Knox turned 4, Ninja Turtle style!

A few weekends ago, Knox had his 4th birthday.  I swear he's been waiting for this day since he turned 3!  He is obsessed with Ninja Turtles right now, so we had a Ninja Turtle party for him.  Kyle's sister Heather & her family made the trek from Spokane to help us celebrate!  It was a great weekend for all the kids to run around like crazy together before it got too cold outside.  They had a blast and it was really fun to have everyone at our new house in Boise!

On Friday night, Heather helped me get all the decorations up and presents wrapped for Knox's big day.  He was SOO excited about his decorations, it was really sweet!

the loot!

the decorations!

Knox got a Buzz Lightyear costume

Isla got a Doc McStuffins outfit for her gift from Uncle Brandon & Aunt Heather

After the gift opening, we headed outside to do the Ninja Turtle piñata.  McKenna had a piñata at her birthday party this summer and since then Knox has been excited to have one.

getting everything ready

Knox took the first hit

Isla took a swing!

playing with the race car track he got

our little Donatello

After dinner (pizza of course, ninja turtles love pizza!) we had birthday cake.  All the kiddos got their own ninja turtle mask to wear :) Knox was just beside himself when we sang him happy birthday and he got to blow out his candle. It was the sweetest smile of joy on his face, it almost made me cry.  Kids just remind you how fun birthdays really are!

happy guy

blowing out his candle

Heather & Brandon and the crew headed back to Spokane on Sunday morning but we still had one more surprise for Knox & Isla.  Their Nana (Kyle's mom) had gotten them a joint gift that we had been saving.  Here they are waiting for the surprise...

Knox got a peek first and he was excited!

The big gift was their very own Jeep! They were SO excited and have even done pretty good sharing it! Isla gets really excited to drive it and Knox does pretty good helping her steer (she's a crazy driver!).

To finish off the birthday weekend we had one more birthday tradition.  On the eve of Knox's birth, Kyle & I went to Cheesecake Factory as our "last supper".  While there I started having contractions and we drove straight to the hospital from the restaurant (after I finished my cheesecake of course). So, to celebrate Knox's birthday every year we have returned to the Cheesecake Factory.  Fortunately, there is one here in Boise too!

Kyle & Knox

Me & Isla

We asked the waiter to bring Knox a candle on his cheesecake and sing to him. He was pumped! All in all it was a really great birthday weekend. We love you Knoxie!!

-Stacie

Fall, Fall, Fall!!

I have always loved fall. I think most people feel that way. The crisp, cool air, the changing leaves, the smell of fire in the air. That was something that Texas lacked. I always missed fall when I was at Baylor and I missed it the 5 years that we lived in Austin as well. But now that we're in Idaho, fall is back!  

We are very fortunate to have a massive backyard full of beautiful old trees.  Fortunate ten months out of the year.  I had forgotten how much I disliked raking leaves! And let me tell you, we had some leaves! We spent about three weekends bagging them and then a very rushed Wednesday night in the dark trying to get the rest up before our first snow fall last week! We got them up in just the knick of time.  It snowed about 5 inches on Thursday and has been in the single digits every evening.  I think fall is officially over here in Idaho. 

Knox's first leaf pile jump!

Isla loved the leaf jump too!

their favorite was for us to cover them up and pretend we couldn't find them- this is Isla popping out "here I am!"

In case you're wondering- this is what our backyard looks like now! Hello, my first "real" winter and I am terrified!! 

-Stacie

Family photos

I have been trying to get family photos taken each year since we never manage to get any with all of us in them otherwise.  I asked a friend for a recommendation and came across Breanna with Simply Bliss Studios.  Isla was terrible basically the entire photo shoot.  She would purposely put her hands in her mouth and kick and scream when we asked her to smile.  It was incredibly frustrating and we left not sure what happened.  But amazingly enough we still got some great images!  Here are some of best: 

-Stacie

Block Party

Kyle & I decided that we wanted to bring a little Texas hospitality to Idaho!  When we lived in Austin it was common for our street to have block parties and everyone just get together and hang out.  I don't think this is the norm in Boise but we really want to engage our street and get to know our neighbors so we took a leap and invited all 45 houses on our street over for pizza. I was super nervous that no one would show but we were overwhelmed with the response.  We had about 35 people show up and everyone was SO appreciative for us for getting everyone together.

We live on a very unique street in Boise- we live about three miles from downtown but all the lots are zoned to be about 1 acre and there is a law that they can't be divided. So, most people move here and don't move until they die. A lot of people we met had lived on the street 30 years and some had even moved back into their childhood home after their parents passed away.  It was crazy to hear neighbors say that they had lived here for 30 years but never met each other! We were so excited at the great turnout and appreciative response that we'll definitely be repeating this event in the Spring!

We are really excited about the home that God has provided for us and the street that we live on.  We are praying that God would use us to bring our street together and build a sense of community between the neighbors.

-Stacie