October Adorableness

Halloween

Once again, we enjoyed a ridiculous and unnecessary holiday as much as possible!

My friend from gymnastics, Jamie, let Ivy borrow this ladybug sleeper.  So cute!  The kids all handled their own costumes this year (except for Ivy.)

A couple school pictures for Grace.

The Ravenclaw Hogwarts student...

the narwhal...

and the boy being eaten by a snake.

Unfortunately, we couldn't go to Todd and Corinne's because Corinne was feeling crummy.  Fortunately, we trick-or-treated as a family and handed out candy...and had a wonderful evening together.  (Jeff is a beach bum.)  So thankful for our family and for every moment together.

Dancing with His Girls

Pumpkin Patch 2018

It's tricky to get a good pic of three, let alone four!  I won't tell you how many dozens of pictures I DIDN'T post!

He had been using Jeff's phone to take photos of his Lego sigfig, Where's Waldo style, and was showing them to Benjamin and Grace.

One more sigfig photo.  We ran into Kelly's family at the pumpkin patch, and she shared her photo-ready wagon with us.  She was using it to take pics of Vivian on her one-mont birthday.

Love these four!

Sisters!

One Month Old

Another attempt at blogging...

My attempt at her one-month photos.  Unedited, but with much love.

So...We Had a Baby!

A few months ago, I was working hard on past pictures and getting close to having the blog up-to-date.  (I was "only" four months behind and was backdating my posts.)  I love looking back at the blog so much and wanted to have this photo record her for our family.  Then, in January, the most wonderful and surprising thing happened:  We found out we were expecting a baby! When our kids were 13, 9, and 7!  And we were 43!

Along with that wonderful blessing came the exhaustion of the first trimester in a middle-aged woman.  Me!  All my catch-up efforts went down the drain as I got even further behind than before, and I failed to blog any details of the pregnancy for our baby to read later.  I didn't even blog the birth!  (I should back up and note that I spent a lot of my pregnancy nervous/convinced that the pregnancy would produce a character-building experience, but that i wouldn't get an actual baby out of the deal.  But I digress...)

So here, one month after our baby's arrival, I'm doing a quick post on that baby's behalf.

On September 5, Jeff and I got our kids to school...

met my mom at the hospital so she could soothe my nerves by braiding my hair before my c-section...

marveled at being able to experience this miracle one more time...

and met our darling, little, GIRL!  Ivy Joy, only 8 lbs., 7 oz., 20", born at 1:02 p.m.  I shed many tears of JOY at her arrival as an answer to many, many prayers.

She is perfect.  I felt her absence in our family for many years and had come to peace with that, but now she is here!

And now we are six.  And home.  And exhausted.  And thankful.

The Most Fun I've Had in Awhile!

My dear, longtime friend, Jen - one of the first friends I met when we moved to our state - turned 40.  And since she works during the day now, our friend, Jetta, and I, could get to work and decorate her house with 40 balloons.  (Jen's husband knew about our plan and approved.  Or at least, he didn't stop us.)

This is what 40 balloons look like in the back of my van, plus the numbers 4 and 0.  I wrapped the ribbons of the balloons around heavy beach towels to keep them weighted down while I drove.

I wish these pics would have turned out a bit better.  The lighting is weird. But, we were taking pictures into the sun and using a trash can as a tripod, so we did the best we could.  Jetta and I had the best time!

We had to take lots of pictures because...when would we ever hold 40 shiny balloons again? :)  (I should confess that we lost eight of the star balloons to the wind and had to replace them with smiley balloons.  Jen didn't seem to mind!)

Thanks for the fun, Jetta, and happy birthday, Jen!

And, as I would expect, I spent a large part of my drive back home with this view.