getting ready

We spent much of yesterday getting ready for today. The kids are not trick-or-treating or going to any harvest festivals. We've done that in the past a few times and enjoyed the fun family time, but around here things just are not very family friendly. In our neighborhood many of the houses are decorated with VERY scary things (there are a few that we've seen that are really bad even in day light), last year we found that the costumes got pretty bad too. The kids are very excited about our plans for this year, and have had a good time helping me get it all together.

*it looks like we've already been having too many sweets though, we're loosing teeth!

The big fun yesterday was putting together goodie bags to pass out. We decided that we would pass out bags full of candy, with tracts in them. It was fun to see how excited the older kids

were about the tracts and that they knew this was the most important part of the goodie bag. I had planned to have the older kids do this project during nap time, but we had other things to do then. Mr. M had gone to shooting practice with Rob, leaving me just four kids to do this project, two of which I thought would be no help. I was wrong! Mr. S and Miss J were great

helpers! Miss J was so enthusiastic about putting the candy in bags that at one point we had to distract her by letting her eat candy so we could finish the job (she was fine with the concept of one candy per bag, but when we switched candy types and went to three per bag she just could not follow).

Next came decorating some pumpkin shaped cookies. This was fun, and I was able to get a big job done at the same time. The big kids took turns decorating and moving oatmeal from the huge bag to smaller bags for storage in buckets. Once again we had to

distract Miss J from "helping". She is often very good at helping with jobs, but this time she was getting more oatmeal on the floor than in the bags, however she was quite happy to decorate cookies once she saw that was an option!

Rob and I made some chocolate popcorn balls that the kids had found the recipe for and asked me to make. I don't think they are very good, but I'm thinking the kids will enjoy them.

We're also getting ready for Miss C! At this point she could come at any time! One of the hardest things for us in getting ready for a new baby is figuring out who will watch the other kids. We always try to find someone close by, that we know really well. This is easier said than done, we know plenty of people that are willing to help with the kids, but most of them live 20-30 minutes away, they are our back ups though! We are so blessed to be stationed again with a family we went to church with in Florida! They live right down the street and are more than happy to watch our kids when Miss C comes! Miss E will be coming to the hospital with us this time. She had asked to come when Miss J was born, but we were not ready for that. This time we think she is ready and this has really provided some nice times for the two of us to talk and for me to enjoy my "little girl" as she is growing up! However I was a bit nervous about having to wear my "mom hat" during labor, but a dear friend is coming along to be Miss E's buddy so I don't have to worry about that anymore. We had not planned to have anyone else come to be with Miss E (I'm not big on having others there, the less people the better. I mean, last time the doctor was barely in the room for the birth! LOL!), but this friend happened to mention in conversation how she had always wanted to be at a birth (besides her own kids), she is one of the few people I think I'd feel comfortable having there. So, I shocked her by asking her to come to Miss C's birth, she is so excited! Miss E is excited to have here there with her too. So, everyone is now waiting for the phone calls to get moving. We can't wait!

distractions

After reading my blog post about the daily bins we rotate a friend at church offered to loan their collection of lincoln logs to us for a few months! I decided to make them our Wednesday bin since the kids have not been as engaged in the wedgits lately. They had a GREAT time playing with them today! They will be a welcome distraction in the next few weeks/months while we are able to have them. This collection is much bigger than the one we have and the kids spread them all over the living room making up some wonderful buildings and other fun things! Small distractions like this are exactly what we need right now. Not big enough to tire me out and it really just blends in with our normal day, but it is special and captures the kids' attention. They also thought it was cool that their friends were sharing with them! This picture was taken just as they were getting into them, so there are not too many things built in the picture. Miss E joined them shortly after the picture was taken, and Miss J was on her way down for a nap.

adjustments

I made some adjustments to my diaper bag that I had made this summer. I could tell right away that something was just not quite right with the bag, but I needed to think about it and then figure out what to do about it. I knew it was something with the straps. They were too long AND too far apart. I took them off a couple weeks ago and just now got to cutting them down and putting them back on differently. The bag feels (and looks) so much better now! I'm much happier with it.

We're making other adjustments around here too. About this time in pregnancy I always "hit the wall". I'm just done and it takes everything I have to just keep the basics going around here (with five kids, basics can be quite a bit of work!). We could tell I was getting to that point a week or so ago and started making the needed adjustments. This week we are pushing through what I had scheduled for school, but I'm doing very little cooking and we're not doing much extra stuff. I do have a couple fun things planned for Friday and Saturday, but the kids will be doing most of the work (and they are so excited!). After that we are cutting way back! I don't have any school stuff scheduled, instead I have plenty of Thanksgiving/pilgrim books, worksheets, and activities in place for either myself, Rob, or my mom to do with the kids in the coming month. This will keep the kids doing school, but allow for the days we know are coming (but can't be scheduled) that we will not be doing school.

Trick boy

About a year ago Mr. S discovered that he has a "trick thumb" (it is double jointed). Encouraged by his siblings he began showing anyone and everyone that would look. Friends, family, people at church, doctors, nurses, commissary workers, total strangers.... Everyone has seen his trick thumb! Its cute in a very Mr. S sort of way.

This week he found a new trick at dinner one night. He had a piece of cheese stuck to his nose and Rob suggested he lick in off, he tried. He could not quite make it, but he could reach his nose with his tongue! Rob exclaimed "you have a trick tongue!" Oh my, I could just see it! Now everywhere we would go he would be showing this off too! We quickly pointed out to him that this was not okay to do anywhere but at home and NOT at the dinner table unless asked to do so by mommy or daddy. He has been great about it, but is quite happy to show off when asked!

belly pictures

With every pregnancy but Miss E's I've gone and had "belly pictures" done. This accidentally turned into a tradition, and its a fun one! I wear black and all the kids wear white (usually nightgowns/silps and boxer shorts/undershirts). We all have a great time with this and it signals to the kids that we are at the end of the pregnancy, they always look forward to this. We have a fun time with the poses, they are always a fun time for all of us to get a bit creative and I think my kids' favorite part is when I'm posing on the floor and they get to figure out how/where to pile on mommy!

This time the photographer took a close up of my belly with the kids' hands on it. I knew it would be sweet, but it was not what I was wanting (I wanted to SEE my kids in the pictures!). However she did a great job of captioning it with "blessings" in larger print and then in small print under it "every good and perfect gift is from above... James 1:17" I thought that was so sweet and had her show Rob (he came along with us to help out since the kids were also doing individual pictures, so we had a few outfit changes happening). He liked it too and wanted to get it to hang in the house, it looks great in the frame!

In an effort to cut down on the chaos when we go back in a few months for family pictures and sibling pictures (you know, after Miss C arrives and has had some time to fill out and get cute!). I had all of the kids do their individual pictures this time too. Aside from wanting to be able to look back and see how they've grown physically I want their pictures to show their personalities too. So, I usually let the kids pick out their own outfits for these pictures (I have veto power though!). They all knew exactly what they wanted to wear, and I was not at all surprised by their choices. Miss E's favorite outfit right now is the apple one, and Mr. R loves to wear orange so I expected these choices. Mr. M and Mr. S chose exactly what I thought they would, but had hoped they would not! Mr. M talked Nana into these outfits on a shopping trip and has been so excited about his and was thrilled that is was coming into the rotation this fall! Rob and I decided that since these outfits fit them so well (personality/age wise) that we would go ahead and let them wear them. Miss E had picked out Miss J's matching apple outfit for her, but when we were there doing the belly pictures Miss J just could not get enough of this little set of stairs. She looked so sweet all in white on the white stairs, so we decided we would go with that instead.

car seat

One of the last things we NEEDED to do to get ready for Miss C was to get the infant car seat out, wash the cover, and put it in the car. Miss J was very excited to see it and until it made it out to the car she spent quite a bit of time in it, saying "baby". (it took about three days to get the cover washed, dried and then put back on correctly) Once we had her get her baby doll out to help size the straps she seemed to understand a bit better that it was NOT for her and she enjoyed talking to the baby in the seat and taking care of it. So, at this point we are really quite ready for Miss C, I still have a list of things I'd like to do. Those things are just "fluff" though, now I'm trying to just slow down and enjoy these last weeks.

Taste of Home "cooking school"

Miss E and I had the opportunity to go to a Taste of Home "cooking school" event last night. One of the ladies at church organized the evening out, and Miss E was so excited when she heard about it weeks ago. As much as I wanted to go I just was not sure I would be up to it (by the end of the day I'm not good for much these days!), and so we never made plans to go. However, a friend was not able to use her tickets at the last minute so I was able to buy both of hers so I could take Miss E! Rob and I decided it was worth the effort since she was so excited about it, and to give us some special time together and with some wonderful ladies from church! I'm so glad we went!We had a great time!

Our group got there over an hour early and were able to get the first and second rows on one side. With being there so early we had plenty of time for fellowship, and I enjoyed the extra time walking around with Miss E too. She was the youngest one there, but a couple of the teens she knows from church were there too, she thought it was great to be able to sit with them.

Miss E seemed quite absorbed in the "show" and I'm sure she picked up plenty of tips and new ideas while watching. It was great to see how excited she was about the whole thing. It lasted 2 1/2 hours and we were there over an hour early, that is a long time for a kid, but she did great! Not once did I hear that she was bored!

The highlight for her was at the end of she show when they were giving out the last of the door prizes. She won one of the dishes that was prepared that night! She was so excited and beaming

from ear to ear. I don't think she even cared what it was that she had won,

but one of the first comments she made was "I'm going to share with Daddy!". Sure enough when we got home the first thing she

did was to give him her winnings! (She won a tray of open faced sandwiches, the serving tray was part of the prize too, it is very nice!) One of her friends also won a gift basket, in

fact much of our group took prizes home. There were 14 of us, and I think we came home with 7 (or more) prizes!