Halloween!!

I took Spencer and Esther trick-or-treating around our neighborhood while Daniel stayed home to hand out candy. Spencer was excited that he got to "ding the doorbell" at each house and Esther surprised me by not hesitating to reach her hand in and pick out candy when they offered it to her. They both thought it was the coolest thing ever to go door to door getting candy and were great sports about it. It took us one hour to walk around the block but we made it back just as it was getting dark. The weather was perfect too, we couldn't have asked for anything more!

A close up of this cute little lady bug!!

(You can check out her cousin in the same costume last year here. Thanks Amy!)

Visit from Gramma and Grampa

My parents came to visit in October and we had a wonderful weekend together. Esther really warmed up to them which is real progress for her. Spencer got to pick out a new bike with them for his birthday present and he is ready to ride! Thanks so much for coming, come again soon!!

We love our new fence!!

And Spencer and Esther love the dirt that came with it.

Lollipop Drop

Esther, our shy, clingy daughter out in public, is always finding something to laugh about around the house.

Birthday Boy

Spencer turned 4 on the 4th!! I saw him smile a lot during the day so that had to be a good sign he was enjoying himself. We let him open his presents right after breakfast and they entertained him all day long! I was so excited the night before wrapping everything that it felt a bit like Christmas. We sure are happy to have him in our family--we love you Spencer!

Esther was eager to help open the presents, and to play with all his new loot too.

I found this shirt with the number 4 on it for him to wear on his birthday. Daniel warned me that he wouldn't be excited about getting clothes for a present, but Spencer thought the 4 was pretty cool. He told me the next day he wanted to wear the shirt again, which never happens. He usually could care less about what he's wearing.




For our Moms and Tots group we had a trip to the fire station. Spencer was just as excited to see some of his friends as he was to check out the big engines.




Inspired by the activity, I had decided to make a fire truck cake. The frosting ended up pink at first (the gel food coloring didn't make it as dark as I thought it would), so I added some yellow and ended with a orange fire truck instead. Spencer didn't mind a bit, so I stopped caring about making things perfect and just had fun with it. He had wanted to put mandarin oranges on his cake anyway (that's what we did for Esther's and he must have thought that's what all birthday cakes have) so we used them for sirens. I'm not much of a cake decorator, but Spencer has told everyone he's seen since his birthday that he had an orange fire truck cake with cookie wheels. At least he thought it was pretty cool!

The cookies were his favorite part.

I'm posting this photo for anyone who might get a kick out of the "DeVocht" look he has on his face.

Road Trip

I started this post a few weeks ago but blogger was having trouble uploading photos so I set it aside. I sat down to do it again today and I just got another error message. AAaarrggghh. Here are the photos that worked. Maybe I'll try the others later. I just haven't felt like blogging knowing I only have a 50/50 chance of having success. Any ideas for alternatives??


We had a great visit to Michigan to see Daniel's parents, his brother Steven, and his grandma last month. Spencer and Esther were very excited to go see new places and were good little buddies the whole trip. We also made a long excursion and drove 14 hours to Pennsylvania for Daniel's grandpa's 90th birthday. We got to see the rest of Daniel's siblings (but missed you Lynsey and Gavin!) and really enjoyed the mini-reunion.

Checking out the organ at Great-Grandma Rinker's house.

Spencer and Esther were glad to get candy and cashews each time we stopped in to see Grandma Rinker.

We had a great time at the hotel pool in Pennsylvania with all the cousins. Esther was hesitant to be in the water at first but had so much fun that by the end she did not want to leave.

Spencer was very interested in Uncle Jim's electronic gadgets and was happy to play with them with Charlotte.

The best parts about the birthday party for the kids were playing with the ice,

and the live music. (I got a video of them dancing but they were also intrigued with the instruments and loud speakers.)

Esther was so happy to be home again and see all her old toys!

Summer Catch Up

Spencer and Esther have loved playing in the water outside, at least on those days when we don't have a heat advisory. Spencer loved his two weeks of swimming lessons this summer also and is eager to get back to the pool.

A happy daddy on Father's Day.

It's hard to believe this was our back yard a month ago, one morning after a particularly hard rain. The grass is now brown and we are missing the thunderstorms.

Esther makes the goofiest faces at the table to get us to laugh at her, and it works!

She is also very interested in doing everything Spencer does. Perhaps that will mean she'll be ready for potty training early?

Spencer has started to request that I take pictures of him and wanted to make some silly faces for the camera.

Here was another request for a picture. Esther started by putting on my shoes and Spencer wanted to join in since Daniel and I thought it was so funny.