Girls Shopping Day!

Grandma Jody took the girls on a shopping trip to Indy for Hannah's 9th birthday.  They got back to school clothes, Christmas outfits, and Aleah got her first American Girl doll at the pop-up shop they had in Indy this year. 

She really wanted a cold shoulder shirt:

Aleah picked out several outfits that Hannah did not get:

Grandma Jody picked out Lucas' Christmas outfit which was so cute:

We also got Jacob's Christmas clothes:

and we couldn't resist this "J" sweater:

Somehow Aleah talked Grandma into 2 pairs of shoes..... 

Hannah's clothes mostly had to be ordered since she's in a 10/12 now.  

The shop only carries through size 6 in store:

The girls still LOVE to pick out matching outfits.  I'm afraid it's going to get harder in a few years, once Hannah is in size 14+, so we'll try to enjoy it while we can!

Downing Family

This is some random fun we have had with the Downing side.  

We celebrated Uncle John and Aunt Becky's 50th Anniversary before they headed to Hawaii:

We celebrated Papa Steve's 69th Birthday at our house:

Hannah's 9th and Josh's 35th!

We had lots of celebrations for Hannah's 9th Birthday this year!  

• On her baptism day, we celebrated her baptism and birthday with the Sudlow family
• We went to Bayern Stube to celebrate Tristan, Josh, and Hannah with the Gurtler family
• We went to Jocko's with the Downing family
• We took M&M ice cream cones to school
• We had a friends party at the mall
• Jody is taking her shopping in Indy
• Jody took us to Aikman Wildlife Adventure for Josh and Hannah's b-day weekend

Basically, I have given up on trying to keep birthdays simple.  This is a "simple" as it gets with so much family around!  Ha, that's a good thing, right!?

Thanks to Aunt Betsy for making her a cross-shaped carrot cake (Hannah's request):

She asked for an apple pie at home.  I usually make mine, but in a hurry, I cheated this time:

We had pancakes before school on her b-day:

We celebrated Josh and Hannah together at Jocko's with the Downings:

And we had a fun night at home on daddy's birthday.  He got lots of movies and other fun things:

Aikman Wildlife Adventure

For Josh's birthday weekend, Grandma Jody planned a special day for all of the kids at Aikman Wildlife Adventure in Arcola.  It was a really neat place to visit.  They had all kind of cool animals that we got to feed and touch and see up close!

Lucas is my bravest around animals at the toddler age:

All of the kids got to choose a new stuffed animal too:

And afterwards, we headed to Tuscola to eat at Flesor's Candy Shop.  Hannah found a painted rock there!

What a fun day!

New School Year!

Ready or not, it's time for a new school year!  I really do not look forward to sending the kids back to school.  We love summer!  I love having them home every day.  We had so much fun.  But, I guess school is sort of necessary, so here we go... 

Jacob is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Ford as a teacher this year.  She is on maternity leave until October, so Mrs. Heatherton will be covering for her until then:

Hannah is in 3rd grade and actually is in MY SAME 3rd grade classroom with MY SAME 3rd grade teacher, Miss Rose.  How cool is that?  She is very nice, and we are very happy!

Both of the kids' teachers actually attend our church, so that is really nice!

I wish I had a picture of me with Miss Rose on my first day of 3rd grade!

Jacob and his buddies, Tucker and Colby!

Here's to a great year!