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Just a few of my favorite recent pictures. Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.

Fall in Florida

We came back to Florida and had a few really chilly days. This particular morning it was 40 degrees outside when the boys and I headed outside to do some yard fall clean up. Love fall in Florida!

Pumpkins to E

One of our yearly traditions is to take pumpkins out to the cemetery. This year, Grant sat and read him his favorite books. Grant has been asking about Ethan a lot lately. It is so hard to explain to a 3 year old, especially when it is hard to understand it as an adult. The most heartbreaking thing about this visit to the cemetery was that Grant didn't want to leave until we saw Ethan. We all miss him!

PJ Party at the Library

Our library down the road from our house has a twice a month evening story time called "PJ Party", so Grant, Curious George, and I went to check it out (and yes, I wore pajamas too). The theme for the night happened to be "Things that Go". Grant enjoyed the stories and the choo-choo craft at the end. And is in love with the librarian Miss Mallory.

Cousins

We were blessed to spend a week in Minnesota last month. It had been 2.5 years since I was there and Gavin's first trip. We were able to squeeze in a lot of stuff in just one week.

Our first full day we spent with my family. Grant loved seeing and playing with his cousins and my brother, his girlfriend, and my parents. He had a hard time saying good-bye.

Fun with Nana

Our second day, we spent with Jake's mom. We took the boys to the YMCA for "Toddler Tuesday". They had a great time riding trikes, playing with balls, and jumping in the bounce house. Grant loved swimming with Nana!

Lake City

Day three: we took the boys to Lake City (where both Jake and I grew up). Our first stop was The Bronks for lunch. The owner is someone that Jake use to work with, and the restaurant was recently featured on the show Restaurant Impossible. Since it happens to be a favorite show of ours, we were anxious to try out the food. The verdict: delicious! The boys loved the homemade mac and cheese. My buffalo chicken sandwich was awesome! Then we drove around town, did a little geocaching, and showed Grant places like where we went to school and the apple orchard. We had ice cream with a couple of my aunts and dinner with friends. Fun to see the changes in our little town.

Children's Museum of MN

Day Four: We spent the morning at the Children's Museum of Minnesota, which is one of the nicest children's museums we have been too. The boys LOVED it. Grant in particular loved to "cook" in the restaurant and Gavin loved the water table.

Then we headed over to have lunch with Jake's dad and meet some of his co-workers. Grant especially loved seeing where Papa worked since he can now identify a Koch semi.

Pumpkin Patch

Our last full day of vacation, we went to a pumpkin patch with Jake's parents and our dear friend, Jared. Even though it was cold, we had a great time. Hay, pony, and train rides..a maze and hay bales to climb on...a petting zoo and corn to play in (similar to a sandbox). So much fim- the boys loved it!!

Happy Halloween

Grant wanted to be a "stoplight" for Halloween and Gavin was a car. We took advantage of several great trick or treat opportunities around town. We went to Thornebrooke Village, a party at our neighbors, trunk or treat at church, and trick or treat for books at our local library. Halloween night Grant had swim lessons, but we stopped by Publix and went trick or treating there on the way home. So much candy...so much Halloween fun!

Just Keep Swimming

Grant started back for his second session of swimming lessons at UF. He is doing great and absolutely LOVES the pool. And an extra treat, because of the recent time change, we have been blessed with some gorgeous sunsets.