Funny story

Last week the kids got out of school on Thursday because of the snow. I remember telling Griffin that I wondered if school was going to be cancelled for Friday too. He said, "Well, it is all up to Mrs Cribbs". I asked him, "why does Mrs Cribbs get to decide if you have school?". Griffin replied, "Well, she is the school canceller". Yes, Mrs Cribbs is the school guidance counselour. Thought that was a cute comment.

Santa Brunch

On Saturday we took the kids to have a brunch with Santa at the botanical gardens. It is one of our favorite holiday things to do with the kids. Santa comes around to each table to talk with each kid. Then you can also go up and sit on his lap and read your Christmas list. Here are the 3 kids before the brunch started. Griffin was starving!

Santa dropped by the table for a visit with the boys.

Little Ashby has been sprung from her high chair.

She was very curious about Santa.

No crying this year!

Griffin read his list to Santa.

Gray was super excited to sit on his lap.

All 3 kids on Santa's lap.

Little bit of snow

On Monday we got a little bit of snow. Maybe 2 inches- enough to play in but not enough to keep Griffin home from school. So Gray and I went outside to play a bit. We built a little snowman to surprise Griffin when he got home.

Tomorrow school is already cancelled in anticipation of the snow we may get so hopefully we will have even more time in the snow. Should be fun:)

Yellow Belt

Today Brent took Griffin to taek wondo to test for his yellow belt. He got it and was so excited! Here is a picture of Griffin with instructor Kelly. He even broke a board with his hands- he really loved this part!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we are staying put for Thanksgiving. While we miss our families, it is kind of nice to be able to have Brent home and just relax a bit. We have most of our leaves down now so the kids have been playing in them a lot. The boys set the table this year.

I can't believe we got a shot of all 5 of us smiling:)

Three crazy kiddos! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall weekend

The leaves here have been so pretty and it finally feels like Fall. Here is a pic of our Japanese Maple by the pond. It has been beautiful. Even though it isn't that cold, Griffin sometimes insists on wearing an unusual combination of scarves and hats. He even dresses up his stuffed animals.

Brent and I on date night while my mom was in town.

This past weekend Brent raked up some leaves for the kids to jump in. They had a lot of fun.

The boys have started to like playing football with Brent. Gray even wanted to know why Brent couldn't come home from work one afternoon and play football with him.

Little Linda?

So lately we have been thinking that Ashby looks a lot like her Grandma Linda. Thoughts on this one? She really does look a lot like Brent (who in turn looks like Linda) and she does have the curls:) Here is a recent picture of her. Don't let this sweet little smile fool you. She is starting to show that she has quite the little temper. Her favorite word is "No!" and she says it with a lot of passion. She definitely has a "cheese" face for the camera now. It is hard to get a normal picture of her sometimes.

She is starting to show a preference for some of her more girly toys. She loves her little Vera Bradley purse that my friend bought her. She carries it around on her arm almost all the time.

She even carries it up the stairs!

Halloween parade

At Griffin's school on Friday, he had a kindergarten Halloween parade. It was really cute. The kindergarteners walk all around the school and the big kids give them all high fives and cheer them on. Here are some pics. Leo, Rynn, Maya, Matthew, and Griffin.

Griffin with his teacher, Ms Fisher.

Here he comes!

Griffin as a "ninja"

Attempting to get a group shot of his class!

Apple Picking

A few weeks ago the grandparents were in town and we went apple picking at Carter Mountain. It was a beautiful day and we had a great view of Charlottesville.

Most of the apples were at the top of the tree so we had to use the poles to get them. And I climbed a tree to get a few too.

Griffin and Grandma.

Grandma and Ashby.

Sweet Gray with his apples.

Eating donuts on the back deck. What a great day!

Ashby's Morning Out

Today was Ashby's first day of Parents Morning Out. She wore her cute monogrammed outfit to school today:) Her teachers are Ms Lynn and Ms Laura (who Gray had 2 years ago) and she loved them. They said she did great and loved playing with the other kids. Here are a few shots before school. A quick shot of her new purple backpack for school this year. I love it!

In keeping with the theme of having school pictures on our front steps, I tried to get a few shots outside. It was hard to keep her from falling off the steps, but I got a few good ones. Here's our happy girl!

A quick picture in her classroom. She didn't cry at all:)