The Fall Grand Visit

It has been several months since my in-laws have made the long trip down to visit us, so it was a much anticipated event.  They always come with fun finds, this time including CDs and tapes from Beach's childhood that they were all excited to explore.

Shiloh was give a little set that Beach had given his mother when he was a boy.

Ezra was thrilled with some new cars...

and a tent for his bed.

Hugs all around for sure!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were blessed with some pretty awesome weather and attempted to take advantage of it, including an outing for us all at the park one afternoon.

Grandma was easily convinced to take a turn on the slide (but she probably was not expecting a little push from a certain granddaughter).

Fun little spot for a photo opt...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Halloween day, the girls dressed up for book character day.

Both as cute as could be (even with vitamins stuffed in their cheeks during this picture).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then it was off for a girls day of shopping and lunch out!

The boys managed to find some fun on their own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At dinner, we took advantage of the Boo-Rrito special at Chipotle for those in costumes (super sunny shine in your eyes picture spot).

My sister and family happened to just show up at the exact same time, great minds think alike.

I'd say we had some cute littles...

Before we left for trick-or-treating, we stocked up the pumpkin I made on the front porch.

I few more pictures, because really, they won't be this little long...

Our neighbor friends are always our first stop, even if they weren't home, it was worth it for the cute picture.  I did not warn Donna, who was with us, that we do not do the outing in a traditional way.  Instead we leisurely talk and visit with our neighbor's (those that are interested that is) in order to get to know then better and build community, as that is our goal for the evening.  I think she caught on, though, after spending 20 minutes at one particular house!

Once we returned home, the littles were all to happy to share their candy...

and spread it throughout the living room.

The chosen piece for the night was a lollipop.  They all get to chose their top five items and the rest is donated.

Reporting all the events to Grandpa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The making of Grandma's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies continues.  She made it while the girls were at school this time, in order to surprise them when she went to visit them for lunch.

Ezra loves getting in on the action, though, too.  Intense stirrer that he is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I enjoyed some quiet time while Ezra played outside.  He didn't mind the rain sprinkles but I stayed covered in the garage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another rain day after school and Shiloh requested to go to the playground at the mall.

While I knew they were kind of big for that, we ended up going for a few minutes to add a little more fun into the day!

Then we stopped in to check out a new place in Irmo, and the kids got their face painted while we were there.

All the littles once we got home!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One night it was a must to pause reading time to take a few moments to take in the sunset from the front porch.

God makes amazing things.

The dropping in temp, though, lead to rushing back inside!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Saturday morning, while I was at an event, Beach took the family to CIU for a part of their homecoming.

Thankful for a beautiful day to enjoy there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I latter took the kids (with our plus one) on a walk, where they often collect things along the way!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night out and it called for the Mexican tradition.

Chips all around (while to everyone but me, as I'm not eating corn right now).

One finally picture to seal in a great week together!

One of the best ones yet!