Family Alive

Brian, Kristine, Analise, and Josiah Toone


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Daddy fall colors adventure

4th November 2007

Kristine had a party to go to yesterday afternoon, so I had the kids to myself. See pictures from our fun fall adventure below!

bright leaves
While the kids were playing on the playground, I tried to take a few
pictures of the fall leaves all lit up by the setting sun.

bright greens and red
Bright reds and greens.

our transportation over
Here’s how I got both kids through the woods over to the playground.


Pretty yellow leaves on our walk over to the playground.

josiah snuggling
I knew it was time to leave when Josiah got very snuggly.

few leaves left
It’s interesting this year — some trees have lost almost all there leaves, while others
haven’t even started turning yet. Here you can see a tree with just a few of its leaves left
and yet in the background are some green trees that haven’t even started to turn!

brave chipmunk
This chipmunk came right up to our door while we were taking pictures of the squirrel. Brave little fella!

squirrel eating on the base of our bird bath
This squirrel was chowing down on a nut for several minutes on the base of our bird bath.

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An extra hour of sleep?

3rd November 2007

Seriously… whoever invented this Daylight Savings Time must not have had kids.  Just a couple years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed the extra hour of sleep that "falling back" gave me.  Tonight, I’m wondering just how early my morning is going to come.  Josiah’s been waking before 6:30 lately, and that would translate to 5:30 or earlier tomorrow am.  If I wanted an extra hour of sleep, I should have gone to sleep when Analise did.  That would have given me an extra couple of hours:)  Hope everyone else enjoys an extra hour or so for me…    

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The day after Halloween

1st November 2007

Candy is not the problem in our house, at least not for Josiah.


This is what I found in the kitchen earlier today.


MMmmm… the purple ones taste best.

How do you spell TROUBLE? J-O-S-I-A-H.

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Halloween Festival and the Elusive Dr. Spandex

1st November 2007

Kristine decided instead of carving this year, she and Analise would create a cool potato pumpkin!

The potato pumpkin masterpiece, up-close.

The entire pumpkin family.

Josiah and the balloons
Josiah enjoyed playing with the balloons.



Josiah and his friend from church, Sara Beth, enjoyed playing together on the little kids slide.


Princess Ballerina Analise and the elusive Dr. Spandex.


Dr. Spandex and the costume family.

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Shout out to my wonderful mom…

31st October 2007

I missed posting a blog last Friday for this, but I just wanted to pop in and say send some wishes to my mom, Sandy, for her BIG birthday this past Friday. I can’t tell you how old she is… except that I’m 31, and though my mom likes to say she was a teenage bride… um… well… 🙂 I’m so lucky to have such a great mom. I love her so much, and I wish we could have been nearby to celebrate with her. Analise and I made her brownies, though, and we’ll see how they hold up after a couple days in the USPS.

I love you, Mom!! My sweeties love their Grandma Sandy!!! Happy Birthday!!

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Happy Halloween from the cupcake monsters:)

31st October 2007

Nothing like a new camera to motivate me to post pictures! Sharing our Halloween cupcakes with you…

Josiah says "Salute the cupcake!"

Analise will be a ballerina princess tonight for the Fall Festival we’re going to, but tomorrow her school has a Nursery Rhyme parade
where the 3- and 4- year-olds are supposed to come in costume and parade through the rooms for games and treats.
My mom sent me this little Dutch girl costume that she made for ME (so many years ago!!!!),
and Analise is going to wear it and carry her lamb… Mary Had a Little Lamb. She looked so cute!!!

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More pumkin patch photos!!

29th October 2007


Josiah loved the hay bale maze. He wanted to be just like his sister and climb over the bales instead of walking around them!


I know it’s off-center, but I think Brian’s caught some good, spontaneous moments
of me and the kids this weekend. This is one of my favorites.


Riding a tire-horse swing.


The bumpy ride to the patch on a horse-drawn wagon.


Josiah walked ALL THE WAY through the field. It was a big field, and there were lots of vines and bumps to maneuver.
He picked his perfect pumpkin out first thing, while Analise went from pumpkin to pumpkin and couldn’t find just the
right one until right before we got back on the wagon.


Couldn’t work my Photoshop magic on this photo, even though there were about 10 to choose from.
Analise had a fun time, but it was hard to catch her smiling!

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A quick glimpse of our pumpkin patch adventure…

28th October 2007

Just to whet your appetite… I hope to be back tomorrow with more details and pictures. I’m so tired tonight, though. We’ve had a super fun family fall weekend.


Josiah’s pick… the first one he saw after we got off the wagon. He was so cute lifting it up, with all his little "oof…ug.. uh…".

Compare to last year’s visit to the patch

*sigh* Where does the time go?

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A haircut and a Halloween party

27th October 2007

A couple more photos from the past few days. I finally convinced Analise to get her haircut on Friday. She did have her hair cut a couple months ago, and it wasn’t a big deal, but this time he was very scared. I could only convince her to do it if I would hold her. Too bad I didn’t get a haircut too… I really need one!


So, do we look alike?

Last night we started the Halloween festivities with a party at a friend’s house. Analise is a ballet princess and Josiah is a lion. They were both SO CUTE! Our camera takes amazing video, and we’ll have to upload a couple later this weekend for you to enjoy.


A pretty princess in my mirror (excuse the dust!).


Analise was very scared when we arrived at the party. There were a couple scary costumes,
including her friend Gage, who was Spiderman. She cried for the first 20 minutes.
Then she found the cool cookies and treats and a fun bedroom to play in and she forgot to be afraid. Thank goodness.
Brian, of course, came to the party as Dr. Spandex, in his bike tights, helmet, dress shirt.
A true-to-life costume he’s had to wear once for class when he forgot his keys to his office so he couldn’t change before class.
Yes, I was one of the few not in costume. Unless you consider my usual attire to be Supermom in disguise, which is what I claimed:)


My little lion man, who did laps around the living/dining/kitchen area, mostly bc it had 4 steps he enjoyed, with a melted cookie in his hand.


Friends of ours…


The most original costumes of the night: Darryl is Barry Bonds, with syringes sticking out of him.
And Laura is Michael Vick (it says "ConVICKt" on the back of her jersey). So funny.
Josiah loved the dog attached to her leg. He kept petting it and giggling.
Another person showed up with a gorilla mask, and Josiah also loved that. Quite a contrast to his sister!

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Pumpkins, Playgrounds and Pictures a Plenty!

27th October 2007

We had a fun family day today… trekking through the woods to the elementary school playground, visiting a local church that had pumpkins for sale, enjoying a nice family naptime and a yummy dinner together. I love relaxing fall weekends!


Brian was playing with the zoom on the camera and caught this fun shot of Analise. I love it for some reason:)


A serious look from my handsome little man.


All smiles before diving down the slide!


Racing! (Josiah won… and bounced off onto his bottom. If we hadn’t been laughing, he probably would have cried.)


Brian caught this one, too. I like the angle and offset cropping.


"I want this one!!"


Analise picked her pumpkin! She had $6 to spend from Grandma Vivian, and this was the lucky one.


Isn’t this great?? You’d never know… all the pictures only showed one of their faces, none with both.
I spliced two photos together. Magic! I think it looks AWESOME!


Trekking home:)

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