Happy Halloween 2011!!

I can tell that holidays are just going to keep getting better and better!  It's so nice to have a short little excuse to participate in fun Halloween activities again.  This past weekend, we hit up a local farm--Honeysuckle Hill--to pick out our pumpkins and to enjoy some good family Halloween fun.  Because I am THE WORST navigator ever (I prefer to rely on my Nightstalker and his plus-or-minus-thirty-seconds-to-the-target training,) we arrived not too terribly long before naptime.  Luckily, Emmy rallied BIG TIME as soon as we got out of the car, so we were able to pack in the fantastic games and attractions!

Tonight, Emmy got her first taste of trick-or-treating, and while she didn't say a word from the moment she left the house until the moment she returned, it was all she could talk about during bathtime tonight.  She kept saying,"Tr-treat,""Emmy treat," and "Dada hand" as she recounted her big 20 minutes of knocking on 7 doors and collecting lots of typically forbidden goodies.  Something tells me a certain little Emmy Horn is going to have very sweet dreams tonight, and not just because her dinner was comprised of a milkshake and fruit snacks.

One of the many attractions at Honeysuckle Hill Farm.

First time on a big girl swing!

Dada and his little piggy...

...I mean goat.  (Sorry for cutting off your head, Babe. :-P)

Doing what Dada and Emmy do best...Conquering big slides!

Baby pumpkin patch

Going bouncy!

Airborne!!

Lesson learned: don't ever distract an artist from her work.

Halloween Day...Ensemble #1, courtesy of Miss Lindsay. :)

Poof! Now she's Abby Cadabby!

The pumpkins looked way cooler in this photo.  Nick's is the mean looking one.

Off to get some loot!

First stop at Ms. Rondell and Mr. Jim's house!

This is the part where you say, "Thank you."  I am choosing to believe she was thinking it even though she didn't say it out loud.

Man, if only this image weren't blurry!

Emmy and Dada after tearing up the street!

Mama, Baby Hannah and Emmy girl!

Grubbing on our Apple Cider & Cheese Fondue and ghostly milkshakes (thank you, Kris, for the creative inspiration!)

29 weeks today!

GMAT...CHECK!!

I want to thank you all for your prayers...God was listening!  Nick did incredibly well on the test (he, of course, is impossibly hard on himself and still wasn't pleased with the end result.)  His score makes him a strong competitor for his school choices, based on the research we've done.  (Of course Nick doesn't want to be a competitor, he wants to be a shoo-in :-P.)  He hasn't decided yet if he wants to take it again in a month from now, just to prove to himself that he can get a better score (that's my hubby for you!)  For now, Emmy and I are overjoyed by his tremendous accomplishment and thrilled to have his company again!  Next up: applications!  Deadlines are looming in the beginning of January for round two admissions!  It just wouldn't be like us not to confront multiple major life changes in a small span of time. :-P

Prayer Request

I humbly ask that you please keep Nick in your prayers tomorrow.  He will be taking his GMAT test at 10:30am.  He has been studying most every waking moment that he's not at work since the beginning of August.  His score will carry great weight in his eligibility for the business schools that he has his heart set on; which will therefore be a major determining factor as to whether our family's future will be in the military or the civilian world.  We are so eager for God to reveal His plans for our future to us...Thank you so much.

Celebrating Halloween at school!

Nick and I woke Emmy up this morning with some exciting news (I love gloomy weather because she sleeps longer!)  We informed her that it was a special day at school, and we needed to get her dressed in her tu-tu.  She sat straight up in bed and worked herself up into an excited frenzy. :)  Playing dress-up happens to be one of Emmy's very favorite things to do.  Halloween is Emmy's holiday!

Emmy and the kiddos in her class got to go on a hayride (the director's husband, Paw, pulled a decorated trailer behind his red tractor) and picked out pumpkins provided by a local farmer on Tuesday and they went trick-or-treating to the other classrooms today!  There are just so many reason why we love Emmy's "school!"  

P.S. I stole Nick's I-phone today to take pictures because my camera took a tumble off the counter and needed to be fixed at the Nikon Repairs Division in New York. :( :( :(  The idea of not having it for Halloween has kept me up at night, but I learned this morning (after refreshing the status page for the thousandth time when I first rolled out of bed) that it's finally on it's way home!! Praise Jesus!!

Izzy, Ali, Preston, Jaxon, Gabriel & Emmy

Elmo's side-kick and fairy-in-training, Abby Cadabby, a.k.a Emmy Horn.

Emmy & Dane

Dane is just three months older than Emmy, they met when she was two weeks old.  Since then, they have enjoyed playtime together at our Sunday church group gatherings, Mom's Day Out (Dane's Mommy is Emmy's beloved teacher,) and play dates in between.  Emmy adores her Dane Dane.  The mere mention of his name brings an enormous smile to her face.  When I let her know that we are on our way to see Dane, she'll repeat his name until they are reunited.  It was really no surprise to Nick and I, or Dane's parents, Lindsay and Mike, when the babysitters greeted us at the door after church group yesterday with video documentation of their sweet display of affection for one another.  All of the Dad's gave Dane high-fives; his smile was almost as broad as Emmy's is each and every time we have watched it since.

Meeting Jacob Ryan

Emmy and I left Dada with his GMAT books (and Molly and Darla) to go to Indiana to meet the newest member of our family this past week!  Mom joined us a couple of days in, and together, we did our best to offer Kris and JP as much relief as possible and to stock their freezer with meals.  (Although it's tough to tell how much relief we offered considering Emmy is the main creator of messes, instigator, and contributor to the overall chaos in the house. :-P)  We kept the agenda low-key, but managed to have lots of fun playing together and initiating Jacob into the crew, poor kid has no idea what he's in for...

Watching "Happy Feet" with a popcorn snack on the first rainy afternoon.

Mimi brought puppets for everyone and showed the kiddos how it's done.

Sweet baby kisses.

Emmy insisted on wearing Uncle JP's "hat" when she mounted the trike.

Clairey insisted on wearing goggles when she mounted her trike.  I love how Clairey thinks.

BFFs

This was the most tame moment of our bedtime routine.  Its only lasted but a minute before Emmy lost interest and moved on to other adventures like unloading Auntie Kristi's nightstand drawers.

Emmy can't get enough of Baby Jacob.  She loves him intensely.  The sweetest part about this picture is that it was genuine.  Emmy gave Jacob a goodnight kiss without any prompting, and he was the only one.

Handsome little man! He's such an incredible baby, it's as if he already knows he's third-born and is as patient as they come.

He has the sweetest disposition and the most kissable little face.

Our girl now enjoys having her picture taken.  She sees my camera, shrieks "EMMY!," then poses, shrieks "CHEEEE!," and then runs to check the playback on my camera.  She's coming up with the most hilarious forced smiles while she's posing.

Swinging with Mimi

Playtime at the pumpkin patch!

What a ham!

Here are the pictures that I stole from Kris' camera:

Making a train on the slide!

Here they go!!

So fun!!

It's scary to think that in three short months they will be five strong. :-P