Halloween Party in Gainesville

Ethan was invited to go to a Halloween party with his friend, Jaden, while we were in Gainesville. He borrowed Jaden's spiderman costume and had the time of his life.
I was told Shay wanted to follow Ethan and be touching him the whole time. Shay is so darling. I hope we'll be in touch with them after Ethan's mission (wink.wink).
Here Jaden and Ethan are, the day after the party, in more costumes.
The joy of Florida- playing in the kiddie pool at the end of October. They put mud and mulch in the water. Gross. Poor Ethan got his mama's genes (little white kid)!
After the kiddie pool, they cleaned up in the bubble bath. Ethan would not stop posing!

Erin Martin's Shower

My friend, Erin, is having a baby in January. Joy and I threw her a baby shower. I was so glad that the shower was able to happen while I was visiting. I would have been sad not to be able to celebrate Erin's pregnancy.


This is my sister-in-law, Cassie. She and Craig (Kent's little brother) now live in the house that Kent and I lived in while we were in Gainesville. It was fun to see what they have done to the place. I'll have to admit- it was a little strange sleeping in Ethan's old bedroom. It was a lot of fun to stay with them.

Celebrating in Gainesville

I was able to be in Gainesville for two of my dear friend's birthdays. Shannon and Joy celebrated their birthdays at Chili's with some good friends.
Cheers to Shannon and Joy!
Happy Birthday Girls!

Folkston, Georgia

While we were living in Florida, Laura (Kent's mom) and I always wanted to take Ethan to this train station we'd heard so much about just north of Jacksonville. They say the station sees close to 60 trains a day.

When we first got there, a train passed by. We were so excited to think of how many trains we were going to see. We asked a gentleman that was waiting on the platform how often they are coming by. He said they're working on the tracks that day so they are coming about every 30 minutes. We were dissapointed. We drove over an hour each way and saw 6 trains in an hour.

Ethan thought it was really neat though. Ella was very scared. The train would blow their whistles so loud as they passed. She would scream and fall down as she tried to run away.

Halloween "Spooktacular"

We had a fun pot luck Halloween lunch with mommies and kids.

"Spook-Tacular" Food

Everyone brought a halloween dish. It was fun to see all of their creativity.

A visit with Dr. Daddy Dentist

Our day at the dentist was a lot of fun. I thought it would not go as smoothly as it did. The kids were great.

We had no problem with the kids. They had so much fun sitting in the big chair and having someone brush their teeth.
Kent's assistants were wonderful with the kids and very patient with me taking lots of pictures.

Ella's breakfast

Ella loves to sit at the counter and eat Lucky Charms and pancakes every morning. How do they learn at such a young age which ones are marshmallows? The "cereal" is always left behind.

Weekend in Leavenworth

We spent a weekend in

Leavenworth with our friends Jory, Kathy and their kids. We had so much fun in a beautiful log cabin with a swimming pool and hot tub. The kids (and Kent) were in heaven! This is a picture of the view from our balcony. The fog was lifting early in the morning and the trees were bright reds and yellows.

Downtown has lots of shops and places to eat.

You can tour the town in a horse drawn carriage.

Kathy and I stopped in at a very elegant chocolate shop. They had samples and beautiful pieces of chocolates. Naturally, this was our favorite stop.



We went to a Farmer's Market with a petting zoo, corn maze, pumpkin patch and train rides.



Another favorite shop was the hat shop. Kathy and her daughters, along with Ella, were trying on some goofy hats and glasses.



Since we were there during Oktoberfest, they had live bands playing on the street. Kathy and I were determined to have our picture taken with a "suspender guy."


We were having so much fun, that Ella actually fell asleep on Kent's shoulder. If you know Ella- you'd know that is almost a miracle!