Silly Sibs!

So Brumby has been with us for over 5 months and is quite at home. The kids love their new "brother," even when he does not display model behavior. Just a few weeks ago, Brumby actually ate Abby's homework (we sent the teacher the shreds we could collect with a note, that she admitted to putting into her "teacher memory box.") Brumby likes to run out of the yard, chew on shoes, sneak upstairs to drink the toilet water, and nibble on stuffed friends in the kids' rooms. But even with all of this, we love him. This picture shows the three "kids" bonding in Brumby's crate! A reminder of what a great demeanor our youngest, and newest, member of the family truly possesses.

Welcome Avery Gean Leimbach!

Our pseudo-family here in Cincinnati, Jessica and Rich Leimbach, welcomed their daughter into the world on Tuesday, November 10. After over 24 hours of hogging popsicles and enjoying the beautiful cityscape out the window, Jess had had enough and Avery finally arrived! She is a beautiful baby and we are so glad she is here. Abby, Conor and Erick met her on Sunday (Molly snuck into the hospital so she did not have to compete with others to hold the little lady.) Congrats to all the Leimbachs!

California Comes to Cincinnati

We were thrilled to have cousin Isla and her parents visit us this past weekend. Isla sure has changed since we last saw her. She is a doll! We already miss her laughter in the house. Brumby really misses eating all of Isla's crumbs on the floor, even if he had to spend the weekend on the porch. ;-)

And The Saints Go Marching In....

Third grade at Nativity means the All Saints Day Wax Museum. Each student picks a saint to research and then on All Saints Day (or the day after), they dress up as the saint and they become part of the wax museum. Visitors have to "push the button" on the saints and they come to life to tell their story. In our continued effort to not be predictable, Abby took on the persona of St. Hermione (yes she is really a saint). It was fun to go visit all the saints this morning and to hear so many interesting, and often gruesome, stories. We also finally got a picture of Ms. Gille, Abby's third grade teacher!

Halloween Was a Scream!

This year, Abby was a cow girl and Conor was a screamer. We were happy to have the festivities fall on a Saturday so we could party into the wee hours of the morning and sleep in the next day. :-) The extra hour helped out too. Molly's costume was conceptualized by Abby -- Smarty Pants (smarties taped to the pants and a graduation hat). We celebrated the weekend by watching Harry Potter 4, now that everyone in the house has read the series up to this point. Molly and Conor are excited to have made it to book 5, but wow are the movies getting scary!