Trick or Treating and 'The Carving of the Pumpkin'

Here's the family doctor, rescue hero, and little pirate....

Reece was so incredibly excited about trick or treating this year. Each house he left we found him sticking his little head in his treat bag. Oh my.....this kid was so excited this year!

The Grandparents come for a visit

GrandMom and GrandDad came for a visit this past week and they sure did fit a lot into their time here. The kids decorated fall cookies, with GrandMom, and took cookie plates to a few neighbors. The first picture is of the kids and the grandparents hiking. The 2nd picture is where GrandMom came to all of their co-op classes and Lindsey took GrandMom, up on the stage, for her show and tell. The last two pictures show GrandMom's decorated fall table to celebrate Austin's 10th birthday. There were also games of tag and some Wii playing as well.

Sunday Afternoon

Today, Brian had every intention of running to the car wash and vacuuming out the van. Rushing home so I could get to the Y for step and muscle class. Well.......This first picture shows how Austin found us when he came looking for his family after lunch. Zzzzzz.

It does look ever so peaceful but, whenever Daddy lays down, the kids think it gives them permission to wrestle. So...nap time did not last very long and I got kicked off the bed.

After everyone settled down Brian did get to the car wash and I'm off to at least get a walk in. We did have good intentions, but there is something about Sunday afternoons that call your name for a little snooze (or....for us...a brief moment of rest).

The Party Continues

After a fun-filled day, with friends, Austin came home and opened gifts from his grandparents. To help Grandma out I kept asking Austin what he wanted for his birthday. The three things he asked for were: his own e-mail account, his own blog, and a journal. You would really think a 10 year old might start getting expensive, but not Austin. He did get all three of his wishes plus a few more. This coming week he'll celebrate with his other grandparents and he is even willing to wait on birthday cake until they come.

Trust me when I say it is hard to believe that Austin is already 10 years old. Poor child has to hear about his birth story each year, because his Mom likes to bring up the fact that he was measuring at a 7 lb. baby and came out (not easily at all) at 9 lbs. 9oz! (I must say his birth video is too funny hearing the nurses and doctors say his weight--with hoots and hollers - and then shriek at his length along with: "That's a big head!" Since I was pretty DEAD by then, I enjoyed listening to all that talk on video.)
He also hears this story, often through out the year, when he is being difficult. It's the conversation that goes something like this: "After all I had to go through to get you into this world, buddy, you'd better be good to your Mom!" It doesn't help Austin that we had a wonderful Doula write down a book about his labor and delivery (moment by moment and step by step) which includes pictures of me looking like I'd just ran a marathon. Can't you just see Austin running the other way when I pull out his 'birth book'? :) (Don't worry......we had the same Doula for Lindsey and Reece so they all have their birth stories, for me to pull out, as well.)

We love you more than words could ever say! Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin's 10th Birthday

Austin chose to take two of his good buddies (Lewis and Joshua) to Adventure Landing. It was an 'all boy' event so Brian got to chaperone this one. They played a round of mini-golf, an hour of video games, laser tag, lunch and then another round of mini-golf. I'd say it was a fun-filled birthday celebration.

You just gotta love boys at this age!

The Library dilemma solved

Thanks to Aunt Nar we now have our Library book solution. I can't remember the official name, but these are huge bags on wheels. They are simply wonderful with several side pockets to boot. You can either pull or push these and the kids LOVE them. They held up to a load of books, today, and I imagine that we will find many uses for them. Thanks Aunt Nar!

I posted a few pictures of the kids because I couldn't believe how difficult it was to simply say "smile" and get a basic/generic picture of the kids. Reece especially can't resist showing 'his charm'. I'm sure I tried 8-10 shots and then simply gave up. Goodness!
That big kid, in the picture, is turning 10 on Saturday. How could that possibly be? :)

Make-up 101

If you are struggling with curling your eyelashes, Reece wanted to show you the latest trend. Curling your eyebrows! It is SO the "in" thing for fall.

The Smores

Is there really a better way to end a day of hiking, picnicing, time in God's Word and more hiking - than to start our second fire and enjoy some smores? Course we do feel we have failed in this aspect of 'parenting' because we can't remember introducing our kids to smores. Reece wasn't even too sure he wanted to try one. That QUICKLY changed after the first bite! :)

The Hike

We were in no rush today and so were able to enjoy several trails in the morning and afternoon.

This particular trail had descriptive signs, along the way, describing the various trees.

Austin was showing the other kids how you can measure how old a tree is by looking at the bottom rings.

Psalm 8

Brian didn't have any music responsibilities today so we decided to have our church service in a different location.

I'm so glad Brian chose Psalm 8 for our Bible time. The whole chapter praises God for his creation. Sometimes you just need to take a break from our usual Proverbs study and simply praise God for everything He has made.

I caught Brian and the kids looking up at the sky and trees while lying on a picnic bench. I tried it out as well and it really was a glorious sight. Only God could make such beauty!

As the kids said - it looked like the trees went right up into Heaven.

What are we going to do with this girl?

A few days ago Lindsey (our dare devil child and monkey) landed quite hard on her left arm. Cried and cried over the pain. Soon settled down and went back to playing. Over the next few days she would occasionally 'lose it' over pain in that arm. Always hard to know what to do in these situations, but Brian and I decided to have it looked at. Here's the problem....Lindsey LOVES to go to the doctor. We spent all morning going from the doctor to the radiology building for x-rays. Lindsey loves to get herself weighed, temperature taken, blood pressure checked... the whole 9 yards. She couldn't wait to share, with the doctor, what had happened. When we went to the next building, she played eye-spy with two gentlemen and a lady in the waiting room. She drew all three of them pictures and they all promised to put them on their refridgerators. She loved getting an x-ray and being fussed over. Getting suckers and stickers as rewards were worth the trip itself. Well......the results came back that nothing is wrong with her arm.

Of course I am very thankful for that, but I really think we need to figure out a way to not make this such an exciting thing for her. I know her arm has hurt her terribly -- so she certainly was not faking that and she has quite the bruise to prove it. But she does, at the slightest ache or pain, want to head right to the doctor's office. It almost has me not always trusting the severity of her aches or pains. I thought kids were NOT supposed to love it when you said they had a doctor's appointment. Not Lindsey.

Well....on a good note I still got through all of school (school can still happen in the waiting room and I took full advantage of that time so we didn't miss a beat.) and Lindsey got a $20 sucker (cost of our co-pay) for our morning out.

There's got to be a better way....

It's a habit of ours to make a library visit every week to get fun books, history books on hold, etc and I thought that my many bags would stand the test of time. Well....our load of books have now broken bag straps and created holes, etc. Soon....we are off to the Library and -when the kids heard that - they went in the coat closet to get their suitcases. It works.....but I keep thinking there has got to be a better way. They've used their backpacks until I heard that those are bad for a child's growing skeletal system. The lady, who wrote THE WELL TRAINED MIND, used to take her large laundry basket each week. I don't see how that would make it easy at all. Someone surely has an idea for me to most efficiently get our Library to home and back. But, until then, we will be using our suitcases on wheels. Any ideas?