Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat!

Where did Maddy go?

"Here I am!"

Godsisters

Brooke, Brad, and Rylee visited this past month while they were in Michigan for an NMU football game. The game was at Wayne State University so we decided to join them for the game and enjoy the weather and company. We always love getting to see the Anderson family (Brooke's family) so we try to do that when we can. It was a beautiful day, the last one of the season I think. Maddy was so excited to see Rylee and have Rylee come to her house to sleep. A little too excited sometimes. The nice thing now is that Rylee can at least try to get away. Maddy still tries to pull her around though. We had a great day and night visiting together. Sunday, Brooke and I got away for some shopping at the outlet mall while the guys stayed home with the girls. They eventually joined us for a few stores and then lunch. After lunch the Spindlers had to head back and we were bummed, but it was a great day and nice to have them stay around for most of the day. Thanks Spindlers for a great weekend.

Here are some pictures of the girls...

Godsisters

Rylee thinks Maddy is funny

Love this picture of Rylee
(She is so sweet!)

Rylee, Maddy, and Rylee's baby
(Maddy was obsessed with Rylee's baby)

We just woke up...do we have to smile???

Starting to wake up

Reading together

Pumpkin Carving Contest

So as I mentioned earlier while we were home for Jaelyn' s birthday party we carved pumpkins. It's sort of becoming a tradition... "The annual Kriegl Family Pumpkin Carving Contest". We had quite the crew this year. It was a ton of fun, but we decided that next year we need to start earlier, probably right after lunch, because some of these pumpkins take forever to carve.

The group hard at work

Cleaning out the seeds

More cleaning

Maddy cleaned out my pumpkin for me
(I have issues with the texture)

Thanks Maddy and Daddy for helping me!

Jaelyn cleaned out a pumpkin for her mom and Auntie Laura

Jordyn starts her design

Group Shot

Now you be the judge. Send me a comment and let me know which is your favorite...don't forget to ask your kids...they get a vote too. My family is waiting for the winner to be determined by your votes.

In alphabetical order...

"Ariel"

"Hulk"

"Gorilla Man"

"Jack-0-lantern"

"Jasmine"

"Midnight Owl"

"Nemo"

"Scarecrow"

"Skullman"

"Trick-or-Treat #1"

"Trick-or-Treat #2"

Jaelyn's Pool Party

Last weekend we went up north to celebrate Jaelyn's fourth birthday. We always try to get up there in the fall and it works perfect because Jaelyn has an October birthday. We got up north late Friday night after spending an hour watching an RV burn on a country detour road. It was kinda entertaining the first 10 minutes but got old after that. The trip was long. The scenery along the way was pretty spectacular though, with lots of fall colors. When we got there everyone was basically in bed, but that didn't stop Jaelyn from coming in to say hi and stay to sleep with Maddy. Those two were really excited to see each other and we had told them they could sleep together, so they held us to it. Its amazing how kids just don't forget things.

Birthday girl eating cake

Saturday we had Jaelyn's party at a local hotel pool. It was so much fun. The kids swam for a few hours, ate pizza and cake, and were tired out and ready for naps. Thanks John and Nicole for a great party!

Jack and Joe

John and John

Lexi joins them

Jordyn and Maddy

Maddy and daddy swam for a little bit together, but Maddy ended up spending most of her time with Jordyn. In fact, Jordyn taught her how to swim by herself! (She wears a life jacket though.) None the less, it was amazing to us because normally Maddy is pretty timid to try new things and used to be scared of the deep water. We just couldn't believe it. Maddy just adores Jordyn and apparently will do just about anything for her...she would even jump into the pool at Jordyn.
It was so cute!

Maddy swims with Jordyn

Maddy jumps in to Jordyn

Jordyn is so good with Maddy. Saturday night she stayed the night with us at papa's and slept with Maddy. She was a big help to Jason and I because she took Maddy to bed with her so that we could stay up to carve pumpkins...stay tuned on that.

Here are some more pictures of the kids. These were taken after naps before all the pumpkin carving festivities started.

Maddy trying to soothe Analise

Lexi and Maddy

Analise joins them

Maddy all smiles when she's with her cousins

My mom gets the kids Halloween shirts every year so we had they put them on for a group photo.

Addisyn, Jordyn, Maddy, Brooke, Jack, John, Analise, Izzy, Jaelyn, and Lexi

The three young ones stayed for more

No more pictures already!