Our Leaf Pile

This week was exhausting! I photographed two newborns and a 6 month old girl. Monday and Tuesday. I worked hard to get all the photos processed and burned to CDs before Friday. My mini session start in a week and I don't want a huge overage before that. This coming week I have 3 more newborns. The week after another 3 newborns. I did not book anything for November for December besides the rest of my mini sessions. I have a feeling the break will be much needed.

We learned Saturday evening that Amelia's friend, Avery broke her leg (Tibia and Fibula) after crashing her scooter. She spent a couple days in the hospital trying to manage her pain and waiting to cast her leg. Poor kid. We heard that Avery said a prayer soon after her accident, the first person who stopped was the orthopedic surgeon's assistant here in Sidney. He insisted that Avery ride the ambulance, had it been up to Gina she would have helped Avery hobble home. It was a really bad break. Avery is now rolling along with a sweet set of wheels until she can manage her heavy cast. Amelia made Avery a cute card, collected her favorite books, and lent her our new Cinderella movie. We made a quick stop to visit Avery Monday after school. I think the 5 kids overwhelmed (me) and amused the hospital staff. We saw Nora in the hall, got to give her a quick hug! Everett learned how to play "Who has the button" so we all played that for FHE. The level of cheating was astounding. He he he.

We spent everyday after school at a different park enjoying the amazing autumn weather. The bursts of color around here are delightful. Poor Evelyn Hornbarger was on her toes trying to catch up with us as we explored. Kaylee enjoyed the changes in scenery. All the kids enjoyed being outside. Evelyn and Everett absolutely love the swings. I usually spend a good 20-30 minutes pushing those two!

Amelia was involved with spirit week at school. We always get a little crazy with hair day. She went all out with a crazy amount of clips in her hair and some crimping. Wednesday her grade was involved in a fitness day at the community center. She reported that the best part was making smoothies powered with a rider on a bike. Bike smoothies! Yum. Amelia also has a chance to try out for a solo singing American Tears for the Veteran's program in November. I emailed out photos to her teacher of all our family soldiers this week. Amelia is very excited to show off our 5 Veteran's. We have more than 5 but had issues finding photos.

Wednesday Everett had a short parent/teacher conference. Justin was unable to attend due to last minute meetings. He is doing very well, no issues there! The teachers are quite impressed with his scissor talents. All those mounds of paper he scissored over the years created a coordinated boy. I don't miss the piles of paper. He knows all of his ABCs, is learning to write his name, and can count to 20. Thanks to Team Umizoomi he also knows all his situational words. The teachers said he is a very loving and obedient boy. We sure love him too. Everett was impressed I came in to see him play at school. He requested we get some lunch at Safeway to celebrate. Funny kid. I love how he substitute close words for ones he can't remember. Reminds me of a certain other little girl (me). I had some issues finding the right words to use! We always laughed over the Tableknacker choir.

Friday evening Justin used the leaf blower to gather a smallish pile of leaves. Everett was so excited he got in Justin's way. He ran into the house and declared with tears in his eyes that he was not smart enough to get out of Justin's way. He turned around once he saw the pile of leaves to jump in! My heart melted as Amelia helped Evelyn jump into the leaves. We stayed outside until the sunlight melted away.

Evelyn learned how to make a pig noise. She greets me in the morning with a pig snort. It's a great way to start the day with a laugh. Dog Vader ran into his kennel one evening carrying a lost monkey binky he found. He has adopted the toy as his own. The kids think it is great fun to watch Vader defend his new toy. I think it is hilarious that he adopted a monkey binky of all things. He now sleeps with the dang toy. Amelia made us laugh with her addition to a Darth Vader poster Phillip scored in a yogurt box. She added, "He means you crave...bacon." Crack us up.

Saturday we drove to Cheyenne for some shopping. I spent a good 90 minutes in Once Upon a Child shopping for winter clothes and shoes. Mostly I got enough baby clothes for the new baby, hope it lasts a couple months. I will have to go back when they put out summer clothes for more items. I found some pants for the boys, some PJs, and a couple outfits for the girls. We spent an hour at Chik-Fil-A playing and eating lunch. I snagged a couple minutes in Kohls to get maternity shirts and other items that distracted my attention. We spent a fun hour at the Kid's Discovery Garden playing in the cold water. Evelyn drank the water...a lot of water. No wonder she has diarrhea today. Justin fit in a motorcycle ride before it got too dark.

I also found out a dear friend passed away this week. She was at home with her 3 year old twin girls when a blood clot stopped her heart. She was only 29 years old. The girls were not found with their mother for about 28-36 hours after she passed away. Moments like that just remind us of how fragile life is. Makes us stop and remember our blessings. I could not help but think of the time the girls were alone with their mom, I am sure Tabitha was there with the girls caring for them as best she could. I am sure it was a very spiritual experience for those girls. When the girls were finally discovered they showed no harm, dehydration, lack of nourishment, or emotional distress. One child had a diaper rash because she could not get her pull up off. My heart is with her family as they say goodbye this week.