From our crew to yours...

Happy Halloween!

Channeling their inner artistry

If this past weekend was any indication, fall ranks up there as our kids favorite season (summer might have something to say about that). 

As we do most weekends, we tried to have a few activities planned to keep our little monsters occupied and relatively happy throughout the weekend, and this weekend those activities were centered around pumpkins and nice weather. 

The previous weekend we had ventured to a pumpkin patch not far from our house and the kids picked (with the assistance of Sara and I and Grandpa Paul and Grandma Monica) their favorite gourds.  It was those very finds that got the royal treatment this weekend as the kids got to try their hands at painting pumpkins.  We erred on the side of caution this year, going with the painting technique rather than the carving, and you can imagine why (finger paint or sharp knives).

Our budding artists

Picasso

Monet

Van Gogh

We borrowed this particular painting idea from one of our favorite blogs.  Our kids must be a little more heavy-handed than the ones featured on the other site, as the Ritzmann pumpkins ended up a dark shade of grey rather than the multicolored perfection that can been seen here.

In the midst of the pumpkin decorating madness, Sara, using her seemingly unlimited baking prowess and infinite creativity, whisked together this masterpiece "candycorn" cake.  I failed to take a picture of the inside, which may or may not have had to do with the fact that I was too busy taste-testing various sections of this deliciousness.  Trust me when I say that when we cut into it, its resemblance to a gargantuan piece of Sara's favorite fall treat was uncanny.

After all of the cake eating that took place on Saturday we decided to load the kids in the car on Sunday and burn off a few calories strolling through the Cincinnati Zoo.  By the looks of this picture, we weren't the only ones enjoying some fall flavors on this unseasonably warm weekend.

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Let the planning for next weekend begin...



4 months down...

How many more to go?

It was four short months ago that our paperwork began its voyage from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seoul, South Korea.  It's at that time that our official "wait" began.  Our definition of when the wait began was quite awhile earlier, way back when we decided to add to onto our family, but now we are going by the clock set by our agency. 

At the time of our acceptance of our little guy's referral, the agency estimated wait times for families to be up to 14 months from the time the paperwork is sent to Korea.  Hence it looks like we have up to 10 more months of feeling like we are missing a member of our family. 

Here's to hoping the next 10 months goes quickly and more importantly that our little guy gets the care that he needs while we wait ever so patiently to go get our boy.

Future babysitters? The jury is still out.

More time than not over the past few weekends has been spent in the car driving to Indianapolis and points beyond.  So it wouldn't have been a Saturday if we didn't pack the kids into the family mobile, put on an endless stream of Spongebob or Tom and Jerry for the kids enjoyment and put the vehicle on auto pilot en route to meeting the newest member of the family, Baby Nora. 

We were a bit concerned about having the little ones around a two day old baby and here's why...

Hence, when it was time to hold Baby Nora these two were quickly skipped over in favor of this eager future babysitter.

The two little ones were able to jump up on the couch and observe how to properly hold their newest cousin, but that is about as close as they got.

That is until Addy got close enough to sneak a kiss.

On top of getting to meet their newest cousin, the kids also got to hang with a few of their other cousins as well.  And as usual, they had a great time.

Baby Nora has arrived!

I am very happy to report that my younger sister Emily and her husband Andy welcomed their first little one into the world this morning.

Emily and Nora Marie

The kids are super excited to meet their 8th cousin, so it looks like another trip to Indy is in order for this weekend!

Lleyton's big brown eyes were fixed on the heavens this morning, as he is pretty sure that babies fall from the sky.  I could have taken a moment to teach him how babies really come about, but I chose not to and instead joined him in gazing upwards. 

According to him, he spotted her amidst the clouds just before we arrived at school this morning. 

The highs and lows of a trip to pick apples.

We took a quick detour on the way to visit Grandma Rena in Kokomo yesterday afternoon.  That detour took us to our favorite orchard, Tuttle's.  The kids were quite excited about the chance to pick some apples.  That excitement quickly evaporated when we told them that there wasn't going to be time to hang out in the children's play area after the apple picking was complete. 

If you don't believe me, check out the pictures to prove it...

HAPPY KIDS

NOT-SO-HAPPY KIDS

Forgive me for thinking the not-so-happy kids picture is hilarious.  One second they are thrilled to be hanging at the orchard, the next second they want no part of me or my camera. 

Prior to the meltdown I was able to capture the little folks enjoying themselves...

Hopefully we'll make it back to the orchard in a few weeks to pick pumpkins, and you can be sure we will allot more time to play during that trip.