From smiles to grins…

"If you can't smile, grin.  If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can."
-Winston Churchill

Halloween came again as it always does this time of year.  This year Ashlyn chose  to be a princess (surprise!), James went with Mario to match Daddy’s Luigi, and Isla dressed up as a pumpkin.  Heidi joined us again this year and the kids had a great time wandering around the neighborhood begging for sugary treats.  The rest of the weekend was a battle to keep them from eating candy all the time.

It took us weeks to capture Isla’s smile on camera, and now we could take a hundred each day if we wanted to.  And not just a baby smile, but a full on grin.  It’s fun to watch.

We rounded out the weekend with the Wolfe clan over at the house to celebrate Grandma’s birthday.  I wish we had taken more pictures, but we went with a more time intensive dinner this year that kept us occupied.  Happy birthday Grandma!

Butterflies and pumpkins…

"As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others."
-Audrey Hepburn

With the pumpkins purchased it was time to decorate.  For the kids this meant smearing paint over the pumpkins for a few minutes proceeded by more paint smearing on the side of the house.  This was not an unexpected turn of events, the hose was ready.

Grandpa came by to visit during the week and the kids talked him in to a walk around the cul-de-sac.  While the older ones were walking, the newest one was busy being fascinated by her recent discovery:  she has hands.

The baby gets to spend all day being the baby.  Sometimes the older kids want to be the baby too.  Mommy’s back thinks the older kids need to stick to walking.

We had two parties to celebrate this weekend.  The first was Cousin Ben’s 2nd birthday party, which was a lot of fun.  Happy Birthday Ben!  The second was for our friend Cora who turned 3.  This was a costume party and Ashlyn was excited to show off her princess outfit.  James refused to put on his costume so he went as an Aggie fan.  I doubt many people are going to wear his costume with the way this season is going.

It was time this weekend for the carving of the family pumpkin.  At first Ashlyn wanted to repeat the fleeing villager pumpkin we made a few years back but she opted for a smiling pumpkin at the last minute.

Finally, it was a sad day at the Flinn household as three of the five butterflies perished.  Apparently we are not good at keeping butterflies.  The last two were generously set free by Ashlyn and one of them showed its appreciating by landing on Ashlyn’s hand a few moments before a strong gust of went sent it flying heedlessly over the fence.  Butterflies, you will be missed.

Snacks and smiles…

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

Children + Snacks = Happy.

With more smiles comes more pictures, and we tried our best to get a good one.

Success!  We finally got a good smile on camera.

Of all the birthday presents Ashlyn got, her favorite was the pink plates.  We don’t know what her fascination with plates is but it’s stuck with her for years.  Isla may have picked up the same interest.

The butterflies hatched this week and the kids have enjoyed watching them.  Ashlyn wanted to take one out for a walk.

And this is just a cute baby picture.

Nina and Papa stopped by for a visit this weekend and the kids had fun playing outside and walking to the park.

The yearly trip to the pumpkin patch was not as enjoyable as past years.  It was too crowded and the kids couldn’t find much to do.  We tried posing the three kids for pictures but at any given time one of them was being uncooperative.  Oh well, there’s always next year.