October review

A very muddy, cupcake-faced, very happy David after his last soccer game of the season. SO proud of his trophy.

Apple picking with Grammy and Papa John. The low ones were picked over so they gave us one of these picker sticks and Luke was downright dangerous with it, insisting on doing it himself.

Success! Apple butter in our future...

Katy was having a hard time getting a bite while missing her two front teeth.

The kids look forward to this all fall.

Such a pretty day!

Stopped at Velvet ice cream factory on the way home. I wish we could have stayed longer because the place was beautiful, historic, and enormous.

It takes the patience of a grandmother to make an apple pie with this many helpers.

Shortly after this photo was taken, we discovered that this one had a fever, which was the start of a week long battle with Roseola. Poor baby was SO sick. Just miserable. It was a tough week.

Labor of love.

School pictures! I was really happy with them, although I only get the very minimal package in order to get the class picture which we all LOVE. They are so cute and the kids love that they can show me who they are talking about when they talk about kids at school.

Anna is belly crawling all over the place. We spent an afternoon trying to get all the choking hazards out of the playroom (impossible). I gave up on the matchbox cars after 24 hours because they make their way back into the playroom at a rate with which I cannot keep up. So I will just have to keep a close eye on this baby girl! Her 9 month stats: 16 pounds, 8 ounces (20th percentile) and 27 ounces (20th percentile). 

The kids have had several days off of school lately (parent-teacher conference, inservice days), and Katy has spent many hours making a "store" in her room.  Conferences went well. One thing I am sad about is a new security system being installed in the school so everyone will have to be buzzed in by camera ID. I totally understand why it is necessary, but it makes me sad that this is the world my kids will know from childhood.

Beth and Landon visiting our somewhat-impromptu reunion with old friends. Some friends were coming to town for an OSU game, and several of them have gotten married or had babies recently, so we hosted a reunion with lots of friends, babies, chili, and football. It was so nice to get together.

Anne and Cheryl (with Anne's baby Thomas)

We were happy to meet Cheryl's husband Brian since we were not able to attend their wedding last year. (That's baby Thomas again, Cheryl was getting her baby fix :)

All (fantastic) fathers now - Art, Jason, and Mark

At one (brief) point, Kristen, Anne, and I all had babies asleep upstairs and we were all checking our video monitors. Kristen and Anne have the same (new) monitor, and WOW. Those things have gotten fancy! You can not only hear your baby, but talk TO him, play music for him remotely, and it gave all kinds of information. At one point when baby Thomas was having a hard time sleeping, I said to Anne, "Do you think he's cold up there?" and she said, "Well, it says it's 69 degrees." I look at the monitor screen and it displays the TEMP of the ROOM!  Technology is amazing.

Kristen and baby Matthew.

These boys were due on the same day, but ended up being 3 weeks apart by birthdate. I love seeing babies' reaction to each other. So sweet.

Ready for Halloween!

It SEEMS like things will slow down after this coming weekend, but perhaps that is a myth that will never ever happen. This week is Halloween (parties and costumes and trick or treat) and my semi-annual Box Tops submission. Brian says this happens every fall, but for the past 4-6 weeks, I've been spending about 10-20 hours per week on Girl Scouts. The troop has grown to 13 girls, and getting everything off the ground at the beginning of the year is a lot of work. I've had to take a step back and remind myself why I am doing all this - keeping the big picture in mind because it's easy to get burnt out. I really am excited for everything we have planned for this year - more service, more outside, more arts. It will be worth it.

Other news from October before it's gone from my mind:
- I went to a continuing education class for a full day and left Brian with the kids - first time I've been away from that for that long in quite a while.
- Melanie went on a mission trip with my Dad and Sue to Jamaica - they had a really great trip, good experience.
- My friend Cindy had a 2nd baby girl, Amelia Marion, on my Dad's birthday! Precious.