What a great sport!

One of my favorite picture days of the year . . . leaf-raking day!!  It must be something about the "carefree-ness" of children playing in a pile of leaves!!!  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!  And this year Jack and Justin were hanging out with us on that special day!  Even better!

I'm not sure it's Daddy's favorite day though . . . using a ton of energy battling leaves that are undoubtedly going to get blown into the opposite direction.  Then, when there's finally has a decent pile of leaves to drag to the curb . . . the kids race out, jump in it and have a leaf fight!!!! 

But who could get mad at these faces???  

 



Or these . . .



Or these . . .







We can't!!!

And so every year, Daddy rakes giant piles of leaves, the kids jump in them, Mommy takes a ton of pictures . . .

And Daddy rakes the piles back up again!

What a great sport!

Thank You, Daddy (Uncle Gary)!

Welcome Baby Tug!

Well, there's finally a new pet in the family

and it's not mine!!!!  Nana and Grandpa got the new addition - a keeshond puppy named Tug . . .

does that make him my brother??  Anyway, he's wonderful - all FUZZ!!!  He met the "Big Dogs" the other day and boy, did they have fun! 
Tug had NO IDEA that he was not a big dog too!!!

The Old Man, Bogey, seemed to tolerate the little "whipper-snapper"! And Tug seemed to understand (most of the time) that Bogey didn't want to play!

But Barley was another story . . . he was like Tug's own personal chew toy! And Barley had the patience of a saint - just took whatever Tug dished out!

Seriously, though, Tug is awesome!!  He's gotten along with everything he's met so far . . . adults, kids, dogs, even Nemo, the cat (Nemo wasn't thrilled though)  We're so glad he's a part of the "flamy" as Anna would say!

We Love You, Little Tug!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Love,

An Email (get it, "E-male"), A Bengal Fanatic,

Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty),  and an Oreo!

Happy Fall!

What a great family time!! 

The kids didn't have school on Friday so Gary took the day off to hang out with us!  I scheduled the kids' flu shots (not fun on a vacation day) but then we followed that with a trip to the pumpkin patch!!  So much fun!                                        

       

Now to find the perfect pumpkin!  Small ones, big ones, orange ones, white ones, bumpy ones, smooth ones, light ones, heavy ones . . . which one will it be???? 

 

It's so amazing to realize that these are memories the kids will have for a lifetime!  God has blessed us with 4 amazing kids . . . and He has blessed them with each other!  Friends will come and go but brothers and sisters are forever!

A Christian child was asked by a friend, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The Christian replied,
"It is like being a pumpkin.  God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

Anna, Lucy, Kevin, Jason!

Proud Parents

Well, this week has been first quarter report card/teacher conference week . . . and the kids did GREAT!!!  Anna is conquering preschool - happy, outgoing, and loving every minute of it; Lucy is so strong academically and ready to "lead the class" as her teacher put it . . . thankfully, she has a teacher that loves to see that type of strength and leadership in her students; Kevin pulled solid "straight A's" - and his teacher wants to "bottle him up and take him home" or "have a whole class full of Kevins"; and Jay, what a memory he has - hears something once and understands it - all challenge classes and doing great - all A's/B's!  Gary and I are so proud of the kids . . . 

{{{{{{JKLA}}}}}}

(That's us hugging the kids)

No pics this time - Just had to brag a bit!!

Princess Night!

A month or so ago, we bought family tickets to Disney Princess on Ice!  But . . . we didn't tell our little princess!  Are you crazy??  We'd have heard about that everyday until the day arrived.  So we waited to break the exciting news until the morning of the event!  And just like predicted she was over the moon!!!  She packed her princess purse, picked out the perfect dress (shoes, crown and jewelry, too) grabbed her princess baby and then waited by the door . . . all by 10:00am!  No joke!  The bad news/good news was that Jason broke his ankle and couldn't go BUT best friend Kasey got to go instead!!  How cool is that???

Princess Anna

Kasey and Anna waiting for the show to begin!!

 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Beauty and the Beast

Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Many More!!

 The girls LOVED the show!!!

 And since all the sugar we had during the show wasn't enough (cotton candy, fruit snacks, snow cones), they wanted their Princess Ring Pops on the way home!
Those were two sugar-high princesses!

The Newest Greenwald

Bet you can't guess who it is . . .



Go ahead try . . .



We'll give you 3 guesses!!!



Did you guess something furry??



YOU'RE RIGHT!!!

Welcome, Mr. Nibbles!!

(A Russian Dwarf Hamster - CUTE)

 The funny thing about Mr. Nibbles is that the kids didn't even ask for him!

The girls were "kind-of" wanting a pet in their room but nothing specific - well, I was at the pet store (I shouldn't be allowed there) and saw a tank of FREE male hamsters! 

Who could resist???  (Obviously, not me)

The kids like to build him block buildings to play in!

And for those of you trying to count that is . . .

11 pets!

(Barley, Bogey, Nemo, Daisy, Trooper, Who-Dey, Tiki, Taca, Peanut, Clementine and Mr. Nibbles!)

Fall Sports

Football, baseball, soccer, soccer and more soccer!  Oh and a little running, too!

The Greenwald Fall Sports really fills up a calendar . . . Jason plays football and fall baseball.  Kevin is playing soccer, fall baseball and ran cross country, Lucy is playing ALOT of soccer and even Anna is joining in on the action this year with a soccer team of her own, the Blue Rockets!!  And she's having a "blast"!!

Here's the scoop on Jay's season this year!  He's #27.  His team is undefeated for 3 straight years and he only played in 2 games this season before he broke his ankle!  Bummer! 

Lucy's having a great time with her soccer team!  They just finished first in the Fenton Tournament of Champions and even got to play on a college field at halftime . . .
SIUE Women's Soccer!  So much fun!



getting a little crazy before their college debut



Heading down to the SIUE field

dribbling down to score



Maybe this is where she'll play college ball!



Great experience - thanks, Coach!



getting autographs after the game



SIUE Cougars and SLYSA Panthers

Kevin ran on Uthoff Valley's cross country team this year!  He finished 53 out of about 200 runners!  Awesome, Kev!!

Pre-Race

getting psyched for the race



And they're off . . . if you look REALLY closely, you can spot Kev's head!

And now for Anna's debut (drum-roll, please)
"I'm gonna play like you, Lucy!"

Captain Anna starting her first game!

Center forward (just like Lucy)

Buddies on the Bench

Great throw-in, Anna!

Even played a little goalie!

Gary & I LOVE watching all the kids play! 

The games are so exciting and the kids are having so much fun!! 

We joke about being so busy but we wouldn't trade it for the world!