Skippin' through life: October 2009

Big milestones

It's been a busy week at our house as you can see by the following posts - surprise visitors last weekend, additional kids in our care this week, and family fun. It's also been a good week in small ways -

- Miss McK is sleeping through the night!!!

- The Paci Princess visited Miss E Friday night. E gathered all her pacis into a bag to leave for her to pick up and take to all the babies that need them. The next morning, E found a note and big girl present (a Skipper Barbie doll). While she's been sad, it hasn't been as tough of a transition as it could have been. She didn't even ask for them tonight (night #3 without them).

- The above two things had to happen before I could consider moving McK out of our room. I'm going to give it probably one more week to make sure this isn't just a fluke, but I'm thinking next weekend we might make the transition. Oh, to have a room to ourselves again!

I finally took time (LOTS of time) to update the blog tonight so enjoy multiple posts and more pictures than you can probably stand. Don't forget you can enlarge them by simply double-clicking on the picture.

Now I think sleep is calling my name...

Block party

The kick off of costume party fun began today at our church's block party. The kids enjoyed getting in their costumes - a princess (thanks to our dress up box inherited from my niece) and a prince (or really a Kung Fu master of sorts borrowed from friends, but Big J insisted he was a prince!). Miss McK slept until time to go so I didn't worry about dressing her up today. There will be plenty of time for pictures on Saturday between a birthday party and fall festival. The kids loved the games, the pirate ship bounce house with slide, and face painting. Good times with good friends!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

The pumpkin patch - a fun tradition that we got to experience on my sister's birthday this year! Big J had the time of his life even after falling in some mud and getting stung by a bee right on his lip (see pics as evidence). He LOVED the bounce house and obstacle course/big slide. Miss E wasn't too fond of taking pictures after the first few, but finally came around on the hayride. We had perfect weather and it wasn't too crowded. What a wonderful day of memories.

Another baby is born!

Our dear friends welcomed their 3rd child into their family this past Wednesday. We had the joy of caring for their 2 big kids while they were in the hospital. The kids had a blast - their eldest is a boy 14 months older than Big J, and their middle child is a girl only 5 weeks older than Miss E. Obviously they all get along great. (The girls were especially proud of their matching Big Sister shirts - and Big J didn't want to be left out of having his picture taken!) I had the joy of watching their son while his sister was born almost 3 years ago - and have a picture of the boys watching TV from that day similar to the one below. It's been so fun to be pregnant with Kristina twice now - this time we varied as they had another son and we have another girl. What a blessing to have friends to walk through life with - even if they are LSU grads! Welcome to the world, CMA!!!

A surprise visit from AL

A little over a week ago my husband told me he had a social networking thing for Farmers. When he got home, he brought a very special package all the way from AL!!! He totally lied to me and pulled off a wonderful surprise visit from my best friend, Jodi, and her youngest daughter, Abbi. What a joy to have her here in the flesh, introduce her to Miss McK, gather with the gaggle, worship together, and shop of course! It was a wonderful weekend for my soul... what a blessing to have friendships that span time and distance. As I looked at Jodi sitting on the other end of the sofa that Friday night, I realized it just seemed like yesterday that we were together - not 10 1/2 months!!! It was so fun to watch our kids reconnect and watch Abbi be so enthralled with Miss McK.

My only regret of the weekend - we didn't take a picture of just the two of us.

Abbi wanted to hold McK all the time!