Halloween '12

Since Halloween fell on a Monday this year, we opted to stay in Lincoln and do the mall thing for the first time. It was overly crowded and not all that exciting actually. Not to mention bad candy. Oh well.

Miss Piggy, Monkey and Snow White
Westfield Shoppingtown Gateway Mall

Walking the neighborhood to end a very pleasant Halloween night!

TWELVE!

Happy 12th Birthday, to my first-born child today!!!!

Hope your day is full of joy and happiness.

We love you, Alexis!!

9th? Annual Gates Family Pumpkin Patch Visit

Annual Vala's trip! It was another year of a full-day of fun spent with cousins and my parents/siblings. Other than a bit breezy, it ended up being a pretty nice day.

Corn pit!

Giant bouncing bubble

The punkins!

Nephew B

Weekend Festivities!!

Wrapping up another super busy, fun 3-day weekend for me now. We had two big days. On Saturday we celebrated A's 12th birthday (even though the actual day isn't until 10/25). This time we let her bring her best friend along for the weekend to experience farm life for a couple days. They had a good time with the little kids/cousins and the rest of our family. My dad smoked a Hormel pork loin which was really yummy, and we enjoyed the evening watching a little Husker football action (yay for the biggest comeback in school history!!!).

On Sunday we headed over to Mondamin, Iowa to Small's Fruit Farm for some great autumn weather and apple picking just as us kids did back in the old days. It sure brought back lots of memories of the fall Sunday afternoon we spent there year after year growing up.

While driving to the apple orchard as we crossed the river into Iowa (around Missouri Valley area), miles of sandbags still remain on the road sides. The ruined farmland, now full of dried up sandy soil, was seen for miles. It was quite incredible.

Missouri River Flooding Effects

My niece, Big A, her BFF and Little A

E had a fun time carrying our apple bag

E being silly and the Raasch Five

My nephew and niece

Our three girls

Birthday News

We are in the middle of a busy weekend, but I will fill you all in on some big changes going on with the Raasch Five!

Chris and I had been discussing the need for a change. He has been extremely busy with work (elementary school) and class (grad school), not to mention the many events he volunteers for and all meetings involved. I work from 8-5 Monday thru Friday, which is 45 hours of being at work (even though I get an hour lunch break, I'm still at work) while my children are at daycare and school. Even though Chris gets home before us, we are lucky to be home by 5:30. Thankfully, my wonderful husband has supper either ready or close to ready as we all crash through the back door. This, however, is an everyday lifestyle for us. SO, you just get used to it. Having three kids and such a schedule, my husband and I look at each other at the day's end with a long sigh of exhaustion after the dinner dishes are finally cleaned up and the kids are in bed. While it is true that raising kids is a definite challenge (i.e., stay-at-home parenting), work can also be a challenge. And balancing it all in the end is even more of a challenge.

Chris has always been a "morning person" whereas I have always been the "night owl." Opposites attract, right?? Chris enjoys his morning quiet time with a cup of coffee and the local weather/news while I'm hitting the snooze button an hour later and reluctantly rolling out of bed just before 7 in time to rush around the house and get kids ready to leave by 7:30...or perhaps 7:40. Those are the times I wish I went to bed before midnight... =)

Anyways, enough of the background talk and the daily grind. There have been a lot of changes happening at work. The company I work for is growing - a good thing in this economy, right?! Last week two job openings were posted both of which in my department. One of which was a part-time evening shift of my same position. Hmm, odd that just days before I had mentioned to Chris that those hours would be ideal. After much discussion, I ended up taking the position that had just so fallen in my lap! I start the new shift on the 24th, and we are taking the little girls out of daycare at the end of the month.

I'm thrilled to begin this new chapter in life with my family. While all change takes adjustment, I firmly believe it will be a good move for our family both emotionally and financially. Being pro-daycare, I sadly gave our notice of leaving our awesome daycare. Alexis started attending there the summer after Kindergarten so we've known them for several years. They are like family to us and have greatly helped to mold our children in a positive Christian way. We love them all.

With the new schedule we will take Alexis to school in the morning. The little girls and I will be home all day and then make dinner for Daddy so that we can eat together as a family before I head out to work for the evening. Currently, I am putting together a somewhat structured daily schedule and meal plan grocery list that includes some fun things that I have missed doing with them over the years. I'm looking forward to blogging about my adventures as well! There should be some good stories to share while trying to keep my busy-bodied babes active!

A Happy Birthday

You know that dreadful day of the year when your age increases? Well, that was today for me. Ha, just kidding. It was a very nice day considering I spent the bulk of my day at work. I overate BIG time, enjoyed a multitude of desserts and got some exciting news which I'll share soon!

Thanks to my wonderful family and great coworkers for making it such a fun and special day!!!

Courtesy of A & A :)