Just hangin' around this town

As Craig would say, "Oh my Holy Night."
I can't believe it's only October. I feel like our family has aged about ten years in the last month. Pretty soon Chloe will be getting married, Linus will be going on a mission, Odell will be dating boys, and I'll have 8 more babies clamoring for my attention.
Just kidding. We're only having 7 more babies. HAH.
Well September was chock full. Chloe learned how to ride her bike finally! I was a little nervous. Typically she meets something she has a hard time with, she digs her heels in and folds her pretty little arms. I was afraid that the first time she fell over, that would be it. No learning how to ride a two wheeler. However, we started with Grandma's small bike and literally the first time Craig let go of the bike she had it down. She's maybe fallen down like twice and got back up, brushed herself off, then proudly announced, "I'M FINE MOM!" Two weeks later we switched to her big bike and she got off without a hitch. Now she's a biking maniac and LOVES riding around and around the cul-de-sac. WHEW!

 

We also had school picture day in September. I got a packet in the mail asking me which canned portrait photo package I wanted to buy, the cheapest one staring at $20. HAH. I threw it out. I told Chloe she could dress up at school and as soon as she got home, we went out back and had our own photo shoot. I like mine better. 

 

  

Odell wanted in on the action too. 

 Linus has had fun being Linus in Chloe's absence. Doing all things boy and exploring a world without a bossy older sister making up games for him to play all the time.

 

 Odell misses her sister when she's at school. But she stays occupied being her sweet self and puts up with Mommy when I forget to do her hair in the morning. Also she has new boots. And asks to wear them every day. 

 And lastly, our favorite neighborhood Uncle got called on a mission! Called to the Czech Republic and Slovakia mission (!!!!!).  He's leaving in November, so Craig and I were able to join the family in going to the temple with him for the first time. We were able to be the witness couple during the ceremony, so that was neat. Here you can see my amazing photshop skillz making sure all of us were in the photo in front of the temple. I blame it on Craig, who took the picture of us without him at a different angle than I took of the family without me, making it impossible to photoshop him in naturally. But we all know he's not much of a natural anyway, so the best we could do is this. :-)