Bryant's Yellow Belt Kata

This is Bryant doing the Yellow Belt Kata. He earned 1st place in his division!!

Fall Photo Shoot

I headed outside today to attempt a few pictures of the kids. 3 out of the 4 made it. We'll get Emmett later.

My country girl...

So stunningly beautiful.

The girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. (Or to the side, but so, so cute.)



My farm boy... 

 He kills me with his cuteness. But don't tell him I said so. He'll go, "Mo-ommmmmm!" with an eye roll.

 It was going so, incredibly well...

 ...and then this happened:

 "Bryant, look at me and smile." He is so accommodating.

 "Just smile for me..."

 "Aaannnddd, we're done."

 Stu-Bear's turn!

 Mommy needs to practice her picture taking directions: "Put your chin down, Stuey."

 "Now smile with your teeth."

 "Hmmm..."

 "Pretty good, there, Buds!"

 And I lost him. Bryant may have been in the background causing this.

 Stuart is the BEST at taking purposeful awkward photos.

 You might think this is a candid shot, however, I had about 10 pictures with this exact face right in a row. Totally on purpose.

 This is a true Stu-Bear smile. So handsome, my quiet (except when squealing at Bryant or Emmett), tender-hearted boy.

 This one decided to take off all his clothes. All of them. Then he was cold. Because he didn't have any clothes on. Not any. So we will get "official" mommy pictures later.

These pictures make me happy. 4 unique personalities. 4 little bodies that create all sorts of fireworks level chaos when added together. 4 of the greatest gifts I could ever receive. They are not mine to keep, but how I love that my name is Mommy to them.

October Adventures

These are the nuggets right after we got them. They are now much bigger and uglier.

 John gifted me with a new, beautiful sink and faucet.

 We live here...this is my retreat.

 And the view cannot get better than this...

 I had lots of help while John was gone transferring the fryers to their fancy pens in the pasture.

 This is our neighbor, Aubrey's closest friend. What an incredible blessing from God. Their friendship is very much like Anne of Green Gables and Diana.

 Aubrey gets to participate in the Nutcracker this year. She is SO excited. And SO cute.

 This kid walks around the house saying, "I a BIG boy, I wear underwear and pull-yups. Yep. I a BIG boy."

 We are getting eggs every day!

 The boy and his kitten.

 On one of John's first permanent days home we drove to Hood River to pick apples.

 He cannot go down the slide the correct way. He just can't.

 Bryant participated in his first karate tournament. I hope to get better pictures from people but I was too busy being emotional and nervous for him to take any good ones. He won first place for his kata and 4th place in point sparring. He was definitely the cutest competitor out there. :) And fierce.

 This is the normal at home. Chickens roaming the yard, little people swinging from ropes, bigger siblings aiding littler ones on their adventures...for better or worse. 2 seconds after this picture was taken, Emmett fell. Apparently he was yelling that he was slipping and Aubrey didn't understand so she kept swinging him.

 We went to a pumpkin patch and loved every minute of it.

 Shana, Grammy, and the twins were there, too.

 "This is so big! And the sun is so bright!"

 The ladies, except for me. :)

 Bryant's enormous pumpkin.

 They went on a pig train ride...

 About half of the Anderson cousins.