Headed back to Normal

Friday afternoon, my friend L dropped off her 2 youngest kiddos. The baby is a crawler, and my house is no longer baby proof since my 'baby' will soon be 7. I rearranged a few things so as not to entice the baby. We spent the rest of Friday here at the house and I knew that for my sanity I would need to get the kids out of the house for much of Saturday.
The baby slept until 8:45 at which point, I woke him up cause his breakfast was cold. Plus, we needed to get on with our day. After lunch was prepared and everyone dressed, we loaded up in the car and went to a pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast. It was family fun day, and everything was free. There were quite a few games, a firetruck to explore, sand art to create and food everywhere. They were offering free sno-cones, cotton candy and popcorn and I spotted some lunch stuff as well. The kids opted for the cotton candy. Each kiddo, save the baby, picked out a pumpkin to take home with them as well.
Next on the agenda was the zoo. Due to traffic being diverted to a different highway, we had lost some time so we ate our lunch in the car.
We finally arrived at the zoo, and when I was driving up to show my pass (free parking for those with a zoo pass) a bee flew in my car! We were all freaking out. I opened all the windows and the darn thing would not leave! It flew by baby and K tried to get it off of him. She put a bag on baby to protect him, but inadvertently trapped the bee. Thankfully nobody got stung.
Once in the zoo, we moseyed our way along the paths. We only stayed at the zoo for a few hours, but that was long enough. We saw most everything they wanted to see. By that time it was almost 3 o'clock and baby had fallen asleep in the stroller. Plus there were bees everywhere which made our decision to leave that much easier!
I had a stop to make, and on our way out, the sales lady told me that my kids were so well behaved! Woohoo!! We got home at about 4:30 just to leave to do another errand shortly before 6. Afterwards I took the kids out to dinner and then home just in time for baths and bed!!! I had feared that Saturday would be my hardest day to keep them entertained but all went well!
Sunday we went to church and then came home after lunch for naps! L picked the kids up around 5'ish. What a fun weekend we had!
After they left, E, K and I left for another church family fun fest that I had heard about. They were able to play more games, jump in a few bounce houses and have a totally healthy dinner of nachos ;)

1979

30 years ago today, I was born. Well, technically, I was born at 10:17pm, so about 20 minutes ago I officially turned 30. WOW. As a teenager, I could never picture myself as a 30 yr old. I pictured myself getting married and having kids, but being 30??? Never entered my mind.
I have felt extremely blessed and loved today. My family and friends have certainly lavished me with love.
Two of my friends cooked for me today. L made me some awesome enchiladas and spanish rice, and E made me a wonderful lemon meringue pie.
Then tonight as I went to work at church, my friend K surprised me and decorated the room and brought balloons, a sweet card and a gift of chocolate.

Aside from today being my birthday, it is also the 2 week mark of when B will graduate! 14 more days!! I will fly out to be with him in 10 days and then drive home with him after the graduation ceremony. I can not believe how fast the days are going now! In the beginning, time just sort of dragged on, and now time is just flying by!

Tonight the kids and I went to a friends house for dinner. She made us some yummy spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. After dinner we walked to a pumpkin patch nearby. I *LOVE* pumpkin patches! The kids ran around like wild hooligans, and I had to threaten them a couple of times just to get a few cheesy pictures. We finally told them that it was time to pick their pumpkins so we could go back to the house and paint them.
K chose this huge pumpkin, but had to settle for a medium sized one that would actually fit in the stroller for our walk back to the house. E chose 2 mini pumpkins plus this awesome one that looks like a mushroom. On a whim I picked up a smallish one.
So, after our short trek back to the house, the kids get to painting. I decided to paint my pumpkin when the kids were about halfway through.
K's pumpkin has on a party hat (where the stem used to be is where she painted it) and then some dots around the back of it. E said his pumpkins were dripping blood or something--and I get the bad mom of the year reward for not taking a better picture of his pumpkins-he ran off before I could snap some of him with them. My pumpkin just has polka dots all over it. My friend had an awesome round brush and it seemed like a fun but easy idea.
Tomorrow we will set them on the front porch for all to see!

3 weeks

3 weeks from today B will be graduating from training. I am hoping to fly out there on the 30th and then after attending his graduation, he and I will begin the journey home.
B was able to come home for a visit this past weekend. He flew in Thursday evening and the kids and I dropped him back off at the airport this morning. The weather was rainy and grey while he was here, but that didn't stop us from having fun!
We went to a fall festival that a city nearby hosts every year and had a great time. B actually ran in to an old co-worker there. We had also planned to go to a pumpkin patch while he was here, but the weather was too cold, so we just played around the house and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese.

Fergi

I hope that I spelled Ferg's name right. My brother, T, is going on a year long work expedition and asked us to watch his cat while he is away. So, we now have a new member of the family until T comes back. We picked Ferg up Friday evening. She is slowly getting used to her new place. Friday night B and I left her in our bathroom with everything she needed. Saturday night she woke B up with her meowing, so he moved her to another room in the house. Last night we put her in the garage-we are trying to get her used to the cat door that we have--we installed that cat door years ago when we had a cat. The kids, E & K, are so excited about having a cat! We have to remind them not to chase Ferg around since she is still kind of skiddish! I forgot how much I love having a cat around! Ferg reminds me so much of Jaba, the cat my brother brought home my senior year of high school!

4 Weeks!

4 weeks from today B will be graduating from his training! He gets to come home this weekend for a visit and I can hardly wait!!! 4 weeks!!!!!

Baking Season is Among Us

Yesterday, my friend L and I hung out and decided to welcome fall by having a baking day! I bought a ton of apples last week at Sprouts since they were only $.49/lb. I also had some leftover frozen pumpkin from last years baking extravaganza. So, yesterday she and I were in the kitchen all stinkin' day long!
We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin/chocolate chip muffins, pumpkin/chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, apple pie, apple cobbler (with a pie crust instead of biscuit topping) and some chicken tortilla soup.
I played it smart and started the day off making the soup, since I knew that after baking all day the last thing we would want to do would be make dinner for our family. The weather has been rather fall like--overcast and cool, so I knew it would be the perfect day to make the first batch of soup for the fall/winter season!
The kids and I got home after 4 yesterday afternoon and my body was worn out! I stood in the kitchen from 9:30 until we left at 4 yesterday, with a few sitting breaks in between. I came home thanking God that I had decided to make the soup early as I wanted to plop down on the couch and just sleep the night away.