Happy Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween from Picachu, a Stealth Ninja, and Lightning McQueen!  We had a great time dressing up, parading at school, ringing doorbells in the neighborhood, and making candy trades with friends at the end of the night.

Tyler's 3s class all dressed up for the daytime school parade!

Lightning McQueen!

Picachu and her twin!

Our stealth ninja...

Ready to go with the neighborhood crew.

All done, buckets are full...

Let the candy trades begin!

Fall Fun 2016

We enjoyed all the fun autumn has to offer!  Here's a look at what we've been up to in October...

Leaf Piles!

Fall 2016 Lawndale Block Party, with a visit from the Wilmette Fire Dept.

Gavin smacked the pinata open - it was a mad rush for candy just after I clicked this photo!

Cassidy and Erik, along with good friends, went to WI for a Daddy/Daughter YMCA overnight!  This is a photo of swaps - the girls can all bring a bag of trinkets and small items from home to trade.

Cassie on a horse

The dads and girls bring pumpkins and carve them on site.  They had a great time!

Playtime with Jort

Playtime with James and Sam

An evening at the Schouten's house

Chalking with neighbors

Tyler helped me make pumpkin pie!

Cassie took part in her first Irish Dance competition, called a "feis."  This one was Halloween-themed, so all participants are instructed to wear their Halloween costume!

Cassie received a 3rd place trophy for her "reel" dance, and 4th place ribbon for her "jig."  We are proud of her hard work over the years and also of her bravery to compete!

It's very rare these days that Tyler would fall asleep on my shoulder for an afternoon nap...a precious moment.

And we do have a photo of Erik's high school reunion, after all!  I mistakenly thought he hadn't taken any.  Cheers to 20 years since graduating from Hinsdale Central!

Family Photos - Gillson Beach 2016

We had some family pictures taken over at Gillson Beach.  Now I just need to find some time to get them printed and hung!  We'll see when I get to that...but for now we are happy to have some digital copies to share.
Cassie, age 9
Gavin, age 7
Tyler, age 4

Grandma and Grandpa Reder visit!

We were excited to have a fall 2016 visit from Grandma and Grandpa Reder!  They were able to join for Grandparent's Day at school and enjoy the long Columbus Day weekend with us.  We had a great time!

Baseball in the yard

Board games with Grandma

Tyler's working on riding a bike!

We love Hartigan's for ice cream...Gavin couldn't believe Grandpa's giant waffle cone!

We attended the local fire station open house

Nick's for a casual dinner

We spent a morning at Edward's Apple Orchard, one of our old favorites from Rockford days!

We enlisted Grandma's help on Cassidy's school project - a Jupiter costume!

Grandparent's Day at school.  Grandpa Brown was there too - we just don't have a photo!  So grateful the kids can share these special times with their grandparents.

Happy Birthdays! Erik turns 39; Tyler turns 4!

We always have fun celebrating our back-to-back birthdays in the fall!  Erik turned 39 on September 30 and Tyler turned 4 on October 1.  Here are some photos from our celebrations!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!  We'll have plenty cake tomorrow, so he gets a giant lemon bar all to himself!

Tyler always wants to ride this train that goes around the mall.  Mom usually says no, but it's his birthday week, so we went for it!

Hooray for 4!

On his birthday morning, Cassie made Tyler toast with sprinkles!

He had fun opening his gifts - lots of Hot Wheels this year...

We went over to Grammy and Grandpa's house to celebrate and have cake!

Time for a big boy bed!  The boys will now be in bunk beds.  Tyler helped put them together!  Such a big boy.
(Next step will be to part ways with his beloved pacifier, Nini...maybe by his next birthday!)

Mom got to visit Tyler's preschool classroom for this birthday!

We love you, Tyler!