Puzzles

Every family has a builder and a demolisher. One guess from these pictures who is who :)

Baby Boy Walking

He did it, he did it! We finally have a walking boy in the house... Right on time at 14 months old. The Corrigan kids are late walkers, but they make up for their lateness in cuteness.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Wow I am thoroughly enjoying this season of life! I was able to accompany my little Madeline on her first preschool field trip to the Plumper Pumpkin Patch. Oh man, what fun! This place has something for everyone. It was sooooo good to be with my best girl. She is a little timid of new situations still, and it was just pure pleasure for me to have fun with her. It was such a gorgeous day, and everything about it was wonderful. Thank you JESUS.



Grandpa & Madeline

Field trip to the Apple Farm

Last year, when Marin was in 3 year old preschool, I was not able to go on any of her field trips. I had a 2 year old and a nursing baby at home to look after, and it was just not feasible! This year with the kids being a bit older, I am so excited to go on as many field trips as possible. The first field trip of the school year was Marin's 4 year old class going to Heritage Apple Farm. It was a BLAST! We went on a tractor ride through the orchards, saw the pigs & goats, ran through the hay maze, jumped in the apple-shaped bounce house, and sampled cider & apple slices. It was a beautiful sunny, warm, fall day. Perfect. I came home with a huge bag of Gravenstein's, my absolute favorites. Marin helped me make apple crisp that afternoon while the other kids slept. I am so proud of this girl, how she is growing and changing. Beautiful inside and out.

Beloved Bury's

Our beloved friends, The Bury's, have moved to Arizona, and we miss them. It would be very hard to capture all the wonderfulness of this family, so I will just say that Jordan, Sommer, Silas and Jewel are each in their own special and unique way, a part of the Corrigan family. And we love them. They left us with a parting gift, something unique to our family and we treasure it and proudly display it in our home. Come home soon Bury family!

The days are long ~ The years are short

My kids love their friends. They spend a lot of time at our house & in our backyard with their buddies. We love having our friends over, kids and adults. Such a warm feeling it gives me to have people in my home.

It feels strange to me that this season is coming to an end with me at home in my little nest with all my babies & toddlers gathered around, and all my mommy friends with all their babies and toddlers gathered around.  Maybe it's because both girls are in preschool this year, and I'm experiencing being a "school mom". The realization hit me recently that Marin will be starting kindergarten next year, then Maddie one year later, pretty soon I will be a mommy of school-age kids, with all that entails. Instead of the mommy of babies & toddlers. It seemed like this season would go on forever! I wonder why this feeling is sneaking up on me? I think about that true saying about raising young kids: the days are long, the years are short.

I'm so thankful I've been able to be here with my babies these last short (long) years!

School Girls

My babies are growing up! Today was a very special day for the girls. Maddie embarked on the beginning of her school career with her very first day of preschool, in Mrs. Meier's 3 year old class (this is the same teacher Marin had last year as a 3 year old). Marin also started a new exciting year in Mrs. Sellke's 4 year old class. The girls are "next door neighbors" at school, and sometimes even get to have a recess together. What a special time in their lives. They were over-the-top excited to choose their outfits - even Maddie whose selection was mostly hand-me-downs - HOWEVER I have been saving these items for this day and she acted like it was Christmas morning! Maddie: "these are MY JEANS NOW?!?!?! i can't even believe it!!"... not sure how many years left I have of Maddie being excited about Marin's old clothes but for now I will relish the pure and innocent uphoria on her face as she received her older sister's well loved threads :)

Pictures include the family open house last Thursday and the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL today on their own. So proud of my most precious treasures.

Sunriver

We took our annual Labor Day trek to Sunriver for the Corrigan family reunion. It seems like each year we stay longer and yet our wish-list of fun things to do keeps getting longer as well. Therefore we never have enough time to pack it all in! And also never enough pictures to capture all the fun. Needless to say, we had a major blast sharing two huge houses with Kyle's siblings & their families, as well as Nana & Poppy Corrigan who make the entire trip possible. We kicked off the week with a very special time of prayer where each family shared their "year in review" and also what lies ahead in the coming year. I cannot express enough how much I value this time, and truly what a rare and precious gift it is to have a close family.

All the fun activites we DID have time for included: horseback riding, river rafting, sharing in the joy of a family friend's baptism in the Deschutes River, puzzle completion, poker, Husky football, bike rides, walks, feeding the deer, long talks, heartfelt prayers, spending all of Kyle's money at the Bend outdoor malls, hike at the top of a lava mountain, a pirate treasure hunt, a round of golf, swimming in the pool, swimming in the hot tub, a birthday party, toasting to 40 years of marriage, jumping on beds, getting in trouble for jumping on beds, eating, eating and more eating... I'm guessing you are either tired or jealous after reading this list :)

A couple pictures of abovementioned activities:

Max Moments

Oh this boy. He is so affectionate, so cute, so cuddly, so so so... Makes my heart want to just burst! Don't worry, I know he will act naughty someday. But it's not today :)