Congratulations, Buka (a.k.a. Tungaa)!

We are so happy for Tamir's little sister, Buka, who was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, Nov. 22. Tamir was excited to be able to fly out to Provo to baptize and confirm her. She is the first member of his immediate family (besides him) to join the Church since he joined in 1997. Buka is a special person and we are so grateful she made this choice!

Thanks to my Provo-based family for participating in her special day. And since we are Mormons, they had a good time without the influence of alcohol (thought I might need to clear that up once you saw the last picture).

They dressed themselves.

I was raking leaves, and Mary got into the winter gear. Then she decked herself and Alli out and broke out of the house to join me (I guess they thought they were now ready for inclement weather).

Better than we dared hope for...

Our prayers were answered. What else but divine help could get 5 people (including 3 children 4 and under) to smile in sync?

We've got really cute kids

Dare ya to disagree.

Bent on destruction?

Caught in the act and then smirking about it.

Halloween

I was inspired by Shauna's pictures of subsequent Halloweens with the same costumes! And glad it wasn't just us. Seriously, when they can still squeeze into last year's costumes and don't ask for new ones (not that I really let them know that was an option), why switch it up? Experts say kids thrive on repetition.... Top picture is last year, bottom is this year.

Life in the Zoo (whoops, I mean AT the zoo)

Since I'm a bad mom and don't give my kids enough "life experiences," and Mary didn't know what a zoo was when asked by a speech therapist, we went to the super-expensive but luckily free-admission-on-Tuesdays Brookfield Zoo not far from Chicago. They thought it was fun! And we are still recovering, so now I understand WHY I'm a bad mom--it's way too tiring to take 3 kids 4 and under to the zoo!