Oktoberfest+Anniversary+Harvest Party+Beautiful Colors=October

Three Months Old

Our Care-Bear is one quarter of a year old! It is as easy as ever to coax out a smile from her and then becomes almost embarrassed and looks away. Now she is even more alert when she's awake and is having a harder time sleeping anywhere besides her bed. My days of running errands with a "portable" infant may be numbered. She also has started making an impressive variety of sounds and enjoying the toys on her bouncy seat. So much fun.

Fall...finally

Are you ready for some football?

We were last Saturday! We won't discuss the final score, but we all had a blast cheering on the Valpo Crusaders coached by our soon-to-be Uncle Josh. The girls cheered loudly for their team (and Brinn also kept screaming "Go Michigan!") and sat very well for most the game, with the help of boxes of popcorn. A tour of the football offices and some running time on the field helped add to the game-day experience as well.

Frugal AND Locally-Minded

Mali read the Meijer's ad on Sunday. "Look, Mommy! Oranges are on sale....but we can't buy them. They're not from Michigan".

More Michigan Love

Why do I love Grand Rapids?

1. ArtPrize
2. Hearts at Home

Yes, Michigan.

Here's an excerpt from the Free Press on an interview with Mitch Albom and the release of his new book "Have a little Faith":

Why do you choose to stay here, to live in Detroit?

A: I stay in Detroit because I admire the people here. I admire the family attitude here. I like being proud to be from here. And I am proud to be from here and I consider this my home.

I've lived here 25 years, longer than I've lived anywhere in my life by far. I've built my life here, I've built a sense of community here, I've married here, I got my first home here. People talk as if Detroit's somehow not as real as LA or New York. Yeah, there's more stuff to do in New York and stuff to do in LA but you don't make your home based on stuff to do. You make your home where you feel loved, appreciated, where you understand the ethics and the values. And I'm comfortable with the state of mind of Michigan. I feel at home here.

Two Months Old

Carrigan accomplished two big things this month--taking an occasional bottle and sleeping through the night! How did she know those were on her mommy's to-do list? She had her check-up yesterday and weighed in at 10 pounds, 15 ounces and is now measuring 22 inches. She even managed her first round of shots okay, especially with two little willing comforters on hand. They hated seeing their baby sister cry! We are still pleasantly surprised by how content she is and are glad that it makes the precious little one-on-one time we have with her enjoyable. One of her favorite pasttimes? Having her diaper changed. Definitely the first kid in this family to have fun with that.And speaking of the other two kids, as you can see, they refused to let Carrigan have this photo shoot to herself. As Mali said, "I'm three today, so you should take MY picture with Pooh". I'm not sure why she was wearing pajamas at that time of the day either. Brinnly wanted a piece of the action too, but couldn't stop jumping enough to completely fit into the picture. I guess interferences like these are just to be expected in the life of third kid!

Quite possibly the last day at the lake this summer

(And a belated Happy Birthday to Grandma Sandy. Come celebrate with us this week so the girls can finally make the cake for you they've been dreaming about!)

She wanted a motorcycle party...

but had to settle for a "Great Outdoors" theme with butteflies, tents, and smores instead. Brinnly lasted aobut 20 minutes sleeping outside (Mali made it all night!) but did take her new princess flashlight to sleep in the house. What a perfect way to wrap up summer.
(Here are the rest of the shots from both her party and the actual day of her birthday)

Two

Two years ago today we welcomed our second little girl into our arms. At first, all we knew was that she looked like her sister and had a strong affinity for cuddling. Now she is a lover of butterflies, books, singing, and all things purple. She talks our ears off and is also quick to point out her strong dislikes, namely fruit of any kind. She knows how to bat her eyelashes at adults and charm smiles out of her baby sister. While she certainly still looks like her sisters, she has never had a problem standing out in our crowd of girls. We love you Brinnly-Bug! Can't wait to share ice cream with you tonight--goodness knows you'll enjoy it!

A Perfect Ten

You know how it always seems that whole-group pictures are taken almost as an afterthought at the end of a visit? As if the work of packing up the cars, rounding up kids, and saying good-byes weren't enough action. Well, the Meyer family was gracious enough to travel to Berrien Springs to celebrate Brinn's second birthday this weekend and for once, all TEN of us were captured in a great picture. (Just look past the fact that we appear to be standing by the wrong spouses--our Jonathan is in the black shirt Oh, and Mali dressed herself that day).

First Day

Our big girl started preschool at Our Savior Lutheran School this morning. She was pretty apprehensive about it, but did great. You'll notice that she chose to wear an orange dress (the usual color of choice) but brought along a cardigan with a butterfly on it, to remind her of Brinnly. Speaking of our almost-two-year-old, she hasn't quite read the memo that she won't be going to school until next year. Hopefully being the oldest at home for a few hours twice a week will turn out to be pretty appealing to her.

Now could someone answer us on how we could possibly be old enough to have a school-aged child?

First things first...

In order to be a flower girl, one must first remove all four Pittsburgh Penguin temporary tattoos.

(The fifth one was nicely hidden with by her white ruffled socks)

Goin' to the chapel...

The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, the decorations were spectacular, the food was tasty, the flower girls were obedient, and the purple-clad family members were excited to witness Amber and Jason (known to all of us as "Banish") become Mr. & Mrs. Banish. It was so heartwarming to witness their vows and celebrate wtih them as they became husband and wife. We wish them many, many happy years together! Here are the rest of the pictures.