Emily Dancing with Snoopy

For Halloween, Emily got a snoopy doll that walks & plays music from Becky & Sony. She loves to dance around with it. She calls him "newnew" I don't know how she made that out of snoopy!

Wurstfest Pictures

I know it's taken a while to post these but they were so cute I still wanted to share them. The kids had a blast at Wurstfest and we had fun watching them enjoy themselves. :)

The kids were so excited to see David dressed as an opa

Emily got to ride the rollercoaster because she was tall enough. She looked a little scared though.

Best part of Halloween- eating the candy at the end!

Halloween Pics

This year we took the kids trick or treating in my neighborhood. My friends Amber & Robbie brought over their son Ashton to go with us. The kids had a great time trick or treating and Robbie was even sweet enough to pull them in the wagon! We had a hard time getting group pics of the kids- they were distracted by the candy! But overall I think we got some cute ones. :)

Grandpa handed out candy at my house & we went by to check on him. Seeing Grandpa was the real treat for Cade at this door!!

Ashton was always the quickest to and from the door

These 2 like each other sometimes!

This sums up how well the group pics went!

"I wan canny!"

Posing before they had on their costumes

Pumpkin Patch

We took all of the kids, even Bryson because he was in town, to the Pumpkin Patch. It was an exhausting trip because the kids were nuts! I think Em only sat down once for a pic but other than that she was all over the place. Callie & Em thought it was their job to move all the little pumpkins to a new place and they threw them there. Luckily, they didn't break any! Needless to say, we couldn't leave without making some purchases because our kids took over the pumpkin patch that afternoon!!

New Pictures of the Baby

The new baby has had several ultrasounds. I have been seeing a Perinatalogist along with an OB during this pregnancy. The Perinatalogist specializes in high risk pregnancies. I am not considered high risk but the baby gets some extra attention because of our family history. Not just Rachel but because of my nephew Cade as well. The doctors have been very helpful and thorough in checking for any problems that could be developing with the baby. I have always opted out of the quad screen and any other blood tests that could tell us if the baby had something wrong with it- I wouldn't abort her no matter what! I don't like to be paranoid but I do feel like we have to watch our kids closely for any tumors that might develop. Better to find problems early! The doctors never believed that Rachel's cancer was genetic but they also didn't know a whole lot about it so I'm not willing to take chances. Some forms of brain cancer are genetic. I will have another ultrasound in 6 weeks but so far the baby looks great. She is going to be big just like her sisters and we expect to meet her in about 9 weeks.

The bubble above her face is her hand

Rachel's Birthday

Last Saturday, Oct. 9th, was a day I had not been looking forward to. It was Rachel's 4th birthday. :( I knew that I couldn't just pretend like it was another day so I planned a jam-packed day for the kids and our family. I really feel like we honored her and were able to share memories with the kids. It's a tradition that Michael and I plan on doing every year with our kids. We always want to celebrate her birthday in some way because it's important for her siblings to know about and celebrate her life. We started the day out at the cemetery. We had balloons with Tinkerbell, Hello Kitty, & the #4 to let go. The kids really enjoyed watching them float to heaven so that Rachel could have them. They even sang Happy Birthday when we let them go- it was Callie's idea! Then, we went to the park and rode the train. We were surprised to see that Rachel's tree had been decorated by a family friend with balloons- the kids loved it! We had cupcakes after naptime and then we went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe- Rachel's favorite restaurant. (I don't know what happened to those pics!)

Park Pictures

Cade was so excited to ride the train with his best buddy, Grandpa!

Visiting Rachel

Becky & Sony made a styrofoam cake for Rachel with butterflies on it