Fall is Here

So, fall has officially arrived here in Illinos. Fall is my favorite season. I love the chill in the air, the crunching sound of crisp leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc... Unfortunately if you blink...you will miss it and we will be in the midst of winter freezing our butts off.

Anyway, we have been a bit busy settling in from our vacation and getting back into the swing of things. I haven't been the best blogger, but I am BACK! I have a few things to report and of course pictures to follow.

First of all...I am very happy to share that my grandfather DOES NOT have bone marrow cancer. That is the good news...the bad news is that they don't know what is causing his symptoms. More tests are being run and information collected to come to some sort of conclusion. Thank you for all of your prayers and support...they are obviously working.

Secondly, as some of you know, Matt works for Washington Mutual (or should I say J.P. Morgan Chase?). I am sure all of you have heard the reports in the news of Chase taking over Washington Mutual. Many of you have been asking what that means for Matt's job. Well, we aren't sure at this point. Basically, we are at a "wait and see" standpoint. Matt is still employed, goes to work every day and it is business as usual. We both possess a positive attitude at this point. While, Matt losing his job would not be a good thing, there is nothing we can do about it right now. So, we are literally just waiting to see what happens. The only thing we do know at this point is that some people will be let go right now, some will be asked to stay during the transition period and the rest will stay on staff. Obviously, we are hoping for the last option and praying for Him to help us through this.

The kids are doing well. Layna's eyebrow is still glued together...LOL! The glue is supposed to come off by itself. We are still waiting for that. Brayden will be celebrating his 3^rd birthday on Oct. 13^th with all the festivities happening on the 11^th. I can't believe how time has flown since he has been home and how much he has changed. He is an amazing little boy and we love him like crazy. Stay tuned for photos of the BIG party day and the actual BIG Birthday! Brayden is very excited to be having a Disney Cars themed birthday and is hoping for the Little Einsteins Rocket as a gift. Every time we are in Target...he asks for it. I just tell him that we will have to wait and see if someone buys him one for his birthday. He is SOOOOO into Little Einsteins right now and I actually like the show as well. If you know the show at all, picture Layna and Brayden glued to the tv patting away to give rocket power. It is quite adorable.

That is about all I can think of right now...hope everyone is well and enjoying fall!


Walking to the park...


Brayden giving Layna direction while walking to the park...LOL!


Brayden crossing the bridge...


...and Layna crossing the bridge shortly before she fell off landing directly on the top of her head. She is not the most balanced individual and is going to give mommy more heart attacks than Brayden ever did.


An attempt at getting a cute shot of the kiddos together...yay, I am not fast enough!


This past weekend we headed to a pumpkin farm to pick out some pumpkins...duh, what else would we do there! So, here is Brayden checking out his options.


Working together to find the best pumpkin...or figure out how to get out of the middle of the pumpkins because mommy insisted on getting pics of the kids surrounded by pumpkins.


Layna enjoying the pumpkin farm!


Brayden sliding down a jumpy tent slide. It cost $1 for 5 minutes per jumpy tent that was there...strange I thought. How about a flat fee to jump in ALL of the jumpy tents.


Layna TRYING to pick up her pumpkin...she eventually just walked away. The heck with it.


What a cute little scarecrow.


Brayden attempting to put back a pumpkin that mommy suggested. Apparently, it did not make the cut...however, it did come home with us. I liked it.