Happy Birthday, Bella!

Bella through the years. . .

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012 

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Bella is FIFTEEN! She continues to make parenting pretty easy. We've received several comments from other parents and teachers about her kindness, positive attitude, and work ethic. She makes us proud everyday just by being her. School and basketball keep her busy these days (most other clubs and activities have been limited due to COVID). She is hoping to play tennis this spring, so has been at the courts with Andy several times to practice. When she has some free time, she fills it by doing art projects, journaling, reading, or scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest. A new favorite food she discovered this past year is sushi - which she has requested for her birthday meal. One big thing she is looking forward to this year is learning how to drive! Our girl sure is growing up! 

Happy Birthday, Isabella! We are so thankful for you!

Halloween

We carved our pumpkins a few days before Halloween. Designs needed to be somewhat basic because we didn't have the correct carving tools (our old ones broke and I forgot). The kids were using kitchen knives, which made me a little nervous. But they all did great and we had no injuries!

Bella created the trick-or-treat scene where Charlie Brown is wearing a ghost costume with a bunch of holes. It was a tricky design for our limited tools, but it turned out great,

Afterward, we watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” like we do every year. Graydon laughed hysterically every time Charlie Brown got a rock (like he does every year) and it’s the best thing ever. 

At school, we dressed up for Halloween on Friday, October 30th. Our office staff went with a Coronavirus theme. Scariest costumes of 2020, right?! 

Halloween was on a Saturday this year, which was really nice. Bella was Waldo, Graydon chose to be a clown again, and Curtis was a cheesehead. 

We only had one trick-or-treater this year. Bella and Graydon went to a Halloween party, so we just took Curtis out this year. 

One house created a haunted house in their garage. I am generally not a fan of scary things, but I do appreciate all the work they went to to create a spooky experience for the trick-or-treaters,

Some of the local businesses were handing out candy. This was a clever way to stay socially distanced. 

There were definitely fewer homes handing out candy this year, but Curtis still ended up with quite a bit.

And we finished this fun Halloween puzzle from Mimi Jane a few days later. We love a good puzzle around here!

October Life

A local farm stand has a pumpkin launch each fall, so we decided to pay it a visit this year. Even though we went to a pumpkin farm in Wisconsin, we didn't actually get any pumpkins that day, so we picked up a few while we were there. 

Bella is part of the organization, FFA, and she just got her official jacket! 

It looks great on her! 

She received her first piece of college mail last week (and I am not here for it!) 

Fall Break

*Blogger has a new interface that is driving me crazy! I can't get this post to format right and it's irritating. I had to just give up and let it be - but I am not happy about it! 

We went up to Wisconsin for Fall Break this year. We had a very important new family member to meet, Branko Benetti Donovan!

Graydon is a goofball! 

Andy and the kids drove out to Verona for a little extra Kilps/Meade fun. 

Meanwhile. . . when you can't find an actual wine glass, you make do.

More snuggles with Branko. It's so much fun having a baby in the family again! 

There were dozens and dozens of geese on the bond, so the girls went out to feed them some bread. Unfortunately, the geese got scared and swam away. 

Grandma and Grandpa have a pretty cool tree in their backyard that proved to be a fun hangout spot. 

We went to the pumpkin farm to enjoy its fall festivities. Here is our group on a hay ride.

This is the very best pumpkin farm I have ever been to. If we're ever in town during the fall, it is a must-do. 

This baby giraffe was the cutest animal at the petting zoo. 

These pumpkin displays are always so fun and amazing. 

After the farm, we went back to Mary's house to celebrate this little lady's TENTH birthday! 

Two more new babies in our family, Mary and Andy's boxer puppies named Walter and Moose. 

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grand babies! 

The original Benetti nine!

Kids and spouses. 

We had to get creative with this last shot in order to fit everyone. Every single family member was present this day, so we definitely needed to document it! 

The next day, we took a little walk along the lake. Just before this, we drove through the downtown and uptown to survey the aftermath of the riots in August. There were many businesses still boarded up. Several business had burned to the ground, including a car lot which still had dozens of burnt cars in the lot because the owner's insurance does not cover "domestic terrorism" and they don't have the money to remove them. The whole situation is very upsetting. 

This was a beautiful day for a walk by the lake. 

It was a little windy. I get a good laugh every time I look at my dad's hair in this photo! 

All of this bonus family time was good for my heart.