What We've been up to the past few months

October

WOW! Tomorrow is the final day of October...well, by the time I finish this post it may already be November, Where has the time gone?

The coughing epidemic of 2010 hit the household at the end of August and everyone got about a 3 week turn. Eric was the last to be hit ended up spending the past two weeks (so far) at home with us...recovering from a respiratory infection that turned to pneumonia. For the final hurrah the kids each graced us with "the 6 days of puking" One after the other each one taking a one day turn (which is much better than all at once, especially since we only have one bathroom)! We plan to start the new month in health and keep it that way! Okay, Okay..even with all that sickness, we still had some wonderful times throughout the month...the devil may try to slow us down but he will never knock us out!

At the beginning of the month Grandma and Crappaw took all of us and Aunt Sara, Uncle Will and Josie for a day out at the Woolaroc Museum. It was such a beautiful day and we really had a nice time. We went on a little one mile hike...Clayt walked the whole way and wanted to do it all by himself! We had a great picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground and visited the small petting zoo...and I think there was a speed tour through the museum Crappaw guiding so you can only imagine if you know him! I, on the other hand, held down the picnic blanket and took a little rest.


A few weeks later we met Aunt Sara, Grandma and Josie out at the pumpkin patch and picked out punkins to carve and played in all the various set ups they had for the little ones. Clayt had a blast watching the flags flap in the wind, he thought that was the best thing ever! Who needs Jupiter jumps anyway?




We had a punkin carving "meet and greet" party with Grandma and Crappaw's new neighbors. They also have 5 kids, we got to meet 3 of them at the party Emily 12, Jacob, 10 and Andrew 6, . Libby got some nice girl talk time in with Emily...who let her know that no matter if you have brothers or sisters that they WILL be annoying sometimes...the wisdom of a 12 year old :)




And we closed out the month with a Halloween Costume Party at Grandma's house since the big kids will be trick or treating with their dad this year...We had our traditional chili dinner that we usually have the night of Halloween and Grandma planned a Mummy Wrap game which everyone enjoyed, especially the babies who played in the heaps of ripped up toilet paper after the game was over. Unfortunately, Perry and Parker were unable to make it to the party because they were still feeling kinda puny and we didn't want to pass the virus along to anyone else, so they stayed home with Dad and watched the Great Pumpkin.


Libby the Candy Corn Witch, Josie the bat, Clayt wearing the "bee" costume that Perry wore at 16months...although Daddy deemed him a "yellow jacket" and *not* a bee, and Corban is wearing the clown costume that Mama wore when she was 2! For Trick Or Treating Parker dressed up as Mario Brother and Perry wore his Ostrich Rider costume from last year
Libby and I teamed up to wrap Aunt Regina up as a mummy...we came in as the runner up!

Trick-or-Treat night we stayed home and passed out candy for the first time...I think EVER! Corban and Clayt had fun running up to the door and helping mama pass out treats...they also enjoyed having a treat (watermelon sucker) of their own!

September

Eric and I went on a weekend getaway to celebrate our 4th anniversary a little early since our newest addition is due date is a little close to the actual date. We visited Hot Springs Arkansas and stayed at a neat little place called Remember When. We rented the "Romantic Creek" cabin for 2 nights and we were the very first guests! Eric treated me to a pedicure and ice cream and maple nut fudge...yum! We had a great time walking the streets of Bath House Row, and dined at the lovely Belle Arti Italian Ristorante (yes it was that fancy...and I had an amazing Spinach and Strawberry Salad with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles (I don't think I even like blue cheese, but it was incredible!) We also enjoyed having some just us down time and did a little reading while we were away...we picked up a book from the bedside table "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus by John Gray...it is just crazy how different men and women really are from one another, but how much alike we are with our own genders! While we were away, the older kids took a trip to Montana with their dad for his wedding and a quick drive through Yellowstone on the way home with their Grammie. The baby boys stayed at Grandma Douglass' house and they had a great time (and even Grandma did too)!

AUGUST

First family vacation at Green Leaf State Park. We rented a cabin , but in the 100°+ temps the AC couldn't keep up! I guess the end of August is not the best time to go camping...even in a CABIN! We still had a good time. We prepared meals each day and hung out in the cabin during naptime. The kids did some reading. Dad brought his guitar and played for us in the evening. We spent a little time wading in the water and playing at the playground. Parker was still not over his cough (the beginning of cough fest 2010)..so we headed home early to visit the pediatrician before the weekend began.