Favorite Fall Event

There comes a time each fall when we start turning off the air conditioner during the day and turning on the heat at night. After a couple days or maybe a week of this new routine I begin passionately asking Jeremy to remove the huge window air conditioning unit from the living room. It is loud. It takes up a whole window. I don't like it at all. Last Sunday was the day of the removal.


Of course I should have looked ahead on the weather forecast. Yesterday and today were around 80 degrees and very humid. If the leaves weren't changing color it would feel like August. I had also not only put fall clothes in the childrens' dresser, I had responsibly packed up and put away the summer clothes! We were all HOT. Jeremy's computer got hot and started complaining too. After supper Jeremy sat with the children on the deck--in the dark--and let them listen to songs on his iphone. It was that annoying to be in the house.
All because I couldn't wait to be rid of that window unit! I had my own consequences too. It was not fun to be hugely pregnant today. I had to dig through Jeremy's drawers to find some shorts! One more day. Friday's high temperature is 56.

Today's Entertainment

Construction continues on the pole barn and today's event was the arrival of a crane to lift the roof trusses into place.

They were mesmerized.

It was pretty neat.

I watched from the comfort of a lawn chair on the deck. My Gramma made more trips across the lawn than I thought was possible for her!

That's my brother on the roof. Caleb and Josiah watched and watched.

I must have looked pretty pathetic yesterday and today. My Gramma told me that she was bringing supper for us tonight. (Now? I haven't had surgery yet!) I suggested that she and Grandad stay and eat with us. They did. And we had a nice little evening with them. I should probably take supper to them tomorrow. I suspect Gramma will not be doing much--judging by how big a day she had and how little weight she was putting on her hip tonight.

From Today

No longer than 5 weeks from today baby will arrive. Thank goodness. I don't know what position this child is in, but there is a fist that makes me practically gasp when it punches. The last couple days I have been far more thirsty than hungry which is a new development. I am so very thankful that I have a husband who comes home every evening ready to play with Aliza and Josiah. I could not make it right now without him.

My body wants to stay in bed all day. My brain has lots of projects it wants to finish. My children demand that I get up, feed them, play with them, clean them, train them to be responsible people. At least tonight they wanted to cuddle too. And now I'm headed to bed. Maybe this will be one of the lucky nights when there are no child demands during the night.

Fun Fall Day

There was some serious excitement in our house this morning when Jeremy and I announced that we were going to the pumpkin patch. I have never seen Aliza and Josiah get dressed, including shoes, so fast. Josiah stood at the bathroom door and cried when he realized that, indeed, Mommy was going to take a shower before we left. We did have a great time. Here are lots of pictures!

On the hayride

This year Aliza went down the big slide all by herself!

Josiah loving the corn pit.

In the corn maze. Aliza was our leader. She did a great job checking the paths for dead ends. I asked Jeremy if he thought the maze was a half mile (I downgraded the question to a half mile from my initial thought of a mile.) He laughed at the suggestion of a half mile. Oh well. It was long. Thankfully the ground the smooth and I waddled my way through it.

Tractor driver, Josiah.

Then we picked out our pumpkins. Josiah wanted to pull and Aliza wanted to ride. Daddy pushed.

Josiah started harvesting pumpkins right away. At the end he had to plant some back in the field. Thanks to his John Deere DVDs he knew exactly how to harvest pumpkins. He was disappointed that he left his plastic saw in the car.

Aliza picked one bigger than she could pick up.

What a big boy!

Aliza and Josiah took turns riding the pedal go-karts with Daddy.

Some of our pumpkins!

Piles and Piles of Dirt

Construction is about to begin on my parent's property. A pole barn is being constructed to house my grandfather's tools and equipment. Five dump truck loads of dirt were delivered earlier this week to prepare the foundation. Josiah and Aliza took full advantage of the opportunity to get really dirty (this comes as no surprise, really). They actually took advantage of this opportunity twice this week. The second time was after rain so there was standing water and mud piles. The mess is worth the fun!

Here's the Proof

One of my goals for the summer was to go golfing with Jeremy. The summer was so incredibly hot that I chose to wait until now to go. So at 33 weeks I golfed 9 holes for the first time. Jeremy said he was happy with how I hit straight. I guess he forgot about the one ball that landed on in someone's driveway. I didn't hear any shattering glass. haha. We had fun being together. I am very happy that today I have no extra soreness. I'm thinking that by next spring golfing is going to feel a whole lot easier!

Practice swing.

Baltimore Adventure

Janell and I and our children took a day trip to Baltimore to visit my cousin, Hannah and her husband, Micah, who are visiting from Colorado Springs. I dare say this was my biggest adventure alone with Aliza and Josiah. We went to Baltimore without a plan. It was rainy and we didn't know what we were going to do after we picked up Hannah and Micah. We arrived at noon so the logical thing to do was have lunch. Upon learning that Hannah and Micah love Cheesecake Factory we decided that was our destination. With minimal directions and a vague memory of the Inner Harbor from living in Baltimore during YES training we set out. One call to Jeremy and his quick use of Google Maps saved us. Thankfully the downtown area was empty. We parked in a parking garage and started walking. Quickly we realized we were incredibly ill prepared.

Josiah jumped out of the van, grabbed Hannah's hand and didn't let go. It was raining. We had no umbrellas.
We went to the city and didn't bring a stroller or carrier for Renee. Seriously, what were we thinking???
Once in Cheesecake Factory I realized it was 1:30. My children were beyond hungry and their behavior showed it. Micah did his best to entertain them. First got them to hold them hands over their head and told them lower their hands S-L-O-W-L-Y. That turned into drumming on the table. Then he showed them silverware tricks. That lasted a few minutes and turned into silverware drumming on the table. Finally he taught Aliza foot games under the table. Somehow that deteriorated into both Aliza and Josiah crawling under the table.
After eating the rain stopped so we figured our best bet was to walk around the harbor for a few minutes. Josiah put up his hood and headed for the puddles.
I could understand that after sitting all day in the car and then in the restaurant they would want to run. Notice several things---my hands are full, my belly is big and there is NO RAILING at all on the harbor. The rule was that if they stayed on the red brick they could run, but if they went on the white cement they needed to hold a hand. It actually worked fairly well.
But then Aliza dipped her hand in. At the moment I was calm, but this week I've had some ''what if" thoughts of them falling in.
We tried to get a group picture. Isn't Renee such a good girl? I hope she is an ornery as my children some day. It would make me feel a lot better! We took Hannah and Micah to where they were staying and drove the 2.5 hours home. We started driving and I asked Janell, "Was that fun?" She said, "It was the right thing to do." My sentiments exactly.

The end of the story is that Hannah and Micah had 2 free days after the wedding they were in and before they headed home so my Grandparents rented a car for them to come to my parents house to visit. So we saw them again tonight. Which was great, but..... Oh well, we had an adventure!

Easily Amazed

I admit that when it comes to my childrens' accomplishments I am easily amazed. Yesterday Meghan kept Aliza and Josiah during my Dr. appointment. When I came home Aliza had these pictures to show me. I know Aliza can write her name, but this is the first time she has written any other words. Appropriately these are the names of her imaginary friends. Meghan wrote the words on another paper and Aliza wrote them on her paper--by herself!

Foofa. (Her friends are Yo Gabba Gabba characters.) The drawing is even pretty accurate. Foofa has a flower on her head and has big eyes and long eyelashes.

Toodee. It took me a bit before I realized the third "O" is actually a "D".

Strange Question

I'm tired. Patience is running low. Emotions are running high. Maybe tomorrow will be better since I had a long overdue meltdown tonight.

In this state of mind I enter Wal-Mart this morning. As we are walking in the door a lady says something to me that I didn't really hear so, naturally, I respond that my children are 2 years a part in age. She responds, "No, Do they have the same Daddy?" A little confused I say, "Yes." She says, "I could tell. They look a like and have the same eyes." I keep walking and then I start thinking about this exchange. Clearly her expectation is that children do not share the same Daddy and since my children look so similar I fell outside her standard of normal. Wow. That is really sad.

By far, this is the strangest conversation that I have had in public about my children.

Education and Point of View

Recently I've been following the blog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. The author writes on a variety of subjects including homeschooling. My recent thinking about homeschooling revolves around how other people will view me for choosing to homeschool and how I can relate to public/private school Mom's without making them feel like I look down on them. I don't. At all. So I ran across Pioneer Woman's article Education and Point of View and I loved it. It was just the perspective I needed. I have thought about this article a lot so thought I would share it.

Babysitting Renee

After her nap, my niece Renee got lots of lovin' from her aunt and cousins. I really enjoyed watching Aliza and Josiah interact with her. It makes me anxious for our baby to arrive. I also can't wait for those first proud sibling pictures. =)


Aliza wasn't quite sure what to do when Renee grabbed a handful of hair.

Josiah is so sweet when he holds Renee. I suspect he might be a protective brother one day.
Oh yes. I love holding Renee too! However, I am glad that I will not be 32 weeks pregnant and have a 5 month old. It's a little awkward to maneuver and hold a bottle.

(My Mom will be showing my blog to my Grandma). Hi Grandma Rhoda! I love you!!!!