A Peek Inside

With every pregnancy, it has always been reassuring to take a peek inside my growing midsection and see that, indeed, there is a little person in there. All those weeks of fatigue and gastrointestinal discomfort from morning sickness seem a lot more worth it. This first trimester in particular really tested me. I had to quit cooking, grocery shopping, orchestra, and our whole family pulled out of a family road trip. But look, here is the baby to show for it:

"That's a big baby!" said the ultrasound technician, as soon as she got an image up on the screen. But not big enough to decipher any boy or girl parts--just enough information to provide a due date of May 31, 2016.

Here is baby's hand, waving hello:

See you again in January, little Dixon!

A bride, a waitress, and a witch

Another backlog blog post, this time with Halloween photos--it was a year for the girls to choose their costumes from the dress-up bin with no additional costume creating or shopping on my part, and thankfully they were just as pleased as any other year!

Here is Ramona as a bride:

Mika as a waitress:

And Paula as a witch (pictured with witch hat later):

As is often the case, Halloween was celebrated multiple times throughout the week. The first occasion was at the church's Fall Festival.

The preschool Halloween party was on the following Thursday . . .

The first grade Halloween party was the morning after . . .

. . . and Halloween at Avago was that same afternoon.

Here is actual Halloween--girls are on the porch, ready to scout the neighborhood for candy:

Annabel and Liam joined them, too.

Paula was especially enjoyable to watch trick-or-treat this year--she was so ecstatic every time she got a piece of candy in her bucket, saying things like "I got one! Look!" There was a cute little skip to her step as she wandered along to each candy location, too. I think it is safe to say she had a very happy Halloween!

Fall photos

Here is a backlog blog post with some of my favorite photos from this Fall--

Timnath Fall Festival:

 Bethke Fall Social at Northern Colorado Corn Maze:

Preschool Field Trip to Bartel's Farm:

Paula got to tag along, too.

 Hay ride:

 Class photo with both morning and afternoon classes:

A rainy fall day:

 Bishop's pumpkin patch:

Backyard photos:

 Leaf pile:

--and we'll end there, with Ramona as a leaf zombie. Happy Fall (what's left of it!)