Ryan has had some fun things happen this fall.  We got a dog so he could have something he could cuddle and love.  He's our animal lover and would have a house full of snakes, frogs, dogs, fish, cats, you name it!  I sometimes think he was born to the wrong family because Doug and I are not animal people and don't want animals in the house.  The dog's name is Sofie and she wasn't so happy about having to be outside all the time.  She has since gone to another home that can accommodate her better and Ryan was pretty bummed.  At least he'll have this picture to remember her by.

Ryan's lazy eye is back and he has to wear a patch 2 hours a day to help strengthen his other eye.  He hates it but we try to decorate pretty eyes on it to help him feel better.

He decided to play soccer this fall and had a very successful season.  He scored many goals and made the 1st team for All-Stars which he really enjoys.

Riley had some exciting things happen for her this fall.

She lost her 1st tooth!

She was Student of the Week for doing such a great job on her writing.

She modeled so beautifully for our family pictures.  This is my favorite one of her.

She played her 1st season of soccer and she loved it!  Her team name was the "Green Barbies".  I'm sure the other teams were very intimidated ;)  She didn't get to score a goal this year but was usually on defense and did great.  She has speed just like her brothers!

I can't believe my baby boy turned 3 this year!  All he wanted to do for his birthday was go see the movie Cars 2.  When the movie came out this summer the kids really wanted to see it but it's just so expensive to take everybody to the movies so we told them for Josh's birthday we will see it (and crossing our fingers it would be at our local cheap theater by then).  Luckily it arrived to the theater 2 weeks before his birthday!

He got a plethora of Cars toys.

He got a new helmet and bike that we're still hoping he'll be motivated to learn to ride.  He'd rather ride the plasma car but we're working on it.

Happy birthday, Josh!  It's sad you're not my "baby" anymore but I just love to see your budding personality as you grow-up.  Love you!

The kids weren't so ready to start school the beginning of August this year but they didn't look it during the pre-school photoshoot.  Ryan is hoping to become a Justin Bieber look-a-like but I think he's much cuter than JB! He was excited to be a 4th grader this year with Mrs. Puls and his two best friends, Andrew Porter and Parker Smith.  Good luck to his teacher!

We had been wanting to replace our patio concrete since we moved into the house.  It was so cracked and so slippery with the slightest bit of moisture.  We figured since we were going to tear out the old concrete, we might as well take out some of the grass to put in a basketball that Doug the kids would love. And as all home projects go, we had to even more! Since we were doing the patio and basketball court it just makes sense to put in a built-in bbq, right?

And the after..........

It looks pretty nice, don't you think? I guess I need to put in a picture of the basketball court.  After it was all done Doug and I couldn't figure out why we hadn't done any of this sooner.  The kids love the space to ride around and play and all the neighborhood kids are here all the time.  One of the best things we've done to our house.  What's next for 2012?