Till We Meet Again

Anthony's Grandma Tietjen died at the beginning of the month. We decided to forgo tradition and found a babysit to watch our four wiggle worms! The best idea ever! We were able to enjoy the funeral and visit with cousins and family without playing a rousing game of "Where's ____? " (insert name of one of the wiggly worms)

Anthony was asked to be one of the pallbearers...

Along with all of his brothers..

It was a beautiful funeral and inspired me to be a better person and mother. 

When will I ever learn...

No matter how hard I try, I can't get a descent family photo by myself.  Next year, definitely  going to skip several steps and stress and just have someone else do it!!  That is if Anthony has recovered from this year! 

Below are a few of the outtakes....

You can see my hand in this one trying to use the wireless remote...

So close but Andrew is missing part of his head...

I just don't like the way I look in this one...

Just when I was ready to give up all hope....

TA-DA!!!

The third time is the charm!!! 

 Thanks, Michelle for saving the day and getting us a good one!

Our Halloween Adventure

This year I was determined to make Halloween as much fun as possible without having to do a lot of stressing and worrying over costumes!  And wouldn't you know that I wake up that morning feeling like I had the flu? What a day! But being SuperMom (umm...right) I pulled myself up and ended up having a great time with my kids!

Our little lamb! Isn't she so cute? I had previously glued cotton balls all over her onesie and then watched with frustration as they all unraveled and fell off! On to pom-poms! 

"Why do I have to wear this horrid hat? It's hot in here!"

Matthew got to be Clifford! This was way easy because Andrew had been it two years ago!

Peter wanted to be a cowboy! Yes!! Way easy as well! We borrowed a hat and found a shirt and we were good! 

Andrew chose this costume out of our costume box! Thank You Sister Ingram for giving us all these great go-to- costumes! 

Everyone together! 

I got everyone in their costumes, which wasn't too hard because Peter had his on because of school, and then loaded up and went over to our doctor's office where all the medical offices were having a trick or treat! Great investment if you ask me...give kids a bunch of candy so they will come back with cavities and belly aches and make you money! Smart! (And just for the record... I did have to take Julia to the doctor Thursday for her first Urinary Tract Infection...all that sugar! sigh....)

Enjoying the spoils of Halloween! My parents came up to see us after the doctor trick or treating and gave each of my kids a cupful of candy...Thanks! 

We then waited and waited and waited for Anthony to come home from work! By the time he arrived, my boys were sure that we weren't going to go because we had already had about 12 trick or treaters. The minute that he stepped in, we headed out the door! Julia was so funny! She won't allow anyone to help her carry her bucket! She guarded it with a ferocity of a lion!

 After about a block, we set the Lamb and Clifford home to warm up and to help Daddy pass out these: 

Yep! Pass-along cards with a pixie stick taped to the back! We get an average of 170 trick or treaters every year because of the awesome location of our house (a very safe neighborhood with all the houses close together.) Most of them we don't know! Besides, what kid won't want a picture of Jesus? It was a huge hit! All the kids were excited...well maybe not all the kids...the older ( and by older I mean the 14-17 year olds) were less enthusiastic, but we only found one on the road the next morning!

The Look of Sugar Overload! 

The Saturday before Halloween we held the annual Tietjen Halloween Party! We had a lot of fun eating and talking and letting the kids play with their cousins! 

I'm dressed as Mary ....you get it? Mary had a little Lamb? Cute, I know! 

The cousins hanging out!

I didn't get a picture of Anthony wearing his costume but I have this one! He put together a Star Trek costume literally a hour before the party! He was a huge hit! I think I see a future money maker! Just kidding! All his brothers were really excited about it though! 

The highlight of the night though was being able to talk to Anthony's parents vie webcam! They were able to see all the kids in their costumes as well as the adults.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween filled with a lot of fun memories!

Our Fall Activites

Fall is one of my most favorite times of the year! I love the colors, the activities, the food, everything! 

Here are the few of things that mean Fall to us!

The building of a scarecrow! 

The start of preschool! Andrew has learned so much this year and has been so excited to learn how to read! His teacher helped him plant this bean seed; within a week it was this big! I can't believe it!! 

Pumpkin pickin'!  One of the most memorable things for me!! I loved this as a kid and hoping that I am instilling the same memories in my kids! We found this great family that were selling pumpkins for an awesome price! 

The making of amazing treats like this one! Monster Cookie Cups! 

Sorry about the poor picture taking!! Can't always have winning photos right?

Memories on a spoon!

A lazy afternoon playing with the laundry baskets! 

Boat rides for the young siblings and imagination workings for the older ones! 

Getting to wear warm dresses and tights to church! She's getting so big and won't hold still for anything! Only three more months and she's be in nursery! Can't believe it!

The long awaited time of Pumpkin Cravin'! 

My kids could hardly wait!! They wanted to crave the night that we got them but we made them wait two long weeks so that they would still be presentable for Halloween night!

Julia got to do the push ins and loved taking them out and putting them back in!  She is often found on all fours pretending to be a doggie, tongue hanging out and crawling in circles! 

Andrew was quite unprepared for what was going to happen with his pumpkin! I cut off the top and told him to clean out everything and he immediately declared it "yucky!" and refused to go on! sigh... I ended up doing it even though I vowed I won't this year...my hands and arm tend to get a numb feeling when it reacts with pumpkin..oh well! A mother's love knows no bounds!

Peter did most of his by himself this year! A thing that made me  proud and a little sad all at once! 

Matthew absolutely loved this! He got in there and cleaned out his pumpkin and had a great time getting to be a big kid!

The final product! The middle one is the one that Anthony chose for us to do! He ended up doing it by himself  because I was exhausted from overseeing the creation of the other four pumpkins!!