This Unfamiliar Road

As we are entering the Christmas season (and taking down all the fall decor), I have been glancing back at pictures from this fall.
We stayed very busy, and really enjoyed being outdoors!

Here are a few of my favorite memories from Fall 2016:

Peyton's school hosted a day in the pumpkin patch, along with a puppet show! I loved snapping some picture of my girls in the patch. Eliza fit right in with the class :)






We love going to the fair every fall! This year, things got really interesting as Eliza was old enough to ride most of the rides. Peyton was happy to show her the ropes.







I enjoyed co-hosting a beautiful baby shower for my best friend. Christa and her husband LOVE to travel, so this emerged as a theme! We had an "around-the world" dessert bar and I got to make a Guinness Chocolate cake with Baileys frosting (for Christa's Irish roots). I can't wait to meet this baby in January!



Of course, we played in the leaves. A lot.


Ben played hooky from work one day and we took a trip to the zoo!






We enjoyed spending some time with Banyan's litter of puppies. This was the "FIRST" litter and they were all so squishy and cute! Elize is definitely the dog-lover of our family.


Peyton had so much fun visiting Tee-Pee's at school, and participating in traditional music ceremonies. That week, we also enjoyed her Thanksgiving program.




We ended our fall season with TWO wonderful Thanksgiving dinners. We have so much to be thankful for.




Blessings to all in the upcoming holiday season!

Our obsession with the movie Inside Out has extended to our Halloween! In very early August, Peyton announced that she wanted us to dress as Inside Out characters. We took a family vote, and decided we could make it happen.
Since there aren't enough of us to make all 5 emotions, we got a little creative with other characters.

Meet: Riley, Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong!


In the morning, we watched Peyton in her school parade, and enjoyed her class party.






 I love it when our family and friends all come together for Halloween!



Bing Bong giving Sadness a ride in his rocketship


I just had to include this photo- we call it "Sadness After-Party" haha


I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! We are already brainstorming for next year :)

For the second Easter in a row, I was scheduled to work the weekend. For night shift, that means Friday and Saturday night. Technically I had Easter Sunday off, but I knew I would not be feeling very social.

On Saturday morning, Ben and the kids went to his Mom's house for the day to celebrate and let Mommy sleep in a quiet house. Eliza enjoyed her first Easter egg hunt...taught by the pro, of course!



On Saturday night, I got the best surprise...cancelled from work for the night! I enjoyed the evening with my kiddos...and then promptly fell asleep on the couch.
On Easter morning, we woke up to fun-filled baskets and some more family QT.


 So there we were on Easter morning with no reservations, nothing to cook for breakfast, and rain in the forecast. What did we do? We went to Waffle House of course :)


After breakfast, we got home for a quick Easter egg hunt before the rain came. It was a little cold, so I let Peyton pick out an outfit for hunting...








No cute monogrammed outfits, church, or fancy breakfast this year. Time with my family. It's all I needed.