Photos!

Shawn has done a wonderful job keeping you all updated on the wonderful happenings around our home, so it's about time I show you some pictures to go with all the news. :-)

I just took 144 pictures from our memory card ... the 80 that made the cut to the "Fall Photos 2008" set on flickr can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/brooksgroth/sets/72157609598167776/

Or you can check out the crazy pics Megan took of Nessa here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tami.groth/NessaByMegan#

And if you're lucky enough to be our facebook friend, you have a nice album I just uploaded there *complete with descriptions* so go check it out. :-)

And for posterity on the blog we have to include a few classic fall photos complete with commentary:

There has been a whole lot of reading and cuddling with Nessa going on, and since it's one of our favorite things, it's also one of our favorite things to take pictures of. Often as one of us reads with Nessa, the other one will grab the camera and sneak a quick picture. I do not think Nessa appreciates these interruptions. :-) Nessa's current favorite books are all part of the Curious George series. If you saw her look at Curious George Goes to the Hospital by herself you would swear she is actually reading it (she's not, we're sure), and if we try to change the words she gets a little perturbed to say the least (tonight, I got several "just read it Mommy").

This is Megan and Nessa concentrating as they make "ice cream" with the juicer. We've been having lots of fun with Grandma Karen's juicer (Thanks Mom!), and it's a good thing Grandma is traveling a lot right now or else when she sees all the yummy stuff we've been making, she would want it back. :-) Of course the girls' favorite thing to make is ice cream. We simply put frozen fruit through the juicer using the blank plate and it comes out like soft serve ice cream! Bananas and cherries were our favorite so far, but they have all been yummy. :-)

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves! That's our front yard. I think this was the day Nessa helped Daddy so nice outside. Of course she had to take a few breaks to play in the leaves, and I just happened to go out to say hello about that time. I know that looks like a lot of leaves, but sadly their were still a lot on our tree after that day, and even the wind yesterday didn't get them ALL down. Tomorrow is the last day the city picks up leaves for the season so I spent a COLD half hour raking up the lawn again today, and there was no jumping and playing this time. :-( (We have had a tiny bit of snow, but nothing that would stick so far. Also, Shawn will tell you I'm still impressed that the city comes and picks up the leaves, or rather sucks them up with their big leaf vacuum, so I didn't want to miss out by not having the leaves raked to the street.)

It's the scary pumpkin!!!
Nessa was determined to be a pumpkin for Halloween this year. I have a commitment to never make Halloween costumes (OK, I just made that up), so we headed off to Goodwill and lucked out by finding this pumpkin costume that Nessa loved, and the hat just was the perfect topper.

After Nessa took a normal picture in her costume she said she wanted to be scary so that is where this picture comes from. It was taken in the morning before she went to day care. They had a little party and did some trick or treating to local business during the day at daycare. And as parents of a 3-year-old celiac we decided that was enough candy for us to sort through (Nessa was good about it), and we had our own pajama party in the basement instead. We watched Cinderella and ate popcorn. Nessa loves Cinderella now (prior to the movie!), so I guess the princess stage had to start sooner or later. :-) BUT, Nessa is already telling us that next year she wants to be Superman for Halloween! Go Girl! :-)

Well, as these few pictures tell you, we have a busy and happy house. While the big news about our future (no way around it, "Pastor school" as Nessa calls it is big news) has taken up most of our "what's new" time, there are certainly lots of other things happening as well -- there always are with kids. :-)

I'm feeling abundantly blessed these days, and I pray that feeling lasts long past Thanksgiving.