, "Okay, bye mom". She has been a part of dropping so many people off to preschool and finally, it was her turn! She couldn't be happier.

Back to School!

Ashton and Jordan completed their first full week of school...and they did great! It's hard to believe that we have a 2nd grader and a kindergartner. It's always an adjustment for everyone to get back into the school routine...but we are all getting there. Regan has had a hard time not having her playmates around. She is excited to start her preschool next week. Cole has been enjoying actually being able to nap in his crib. As many of you may know, I also started "back to school". I am working on earning a masters degree in developmental reading at The University of Iowa. I am just taking one class each semester, one night a week. Last week was my first class, and I loved it! Here are some pictures from the first few days.

A Special Place

There is a place that is a special place, a place where you can swim in a puddle, help Grandpa fix a tractor, swing away the day, run around in pink cowboy boots, relax in a hammock with your sister, or check the chicken coop for eggs. There is always so much to do at this special place and it is full of love and memories.

We spent the last couple of weeks in Missouri at the farm, and we truly love this special place. I am so glad that the girls have a place like this to go to and have adventures. Thanks to Grandma Cindy, Grandpa Steve and everyone else for a great time!