Busy Days

Hi friends and family!  It's been almost 2 weeks since the last post and I usually don't like going that long in between.  We haven't really been more busy, but I just don't seem to have the time to get down to the basement to our computer to bliggidy blog.  It's obviously a low item for me on the totem pole of motherhood, so I squeeze in things as I get here.

 

We have a brand new playground right near us that we've visted 3x in the last week.  It's a fully-accessible park for all children including those with learning, developmental, and physical handicaps.  I haven't been to Zachary's Playground in Lake St. Louis, but a few people have said this one is even BETTER!  So ya'll on the west side of the county need to come hang out here with us!  We visted last Thursday, Saturday (had to bring Daddy!), and again yesterday for a picnic lunch with Joey's pre-school friends, as it's right across the street.  Hooray!

 

Last week I declared fall break from school.  We've been working hard since the middle of August without much time off.  I wanted to take 2 or 3 days off anyway, so we just started Monday instead.  On Friday we headed about 1.5 hrs east to the dairy farm owned by some of Andrew's extended cousins. Our friends who live nearby got to join us too!  We saw some of the cows being milked and got to feed the calves with big bottles too.  Joey was very intimidated and wanted no part of most of it all. 

Sunday night we spent time with our church family at a roller skating party.  Ben was very interested in skating and kept on getting back up after every fall on his tush!  And I learned that he is such an encourager.  He was very rusty his first several times around the rink, and even with the little support bars on wheels he was using, he was tripping all over the place.  But even in the midst of his own falling down, he'd be looking over his shoulder calling out to his friend, "You're doing a good job Michael!" I've been so pleased lately with his confidence in either trying new things or persevering through things that aren't coming easily. 

 

Joey melted my heart last night at community group.  Our wonderful hosts/leaders, John and Sarah, have a great set-up in their basement for kids when we go over for our weekly meeting.  And they always leave a few packs of fruit snacks for them!  Joey instantly said he wanted to bring some to me, so he came all the way back up to bring me a pack of them.  He's not been one to think of others like this (not because of selfishness, but probably just because of his age), so this is a new and wonderful development of his spirit.

 

And Hannah now is approaching 8 months a week from today.  She cut her first tooth on Monday and celebrated by sleeping a ton!  That day she woke up at 8 am (which is sleeping in about an hour or more) and then napped from about 9:15-11:45!  It doesn't seem to be bothering her too much other than finger-gnawing and drooling.  I can handle that!  She's so roly-poly around the floor now that she doesn't like sitting very long in her jumperoo or the high chair anymore.  We had to do some school on Tuesday in the living room because she had to play and sitting in the high chair was not cutting it any more.

Thanks for stopping by... hope you're enjoying your fall days as much as we are!