Embracing the Cold

It's cold in Minot.  

C.O.L.D.

And people who have been here longer are quick to remind me it will only get colder.  Winter is my least favorite season.  Truth be told, I'd probably be okay with just repeating Spring, Summer, and Fall and skipping Winter all together.  But here we are.  So I've quickly learned that on days when the wind isn't as strong and the sun is shining, playing outside is a must!  The kids were game, so we busted out all our winter gear today.

Snow pants, boots, hats, gloves, coat . . . in that order.  

(Don't worry, grandmas . . . Bridgette has a more substantial winter coat that was still drying on the rack inside)

They lasted about thirty minutes, but it was beautiful!  And once our waterproof gloves arrive next week, it's game on!  I'm ready to show this winter who's boss.  (I think.  It's me, right?)

Phone Photos from October

The girls and our fun friend, Henry, gave me a makeover. =)

My simple project for a ladies craft night.  

Rooke with his soccer medal, certificate, and great coach at the team party

Rooke and I made this delicious cake, which ended up being too good not to share.  So we took an evening walk to share cake with some neighbors.

We spent a perfect Fall day walking through Oak Park.

Someone got a hold of my phone!

The Birthday Boy

The kids' table at the local Art Fest.

Practicing their ninja moves!

The Heavens declare the Glory of God! 

It's fun to run into friends when out for a walk!

I've thought about this moment often since becoming a mom and it happened for the first time this month: quietly reading in the same room as my children (he was actually reading the words, not just looking at pictures!).  It was a wonderful twenty minutes. =)

She asked me to take her picture with the "England flag".  We haven't forgotten you over there!

A wonderful late-night conversation with my love while he was away for two weeks at a training course.

Happy faces after our stroller fit exercise class

The library is my friend.  We hang out together about once a week.

Pumpkin-shaped pizza!

We raided our dress-up box quickly and hit our neighborhood loop to trick-or-treat.  Look at that stash after only about twenty houses!

Before bed, they were still checking out the loot.  Rooke said, "Let's get containers so we can organize our candy!"  Such sweet music to my ears =)

Post-dinner Pre-bedtime shenanigans:

Sweet boy singing the last verse of our October hymn:

October Fun

Just catching up on some of the fun we've had this past month . . .

The leftover mess after making about 50 Africa-shaped cookies for a Soul Hope shoe-making party we took part in!

 Rooke picking out his cookie at the party.

We put some of our boxes to good use and made cars!  Gretchen wanted her license plate to be the "state of England"!  

I told the kids about drive-in movies, and then set up a Little Einstein "double feature" for them.

The tradition of painting our pumpkins continues.  Rooke wants to carve his pumpkin, so he designated himself in charge of distributing the paint! 

And we celebrated this special guy!  It's not every day your best friend turns 35!  We had a birthday weekend, complete with two different kinds of birthday cake!