Family Fundraiser Day!

Last weekend was a fundraiser weekend for us! Or I should say, Sunday was...In the morning we did a 5K walk for cancer with my mom's cousins on the Deziel side... The pics from that are trapped on my cell phone despite Josh telling me I should be able to get them on here...I am still working on that...the other event was for my mom's cousin Karen's husband who suffered a stroke and is in for a long road of rehab and medical bills! This was one of the best fundraiser dinners I have been to...there was silent auction, bake sale, games for kids, games for adults, music, photos, and a "giving tree" with leaves that you could purchase for certain treatments or services that they could use. It was pretty amazing how many people packed that hotel ballroom! Despite being about some pretty tough stuff, it was great to see some of my family I don't see very often!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

How did 8 years fly by so fast? For her birthday, she wanted to get her ears pierced...all sparkly and ready for another year...Today our oldest baby turns another year greater! We love you so much,

Roo!

MEA Arboretum

Yesterday we went to the Arboretum with my mom and my sisters and the kids...after all 6 kids slept over at my parents house...EEEK! Tired kids, but they did manage to have a lot of fun at the scarecrow exhibit and walking the gardens...until the big bad bee stung Rowan in the ear (Rowan's fault...if he would have kept his hands down like I told him too, the bee would not have stung him. He got stuck by Rowan's ear when Rowan covered his ears because he heard the buzzing...).

* I should note, we spent all of lunch telling the kids not to panic and swat at them or they were more likely to get stung...

Meanwhile, he only screamed bloody murder for about 10 minutes and scared more people than the scarecrows! He is not allergic to bee stings(He's been stung before and was fine!), but his ear swelled up a bit and he freaked out...after we got a cup of ice from the restaurant and he held it on his ear...by himself, he didn't want ANYONE near his ear...he settled down. But that ended our adventure! Poor guy!

Sorry, tons of pics of this, cuz the weather was beautiful and the leaves were amazing...and the crowds were amazing too...there was a line to get in when we came and when we left...MEA Weekend + Beautiful temps + Changing leaves = HUGE CROWD!

Corn Maze!

Time for the Annual Corn Maze festivities! We went this weekend and it seems the kids have not outgrown "swimming" in corn and hopping hay bales. The mom's however are a little more nervous watching them as they are a lot more wild and crazy the older they get!

Little Zo!

We went to Arizona earlier this week for the funeral of my Uncle Mike. It was a hard one for our family, but there was one ray of sunshine on those rare cloudy Phoenix days...Zosia (zo-see-a) or Zo-Zo as she calls herself! Zo is my cousin's daughter, adopted last winter and this is our first time meeting this amazing little girl! She's almost 2 and super smart! I gave her my hand to give me five, and she grabbed it and shook it like a grown up! Just the CUTEST thing ever! Ok here are some of the pics...this is still not all of them, but you get the point...she is A-DOR-ABLE!

Ok, a Few More...

I picked out the photos that will likely be in the Christmas Card, so here are a few more faves that WON'T be on the card, for your entertainment...and to keep Meg off my back...