i should be at a party

dave is at a proper party.

i decided to stay home, get the kids to bed early, read and for heaven's sake put some laundry away around here. 

he texted me a picture and i fear i made such a lame choice. 

it has given me some time with our lone laptop to sift through the pictures from our last days with the harms crew, take that awesome wine and food.

here are ashton and chloe in their matching dresses helping in the kitchen.

these two always wanted to help grandma together. 

fun around the fire pit.

cousin sleepover and making cards for mommy/aunt erin's bday. 

mini golf at the new place on powers.

he was a hoot. 

this was one of our quiet mornings.  i actually remember it well.  avery was reading jesus story book to ash while i was getting breakfast and gosh, i just had to capture that.  if i listed the million things i love about homeschooling, this picture would be at the top of the list.  i love reading our Bible and working on our verses and eating breakfast all together, it's not rushed at all, there is no where to be except home.  

avery's line of clocks in the right order. 

ash wanted a picture of her work, too!

the night before ian's birthday we went to red robin for his free food and sundae!

today, someone at ashton's soccer game (she scored her first goal!!) asked how old my kids were and i told her that ian was 2 and i didn't even do it on purpose. i'm still not used to it. 

we had all of the cousins over for a welcome fall party!

we did a little bit of art

and then decorated pumpkin and leaf cookies. 

 i let them use charcoal pencils to sketch their trees.

charcoal is messy :)

erin loading their bins for the flight.

we said goodbye on sunday night and it was HARD, there were lots of tears and when your nieces are crying while they are saying goodbye to you, it pretty much breaks your heart in two.

this is what was happening right before we started saying goodbye the first time.

they were launching themselves from the bunk beds to libby's mattress on the ground. 

and then lots of hugs before the tears started. 

and then the next day we heard that their flights were delayed so we got to have one more night with them!

we went to cold stone to celebrate!

and i forgot to include this one of hauling our stuff and our kids into the hotel in glenwood springs. 

i love this picture. that was such a special weekend!  

and here's erin's blog if you want to follow their adventures in ghana.  i hear she might be posting once a week these days ;)