DECEMBER (so far)
Here are some of the xmas card rejects. Always a good laugh! Isla refused to hold still which made it very interesting. Franzi was a good sport when we got her matching pjs and told her she had to be in the picture too.




Can you feel the love?

Just some of the cookies made this year.

So many cookies to decorate! We should bring in more hands.


Franzi getting loved by Isla.

All our stockings. I finally got off my duff and made Isla's stocking this year since I needed to make one for Franzi too. Franzi and Isla's look so much better than mine or Cecelia's. I've definitely gotten better over the years.

Isla decided she's done with the crib and only sleeping in a big girl bed. She' s the next to sleep the super cool car bed.

NOVEMBER
November passed with far too much to do and so not very many pictures. We did get a new addition to the family the last week of October. Franzi is 16 and from Germany. We volunteered to take her in when her original host family didn't work out. She's been a wonderful addition and will be with us until next summer. The kids love her and she's adapted to our crazy house very well. We've exposed her to a traditional turkey day and setting up the Christmas tree.




I love this picture and the outfit but Mark thought the outfit was awful and kept making fun of it. It was so cute on her though! It has the smocking on the top and the big baggy bottoms. Mark kept calling them hammer pants.

OCTOBER
Because I'm soooo behind on updating the blog and I have so much to cover, I figured the easiest way to catch up is to do mass picture uploads and cover a month at a time. Hang in there, it's taking me a while to upload all the pictures...

Here's trick-or-treating. Isla only made it to about 6 houses and then just walked along with Mark and I. The other two were pretty dedicated this year running from house to house.

Isla looking very cute at a petting farm. We took a train to a new place down by the in-laws. It was pretty fun!

Bonding with a cow...

Bonding with a pig...

Oh, how we love choo-choo trains!

Loving on a tiny puppy...

Still loving the trains.

Here was a strange quiet day at the Ballentine house. I went looking to see what they were all doing because it was too quiet and this is what I found...

All three kids playing math games! I was so in love! Plus it's pretty cute.


Our yearly trip to the pumpkin patch.




Aidan made a fort on the couch for himself and have so much fun he fell asleep on his fort. He was down for the count and did wake up the rest of the evening. I take it as a sign of a good day.

My foot is on the left and Cecelia is on the right. She's only 7.5 years old and look how big her feet are. She's going to be stealing my shoes in just a couple years.