Monday

I am loving this fall weather!! Even though we wake up with frost on the ground, by the middle of the day it is gorgeous outside. Just looking out my back windows makes me smile. The colors are so bright!
Of course, that means there are leaves to play in! Will and Colby still love to jump in them. Owen, not so much. He likes to pick leaves up and look at them, but I don't think he likes the feel of them all over his body.
We have been going for lots of walks. The fresh air almost always puts Owen to sleep! If only I could get the bigger kids to walk....
Here are some new pictures of Will and Lilie.
And Owen in a cute monkey outfit a friend of mine sent him :)
And Owen eating lasagna. He loved it, ate everything in his bowl, and on his tray. He even sucked on his bowl to get everything out. But then he got sleepy and started rubbing his eyes, which isn't a good idea when you're full of sauce, so he had a nice bath after that.
On Saturday it rained and rained, so we used that day to clean and organize. We had Daddy's pizza for dinner, and watched 2 movies- SpaceBuddies (a hit with the kids, but not so much with the grown ups) and Earth, which seemed really cool except that I slept through most of it. Oh well.
There's still a lot to clean and organize but we did well.
Sam has a sore throat and a cough, but other than that we are not sick... yet. Let's keep our fingers crossed, it seems like *everyone* is sick. And we are not getting flu vaccines.
Happy Monday!

Beautiful weather!!!

Yesterday was another gorgeous day. We spent a lot of time inside because Will was home sick. But in the afternoon I decided it was too nice to stay in any longer. I'm glad we got out because it was perfect playing weather.
Owen loves the neighbor's goKart... and he's big enough to sit on it now!! Adrianna of course wanted in on the action, so we put her on too. I love the picture of him looking at her like 'I didn't realize you were back there!'

Samantha and I were able to go to clogging last night!! I missed 'my' class, but I was able to go into another room and learn a dance while Sam was in the beginner class. And another girl was there, with 2 little kids, trying to learn the same dance. She said 'join our group! It would be nice to have another MOM around and not just teens'. Hee hee. I just may join them.

There was a couple there who are missionaries to Bolgaria. Apparently they teach the kids clogging. They had a laptop with them of pics taken there and they were so sad. The kids were adorable- but the living conditions were just horrible. I think being a missionary would be neat, but I'd want to rescue all of those kids.

Makes me even happier to have the four I have!

Apple Picking/ Pumpkin Picking!

On Saturday we decided, spur of the moment, to go apple and pumpkin picking! It was a beautiful fall day and we had nothing else to do. So we bundled up the baby and headed out. We didn't decided where to go beforehand, so we ended up at Golden Harvest on route 9. We were excited!
We were a bit skeptical when we went to buy our bags. Bags were $10 a iece and they said 'no refunds'. When we asked why, they said they had had an ice storm back in June and some of the apples didn't look so nice. We decided to take our chances and get a bag of apples.
Well, they weren't kidding when they said they didn't look so nice! Look at the picture I posted of one. Most of the apples has dents and holes in them. We had to really dig underneath to get some nice apples.
Sadly, the older kids really were't into it too much. Oh, they picked some apples... but they were sad that they coudln't climb the trees. And they enjoyed chucking the apples on the ground at eachother. Sam spent a lot of the time taking her own pictures!
Owen loved it though! It was like a candy store to him. Unfortunately, he liked picking any apple he could find and biting it- including the fallen, rotten ones.
We filled our bag as much as we could. Really, I'm as thrifty as I can be, and it was very hard to pay $10 for one bag of apples. But it's the life experience that is worth it, right?
I remember picking apples when I was younger, and eating those yummy fresh apples. My mom always made apple pies. I can't make them, but I do make some killer apple muffins!! :)
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We also got pumpkins. Had to take the obligatory pictures of Owen with the pumpkins, but they didn't come out so well. The pumpkins were already pretty picked over.

That evening, we played a game of Risk as a family. No one 'won' because we didn't have time to finish. But Dad had N. American, Mom had Africa, and Will had Australia by then.

Hudson Hat!!!

October 16, 2009
Happy 12th birthday to my nephew Colin!!!!

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day. I thought it was a little chilly, but the kids did not. In fact, Will went to school wearing pants but came home wearing his gym shorts because he was 'too hot'.
It was a great mail day! Owen's new HUDSON HAT came!! My DDC friend Michelle knitted the hat for him. It's a scrappy hat, and I love it!! I think he looks so adorable. Of course, he doesn't want to wear it, he'd rather pull it off.
I knew I just had to get some pictures of the kids on such a nice day, so off to the backyard we went for some camera time. The bigger kids were not too thrilled, but they were able to be bribed :) Ha ha. I love the pictures I got, even though I only got about 6 in total. As soon as the kids hear the click, they jump up ready to be done. Very aggravating!!! And of course it's hard to get 4 kids to look and smile at the same time.
I'll have to look back at when I took similar pictures last year. I remember Owen was in his little pumpkin hat!!! And about a month old. Awwwww.....

Teddy-wearing!!!

Yesterday Owen was practicing the art of Babywearing!! I won this child-size mai tei on line, and Owen took it out, so I put it on him with a teddy bear. It was very cute. Owen didn't really know what to make of the bear on his back. We liked it though because the bear has a jingle bell in it, so we always knew where Owen was! of course, if there's any question, he's usually in the bathroom brushing his teeth.
Yesterday was all Braelyn's fall run at school, and since neither Amy nor Jay could go, I did. I took this adorable picture of her there. And even though she tripped over someone's shoe and fell down, she made up for it and came in somewhere in the front of the pack!!

Board Breaking!!!!!

Tonight was Tae Kwon Do. Board Breaking night!! $23 later, the boys had some fun. Will first broke 3 thick boards at once. :) His hand went right through them!!! He then tried to break 4 thick boards but he lost his balancce and only got 1 before he fell. On his second attempt, he broke the other 3.
Colby also did 3 at first, it took him 2 attempts but he broke them!! And then another single board, because if I get Will more boards, I have to get Colby more boards.

That's our news for tonight.

October 13

October is definitely here in NY. Yesterday we woke up and it was freezing cold! (well, about 40) I gave in and turned the heat on... only to have Art tell me later that the furnace was turned off!! Oh well. I drank lots of hot cocoa yesterday.
I heard a little rumor that snow is on its way here soon... not sure how I feel about that!
Yesterday was Columbus Day...no school. The kids had a good day. There were a few extra kids here, so Colby had some kids to play with. Sam and Will slept a lot of the day because they went to bowling alley's Lock In from 11 pm on Sunday till 7 am on Monday, and neither of them slept while they were there. Also yesterday, Will went on a 3-mile hike with his boyscout troop. He was definitely tired by last night!
I took a picture of Colby yesterday...outside wearing shorts, a teeshirt, a hat and gloves. He just doesn't like pants!
Owen loves to be outside, so I've been trying to get him out more and more. He loves balls and sticks and anything he can touch. Mostly he likes to eat rocks though so we really need to keep an eye on him.

I have been lucky lately. I won a new diaper here and I won something off of Hyena Cart... but it's going to be a gift so I can't link it here. I love these raffles/auctions/giveaways!

Art is almost done working nights... we are all happy about that one!!!

Happy Oct 13.

October 10

Today is Saturday! The weather is gorgeous. I think it's in the 50s outside and there is a slight breeze. But it's just so pretty. The leaves are changing color and falling from the trees and it makes for lots of fun- and lots of great pictures for me!
Today Art is putting carpets in the rental house... not much left to do after that, except get it rented.
Samantha is at Goold's Apple Festival with Grammy, watching the cloggers dance. I'm assuming this is my last of boycotting the festival, as I'm sure Sam and I will be clogging there next year! Sam is excited to go and watch and "do it on the side'. She is really really great at clogging. She picks it up quickly and easily and acts like she's always known what to do.
And then tonight she is going to a slumber party.
The boys had league bowling this morning and both did great. Will's average is up to 102 and Colby's is up to 79. Will scored over his average on all 3 games today. Colby did well, but he didn't get over his average.
They love bowling and I'm really glad we discovered it!! Tae kwon do and bowling are the only sports the boys are playing and it's very nice. No weekend games!!!
Last night I was supposed to go scrapbooking but it was cancelled, so I stayed home and Art made his 'famous' pizza. The kids love it so much and were very happy to hear it was on the menu! Grandpa Bill came over and enjoyed dinner with us too.
And then Art and I and the kids watched 'Imagine That' with Eddie Murphy.
Today's big jobs: laundry and cleaning out the refrigerator!!

*pictures:
Owen climbing up the basement stairs, Will and Owen with the newspaper hats Will made, Sam and Shea, Owen crying while eating.... is that all?

Happy birthday Owen!!!

Happy birthday, Owen!! How did you get to be a year old? How did the year fly by so fast? I can remember so well the day you were born. It's like it was yesterday. And yet here we are, a whole year later. You are no longer the tiny little baby we brought home from the hospital. You are now a running, climbing, happy little maniac!! You have brough so much love and happiness and joy to our family. I could not imagine not having you around. We all love you so much. Happy first birthday, Goosey!

It's been a long time since I've updated, I apologize. Grandma Lorna was up for a week-long visit from Myrtla Beach last week. She helped us get ready for Owen's little birthday party. I also participated in a consignment sale and it took me a while to tag all of my 200 or so items! I made $170 so I'm happy. I donated the leftovers and that's cool with me, too, now I don't have to worry about what to do with it.

Art is back to working his evening shift, so it's hard on all of us. Once again, it seems like he is never around. It really bothers the kids but hopefully it will only be for another week or so.

School is going well. Or as well as can be expected. Colby surprisingly is doing his homework and not fighting us (usually). Will also. It's almost like they're excited to do it. Weird.
Will is playing the trombone and he loves it. It's neat to hear him play. He's learned a lot in just a few weeks. Amazing.

Fall has come. The weather is gorgeous lately.

It's late and I'm tired. Will try and update more soon. Enjoys the pictures.