Happy Halloween! {Oct. 31}

A little witch and her black cat wish you all a fun and safe Halloween!

From shab to fab! {Oct. 30}

Lately, we've noticed our kitchen chairs look really, really shabby! The girls do lots of crafts at the kitchen table and spill lots of food on the chairs during mealtimes. So Chris and I went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked out a great new print that matched our color scheme. We recovered our chairs ourselves and think it's such a great transformation! Only costs $15.00. New chairs. I love them!

Old {obviously!}
New!
Amelia gives them her approval too!
On another note, here is a project Amelia brought home from daycare:
Yeah. We didn't keep this one. I was afraid one of the kids would poke their eye out! {It's a porcupine, by the way.}

Happy Halloween, everyone! Photos of the girls in their costumes to come this weekend.

Glowing report {Oct. 21}

Last night we had our very first conference with Mrs. Hill, Mira's kindergarten teacher. We received a glowing report! The first thing she said was, "I really love Mira." Mrs. Hill said that Mira was a complete joy to have in her class, that she was serious about her schoolwork but also enjoyed playing with her classmates. Mira is a good friend to her classmates and seems to get along with everyone (except for Grant, who doesn't get along with anyone).

She said that Mira is at the top of her class in recognizing all her upper-case letters, and near the top with the lower case (21/26).

Mrs. Hill said that she would like to see Mira leading a little more than she already does, rather than following. If that's the worst thing she can say, we'll take it! We knew Mira would love school, so we are thrilled with this outstanding report. Great job, Mira!
And above is possibly Mira's official kindergarten picture. Being a rookie kindergarten mom, I didn't realize that I needed to order her photos the day they were taken. I thought I'd get proofs to choose from! I guess I've been getting the girls' portraits taken at JcPenney and Target for far too long! So not sure if we can get the pictures that were taken at school or not. If not, this one was taken that morning anyway.

Apple Jack's #2 {Oct. 18}

We were lucky enough to have Kelly, Logan, and Chesney stay with us this weekend. The kids had a blast, and I loved seeing my sister for such a long stretch of time! The kids played together so nicely, slept in the same room {late night up for all of them!}, and enjoyed being around each other all weekend. We went to a couple of parks, had lunch out, did some shopping {totally got the kids' Halloween costumes figured out!}, and went back to Apple Jack's Orchard on a beautiful Sunday! Here are a few photos from the orchard:

Mira got her face painted, this time with a tiger:
Mira and Amelia with a photo opportunity:
Riding on the Cow Train:
And Kelly, Logan, and Chesney rode the Cow Train too!
Mira really loved a pony ride!
A wagon ride through the apple orchard and pumpkin patch:
Chesney and Logan showed us how tall they are:
We had such a wonderful weekend. It's sad to see it ending. But we'll see them all next weekend again at a family shower. Looking forward to it! We love you all and are so glad we could spend some time with them.

Welcome home, Jahnke Family!

We were able to head to Lanesboro for a long weekend to see my sister and her family back from Sydney! We celebrated Chesney and Logan's birthdays, as well as my mom and dad's birthdays. It was a wonderful weekend! All my siblings, their spouses, and kids came. The house was FULL with 17 people! It was great to see everyone.

Kelly and Duey made us a delicious jambalya for dinner on Friday night. We then stayed up late and played many round of screw-your-neighbor. It was fun to just stay up and talk to everyone.
Martha and Bob almost got to sleep with a kangaroo!
Saturday was an Australian-themed birthday party for Chesney and Logan. Lots of great food and little treats for the kids. The kids played "Pass the Parcel," an Australian party game. It was a hit!
Sunday was a great breakfast and a wonderful Vikings game. And Amelia kept everyone entertained by singing "Mamma Mia" tunes. All. Weekend. Long. She was actually taking requests! She's got a knack for music, that's for sure! Such a great weekend! Loved seeing you all. And welcome back!

Apple Jack's! {Oct. 4}

In an effort to do something fall-like between the rain and the imminent snow, Chris and I took Mira and Amelia to Apple Jack's Orchard today. It was a lot of fun!

First we rode on the wagon through the orchards:
Then Mira got her face painted. She chose a pumpkin to celebrate fall!
Mira and Amelia had a great time on top of the hay bales. {With all the rain lately, they smelled a little musty. The hay bales, not the girls.}
They pet a goat and saw some chickens. They climbed some fun things:
We enjoyed all the photo opportunities they offered!
And we capped off the day with popcorn and a caramel apple. I also have an apple-cranberry crisp in the oven right now. Can't wait to eat that nice and warm with some whipped cream. Yum!

Happy fall to all our friends and family!

Happy birthday, Daddy! {Oct. 3}

Amelia just wanted to say a big Happy Birthday to her Daddy!
And Mira wanted to say how much she loves her daddy and that she hopes he has a great birthday too! She painted him a beautiful picture.

Today was a nice lazy day. I winterized the girls' clothes and cleaned out my linen closet. Made some chili and an angel food cake for Chris.

Mira and Amelia stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's last night. They had a great time! This morning, Mira comes home to find her lost tooth gone and a Target gift card in its place. What can I say? The tooth fairy ran out of cash!
Tomorrow, we head to an apple orchard for a little Sunday fun. The Vikings don't play so we can do something as a family on a Sunday afternoon. Bliss!

Jeepers! She lost tooth #4! {Oct. 2}

Hopefully this will be the last tooth Mira loses for awhile, or she won't be able to eat! 3 of her 4 front teeth are missing now, and Mira is a few dollars richer. She's so proud each time they come out, though. As she says about today's lost tooth, "I was eating a fruit snack and it just popped out!" Great job, Mira!