Fall Fun

We got to do lots of fun things this fall:

We went to the Homecoming parade and got lots of candy! 

We went to Curtis Orchard with Grandma Teresa!

 We spent the night in Joliet with the Gorsch family.  It had been way too long!  It was so fun to catch up.  We stayed up late talking, went to a pumpkin patch, played some board games, and ate at Portillo's.  Hannah and Sadie really bonded and both cried when they had to leave each other.  

I made caramel apples with my sisters-in-law! 

  

  We kept Quinn Oakleaf for a week during the day while his grandparents were at work and his mama was pregnant with triplets and trying to let them "cook" as long as possible (which she did, by the way!).  

 He fit right in with our family!

 We attended Hannah's preschool Thanksgiving program! 

I got to see Jenn and Lindsay at the Missionary Convention.  LOVE these girls!

Adoption? Shopping? I'm in!!! Are you???

I would like to introduce you all to one of my very best friends, Jennifer Humiston. Jennifer and I met our freshman year of college and have been best friends ever since. We even got to be roommates our junior year and were both in each other's weddings! One thing Jennifer has always talked about is having a big family. God has blessed them, and they are currently "expecting" their 4th child, but Jennifer isn't pregnant. Jennifer and Jeremy were blessed with three biological children, and now God has called their family to add more through adoption. Maybe by now, you're wondering why I’m sharing all of this on my blog. I’ll explain in a minute, but first here's a note from Jennifer:

I’m so excited to introduce you to our clan and share with you about this crazy journey God has called our family to called adoption. We began dreaming of adopting when we first go married in 2004. We have three biological children Grace, 6 years, Faith, 5 years, and Titus, almost 3 years. After a complicated pregnancy and emergency c-section resulting in the birth of our son we knew it was time to adopt. Our heart for the orphan couldn't wait any longer. We hit some bumps along the way, but in April of 2012 I traveled to West Africa on a mission trip. While there I made connections with a local orphanage. In June we began paperwork to adopt from the orphanage I had visited. We can't wait to bring home our sweet little guy, David.  On November 24th David will turn two years old. We are so glad this will be his last birthday without a forever family. Grace and Faith are the best of friends and Titus can't wait to meet his brother and already has a bunk bed to prove it. We are hoping to introduce David to our family in the Spring/Summer of 2013. We are currently completing paperwork and raising funds towards that goal. If you’d like to know more specifics about the timeline of our adoption you can read about it on my blog here.

Back to Stephanie:

I'm asking all of my friends to help out the Humistons (and get some Christmas shopping done in the process!).  So here's how you can do that.  In honor of David’s birthday and National Adoption Month (both in November), the Humiston family is doing a week long online fundraiser for their adoption. If you purchase any item in the following etsy shops from November 24-30th, 100% of the purchase price (minus fees & shipping) will go straight to their adoption fund! How cool is that??? I know you all want to help, and I know you all love to shop, so this is the perfect fit!!!

To help simply click on the links below and purchase an item between now and November 30th.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shotsibabyhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/Shotsigranny 

If you would like a card with David’s picture and “The purchase of this item helped to bring David home to his forever family” to include with your gift simply e-mail Jennifer at jenniferhumiston@hotmail.com and she will be happy to send you one.

Thanks you friends!!!

Illini Games!!

The Illini have not had a great football season, but we've had some fun attending the games anyway.  We made it to four games this year, which is the most we've made in a long time!

Jacob's 2nd Birthday Parties

Hannah & Jacob on the morning of Jake's birthday

Jacob's 2nd birthday was a weekend whirlwind of fun.  We started off his actual birthday by opening one gift from mommy and daddy-some new shirts including a Mickey shirt to wear on his birthday!

                                               

Then we dropped Hannah off at preschool and had a mommy-son date at McDonald's.  I remembered taking Hannah there on her 2nd birthday and getting her first Happy Meal, so we continued the tradition (although this was not Jacob's first McDonald's meal-that happens with the second child).  

                                               

Then we raced home and I cooked dinner for Josh's dad's family, who came over to celebrate that night.  The cake of the night was Mickey cupcakes that were Pinterest inspired:

Hannah and Jacob both decided to wear their Mickey hats for the party:

Josh's family is so much fun.  His aunts are a hoot!

The gift of the night was Rock and Roll Mickey.  

He received TWO of them (so we took one back, of course).

On Saturday, our family headed to the Illini football game.  

Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa Gurtler's house for dinner, cake, and presents.

 Jacob got a really cool Christmas train set that connects with his train table set.  He also got lots of cute clothes!  He needed lots of 18-24 month stuff because the 2T that I bought ahead is just crazy big on him (he's my little guy!). 

Then the next day after church, we had lunch, cake, and presents at my parents' house.  We were all exhausted from a long weekend of partying but glad that we got to spend time with most of our family!

I made this Mickey cake with the same pan from last year (which was a baby Mickey).  Hint: Instead of black icing, I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa to make dark chocolate icing!

 Loving the new train set!!!

Happy Halloween from Rapunzel & Flynn Rider!

Grandma Teresa made costumes for both of the kids for Halloween this year.  They were Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (Rapunzel's prince)!  We only made it to my parents' house, Josh's dad's house (on another day), and our church's Trunk or Treat.  We hosted a Tangled trunk that I threw together the day of!  I love having a family theme as long as the kids will let me!

Family Picture

I asked my dad to take some family pictures for my 30th birthday.  We came out with a few decent shots.  Here are my favorites before editing: