Isn't she an angel?

This is my new niece, little Jemma Jane!
Kelly labored most of the morning in relative calm. Things started to pick up a bit around 1ish and the doctor broke her water at 1:15. By 2:35, sweet Jemma was here and Kelly looked as chipper as when we had seen her two hours before!
Nine pounds is a lot, but fast labors are a blessing!

The New Addition!

A proud mama!

Even prouder (?) big sister! She uses the phrase "my sister" as much as she possible can!

The three kids! Jack loved to snuggle his head down on her! He is a tender little bud!

I love this shot!

Sweet Jemma Jane!

Jemma Jane was born today, October 28 at 2:35 pm.
She was 9 lbs.(!), 19 inches long.

Thumb-sucker! She can find it herself!

Kayte got to visit right after Jemma's bath.

Yeah! My new niece! Did I mention I love newborns?

Grandma and little Jemma.

Bible Quiz

Every night Joe quizzes the children on their Bible stories. Sara likes to participate with really random answers. But she is very enthusiastic, which we love!

And the finished product!

Kayte wanted scary, but later she had me add eyelashes and so it became a girl instead.

Will is kindly shoving Joe aside so I can get a good shot!

Ta da!

Carvin' pumpkins

Kayte and Will would not help gut the pumpkins, but they did have complete creative control!

Kayte's pumpkin was the biggest! She picked it out months ago and has been watching it grow!

Quite a party of pumpkin guts. Later we celebrated with brats and beer!

Feedin' time!

River and Terran.
Jessa took River's bracelet off today, so it is really time for me to start knowing who is who! And I think I've finally figured it out!

Techno-Savvy

Joe found a website where Kayte could create her own little fairy and taught her how to do it herself.
It was really cool to watch!

And this is the hunt-and-peck! :)

Love it!

Yeah!
Joe piled all this up on Saturday!
Give me a tall glass of wine and a toasty fire every night, and I am a happy girl!

A tree for prosterity

Kayte picked up this little sprout of a tree at a field trip last week. Joe helped her plant it in the backyard. Maybe someday it will be our Christmas Tree!

The Costume Contest

Ok, this picture is totally blurry, but I wanted you to see how psyched up Will was about the contest! He totally thought it was in the bag!


But how could we compete with the Hulk? (Yeah, the green guy won!)
After they announced the winner, Will kept hollering at me from the stage in protest, "Mama! Mama!"
(Come on, it was the Hulk! Complete with flexing! What can I say?)

Wha?

Hee, hee! I don't think Stephen's a blog-reader, so I can get away with this :)

Cousins!

Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Strawberry Shortcake, & Prima Ballerina.

This is Thing 1 and Thing 2! Clever! Terran (I think!) is seriously protesting the blue feather wig!

Little puppy dog Anthony.

And Hudson was a Penguin!

Fall Carnival

A quick shot before we head out. Ben and Sara, my pumpkin patch. Will, the hero/firefighter. Kayte, a brunette Sleeping Beauty.
Still a gorgeous day!!!

Will and buddy Theo are dressed alike, right down to the fire ax in their belts!

Sara could not get enough of the jumping castle. It required no tickets, so she just kept going back.

Kayte, putting her new fishing skills to work.

Does it get any better than this?

A boy and his dad tossin' the football around in the backyard on a beautiful fall day!

Homecoming Day Parade

Kayte, anticipating some candy! And we did get a whole lot!

Quite a crowd of family showed up!

Will caught a golden football!

As usual, the time completely got away from me this morning! I hollered at Will to get his shoes on cause we were going to a parade. He started dawdling and I had to hustle him along. Finally it occured to him, "Will there be candy at the Parade?"
"Yeah, I think so. . ." says I.
So all of a sudden it's, "Ok mom, let's hurry!!! We are going to be late!"