October 2015

Leah played soccer again this fall, and although she isn't as hard core as Owen, she does really enjoy it. This year one of the other moms got some great photos!

Leah's on the right of the photo. Her team named themselves the Lime Slime.

On many nice days we've brought Reuben's bike along to the boys' therapy center so he can practice with Brian. Owen's trying out one of the center's little-kid two-wheelers.

Evania, never one to be left out, likes this fancy tricycle.

There they come around the corner!

Pretty nails! She decorated them herself with jewel stickers.

The view from here: Evania and the Baby

We made brownies one night, and Reuben, who adores candles, asked to put some in, so we did. Why not? I think we sang Happy Birthday to Thursday (or whatever day it was), too!  Always good to have a reason to celebrate!

Fall means it's processing season. Here, Rinnah is helping Matt move cooked apples through the food mill for applesauce.

The cat is never short on loving.

Owen's pretty proud of his Lego truck he designed on his own.

Fun in the leaves.

Was so proud of how Krassi was using his LEFT hand to hold onto the cake tin! That's not easy for him to do, and neither is sitting up so straight and tall.

The house next door was sodded, and they had a partial palette left that the sod crew offered to just give us since we're also working on finishing off our yard. Matt and Reuben laid it in the little area outside of his office. Reuben got the fun part of riding in the wheelbarrow as they went back and forth to the compost pile to improve the soil before planting.

It's so much fun to have instant grass!

Reuben enjoys worms. ;) It's hard to see, but the grin on his face is not!

Thank you, Evania. Believe it or not, it was Reuben who informed me this was going on. The two of them had been playing happily upstairs together (a rare delight as Reuben still struggles to find meaningful activities to occupy his time), and I popped my head up the stairs only to have Reuben put on his concerned face and tell me, "Dee-tee," which means, "dirty." "Where, Reuben?" I asked. He pointed. ALL. OVER. the top of the stairs 'Vania had scribbled with a marker she'd found. And then he showed me more - all down the hallway, all around our bedroom - all on the wood floors, but the washable marker only comes up where the finish is still good, and on those old floors, there are places where the finish is not so good... Oh my.

The girls wanted to have a cookie decorating party, so we made a bunch of cut-out cookies and then invited friends over to have fun with frosting and sprinkles. It's fun having a nice variety of cookie-cutters so we could have leaves, pumpkins, apples, turkeys, acorns, and other fall-themed cookies to work with!

This held Reuben's attention for a surprisingly long time.

We also played silly games like, "eat the mini-donut without using your hands as it hangs from a string." We had more girls than boys at the party, so needed one girl volunteer to go with the boys. Not surprisingly, Rinnah was up for the challenge. ;)

And here are the girls taking their turn.

Little Evania found the wooden shoes that Auntie Sara gave Reuben when she still lived in Amsterdam.

Krassimir on his second anniversary HOME!!!

We got a big load of mulch, and Reuben disappeared one day to be found sitting on top of it with his Bible.

We went with a group of home schoolers to the Aquarium at the Mall of America. Here's Leah helping Krassi feel the water by the sting rays.

Reuben, of course, had his Bible along. What a perfect ledge there was in the tunnels for reading!

Watching the fish while wearing their matching green shirts.