Looking back on the last 40 years

Here are some of the great pictures that we compiled for a slideshow at John & Cathy's anniversary party last weekend. Thanks to everyone who went to their photo albums in search of some great Murr shots! In no particular order.....

40 Years of Bliss

John & Cathy were expecting to meet us for dinner last Friday night but what they found were 80 people waiting to have dinner with them! On November 14 they will celebrate their 40th anniversary, so Jason & I teamed up with Jeff & Steph to throw a surprise celebration.

The party had a Chicago sports team theme and we asked everyone to wear their favorite team's colors. It was a fun party!....and we're pretty sure that John & Cathy were truly surprised.

Thanks to.....
Jeff & Steph for helping to host the party with us.
Doug & Angie for creating a slideshow with lots of vintage photos.
The Drafke & Andersons for the #40 jerseys which were a great addition to the party.
Amber & Chris for bringing in an extra DVD player at the last minute.

Happy Halloween!

There were only TREATS with us over Halloween weekend!
Gram's favorite "holiday" is Halloween, so she & Poppy came to celebrate the weekend with us.

On Saturday, we went to Blackberry Farm for Pumpkin Days. We rode the train, visited the animals, painted pumpkins and enjoyed beautiful weather. Here's Ryan & Gram on the train!

Ryan loves to SWING!!

Here's Jason's Blackhawks pumpkin that he painted at Blackberry Farm. Not bad!

And here's Ryan with the pumpkin he painted.

On Halloween, Grandma Murr and Grandma & Grandpa came to our house. Jason grilled dinner and the Grandmas took Ryan trick or treating. It was a fun day!

Here's the pumpkins we carved on Saturday night...Poppy's, Jason's Thomas pumpkin, Jason's "B" pumpkin for Brandon and my silly face pumpkin. They scared away all those ghouls and goblins!


Trick or treating at Jerry & Lynn's house. Jerry & Lynn put up a great Halloween display every year with tombstones, crazy lights, fog machines and a cemetary fence.

Here's our trick-or-treaters!!...Buzz Lightyear (Ryan) & Peas in a Pod (Brandon)


Ryan chose his own costume for the first time this year. For those of you who haven't seen Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear is one of the main characters. He's one of Andy's toys. In TS3, the little girl Bonnie has a collection of toys and 'Peas in a Pod' are one of them. When Andy grows up and goes to college he gives all of his toys to Bonnie. It's a cute movie.


Brandon says, "What's this Halloween thing all about and why am I wearing these silly peas?"


Our house on Halloween night. Boo!!


And the kiddos ended the night by putting on their Halloween 'jamas they got from Gram & Poppy!

Good night! Happy Halloween!

Three Months Old!

It's hard to believe that our little guy is already 3 months old! We've settled into life as 4 and Brandon is a perfect fit. He's recognizing voices and is making those cute coo'ing sounds. He has lots of stories to tell us. Brandon is a good sleeper like his Mom and has been sleeping 6-9 hours at night (good job, Buddy!). Right now he has a stuffy nose, which he's not happy about, but the humidifier helps him at night. He still loves to snuggle and I think he just might be a mama's boy :)

I went back to work on Oct 26th and Ryan and Brandon are getting to spend time with Dad, Grandma and Jill. The boys have fun everywhere they go! Sometimes it's hard to keep track of our schedule, but we're soo lucky to have the "daycare" providers that we do. I say they have the best of both worlds...time with Grandma & Grandpa and time to play with the kids at Jill's house.

Here's "B" practicing his slump in the Bumbo chair. This was taken a couple of weeks ago and he's already getting better at sitting up.

Love those cheeks!

Mesmerized by the cute baby (in the mirror)!

Still mesmirized by the cute baby and those silly bugs and butterflies....

Taking a snooze.....so peaceful.

Mom practiced a photo shoot with some help from Angie. Here's a cute shot.

Halloween Sightings

The Springborns celebrated Brynn's Baptism on Oct 24th. Logan & Hunter came from Florida for the party! They brought their parents, Julie & Scott, too! It was a very fun day for all the cousins.

Here's 3 mamas and their babies. The last picture of the 3 of us was at Easter when we were all preggo. Angie & Brynn, Julie & Hunter, and Kim & Brandon




Abby's Uncle Jim took the kids for a ride on a real school bus. Here's Logan & Ryan gettin' ready to climb aboard.

And there were sightings of all sorts of funny guys and scary creatures...

Logan as the Knight in Shining Armor, Ryleigh as Velma, Abby as Cinderella holding Brynn the Halloween Princess, Matt as Batman, Lucas as the Silly Monkey, Ryan as Buzz Lightyear, Hunter as the Tiger, Jack as Ironman, Ayden as Shaggy and Brandon as Mommy's Pumpkin

Halloween Happenings at the Waterman & Western

We visited another train to celebrate the Halloween season. In Waterman, which is just west of Hinckley, there's the Waterman & Western train at the Lions Park. We rode the train through the looong tunnel (boo!) and made a stop at the pumpkin patch to pick out the "perfect pumpkin" as Ryan said.

http://www.petestrain.com/

The train is kinda small! Ryan wanted to ride in the caboose, so Jason had to squeeeeeze in there!

Brandon, Ryan & Mom on one of the covered cars. Brandon was snuggled up tight because it was chilly!

And here's Ryan in front of the engine....let's you see how big it is.