Everything's Better with Daddy

I get a lot of time with our kids.  A lot.  I love our days together.  But it truly is better when Ryan is around.  And as hard as he works, he makes it a priority to be around as much as possible.  And we love him for it!

The kids love their Daddy breakfast dates!

And sometimes, when I'm playing piano for church and have to go early, we all go together and Ryan finds a way to pass the time . . . =)

Field trip to Fort McHenry

The kids and I are focused on American History this year in school, and we love living close to so many historical sights!  Ryan was able to join us this fall for a trip to Fort McHenry, the fort which inspired Francis Scott Key to write our National Anthem.  We spent time in the small museum where the girls worked on their junior ranger badges.  Then we explored around the fort, ate our picnic lunch, and found a great family climbing tree to finish off a fun family field trip!

The Payne guys are never without a football 

Ending October

Trying to catch up on photos from the end of this year . . .  these were from some fun Fall days:

a nature walk with friends . . . and a football.  Always a football.

Sharing the trampoline with friends is the kids' favorite!

Halloween costumes:

Candy trading was as much fun as trick-or-treating!  There were a lot of superhero girls in our group this year

We spent several Fall afternoons at the Arboretum

We are SO close to being a family of independent readers

Neighbors shared their tickets to a Maryland basketball game.  We took a friend and everyone had a great time!

Birthdays, Camping, and more October fun

October brings beautiful weather to enjoy the outdoors, and fun times celebrating Ryan's birthday!  We combined both for the birthday boy this year.  We were hoping to go camping for the weekend, but some rain deterred our plans.  So we settled for a nice hike and then one night of camping at Cunningham Falls State Park.  

Happy Birthday breakfast and gifts!

Birthday cupcakes and coffee in the woods =)

We realized friends had planned to camp at the same place, so we enjoyed sharing s'mores and morning hot chocolate! 

Uncle Tim came to compete in an Iron Man event.  The kids had a great evening with their silly great uncles!  And heard plenty of crazy stories about their Big Daddy =)

I'm nowhere close to being an Iron Man competitor, but I did have fun doing an All Terrain Mud Race with friends from my workout class.  There wasn't as much mud as I thought, which was totally fine with me, and running through the course as a group of six made some of the ridiculous obstacles fun and even doable

Uncle Ryan made a quick trip down to Oklahoma to meet Cora and hug on our nieces!   

Ryan and I played a small part in our friends' wedding, which was an honor and a fun evening spent together

Babysitting for friends . . . the extra girls are just the right ages to complete our step-down: 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1!  Chocolate chip cookies for the win!

Sharing our love of Chinese hamburgers and the arboretum with friends on a gorgeous fall Friday

Bridgette wanted to take some photos and I found this one on my phone . . . it was my perch while the kids were running around making "potions" and climbing up and down the hill . . .