Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. On Thursday, we celebrated with Ricky's parents and brother, Kris, and family. Dylan and Alex played all day long! They had so much fun together. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying some great food. On our way home, my friend called and asked me if I wanted to go shopping with them. I said sure, so we went out at 10pm to start our adventure. We went to Toy's R Us, but they were way too busy, so we went to Old Navy instead. We got some great deals there and enjoyed some girl time. On our way to Walmart, Ricky called to tell me that Ethan wouldn't stop crying, so I had to go home and feed him. I got him back to sleep and then went to Walmart to get the great deals. I had so much fun! I know, I know. I am one of those crazy black Friday shoppers!

Ricky had to work on Friday, so I hung out with the kids all day. It was nice to just stay home after not getting home until 3am! On Saturday, we headed over to Bloomington, Illinois to my aunt's house. We spent the weekend there with all my family and cousins. We had 29 people there! It was so much fun! There were also 13 kids with the oldest being 8! Talk about a full house! My grandma and grandpa also came, so it was so nice to see everyone!

I am thankful that I have a great family and that I can visit them often. I am also thankful that everyone gets along great! I love this time of year because I get to spend more time with the ones I love!

November fun

Where has this month gone? I thought things would settle down a bit, but they seem to be getting more chaotic. I don't even know where to begin. We got our family pictures taken by a good friend of mine, Jessica Bateman. She did a wonderful job and I can't wait to get the pictures printed! We had a wonderful time and the weather was gorgeous! Thanks to Ricky for being a great sport and hobbling around the battleground with his crutches. I Love my family!

You can check the rest of them out at:

www.jessicabatemanphotography.com

What else... Ethan started crawling last week. He is all over the place! He stays close to the ground, but it won't be long before he gets up on his hands and knees. He is getting so big! I can't believe that he is 8 months old already! Time sure does fly by! He has 8 teeth now and still loves his food! Lauren isn't too fond of him getting around because he gets into her things. I hope they work things out!

Dylan is doing great at school. He learns so much and has a blast. Last week, they had their Thanksgiving program. It was so cute! Dylan just stood there while everyone else sang the songs. He knows all of them, he sings them around the house, but wouldn't sing them at the program. Silly boy!

Last night, we went to see Harry Potter. The movie was great, but we sure had an adventure after. I started the car and somehow the car decided to lock itself. It made a very long night! Thank goodness we were with friends who helped us get our spare keys from home. It was great to go see a movie, it had been forever since we had been to the theater.

Happy Halloween

Only a couple of weeks late, but here it is! We went to the church trunk or treat on Saturday night. There was a great turnout and the kids had a blast! It was nice that Ricky could participate and help hand out candy! My parents helped me and the kids walk around. I forgot my camera, so we didn't get any pictures. Bummer. On Sunday, we went to a few houses around the neighborhood with our friends and my mom. Thanks to my parents for coming up here and helping out with the kids. It would have been really difficult to have all 3 kids by myself! My dad also fixed the hole in the wall while he was here! Yeah!Ethan was my little monkey!Dylan was GI Joe. (Gotta love the clearance section at Walmart after Halloween last year!) Lauren was a beautiful Barbie princess. (we had all of the making at home! Yeah!)Dylan loves his sister!
Here are our friends' kids. Dylan and his friend, Chloe.This is a tradition that I started with Dylan when he was a baby. On November 1, I get a picture of all the kids and their candy.
They got a lot this year! One of the perks of having lots of kids, I guess!
Dylan also got to dress up for his school Halloween party. He dressed up as Spiderman. Funny thing, when we got to school, the girl Dylan in his class was dressed up as Spidergirl. How fun!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Applesauce and sick kids

Over the weekend, I went to my mom's house for a couple of reasons. Ricky wanted to have a LAN party at our house and I wanted to make applesauce with my mom. It was so much fun visiting with my mom and learning how to make and can applesauce. I have memories of making applesauce with my mom as a child. Dylan was looking forward to it all week! He kept asking me when we were going to grandma's house to make applesauce. He had a blast and was such a great helper! First, he washed and scrubbed the apples. Then, we cored them and cut them into pieces.Next, we cooked the apples and played while they were getting ready. After they were cooked, we put them through the masher aka. applesauce machine. Dylan helped by turning the handle

and by mashing them.Lauren even took her turn helping out! They thought the machine was really cool as it "pooped" out the skins. It got a thumbs up by all the kids! Yeah! Ethan even liked it! Overall, we made 20 quarts and 9 pints. It took all day, but it was well worth it! Thanks for your help mom! I love having food storage!This morning, I woke up to get ready for MOPS and Lauren had crusty eyes. I called the doctor to find out if it could be allergies, and they said that they needed to see her. I also asked about Dylan who has been waking up coughing at night, so I took both of them in. Lauren has pink eye and Dylan has a sinus infection. Guess we wont be doing anything today!

Festivals

This past weekend, I went to the covered bridge festival with my mom. I was kind of hesitant to go after the experience we had last year. (Dylan burned his hand and had to pee every 5 minutes!) I only took Lauren and Ethan this time and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It got up to 90 degrees outside, so we were sweating like crazy, but I got some shopping in this year! I really enjoyed the nice scenery and the whole experience was great. It was just what I needed with this crazy, busy schedule. Thanks mom!

The weekend before, Dylan, Ethan, Ricky's mom and I went to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon. Like every year, the food was excellent. It was a beautiful fall day and we all had fun. Dylan got to pick out a toy and got a wooden sword. He thought it was pretty cool. The only downfall this year was the wait for the buses back to the parking lot. We had to wait for an hour and a half! Luckily the kids were great and we had a parade to watch. Dylan told us on the way home that he had a great time. That just makes the whole experience worth it!

We are all hanging in there. Ricky's leg looks about the same, so we have to keep getting x-rays for the doctor to make sure it's healing properly. His foot is still really swollen, but he can bend his knee and he gets around pretty good on crutches. I guess that's good, since he will only be walking with crutches until Christmas! I am keeping up with everyone. The hardest part of this whole thing is that Ricky is here, but he can't do the same things that he used to! I have a rough time with putting the kids to bed some nights. I miss having Ricky put the kids to bed. It was my relaxing time and now it is my busiest time. I guess it's partly because I have been chasing the kids around all day and they are usually a little hyper. It's nice that Ricky can hold Ethan while I'm putting the other 2 to bed!

Speaking of beds, Lauren decided to take her diaper off again yesterday morning. This time she had more than just pee and it was all over the bed. Yuck! I just carried her to the bathroom and put her in the shower. It was disgusting. I ordered some pull-ups, so maybe we should start using them instead of diapers. She is growing up too fast! Right now, she is sleeping in Dylan's bed. She said that she wanted to sleep there, so I said ok. She didn't get out of bed at all! I thought that she would try to play with all of the toys in his room, but she is out! Maybe we should put her in the toddler bed and stick with potty training. I just need to suck it up and stick with it.