Oh, my it was COLD this morning!
We needed to get out of the house though. John had the van so we decided to take a walk to the post office. It was the first time Joseph rode his bike on a real walk. He actually listened to me and was very pleasant. The CSO project is working near the post office. This was some free entertainment for us! We parked the stroller and sat - for at least 10 minutes - and watched the "digger man" and the digger.

When we got home we all warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate - and we had burned an hour and half! woo-who!!

Lollipops get you clean...

well not exactly...but these special pops were SO big, we thought the bath tub was the best place to eat them. Cousin Tara is so good to us! As you can see, this was a fun activity for the Stones.

John and I have been fighting the stomach bug all week. Luckily, the kids avoided it. They all four started with colds this morning...hopefully it won't be too bad.

Joseph and I went to our first dog party tonight. It was a puppy warming shower for my friend Ann's new puppy, Paddock. He is a cute little guy who she adopted from the LHS. He and his sisters were dumped on the side of the road...all have been adopted! yeah!

Happy New Year

The new year is off to a pretty good start. Last night we moved Reed into Joseph's room. Now we have a boys room and a girls room. Joseph and Reed were both VERY excited about the move. Joseph gave Reed a big hug when I told him what was going to happen. Well, after two hours of talking, singing and reading to each other...John went in and had to threaten them to get them to be quiet and go to sleep :)
I feel very blessed to have four healthy children.

Lunch with Santa

On Sunday we decided to take the kids to have lunch with Santa. It was the first time we attempted to take all four out for a meal. Things went very well. Boonsboro Country Club did a great job of people management. They also put our table in the corner, so we were out of the way of most people.

Joseph asked Santa for a bike and a tea set. Madeline was frozen on his lap. The other two wouldn't sit on his lap, but eagerly took a piece of chocolate from him.

Four of the six of us have colds right now, so the week is off to a long start. Hopefully some vitamin C and good sleep will make us better!

Good bye, water and pie

Today we said good bye to our dear friend Jessie. We will miss him terribly. Our hearts go out to his wife and our friend Lee and their children. He had a beautiful send off filed with friends and fond memories. A rainy day embraced us at the graveside as we listened to his gun salute and the words from the American Legion. Hearing taps with that backdrop was just emotional, I am sure it moved everyone there.


On a lighter note, Joseph went upstairs to wash his face today...somehow broke a water pipe on the sink. I could hear running water...and found a bathroom floor soaked and of course...it came downstairs. So we decided to make Pumpkin Pies! Here are the kids with their spoons and aprons on. I didn't have all the ingredients so I had to make some substitutions --yikes! I think they will eat anything with whip cream on top, so I'm not to worried.

trick or treat

my favorite cowboy and his cows

Crisp Air

We have been enjoying as much out side time as possible the last few weeks. The kids love to look at leaves and we talk about their colors and sizes. This past weekend we painted pumpkins with our good friend Russ (pictured here with the kids). We had planned to go to a pumpkin patch, but the rain changed our plans.

Joseph's new thing is to play magician. Here he is dressed up as a magician. The triplets play along and do whatever he says. It is very amusing to watch. He plans to be a cowboy for Halloween and the triplets will be cows.

Happy Halloween!