Erika: October

So this is a little out of order from my last post, but October just flew by without me posting much. Life stabilized a lot for me in October once Willow got on her reflux meds, and she was able to sleep during the day. And I figured out a workable schedule for me. I had really struggled to find a daily schedule that would work with feeding Willow every 2 1/2 - 3 hours plus driving Aspen to and from school. Unfortunately, that requires me to get up between 6 and 6:30am (previously considered night time!), but that's the only way I can get Willow fed, myself showered and everyone else dressed and fed before taking off at 8:15 for school.

Willow 7 weeks

7 weeks

With Fall upon us and our family getting bigger, we seem to be staying home more and just hanging out as a family. Life is a little slower that way, but it's actually been a lot of fun. We've had some fun movie and popcorn nights and wrestling matches with Daddy.

Daddy and his girls

(I love being able to say "girls"!)

Horsey rides with Daddy are the best.....

Aspen always ends up getting hurt playing with Mark, but always comes back for more after the appropriate amount of dramatic crying.

Beach Day Trip:

Tillamook Cheese Factory - gotta love that squeeky cheese and fresh ice cream!

The second weekend of October Mark decided that tuna season was officially over. With great sadness he decided that it was time to bring the boat home, so we decided to make a day of it and all go as a family. We had a great time and absolutely beautiful weather. Luckily, one of the beach houses wasn't rented, and we were able to hang out there for a couple hours after touring the Tillamook Cheese Factory and playing and eating lunch on the beach. That was probably the last beach trip with beautiful weather for the year, and I'm so glad we all went. Sometimes thinking about all the driving and logistics of taking three young kids to the beach for just one day is too overwhelming to me, and I would rather stay home and let Mark go. But I'm so glad I just went with the spontaneity of the day. We had such a fun time!

On My Own...

Mark took off on a business trip to Costa Rica for 5 days in October. That was the first time I had had all three kids on my own for more than one day, and thankfully it went pretty smoothly. But, I have to say that I have the best, most supportive family. Two nights in a row we had dinner at my mom's house, and Charity and Justin offered to take Aspen and Journey overnight for a sleep over. They had the best time playing with Peyton and Lilly at "the world's best park" (according to Aspen), having chicken nuggets for dinner and playing Star Wars video games. And I got to have dinner out at sushi with Christina!

We hadn't made it to the pumpkin patch yet this year. The Saturday that Mark was gone, the weather happened to be nice so I decided to take advantage of it and take the kids to the park for the morning. There happened to be a Fall Harvest Festival going on complete with tractor hay rides, an area for the kids to pick out their own pumpkins, games and yummy food....all for free! '