Harvest Party

Had a great time at Gma and Gpas Harvest party. 13 grandkids almost 10 and under makes for a very loud afternoon. They kids had a hay dive, painted pumpkins, decorated cookies, and received goody bags. We also celebrated Ryan's sister's little boy's 1st bday. The girls were wiped out by the time we got back to Benton.

Tyra and Avery "bobbing for an apple"

Tayloran waiting to paint her pumpkin

Avery Ryan

Addisyn Riley

My mom followed us back to Benton. The girls dropped into bed. Mine only had to read 1 book before they were all out!

All 13 grandkids!

Braelyn, Jayden, Tyra, Avery, and Julia

Jimissy, Addisyn, Justin, and Bradyn

Niki and Jim - aka Ryan's Dad

Braelyn chowing down on cake

Halloween Trick or Treat

Braelyn & Daddy
The Crew
Collin & Addisyn
Loving sisters
Minnie Mouse
Can I have fries with that?
Avery & Madison
Dora & Diego
Boots and Dora
I am so happy to be Minnie Mouse!!!
Dora the Explorer
Miss Waitress
Avery the Angel
Trick or Treat 2007
We all enjoy Halloween in this family. Dressing up, getting candy, eating candy.... it's a win-win situation in our book! Benton is the only town around here that was celebrating trick or treat tonight. We asked our new found friend, Christy, to show us the ropes. We first hit a trick or trunk. It was held at a church, and cars were backed in with their trunks up and decorated. It was VERY parent friendly. At the end of the cars they served hot chocolate and popcorn. This was Braelyn's first time to be out of a stroller. She loved it! She was supposed to be Dora. I figured that I would be carrying her, so my mom made the costume, Boots, for me to wear. Ryan could be Diego without to much shame and embarassment. Well, last Saturday Braelyn refused to wear Dora, so we thought we would come up with another plan. Addisyn agreed to be Dora - not really what she wanted to be - so that Mine's hard work would not go to waste. She hated the wig and the shoe covers. Avery only took one tumble in her angel costume - only 1 scraped knee, and tayloran was so light on her feet - happy to be the waitress. She had so many compliments on her costume. Thanks so much to Christy for helping make this a successful night for us!!!

Halloween @ Thurs. School

Halloween at Thursday School. Addisyn was so excited this morning to go to school. It was their Halloween party. She was in charge of bringing the napkins and a package of candy. There are only 6 kids, and they came home with enough candy to hold Mommy over until Halloween!!!! Addisyn decided to wear a costume that she had received for her birthday!

Addisyn, Emily, & Bailee

GG & Brownie

Ryan and Grandma keep telling me how nice it would be to have a cat in the house. " Is there any reason that he can't stay inside?" Well, yes, he sheds!!! Keeping up with Lexi's hair is enough. Do you think I will win this battle? GG really likes him sitting on her lap. He will sit there for hours!!!

Sunday Visit

Ryan's Mom and Phillip came down for a short visit Sunday afternoon. They enjoyed the nice weather and rode their bike down. The girls enjoyed seeing them.

GG, Debbie,Phillip, Ryan holding Braelyn

Avery, Addisyn & Tayloran
The girls trying out the bike

Benton Fall Festival

The happy waitress, and the not so thrilled angel. A big thanks to "MINE" for making Tayloran's waitress costume!!! We were all thrilled to see that the Avery's angel costume didn't turn another color!!!!

The haystack coin dive
Hannah & Gracie
Addisyn in line for the costume judging

Braelyn - who had eaten too many tootsie rolls. She refused to wear her Dora costume.
Addisyn & our new friend Madison
Loran
This was the weekend of Benton's 3rd annual fall festival. The girls were all excited about going to the costume parade at the firehouse. I thought it would just be a contest at the firehouse, but we actually paraded around the square. They were having pumpkin painting, face painting, a haystack coin dive, and many other events. We were pretty spent after the costume ordeal. They all did try the haystack dive, but Tayloran was the only 1 who found anything. She shared her earning with Aubrey, and Pam and I funded Addisyn. The twins never made a peep riding in their stroller. It was a wonderful fall day.

Overnight Guests

Loran & Gracie
Hannah & Aubrey
Addisyn "smothering" Loran w/ love
8 girls!!!
We had the pleasure of entertaining my cousin, Pam, her 3 girls, and my other cousin's daughter, Hannah. The girls were so excited. I think excited might be an understatement!!! The girls were planning on who was holding what baby in what order - crazy!! Yes, they must take after their mother in their love for babies. We ate, watched movies, and laughed. The girls thought it was neat to just walk over to Casey's to get a snack! Here are pictures of us sacked out Friday night.

Rangers WIN - Rangers WIN

The girls couldn 't wait to go congratulate Daddy!
After the big WIN!
Gma and Braelyn trying to stay warm
Gpa and Addisyn
Avery and me
Braelyn doing her famous pose
Celebrating the 1st touchdown of the game.
I forgot to add our Friday night excitement. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit to go see Daddy's football game at Murphysborro. We started out with a great dinner at McDonalds, and then on to the game! It was FREEZING. It was the first game that it has actually felt like football weather. We were not prepared. Last week we watched the game in shorts and tank tops! Avery was so thankful that Gma had an extra pair of running pants in her purse! We would have liked to have had a couple of blankets also. However, we got to jump up and down quite a few times in the 2nd quarter. The Rangers finally decided to play football. They ended up winning 28 - 0. This should please some of the elders around town!!! It was so nice to see the kids having so much fun!

Douglas Hart Nature Center

pumpkin decorating
Becca, Addisyn, & Brandon

Addisyn, Avery, Tayloran, Emily & Becca

Stuffing our scarecrow
The final product - sorry it's blurry!
Addisyn, Avery, Becca & Brandon

We weren't sure we would be able to get Avery and Becca to leave this station!
Braelyn & Addisyn
This weekend we met friends at the Douglas Hart Nature Center in Mattoon. For all of you reading this that are close, this is a great outing for a family. First of all, it is FREE! They have games, crafts, pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing, marshmallow roasting, story telling, and treats ( kettle corn, apple cider, and apples w/ carmel). There is also a room inside that has some really neat nature toys, a bat cave ( tunnel ), and a puppet show station. This room is open all year round. It would be a great thing to do in the winter. It is very kid friendly. This is our 2nd year to attend, and I would recommend it to all. the kids were so excited to find out that we were meeting the Royers for an afternoon of FUN!