Carter's Birthday

Carter turned 2 yesterday and we had a great time for his birthday. I let him pick his "theme" for the party by having him pick a pack of character plates at walmart. He picked Mickey mouse and was soooo excited about it. We had a little party that Samantha planned; she even made tickets for everyone. We had dinner then opened presents and played duck duck goose and pin the tail on the donkey. Duck duck goose just turned into the kids all running around in circles every time goose was said. After that we had cake and ice cream. The cake turned out really good this year. I can't take total credit because I gave Aaron a picture of Mickey and he drew it with a tooth pick on the cake then I frosted it. It's a good thing Aaron has artistic talent because I don't have any!

We just love Carter and we're glad he's in the family.

Ryan made a "birthday cake castle" for Carter and it actually stayed up for quite a while. Usually it is knocked down by Carter much to Ryan's dismay.

Samantha also had her first piano recital. She did a wonderful job. Here she is playing a duet with her teacher (up on the housetop)

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a great halloween and got tons of candy! We had a great time trick or treating and it was almost too hot for it. It was muggy and in the 70's, but I guess that's better than freezing cold. Carter was so sick of wearing the bee costume so I found this superman outfit in Ryan's old box of clothes and Carter was thrilled.

Here are the kids right before going out to trick or treat. I got crafty this year and made the trick or treat bags for Samantha and Ryan. I can do bags and pillows and that's about as far as I can go :)

My little Bee's

As many of you know, my children were all born in the winter so when it comes to hand me downs, they can share a lot. So in our family, the halloween before you turn two you are a bee. It's really because I'm to cheap to buy new costumes every year :). I wanted to share with you my little bee's throughout the years. It's amazing how your kids can look so much alike. This is proof that they are all from the same parents (no mailman here).

Can you recognize who is who?

I love Fall!

I think when it comes to fall, I live in the most beautiful place ever!! You may not agree and this picture does not do the colors justice, but this what I see everyday out my kitchen window! It is soooo pretty here. I wish I had a big professional camera (and knew how to use it) and could just take tons of pictures of my beautiful surroundings. I hope you are all enjoying your fall wherever it is. I'm sure it can't be as amazing as mine ;)

Apple Picking

Aaron's parents came out to Virginia to visit this past week. On Saturday we went to Ryan's soccer game (where ryan scored three of the five goals) then we went up to Carter mountain to the Apple festival and pick apples. It was so pretty up there and we had a great time. We ate lunch and apple doughnuts then picked and ate apples right off the tree. Aaron's dad bought an apple pie and apple cider that we had later that night. I also made an apple pie and froze it for Thanksgiving. The apples were great, but your stomach can only handle so many apples :)

Here is Grandma enjoying an apple doughnut and listening to the old country band playing in the background.

I wanted this picture to look like Samantha and Ryan were best pals, but they started bugging each other and this is what I got.

Carter would pick up apples from the ground and eat them...yum!

The forgotten post

In June Aaron and I went to NYC for our 10th anniversary. Our life was so crazy at the time that I never posted anything about the trip. Well, I'm not going to post a bunch of pictures, but I did want to show you just a few.

On the first day there, we went to time square and they had blocked off the road and put out lawn chairs for people to sit in. We decided to sit and take a breather and for me, to people watch (and you can really do a lot of that in NYC). So there I was taking in the gandeur of Time Square and I look over and see this...

Aaron is fast asleep in the middle of Time Square!! If you know Aaron it's almost believable, but come on! Time Suare!! So I took a few pictures of him to remember this moment and to prove that it really can happen. A nearby siren finally woke him up.

I think this sleepy gene comes from Aaron's dad! I swear some of those Stevenson's can fall asleep mid sentance! I always tell Aaron that the sound of my voice can put him to sleep, but he denies it. We were meant for each other. I can blah blah blah forever and he'll just sit and listen (or sleep). Don't you just love him!!

First day of school

The kids had a long summer! They were out of school in May and just started today. We had a fun summer, but we were all ready to get back into a school routine again. We were going to walk to school for the first day, but it was raining so I reluctantly put them on the bus and watched it drive away. It was sad for me :( Their school wants everyone to ride the bus and you can't walk your child to class on the first day. This was a change for me, but I survived. I've been to both of their classrooms with them before school started so at least it wasn't a mystery to me! The bus was late getting home, but it came and the kids were happy and had a great day. I told them to sit on the front of the bus because the back is where the big kids like to sit. I want my little kids to stay little as long as I can :). I'm not sure what they'd learn sitting back there with the older kids. By the way, I was right. Samantha said all the older kids sat back there.

Here are a few picture we took this morning.

I couldn't believe how quiet my house was and how much Carter wanted to play with me! It was nice to spend alone time with him and to finally have a kitchen that stayed clean until 4pm.