The Simmons: November 2015

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Halloween

Let's start with the cuteness that ended our Halloween!

We went trick or treating with some of the other young families in the neighborhood, start early, end early.

Can you beat this amount of cuteness?! 11 kids, 6 and under

seriously, cuteness overload! and a wee bit of organized chaos

Simmons Halloween

a peacock with her favorite cow

and their protector Captain America

to say there was some excitement was an understatement!

Happy Cows live in NC!

Fall Festival Fun!

One of the best events of the year, the church's fall festival!

This year we invited Anna-Kate's friend Brady to come with us

Start with the horse rides

Then off to the games to earn some candy;

Benjamin loved having an older boy to watch and learn from!

One trip down the slide and it was time to go!

Brady concluded he would go with us every year!

Anna-Kate is already looking forward to next year.

Benjamin is just stinkin' proud that he climbed up the slide and went down by himself!

And Bethany....

well, Bethany says she has had enough fun for one year!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

We love the zoo! It had been several years since our last trip, so we were all super excited! We went about a month ago now. The weather was great, the crowds were light. We started in Africa, as always, and went on our way!

Will and I now have a system to our zoo trips. Start in Africa.

Wind our way through Africa. Break for lunch. Then travel through North America. We love to walk, so we wind our way back through the park and see any favorites along the way one last time as we go back to the car.

This trip we made the same path. I feel like the rhinos can be some of the hardest to spot, so I was excited to see several closer this trip!

We took our family picture by the elephants.

We have a tradition of family pictures by the elephants! Check out April 2011!

and April 2012

And now, October 2015

I love 'then and now' pictures!

Anyway...

I kept the camera out for a few shots at the beginning of the day.

How much do I love this picture of our three?!

Then I just enjoyed the day as a family hanging out!

We took these last two pictures at the end. We get stubborn and avoid the tram. But, we know the kids get tired through the long North America stretch by the bison. So, this is how we traveled through that portion of the long trek back toward the car at the end of the day!

Family time is my favorite!

Friday, November 6, 2015

7 Months

7 months with this grinning girl,

and loving it!

How do you pick just one grin?!

At the beginning of the month, you could not be trusted sitting up, but within days you had sitting down pat!

This was the first morning I trusted you without me or the boppy nearby. You try something new and your siblings are right there with you!

You can move backward and side-to-side. I catch you rocking on your knees. Before long, you will

be crawling... I don't know if I am ready for mobile Bethany. Luckily you have a brother and a sister - and a dog - helping me watch out for you!

We are finally beginning to get some answers for your tummy. We have landed on a formula that works for you, Neocate. In the next few days, we are going to start feeding you solids. But, until then, our current schedule remains: A 6-oz bottle at 7:30, 11:15, 4, 7. And, then before I go to bed, I give you one more 4-oz bottle. Daddy and I love this feeding. You sleep through the bottle, and then wake up with the cutest groggy smiles when I change your diaper. We are going to miss needing this last bottle of the night!

Bethie girl, you are such a content girl! You love playing with your brother and sister. You have a quick grin. It takes more work to make you laugh, but when you do, it is infectious!