Dear Grandpa,

Earlier this week, my grandfather, David Burkemper passed away peacefully in his home at the age of 91.......

Dear Grandpa,

You are loved and you will be missed dearly!  Thank you for all the love and laughs through the years. Your steadfast dedication to your family and your church all your life are admirable.  As long as I can remember you have been serving your parish and community through the Knights of Columbus, singing in the choir, hosting parties, etc.  Every time I smell the sweet vanilla scented smoke of a pipe, I always think of you and happy times with you and Grandma "back at Windy."  Your service to your country, city, parish and most of all your family, will never be forgotten.

I love you,

Kimberly

Samuel 13 Months

At 13 months, Samuel is still keeping us on our toes!  The child is on the go, non stop!  He is walking more and more each day but still crawls more than walks at this point.  Diaper changes remain a battle every time because he doesn't like to be still even for a minute.  He is now climbing onto Henry's bed, the futon, and our kitchen stool and right onto the kitchen table when we don't intercept him.  He likes stroller rides but only when we are moving.  He is talking a little more, learning the words "up", "down" and "bottle" this month and says "mmmm" when he's hungry.  He stopped nursing this month and made a smooth transition to whole milk from a bottle.  He remains a pretty opinionated eater but loves crackers and fruit.  He has finally consistently sleeping through the night every night now and even going down for naps better.  He loves to be tickled and plays a game where he falls back on his back and waits for you to tickle him over and over.  He likes peek a boo too.  He can stack all the rings on a peg by himself and can mount and ride his little bike by himself now too!  We can't believe how fast he is growing and learning!  Where has the time gone???

He can now get on this bike and cruise around all by himself.

He is obsessed with climbing this stool and will continue on to the table itself  even!

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween, we had a miner (as in digging for coal or gold), a ballerina (who also doubled as a super girl on the second night of festivities), a Super Why (the PBS character who flies through adventures in story books and fairy tales) and a sweet little monkey :-)  The highlight for our kids was probably the night before Halloween when we went to Trunk-Or-Treat at their parish preschool.  Around 50 cars all had their trunks decorated in various themes from very simple to quite elaborate and the kids trick-or-treat from car to car and get to hang out with all their friends from school and church.  There is a DJ, bubble machine and even a hayride at the end of the night.  Most everyone brings a picnic dinner and makes a night of it.  This is our third year in row going and it just gets more and more fun each year!  The weather was just beautiful this year too!  The next night, on Halloween, the kids dressed up again and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood which of course is always fun too.  Happy Halloween!

The Trunk-Or-Treat set up

Our trunk...one of the much simpler ones...was decorated in a camping theme :-)

Let the Trunk-Or-Treating begin....

Little monkey had fun too!

Grace with her best buddy, Anna, AKA Princess Leia

Henry with one of his buddies, Mary Flynn, AKA astronaut

Dancing the night away...with bubbles....

Embrace Walk to Remember

This year the Embrace Walk was extra special because my parents were in town to attend with us.  It was wonderful to share this touching event with them for the first time.  The weather was lovely as we walked from the park and along the Chattahoochee River, remembering Juliana and all the babies who have been lost so early.  The stations of the cross were placed along the way  to help us reflect on our own little crosses we bear in losing a baby.  After the walk, we each released butterflies in memory of the babies we have lost.  The event ended with a concert by Sarah Kroger and a picnic dinner.

A walk of remembrance 

Nicholas reading the stations to us

releasing butterflies in memory of Juliana

Cub Scout Camp Out

Nicholas and Shawn went on their first Cub Scout camping trip.  They hiked, fished, canoed, played games, roasted marshmallows and participated in a very moving flag retirement ceremony. They had a great time!

Lake Allatoona is know to be a tough spot to catch a fish, but it was fun trying anyway :-)

With Joey and some other friends

roasting marshmallows

Giant marshmallow!

MMMM...

Flag retirement ceremony