October-fest

Okay, it's catch up time. We have had a busy and fun-filled October. James went to Washington, DC and got to spend time with his sister, Rachel, who lives there. Together they went to NYC, and James went to his first Broadway show and loved it. While he was gone, I packed up the kids for a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Holm's. We had fun playing with Roetto cousins and making this Zucchini Man from Grandpa's garden.


Anna loves her cousins, Grandma, and any other adoring fans.




The next weekend we got to have Rachel come to our house. She saw Harris play football and Jack play soccer (James coached). We went to a pumpkin patch where the kids got to go through a straw maze and ride a mini train around the patch.





We trusted our children's lives to these hooligans who ended up high-centering the train on a mound in the pumpkin patch.



Everything is fun with Rachel.

We also took advantage of her picture-taking skills and had her take some family pictures for us.


This one makes me think of Goonies for some reason-- I don't think I've ever actually seen it.





The boys were so sad to see Rachel go. Jack was actually crying and blocking the door. The pictures are too tragic to share.
Luckily, Grandpa and Grandma Murdock and Uncle John were on their way. They drove from Austin via San Jose to come visit the following weekend. They also got to attend one of Harris's football games.


Here's Grandpa enjoying the game and his grandkiddos.





It was sad to see them go, too.
(Click on a picture to see the whole album, if you like.)

We are happy to be done with Fall sports and have our weeknights back. James coached both Harris and Jack's soccer teams, so we were busy basically every night of the week. But it was fun.


Here are some toe-sucking pictures of Anna that I think look a lot like me when I was a baby (I flatter myself).



I love this girl.


That's it for now, folks, but keep your eyes out for some Halloween pictures coming soon.