Bransen is 8!

Bransen is officially 8!  We celebrated last weekend with a Star Wars cake (really cupcakes lined up like light sabers).  All of his cousins came out and celebrated, too!

Some fun presents:

Blowing out the candles:

And of course, yummy dessert and presents round 2 at Grandma and Grandpa Gabel's house.

Our boy has grown so much in the past year.  He is sweet and always looking out for his brothers and sister.  Love you, Bransen!

Halloween Festivities

Our first Halloween activity turned out to be a visit to Chuck E Cheese!  We were all set to go (everyone in the car, except me), when all the kids came running back in the house shouting that they needed costumes on to get free tickets!  We scrambled around quickly and came up with this.  Worth 100 free tickets?  Maybe :-)

The day before Halloween we finally found some time to carve pumpkins.  The big kids all designed their own faces for their pumpkins and helped carve.  Gavin touched some gooey stuff, but overall wasn't impressed with the whole experience.  He did have some fun playing with his own tiny pumpkin afterwards.  He even colored on it a little bit with washable marker.

We trick-or-treated at Grandma and Papa's house with all the cousins Saturday night.  It was a beautiful night and the kids are stocked up on candy till at least  next Halloween.  Brynn was Pikachu, Jonas was Olaf, Bransen was young Anakin Skywalker, and Gavin was a tiger.  

Sunday was Trunk or Treat night at Trinity.  It was a great evening with kids, fun, and fellowship.  This time Gavin was a lion (too bad we didn't have a bear costume that fit him...)

 (It's all a blur...those kids were moving fast!)

Another great year, and the kids had lots and lots of fun.  Now on to focusing on one of my favorite holidays...Thanksgiving!

Jonas is 9! (And has been, for a couple weeks)

Jonas turned 9 on October 8th.  He requested a shark cake based on one of his old favorite picture books: "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark".  We made some fish cupcakes to go with it, of course.

We had the whole family over to our house for the party, and his cousins even slept over for "Collins Night" the night before.  Bethany predicted that Jonas would receive "science, Legos, and explosives"...thankfully he only got 2 out of 3 :-)

We sang "Happy Birthday", and as usually happens at my house, the kids enjoyed a lively game of Twister.

Also, his cousins are weird.

Grandma Gabel made him his favorite dessert for his birthday dinner at her house - pumpkin roll!  

We sure love our funny, smart, curious boy.  He has grown so much in the past year in so many ways.  We are looking forward to continuing to watch God work in his little life!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

We had a fantastic summer, filled with many adventures and memories.  Here's our summer for you in snapshots.  No big descriptions or multiple pictures, because we did too much and I didn't post enough!

My parents rented a huge house in Swain so the whole family could vacation together for a few days.  We played games, had campfires, and swam and boated in the pond that was on the property.  It was Gavin's first vacation!

We went to Disney!  We spent 4 days in Disney and 3 days at our resort.  It was awesome, and although I'm sure I had the most fun, we all enjoyed it.  

We went to the zoo a couple times and visited Larkin Square to eat lunch with Aunt Lisa.

Bison's game with the church crew!

Of course, we had a bunch of water fun.  Pool time and fun in the creek.

Chautauqua County Fair

Camping!  It was surprising how well Gavin did on this trip!

Boating with good friends!

Erie County Fair - Bransen got to be in Gary the Silent Clown's show!

Fantasy Island

 Hiking and adventuring in Zoar Valley

Our favorite campground - Stonybrook!

The kids also went on a couple vacations with their other parents.  Jonas went to New York City and Black Lake, and Brynn and Bransen went to Alexandria Bay.  What busy kids!  We sure had a great summer together as a big happy family, and we hope you did, too!