Fun times with the Heils!

We had the most wonderful week with the Heil family! Matthew, his brother Sebastian, Jen, and Lydia pulled up to our home Monday night. I must say it was fun seeing their car in our driveway! Matthew and Sebastian were able to stay with us until Wednesday. We enjoyed meals, and a trip to the zoo together. Jen and Lydia stayed until Saturday. We had a fantastic week! We took a trip to the Mall of America, enjoyed parks, and a pumpkin party, and Jen and I even got out for pedicures/manciures. The children had so much fun together, and Lydia felt very comfortable with her cousins.

Jack keeps asking, "Where did Ydia go?"

Thanks Jen and Matthew for making the effort to visit us during your trip to CA! We love you and hope you are doing well in your new home state !

Happy Autumn!!

We are having a wonderful autumn so far. It had been gorgeous weather here in Minneapolis (although it is definitely starting to cool down, and I am NOT ready!) We have gone apple picking twice, and are enjoying the outdoors before it gets cold. The boys are having so much fun with the season change, and loving the Fall!

Little sweetie

It has been an intense 11 days with Dad being in the hospital, but I figure I should start up posting again. Thank God Dad is doing better! I wanted to share these cute pictures of Gemma and Ferderick on the swing set the other day. She loves the swing. It is hard to believe that she is going to be five months tommorrow! She is such a sweet little baby.

Please pray for Dad

Hi everyone,
For those who may not know, my Dad is in the ICU due to Septsis ( a blood infection) and Aspiration Pheumonia. He has been in the hospital since Saturday morning, and things have been going from bad to worse him ever since. He was placed in the ICU last night due to lack of oxygen, and he is now on a resperator. Instead of me updating on this blog, please check my sister Carolyn's blog as she is driving to the hospital right now, and will be updating as frequently as possible. Her blog is http://www.ourlittlebrownlife.blogspot.com/ or just click on the Brown family, which is on the left of my blog. Please pray for my Dad and for my Mom, as she is very sleep deprived.

And we saw Grandad and Uncle Greg too!!

Gemma and I had layovers in Philadelphia on the way to and from North Carolina. So we were able to fly to Greensboro with Mom which was really nice. Jen dropped Mom off at the airport for the beginning of our trip. I was able to see Jen briefly at the airport, and her beautiful growing belly. On the way home, my layover was 3 hours, so Greg took Dad to the airport to meet up with us. We were able to have dinner together. It was such a great gift to see Greg and Dad. Thanks for making the effort, Greg and Grandad! We love you.

Our trip to North Carolina

This past weekend, Mom and I traveled down to North Carolina along with Gemma to visit Grandma and the Pierces. I am so grateful that I was able to spend time with Gram. She is pretty amazing for being 96 years old, and fighting an pneumonia. Gram is so precious, and still as fiesty as ever. It was also wonderful to see all the Pierces. We stayed with Jaye, RJ, and Sharon. It was so fun to see Sharon and Gemma together. Sharon was so good to Gemma too! Thanks to all the Pierces for your incredible hospitality. We had such a great weekend!

Our gardens

Mom wrote a nice tribute on her blog of when she came out to see us in May. It inspired me to post some pictures of our yard. With Autumn almost upon us, I am enjoying the last days of our garden. Mom was a great help to us in May planting lilies and annuals in our back yard. She hasn't been able to see the yard again and enjoy her hard work, so here are some photos. This last picture is of Frederick's pumpkin plant. It has been his pride and joy all summer, and just this past week, an aminal ate through it. He is so sad about it.