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!

Birthday Bash

The triplets turned two last Sunday. We celebrated with family on Saturday. They enjoyed having "happy birthday" sung individually and blowing out the candles. Aunt Karen had been practicing with each of them!

Yesterday, Mary took a tumble down about six steps. I ended up taking her to the ER and she had a CAT scan. Luckily that was negative and she was diagnosed with a concussion. Her balance and coordination have returned, but one of her eyes is still a bit droopy.

Tonight mom and dad are coming over to celebrate my birthday - Shrimp and Grits. YUM!

Family Fun

John and I took the children to "Day in the Park" which was full of fun FREE activities on Saturday. We started off with a train ride, then went to the petting zoo, saw some Knights fighting, climbed in an ambulance and firetruck...the kids were doing so great we decided to have lunch. We were there for 3 hours and no one ever complained. When we were leaving Joseph wanted to know if we could come back tomorrow. :)

We had a first today - we took all the kids to church. Thankfully some of our friends were on nursery duty so I didn't feel as awful leaving three screaming toddlers. Hats off to you - Anne and Bunny! It was really nice to go as a family.

Full Tub

This morning, Joseph and I went to school to meet his teachers for this year. He was pouting when we left the house because he didn't want to go - but when it was time to leave the classroom - he didn't want to! We were the last one's to leave.

We had lunch outside on the driveway today. The weather is just beautiful. It resulted in some very dirty children so we went ahead and got bath time out of the way. It may be the last time I bath all four at the same time. Besides the fact that they fill the tub up - they just play too rough. Reed was trying to "hug" the girls but was really tackling them.

Happy Labor Day to all!