Stop On By!

We had occasion to have a midweek visitor yesterday. My sister had need of some shopping in the big city, so she dropped by bearing books, which made her the favorite aunt.

The littles devoured their books, showed off their videography 'skills,' demonstrated their gymnastics tumbling, and then organized a dance contest. The dance contest was cut short though, when Little Miss Kate and Little Miss Gabby declared that they were the judges and the elder sisters were to be the contestants. Aunt declared that she, "Doesn't dance in public." Kate was quick to point out that, "This is a house, not public." Holly, despite laughing, decided to skip on the dancing just the same. Nate and I may or may not have done a tango.

We were grateful for the midweek visit and of course the books too!

Fall Break

We made a run to my in-laws over this past weekend, as Justin had Monday and Tuesday off for fall break (did you miss me? no? I guess auto-post kept on going!).

On our way up we got to stop in the town where we bought our first house, just outside of Cincinnati. We had arranged to meet one of my dear friends there--she was one of the very first people I met when I moved up there because she was one of the instructional assistance in my room.

When we got there, it wasn't just her. She arranged to have two of my former peer tutors meet us too. They are both married and have a child each (and she has one on the way)! It was such a pleasant surprise.

The gal was able to bring her daughter who really hit it off with Kate. (Can one not hit it off with Kate? She makes it hard not to chat with her.) Too bad it is a bit of a commute for a play date!

Then we headed on over to visit his parents.

Where we played in leaves,

Carved pumpkins,

Ate birthday cake,

And opened presents.

R & R and ice cream

We went to visit my parents this past weekend. Speaking of traveling, am I the only person who feels that all the laundry must be done (including the sheets and towels), all hose keeping must be caught up, and everything put away before I can leave town? Friday night my parents kept the littles while we went to dinner without ordering for anyone else, cutting up food, running children to the restroom, or cleaning up spilled drinks.

We had considered a movie, but we didn't find anything we were really interested in, so we went to a bookstore where we wandered aimlessly looking at all sorts of books. We hadn't done that in a very long time! Afterwards we headed to my parent's cabin. We watched a little TV before heading to bed, where we stayed until after eight in the morning. If you have little children who rise fairly early, you know that is a major event.

We got to be back with the munchkins less than 24 hours later, but it was nice to have that break. We got to visit with my parents, my sister, and even briefly with my mom's cousin who was passing though town.

Then we headed off to the annual ice cream social at the church I grew up in. Burgers, hotdogs, lots of potato salads, cakes, cookies, and of course ice cream. We got to visit with some of the girls I knew when I was the age of my girls. The kiddos played in a couple of inflatables as well.

Kate made some lady's day. The woman, who I was told is in her 80's, was standing near the inflatable, so Kate asked her, "Are you in line?" so as not to cut. Everyone thought it was nice of her to try to include her, but she told Kate she was, in fact, not in the line.

I forgot my camera, but it was a nice weekend!

Visiting

After a very long week here last week, I packed up the kiddos and headed to visit my parents. We had planned the trip a couple of weeks ago, and by Friday everyone seemed sufficiently well to make the trip. My sister's birthday was last Monday and my mom's is tomorrow, so it was a nice chance time to make the trip, you know before everyone comes to visit this weekend for the baby boy's birthday bash! (How did that happen, by the way?!)

I hadn't made a list or packed at all in advance, but I seem to have remembered everything we needed, except my camera, so no pictures. But there was cake, presents, and family. I let the girls decide what to give Holly for her birthday. Kate decided on nail polish and Gabby thought we should by her a book. I did a little steering away from the hot pink they originally chose and gave them a few more muted choices for the polish and they came up with a steel gray color. Then we bought Hol a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia. Evidently she forgot our childhood rule that you can't buy anything for yourself near your birthday or Christmas, so she'll have to return the book, but we tried! I will also grant her that means she couldn't buy herself anything for the whole 4th quarter of the year, so I'll give her a pass.

The girls decided before we left yesterday that we couldn't come home...because of my parents' dog. Kate told us that, "Toby would be sad," and Gabby told us that, "Toby will bark for me." We had a better guess, that the eleven year old Yorkie will sleep now that his house is quiet!

Gam & PawPaw Visit

We've been spoiled. We have had visits from both sets of grandparents and my sister in the past month.

Life can get kind of lonely on the plains sometimes, so it was nice to have visits and the extra sets of hands around.

My dad worked most of the time he was here. I feel a bit guilty about it, but do appreciate all he did for us. The house looks great.

I wound up with the stomach flu--bad news with three little ones, but my mom was so nice to let me get a nap yesterday. While I'm still not feeling great, I am so thankful that they were here. God sure is good at providing what we need.

I wish that we had gotten more pictures, but somehow the three munchkins kept us hopping. I did manage to get a few.

PawPaw with the girls



Gam & the girls



Gam & the Little Man



Nate & PawPaw

Hopefully soon we'll be close enough to see each other much more often!

I've been a off line quite a bit this week because we had company! My little sister came to visit.

We kept her hopping. She got to see Kate's gymnastics class, run errands with us, took a trip to the park, played in the yard, and helped out while I got a few things done around the house.

The munchkins with Aunt Holly


Kate and her favorite Aunt, who cares if she's the only aunt--details, details.


Gabby, who is so much like her Aunt it's scary!


The little guy gave her a run for her money, but she did get some good smiles from him.

I'm sure she's enjoying her nice quiet house and sleeping during the day like a vampire--I guess I'll excuse that though. I sure am glad to know there is someone on the other end of the line if I have to call 911 at 3 AM.

Thanks for your visit Holly. Next time it shouldn't take nearly so long to get to us!