Buon Compleanno Graziella!

Happy Birthday Gracie! We celebrated Gracie's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Traditional donuts for breakfast for your birthday.

Jack, Gracie, Brookie, Carson.

How fast time goes by!

Downtown Brighton was in the holiday spirit this weekend with a festive night called "Holiday Glow". We saw a lot of people from our church and schools this night.

Sue Spalding is Lucy's new owner. Yes, she went to be an 'inside' cat. It so happened that Sue was looking for a new kitty and heard about our Lucy. I told Gracie that we didn't have to give her away but that Lucy would be happier inside this winter instead of our garage. She thought about it for a couple of days and in the end, with tears in her eyes, made the heart-wrenching decision to give her away. I'm so proud of my little goose for thinking not of herself but of a better life for the little orphan kitten.

My daughter has the funniest sense of humor. This is what she does instead of taking pictures of the football game!

Warm November days. Nick Dingman, Carson and Mason.

Mason was in a flag football tournament two weekends ago. He LOVES football. Bryan was an assistant coach.

Gracie's sense of humor has us laughing all the time. She makes a lot of movies with her flip and a movie app on the computer. This is one of her costumes. I hope she's always this silly.

I have been putting a lot more hours in at the office and therefore less hours at the grocery store and even less hours in the kitchen. That being said, the kids started fending for themselves. This particular Saturday morning, there was no milk, eggs, bread or any other quick standard breakfast food. Gracie is cutting up apples...........

.....................and Mason is frying up sausage!!!!! (Supervised, of course!) Resourceful kids, eh?

Halloween fun. And a new addition to the family!

Gracie is getting the front porch ready for her cousin's to come over. She and the boys made a "Bloody Diner".

Jack, Gracie, Mason, Sam and Will.

William.

We've started a fun way to get together in the last 2 years. Each family brings something to my house to cook as part of a larger dinner. This year I made the kids a taco nacho bake. After they were done, Rachel made a spectacular shrimp past dish, Tara made a delicious salad and bruschetta and I made cheddar biscuits and dessert. Everything was soooo' good.

The kids played hard that day. Can you tell?

Carson at the microphone during the first grade costume show and tell.

Caden Kovath and Mason during his classroom party.

Mason was eating taffy :)

We were invited to go trick or treating with the Parrell's this year. Here Heather dressed as a mechanic. I, on the other hand, liked my outfit that day and decided not to change for the night.

Gracie, Lauren Parrell as a shop-o-holoic and other neighborhood friends.

Carson and Mason.

Meet Lucy, our newest addition to the family. Beth, if you are reading this, yes, she's named after your little peanut. This kitten showed up Halloween morning while the kids waited for the bus. She greeted them when they got home. She's the cutest darn thing. Even Bryan likes her. Three days later, I took her to the vet for an exam. She's in good health, 8 weeks old and is part Siamese. Long story short: we now have an outside cat!! Since Bryan is allergic, little Lucy has a bed in the garage and is only allowed in the hallway near the back door. Isn't she adorable?