A slight deviation in our day

Sunday afternoon, Kate had a little mishap that resulted in what we thought might be our 1st broken bone. She fell of he couch and caught herself with her left arm. There was quite the drama, likely a result of the sleep over with her cousins the night before. We decided to wait 24 hours to see if it "really" hurt. She woke up a few times last night complaining, which continued to this morning. She made it through her day at school and I picked her up a little early to get it check out and ensure that our expecatations of the evening were upheld. A short visit to the local children's hospital, which by the way we ABSOLUTELY LOVE and fully support, provided us with a few x-rays and a little TLC from the staff and we check out all fine! No broken bones; just a sprain, which will be treated with 2 days in a splint.

So happy it didn't hamper this evening's plans!

Happy Halloween

Well, our evening did not disappoint! The party was great and provided a ton of extended entertainment for Kate and Jake. Kate had the opportunity to trick-or-treat with our neighbors, Kassie (12) and Grace (10), which might just be the highlight of her year. She made it to about 25 additional houses this year and there were no tears :) Jake enjoyed his night as well. He ate his fair share of the pizza and munched on a sucker during the wagon ride. He made it until ~7 and then came home and crashed while Kate and I enjoyed another round.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos. Kate made for a great Wonder Woman and Dr. Mardis turned out to be pretty cute.

Hope you enjoy. Happy Halloween!

A visit with Miss Jessica

Jessica brought her wonderful photography skills to Louisville and happened to capture a few good shots of the kids during our Friday night outing earlier this month. She was in town for work and extended her stay to visit with those of us in Louisville. The kids and I headed over to April's after work and we enjoyed a short but sweet visit. Kate enjoyed the big girl time with Jessica and April and Jones and Jake enjoyed staring at each other, figuring out who was going to make the next move.

Thank you Jess for sending along these pictures. I look forward to our next visit.

Some more sisterly love

Kate continues to help out in any way possible. She even stepped in to help Jake with his nightly breathing treatment, which he seems to finally enjoy. His lungs are doing great as we continue the nightly steroid in hopes to keep the croup away this winter. I know one day they will fight like cats and dogs and I plan to use pictures like this one to remind them of their long-standing friendship. The 2nd picture of Jake was too cute not to post. His personality is starting to shine and I charish smiles like this one!

We've been "boo-ed"

Monday night we will get to enjoy the annual Fox Harbor Halloween Party. If you refer back to the blog one year ago, you will note that we are quite fond of this neighborhood celebration. I believe this party was reason #1021 of why we love living in our new house and don't mind a bit paying our $40 annual association fee. We are all anticipating the fun about to occur: tons of kids games, a mile of jam packed trick-or-treating, and a golf cart full of adult beverages! We have tried on our costumes and Kate looks super cute in her Wonder Woman costume; however, Jake was not so fond of looking like a horse. This resulted in switching to plan B - his new doctor's scrubs, courtsey of Miss Shirley. The doctor's kit we found at Kroger today should be a good addition to his costume.

I have been quite under the weather the past 9 days but hope to be back on my game by tomorrow night. Considering this is my favorite month, you can imagine how upset I have been that a little illness has consumed my past 2 weekends. Last weekend I was homebound after starting to feel achy and popping a 102 fever on Saturday. This lead to my 1st sick day in over 5 years as I could not generate enough energy to drive to Indiana on Sunday evening. Much less, I don't think my rep would have been too happy with the sharing of my germs. What we now know was the flu developed into bronchitis and then mild pneumonia, has resulted in 9 days of feeling ill and 5 sleepless nights. We had plans this weekend to tailgate, which were quickly adjusted after my visit to the doctor on Friday night. Instead, Ryan and Kate made the trip to Lexington as Jake and I took it easy, only leaving the house for the necessary trip to Target to get some tights and a turtleneck for Kate's costume. Otherwise, we played in the playroom for hours on end and caught up on some much needed rest, sleep, and even a movie or 2. Kate was thrilled with the day/night with her cousins, Jake loved on his mommy, and Ryan got in a little friend time. I guess you could say it was still a successful weekend. Here is to a much better week ahead.

A fun new tradition popped up on our door step several days ago. On a typical Wednesday evening, we were busy getting the kiddos ready for bed. Right a dusk, we had a surprise visitor, who dropped off a pumpkin full of candy! They were too quick in their escape that we only caught the tail lights of the get-away car. That weekend we had to navigate around the neighborhood in effort to find a house that had not been boo-ed. We luckily found 2 and left them these wonderfully packed pumpkins. Kate loved the "ring and run" aspect of the game, enjoying a thrilling drive down Fox Harbor Road in the front seat of daddy's car! The 2 made a great pair for an exciting neighborhood game. Have I said how much I love this time of year?

I love this time of year

I love this time of year - October is by far my favorite month of the year. The chilly mornings are so refreshing and energizing and the 60 degree, sunny weather is to die for in my book. The fall leaves make a good back drop to any picture and the pumpkins seem to keep a 19 month old occupied for longer than 10 seconds. October usually generates many family outings and this month was no different. We enjoyed the company of my side of the family on several adventures, including the Civil War Corn Maze in Nicholasville, KY (pictures below) and the Country Ham Festival in Cadiz, KY the weekend of the 15th (oops..forgot my camera).

The pictures below are from the Corn Maze. The first weekend in October, Ryan had the opportunity to get away for a guys outing to Hamilton Lake in northern IN. While he was away, I capitalized on the opportunity to spend some time with my mom, which is one of our favorite things to do. Extra help with the kids, a glass of wine on the back deck overlooking the lake...it doesn't get much better! Before heading back, we met all of our family at the pumpkin patch/corn maze for some quality fall fun. We even captured a picture of all of the grandbabies between my mom and Bob. Who knows when that will happen again.

The outing was short but fun. As you can tell below, Jake doesn't remember much of the car ride home!

Friendship

I know the picture is not of the best quality but it represents a wonderful new chapter in our lives. Ryan and I had one of those moments today where we realized we were in the same room while both kids were in another, and it had been at least 15 minutes without any interruptions or requests for playtime.

Kate and Jake are now friends. Of course they cannot fully relate to one another; but they enjoy chasing each other and playing with a few toys (balls, golf clubs, etc); they are able to entertain each other. I have often wondered what this day would feel like.

The photo also represents a new chapter in Kate's life...reading. She is doing a fantastic job learning 10+ new words a week and reading 8-12 page books by herself. This has allowed her the opportunity to read to Jake 1 or 2 nights a week. What a wonderful sight.

It is official...we are a house with kids

I never thought I would be one of the houses on the block with a 9 foot blow-up ghost in the front yard. Boy how kids change you. Now I actually even love it and love to see how all the other houses in the neighborhood are decorated. What is best is that the houses most decorated in our neighborhood don't even have kids at home anymore.

The witch's boot hanging on the front door is a little treasure I bought for myself at the art festival this year! I love it! Happy October :)

St. James Art Festival

Every year my mom and I have a special tradition of going to the St. James Art Festival in downtown Louisville the 1st weekend of October. It is one of my favorite days of the year. This was our 2nd year in a row enjoying the day with Kate in tow. 3 generations of clones (as Ryan and Bob would say), together for the day, eating delicious festival food, people watching, gathering ideas for decorating, and buying a handful of goodies. Did I mention the food is delicious? This year we enjoyed a corn dog, a candy corn covered caramel apple, and a crabcake sandwich. I promise we were there for several hours and walked at least a few miles. I added in an extra workout early that morning so I could enjoy the food to the fullest, which we most certainly did! Next year we decided we may even add in a glass of wine or two!

Thank you mom for making the trip to Louisville for our annual girls day out! I love you and am already looking forward to our outting next year!

This afternoon, Ryan and the kids and I went back down to try and absorb a little bit more of the atmosphere. And to boot...I got 50% of my Christmas shopping done! The sign that stated "82 days til' Christmas" motivated me to go ahead and make a few decisions regarding gifts for the family!

The day was one of the most beautiful days on record. Even though our camera is on the fritz, I captured a few good shots of the kids.

Happy 1st Birthday Jones

Our sweet buddy, Jones, had his 1st birthday party on Saturday afternoon. He was surrounded by his loving parents, many of his extended family, and of course, a bunch of friends. It took him a few minutes to get into the cake, but as you can tell below, he eventually took a few good bites. We enjoyed seeing our "lake friends" and especially loved the extra attention Jon's sister, Bailey, spent on Kate. Bailey is Kate's idol, and a good one at that! As you can see below, Jake enjoyed playing a little hoops.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy! We love you. Jake can't wait until you join him in the Big Birds Nest.

Jake's 1st haircut

How is it that a haircut can age a kid so much?

We finally decided to take the plunge and get Jake's 1st haircut. I was a little sad to see his golden curls fall to the floor but excited to see the new Jake. In a matter of minutes, he went from a baby to a little toddler. We left it a bit shaggy and he now looks cute beyond words.

He had the same reaction as Kate at first...a bit of screaming and lots and lots of tears. He loved the seat until Diane put the cape over him and then he knew we were up to something beyond just a toy car. In between each cry out, Elmo seemed to catch his attention and quite him down for 30 seconds or so.

Within 10 minutes, he was happy to be out of there. We tried to catch a few shots of the varying emotions!