Goals Updated and Created: October

It's October 1st and Fall is in the air. I truly love this time of year. Despite having to actually clothe my children when we play outside, I enjoy every bit of this season. September seemed to fly by! Perhaps that's one of the reasons why my monthly goals went un-accomplished. I thought I would revisit those and then create some new ones. Last month I wanted to accomplish these:

1. 8 glasses of water a day

2. Limit 2 cups of coffee (what? I can't give up everything!)

3. #50milesinSeptember

4. Regular weekly exercise

5. Lose 5 lbs (Starting weight: 124)

I failed to finish the fifty miles this month. I stopped somewhere in the thirty mile frame. I was struggling because my husband has been working long hours and they don't exactly make a three child running stroller. Anyway, that will change though because I've finally signed my oldest up for preschool. The other goal of 8 glasses of water a day was probably accomplished 75% of the time. It's not hard for me to drink water when I remember. I love it. For October, I have some new goals I hope to accomplish:

1. Continue with regular exercise and water in addition to completing the October Ab Challenge I created a few years ago. 
   
2. Spend an hour (at least) each week working on my writing and publications.
3. Go to a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, or both!
4. Bake again.
5. Create fun Halloween costumes.
6. Take at least four bags of donations to KARM.

I hope each of you enjoy a cup of joe on your porch as the leaves fall around you. I hope you build piles of leaves for your kids to jump in. I hope you dress up on All Hallows Eve and disperse candy or trick-or-treat. I hope your football team makes you happy (unless of course it makes us VOL fans sad). I hope you carve pumpkins and bake apple pies. I hope you climb a mountain and feel God's presence as you look out on all the magnificent colors this time of year brings. Happy Fall, y'all.

Halloween 2014

Typically, I'm a bonafide Halloween nutcase. Elaborate costumes are planned months in advance and I spend time carefully selecting and making all garments and props. This year? Well, I had another kid to think about--making the number of costumes to create climb to FIVE. I started feeling as if I shouldn't go all out because we didn't have the money to spend on such things. I was getting a bit down because I love Halloween so much. I always have. But I started thinking maybe it's time for me to grow up.

I quickly came to my senses and reminded myself that, of course, I was going trick or treating with my kiddos. It's quite possibly my favorite day of the year and I didn't want to miss it just because I was having a hard time managing to get my act together. I decided I wasn't SuperMom, but I could totally be her for Halloween. I thought, "How perfect would it be to all be superheroes in honor of Abel's first hearing Halloween?" I set to work making SuperK and Bionic Boy costumes.

I made them masks, capes, and shirts but of course it didn't all get worn. There's always someone mad on October 31st and it's almost always a toddler. This year I have two toddler/preschool aged crazy people so they took turns refusing garments, pictures, and/or having to {gasp} walk to retrieve their candy. It's a hard life, you know?
Anyway, we had a great evening. Perhaps my favorite costume this year that I threw together at the last minute was baby Merit's. He made the cutest Superman.

Jordan pulled off a spectacular superhero last minute costume, too. I thought my SuperMom threads looked pretty dang good, too. Total cost for this entire family of five costumes? Less than $20. I hope I never buy store bought costumes.

The boys' babysitter joined us in our trick-or-treating. I just love her. She's wonderful with the kids and I feel like I can just sit and talk to her like a friend. I know God blessed us when He sent us her. I was glad to have her helping hands, too when Abel decided that all he wanted to do was plop down on the road and dig into the chocolate. It proved to be quite a task to carry Abel on my hip while wearing Merit on my front. Jordan was busy chasing after Kinley who was excitedly running house to house and thanking all our neighbors for their generous candy donations. Then it started raining. That cold rain, you know? We hurried home after hitting a few houses and built a fire and ordered takeout.

It was a great day.
 
What costumes did you come up with this year?

Elkmont Camping Trip

There's a magical quality when you get to watch your children see the leaves fall in great quantity off the trees around you as the brisk, fresh air fills their lungs. I got to see that this past weekend. Kinley excitedly shouted "Look! Oh, no. We've gotta catch them. We've gotta put them back." I love experiencing common occurrences through the eyes and words of a child, especially mine because I happen to think they're brilliant. It was also pretty incredible to think of all the sounds that Abel was trying to sort through with his new cochlear implants. He happily kept his processors on for the entire camping trip and he got to hear the river rushing close by, the leaves crunching under his feet, the zipping of the tent, bird songs, the crackling of the fire, and so many other sounds that we all take for granted.

I was so nervous to camp with three small children, but I'm glad we did it.

When we first got there, it was dark and we still had to get the tent set up. I sat by the fire and watched the kids as Jordan set to work setting up camp. As we waited, Kinley told me, "I have a pwoblem." I asked him what it was and he said, "Mine daddy is over there and I'm over here." This boy loves his dad. We're lucky to have him.

Merit did great, too! Honestly, he was probably the easiest, laid back babe during the trip. He was perfectly content to stare up at the trees for hours and bundled up at night, he slept for long stretches. Two months old and already camping! He's a little trooper and we love him so.

How was your weekend?