It's that time of year again...

I've been meaning to get on here and blog, but there just hasn't seemed to be time lately. And it's not because we've been running around a lot. Although we've been busy with a few things, we've mostly been home....sick. Yep, it's that time of year again and the sore throats, coughs, fevers, runny noses, sinus infections and stomach viruses are back and they're slowing us down. Additionally, Kevin had a tooth pulled and he got kidney stones for the first time (boy, what a scare that was at first!). So, I'm sorry to annoy you all with another "catch up" blog, but here's a quick overview of the last few weeks:

While most of our time was spent at home....

Puzzle time!

Thanks to Grandma who helped out on some of our worse days!

 ....we did sneak in a trip in between illnesses to a new park to enjoy the fall leaves:

 Poor Abby's original birthday party got postponed because Jake had croup (that was a LONG week for me since Kevin was gone fishing the whole time). Eventually, she got her party, albeit smaller than originally planned since, by then, some invited family members were sick. But she got her butterfly cake as she requested and that made her quite happy. :)

A close-up for those interested in seeing the cake. :)

As you can see in the picture of Abby with her cake, Abby's hair was getting quite long and I finally worked up the courage to take her to get her first hair cut. I was worried that she would lose those "baby curls" that we have loved for so many years...and I was unfortunately right. The curls are all gone now (sniff, sniff) and it actually doesn't seem a whole lot shorter even though many inches were cut off and it actually gets tangled even more now (strange, I know). But Abby is happy with it and that's what counts (I think she was feeling left out when her brothers would get hair cuts and she didn't!). I got my hair cut at the same time and it was a fun outing for us together, especially since we went to my friend Amanda and got visit too. She has a beautiful little salon right in her home. Abby was fascinated with all the new sights and was full of questions the whole time. Later, I mentioned to Abby that perhaps next time I could cut her hair. "No, I want to back to Miss Mandie's!!" was her reply. :)

Jacob has proved to be my biggest eater so far and, since I try to make most of his baby food, I've been hard-pressed to keep up with his appetite! A friend of ours gave us a giant zucchini and Jake ate it up in just over a week!

Checking out his dinner.

No, Jake! Don't eat it it until it's steamed and pureed! ;)

We've also been casually but purposefully doing some preschool work with Abby. We've been working on handwriting, addition, and, of course, reading. Ben has begun to use Starfall.com like Abby has been for quite some time. Amazingly, within just a week he became quite adept at using the computer mouse and working his way through the lessons fairly independently. His letter recognition and sounds have improved as well. I'm also trying to take more time to work on craft projects with the kids.

A couple weeks ago we took a two-night trip down to Oregon. Besides having a fun time on the farm as always (Ben is practically obsessed with Uncle Paul and his tractors :) and visiting with my Grandma, we also got to meet my cousin Jayne's 6-week-old baby girl Tabitha. And the main reason for going at that specific time was to see my nephew Stephen march in the Albany Veteran's Day Parade with his Air Force ROTC group. We had so much fun watching and I, of course, snapped a bunch of pictures afterward. I was proud of my nephew looking all grown up and handsome!

After the parade, we grabbed some McDonald's lunch and took it to Stephen's place. Stephen shares a house with three other Christian young men and it was so fun to finally see his "home." As we were eating, Ben kept turning around in his chair and looking toward the living room, saying, "Where my toys? Where my books?" I do believe that was the first house Ben has been to that didn't have any toys set out for him to play with! Thankfully, awhile later, Stephen remembered he had a box of toy airplanes stored away in his closet that are from his childhood. That made Ben and Abby quite happy.

I could share a bunch more photos from our trip, but I'll spare you (plus this post is getting so long!). Instead, I'll settle on only one more because it captures a big moment for Jakey: learning to wave! He was so proud of himself and kept waving over and over again to Uncle Paul sitting across the room. Since then, he waves fairly often at all people...and even a snowman standing in our front yard! :)

Speaking of snow, I will end this post with a collage of our first snow of the year that we got several days ago. What fun we had before it melted!