Not much new...

...but I thought I would send a quick update to keep everyone in the loop. We have had a busy couple of weeks spending time with family. The weekend of the 13Th and 14Th we hosted the Rochester Schmitt's at our house. Mike, Jessica and Benjamin all had Friday the 13Th off, so Joe took the day off as well and we spent it together. We headed first to the Children's Museum and all three boys had a blast. Especially John, he was in heaven to be in a place where he could touch whatever he wanted and was never told NO! A.J. and Benjamin had so much playing and figuring out how everything worked, it was amazing to watch their minds in action. After the museum, Jessica found a wonderful place for us all to have lunch. She picked it with A.J. in mind, the Java Train Cafe. We had a wonderful lunch and A.J. and Benjamin had a great time playing in the "caboose" and watching the model train. After our bellies were full the moms and kids headed back here to do some playing outside and have a nap, while the dads headed off to do dad things. After the men got back, us ladies were able to go out and have dinner and have some time to ourselves, it was wonderful! Jessica and I always have so much fun together. Saturday we all headed over to Grammy and Pa's for dinner and more quality time together. It was a wonderful weekend spending time with them! And the boys has so much fun together, it is such a joy that they get along so well. Here is a little video to show how much fun they all have together!



This last week we spent again with the Rochester Schmitt's (boy, they are going to get sick of us)! Jessica headed up to the cities on Thursday evening so we could attend the long awaited premier of New Moon! And of course celebrate her birthday. We started the evening at The Square and had a wonderful dinner and delicious drinks. We then headed to the theater for the 12:02 am showing and were glad we got there as early as we did, it was packed! We were going to try and sit with my sister and her sister-in-law as well, but there was just not enough seats for all of us together. The movie was great, a lot better then the first in the saga, but we were exhausted and ready for bed! Then Friday evening was the usual birthday ritual, getting the Schmitt "sisters" together for dinner. We surprised Jessica with dinner at Fuji-Ya and had a yummy dinner!

Saturday morning we then packed up the car and headed down to Rochester for the rest of the weekend. We had a wonderful time playing games, watching movies and just relaxing and spending time together. Sunday before we headed home, we all went to the "really fun" park and watched the boys play. I think we had as much fun watching them as they did playing. We then headed home and spent the rest of the night recovering from our fun, but busy weekend!

We are really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my mom and sister and family this weekend. My grandparents are even coming up from Iowa and this will be their first time meeting John. We have a lot to be thankful for and A.J. has been rattling off his list already this week. He is also very excited because after Thanksgiving is Christmas (he isn't quite sure how the timing works, he thinks Christmas is this Friday)! I can't believe Christmas is just a little over a month away. Where has the year gone!? I will post some pictures from Thanksgiving next week (if I remember my camera), but here is one picture I couldn't resist posting!

Apple Orchard and Halloween

I can not believe it is November already! Christmas will be here before we know it.

We have been enjoying this wonderful fall weather. We spent the afternoon a few weekends ago at the apple orchard with my mom, Jess, Kristi and the kids. They had goats and chickens, a wooden train to play on and of course the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. AJ had a blast playing with his brother and cousins and could not WAIT to get on the tractor for the ride out to the corn maze. It was a beautiful day and afterward we all headed to Jess' house to have some pizza and watch movies. I have added few pictures of the wonderful afternoon.

We decided on very short notice this year to continue our tradition of having a Halloween party. We sent out the evite, decorated the house, figured out costumes (well at least all of the men in my life did, I did not have such good luck with that) and purchased the refreshments for the party. We started the day out at church at the annual Hallelujah Festival with Grammy and Pa (Joe's parents) and then Mike, Jessica and Benjamin joined us for trick or treating in White Bear. (Picture courtesy of Jessica). Then once the boys were home and their candy sorted carefully (both the boys have allergies), our guests started arriving. I was too busy talking and did not take many pictures. But thankfully Jessica took a few and I am stealing a few from her (thanks!). AJ had a few friends join him at the party and the boys had a wonderful time. They are all within 2 years of each other and got along great. John dressed as a dragon and was so good, he wore his costume all night!

Joe and Kaiser decided to do another theme this year, Smokey and the Bandit. When another couple found out, they joined in the fun and dressed as two characters from the movie as well. There were a lot of fun costumes, just wish I would have taken some pictures of them!





Thanksgiving is fast approaching and we are really looking forward to it. We will be spending it at Jess' this year with my Mom and family. There should be a lot of food (can you same turkey AND ham) and wonderful company. We have most of our weekends booked up already through Christmas, it's amazing how busy we get this time of year and we are really looking forward to spending lots of time with family. Christmas will be split this year as usual, Christmas Eve with Jen's dad and family, Christmas Day with the Schmitt's and I believe the weekend before Christmas with Jen's mom and family (not sure on the exact details yet). I will try to post more often, but you all know how I am :)