This guy...

He's a bit of a mess.  A fun-loving, always pretending, doesn't like to wear a shirt, kind of mess.  On Monday, I got to go with him and his class to a pumpkin patch.  Although he was a bit reluctant he ended up having a fun time. 

Nate loves to pretend at all times.  He is either a cheetah, tiger, the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), Tylon (not sure about spelling but the bad cheetah from Kung Fu Panda) or whatever show he just watched or book he just read.  Nate is always in character and pretty much insists that we all are also.

Here he is flying.  He's an airplane. I think.

And here he was actually just making lemonade at Chick-Fil-A (probably still in character of some sort, but can't remember specifically).  This face is so cute.  We love this guy!

Cousins

During fall break we were so happy to have Irina, Cody and Lily come and visit us.  We had a lot of fun doing fall activities and just spending time playing with our cousin! 

We took a trip to a pumpkin patch in Fruita and had so much fun with a corn maze, slides, jumping thing, riding ponies and chasing pigs in a race. 

Our little pumpkins:) I just love Adriana's look in this picture, she's so cute!

On Saturday we took a trip up to the Mesa to check out the color again and have a "picnic by the lake." The top was a little bare and cold, but the drive up and back was absolutely beautiful!

We all had fun feeding the chipmunks at the top of Land's End Road

Especially Cody:)

 

Sure wish we got to see these guys more often, 

but we are so thankful for the visit and look forward to the next time!

 

Twinsies:)

Adriana already has a good friend at church.  Her name is Addison and she was born just five weeks before Adriana.  We are good friends with their parents and its been fun to think about the girls being friends.  The other day we discovered that they had matching outfits and so we planned to dress them alike on Sunday and took pictures.  Aren't they cute? Already look like little bffs?

What were we thinking?

Well, we thought it'd be fun to let Nate try playing soccer.  Besides, Alina started ballet at three and he said that he would like to play soccer.  Wrong.  He doesn't.  He doesn't seem to mind practice, but he's "played" a total of maybe 3 minutes in like 4 games.  This last practice he seemed to actually play more, so we are hopeful for Saturday's games.  Justin is coaching the team, so it makes it a little more awkward to have the kid on the sidelines not at all interested in playing, but at least he's not the only ones.  Here's some pictures to document the fun, at least he's adorable in his uniform:)

Looks like he's ready to play...

As long as daddy holds his hand...

And then that doesn't work anymore...(he's the one rolling around on the ground:)

Fishing and fall on the Mesa

I absolutely love fall here in the Grand Valley, but I especially love the change of color on the Mesa.  I've blogged about this many times, but its fall again, so here I go again.  On Saturday, the kids and I went fishing with Ashley on the Mesa.  I just held Adriana, and Nate mostly played, but Alina did give fishing a try.  She only caught some sticks, but Ashely caught two rainbow trout, which we then took to her apartment and she showed the kids how to clean and cook the fish, and we ate it! They had a great time!

Then on Sunday and Monday, Kim came back to visit us.  She got to see the house before (back in June) and then after.  On Monday, we took her up to see the beautiful fall colors on the Mesa.  The kids loved having Aunt Kim to play with and Adriana, really enjoyed all the extra holding:)

So its been awhile...

It has been pointed out to me (no names will be mentioned;) that its been more than 4 months since I've updated our blog.  And I used to think it was bad if I went two weeks.  Sorry.  In my defense, life has pretty much been crazy!  Since May we've taken a long trip to Texas, sold a house, bought a house, completely remodeled a kitchen, added two bedrooms to the basement, started kindergarten and preschool, oh and had a baby.  So yes, I get a pass. To get us caught up I will do some highlights of this past summer and then I'll try (I say try) to get back on track.  No promises on how often:)

In May we took a trip to Texas to visit family and be a part of my sister's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed our time with family.

The adorable cousins

The happy couple, Irina and Cody

On our trip back, we brought my brother Mark with us and had some fun adventures with him

Mark got to see Alina's dance recital, two hours of ballet, tap and dance:)

In June Aunt Kim (Justin's sister) came to visit

 

We also moved out of our house and into a cool new (to us, it was built in 1923) house.  We had "fun" remodeling a lot of things, including tearing up the kitchen entirely.

 

The kitchen before, with original 1923 cabinets and no dishwasher 

We got the new appliances before we actually did the remodel, so those are new

And after!!!

The kids had fun this summer with swim lessons, splash pad dates, and sports camp at our church

We had fun at sports camp too:) Justin played soccer with the kids and I hung out with some girls, I mean I worked the registration table! Unfortunately, both of these beautiful ladies have left or are leaving Grand Junction:(

In August, Alina started kindergarten and Nate began preschool.  Alina loves school, but it has been an adjustment.  Nate likes school when he gets there, its just hard getting him there some days. 

By the way, Nate has decided he is now actually a cheetah!

And the main attraction of the summer, Adriana Hope Liles! She was born on August 10th at 9:40pm.  She weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 18.5 inches long.  We absolutely love her!  Nate and Alina enjoy helping with their little sister.  She is growing sweeter everyday:)

(professional photos done by Megan Cook Photography:)

Ladybug

We've always called Alina our little "bug."  This is kind of short for ladybug, at least for me.  I like ladybugs and when I coached cheerleading, the girls 'mascot' was ladybugs.  We had a ladybug shower for Alina, and her first birthday was all ladybugs.  She has a ladybug pillow pet and likes all things with ladybugs as well.  So for her recital for the home-school co-op where I teach French, her class was ladybugs and it was  adorable!  Her recital was Friday night and she did an excellent job remembering all the steps to both the ballet and tap routine.  We love our little dancer and bug:)

Our big, fat, Romanian Easter

I love Easter! I like the time spent remembering the sacrifice of our Savior.  I like the way flowers begin to bloom and the sun is usually shining.  I love the beautiful dresses and decorations on Sunday morning. And I love to have a traditional Romanian meal each year to share with our friends.  This year our menu had five courses (thanks to Kristine for the help):

Appetizers: Dyed, hard-boiled eggs, 

salata de vinete (eggplant salad) and 

salata boeuf (a chicken and vegetable salad

Soup: Chicken Noodle soup (romanian style of course)

Sarmale (cabbage rolls)

Main course: Roast, country style potatoes, green beans and a tomato cucumber salad

Dessert: Alba ca zapada (pastry translates as Snow White) and an American dessert introduced to me by my friend Josh that has become part of the tradition, Strawberry Layer Dessert

The cute kids of course (this is the best I could get Nate to agree to before the egg hunt)

This is one of the few times of the year I have reason to get my china and crystal out, so I like to set a nice table. 

 

Kris put this together with flowers from my front yard.  

I love to have flowers to use right outside my front door!

We begin the festivities after church with an egg hunt, for kids and adults alike:) Nate insisted on wearing his knight armor, you know how intense egg hunts can be!

Noah really liked the eggs:)

Our guests:

Ashley and Adam

JP and Kris

Erika and Derek

Jake and Nikki and baby Noah

We hope you enjoyed a special Easter as well!