Sneak Preview!

I just went to Meijer today to get Marissa's halloween costume for next year. I came home and asked her if she wanted to be a kitty next year and she was pretty excited. I tried the dress on her to see how it would fit and then she wanted to try on all the little accessories that went with it as well. Then she wanted to wear it the rest of the night. As she was picking up some of her toys I walked by and heard her "meowing" and later she asked me "Mommy, do you want to pet me?"

A little Adventure/Disaster!

So Ryan had his first interview at a residency program on Thursday at Grand Rapids. They paid for a room for him to stay in overnight since there is a dinner the night before the interview. We thought we'd take a little family trip so the kids and I went. Unfortunately, the room was at a bed and breakfast not a hotel, and other med students were staying there as well. I thought we'd be fine but what I what I didn't take into account are two very important things:
1. Marissa is not a quiet child. Even just her talking voice is loud.
2. Devon actually does cry when I put him to bed sometimes - I just don't notice that much because I ignore him and then he usually falls asleep pretty quickly.

What this resulted in was getting after Marissa at night for simply talking, picking up Devon when he made the slightest whimper, and all of us very tired the next day.


However, we still all had fun that night watching "Anastasia" on Ryan's computer, and then the kids and I went to the mall in Grand Rapids during Ryan's interview.



At the mall, I took the kids to play on the rides. Devon thought he was pretty big!




The steering and the floor of the car were at the perfect distance for Devon to grab onto the wheel and pull himself up, which he thought was pretty neat!

Halloween!

Here's my little Tigger!


Here's my little princess!


She was pretty excited to be getting all that candy! She still did not quite get that the more trick or treating she did the more candy she would get, which was a good thing or we might have been out all night!


Little Tigger tuckered out! During the day on Main st. downtown, the businesses invited trick or treaters to come. So Halloween morning we already had enough candy to be done for the day, but it just didn't feel right not to go out at night, too! We wore poor Devon out!


Here she is with a few friends downtown.



Here's Marissa downtown trick or treating.


The day before Halloween, the lds med students had a party. So between our ward halloween party, the med students' party, trick or treating downtown, and trick or treating halloween night these kids got enough Halloween to last them a year:)!

Family Visits!

Ryan and I love visitors and we can just never seem to get enough, but we were all excited to have Grandma Johnson and Jessica and Andrew&family for the weekend. We sure had a full apartment - Marissa was in heaven, but Devon was a little overwhelmed!

Grandma, Jessica and Andrew arrived late Saturday night after Marissa was in bed. We had to wake Marissa up around 10pm to move her out in the front room to sleep with all the kids. However, once she was up she was up! Sometime after midnight all the other kids were asleep but Anna and Marissa were still going strong.


On Sunday, after a big breakfast and before church, we took them to the Arboretum. Here's Grandma with the grandkids!


Anna and Marissa at the Arboretum.


On Monday, we went to Jenny's Market. Here's Grandma with Devon (and casper).


Marissa, Anna, and Ellie in a wagon at the cider mill.


Our family on the straw maze. The kids had a blast running in, around, and on the straw maze with Ryan and Andrew chasing them!


Anna and Marissa.


We didn't get to go on a wagon wide because we went on a Monday and apparently they were too tired from their "big" weekend, but here are all the kids on a wagon.


The kids just hanging around!

Marissa was so sad to see her cousins go, but luckily we could tell her that we'd see them this weekend! I'm sure Marissa will ask all the time if Anna can come to her house - it seems pretty empty now:) We all sure had a great time this weekend and hope we'll get more visitors soon!

Cider Mill and Dexter Apple Daze!

This is at Jenny's Market in Dexter. They have a cute set-up but the only problem is the bees!


We were driving through Dexter on the way to the cider mill and saw that "Dexter Apple Daze" was going on. People had booths set up, there was food, and they had music playing in the center pavilion.


Marissa loves to dance!





They also had a jumping structure and Marissa had a blast jumping!

Family Sport--Tennis....or Golf?

Ryan had quite a bit of time off this summer, which gave us quite a bit of time to play some golf. Unfortunately, neither of us are very good, but we have a good time together. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Earp, we all have some new clubs, which we have been putting to good use!



Look at that stance!



Here's Devon with Marissa's putter. He decided he was not going to be left out - and he probably has the most potential of us all.

More Summer Fun!

Devon wasn't big enough for most of the summer to ride in our bike trailer, but we finally tried it out and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. However, Devon has this habit of not always looking at the things his hands are grabbing. Throughout our bike rides we would often look back and find Devon's arm straight out to the side grabbing Marissa's hair. Marissa would be screaming and Devon would be calmly looking out his little window. It was almost like he was saying to Marissa, "I can bug you and I'm not even trying". Despite this Marissa usually adores Devon and is a great big sister!