Happy Birthday Rachel and Aidan's 9 month checkup!

This past Saturday we celebrated Rachel's 3rd birthday and it always reminds me how we have such wonderful family and friends! Rachel of course had a mini birthday celebration the day before at the sitter's, so she was uber excited Saturday! I picked up Peggy on Friday, so she was around to help wrangle the kids so we could get the house up to par (I realize it is always a loosing battle with 2, but hey it was a special occasion). My parents came in from Elkhart and Paul and Lise came down from Hobart. It was also nice to have Cathy over (she is expecting her first and has been very ill). Also the Dorans and the Mortemores came, so it was nice all around! Rachel received many nice things that should keep her entertained for a while. Here are pictures of the day, as you can see, fun was had by all!

On Thursday, Aidan went for his 9 month check-up. The doctor said that he was doing really well (even though he is only in the 25Th percentile, but he is really active, so no worries). He was running a slight fever which could have been from teething or a virus (though my suspicions are that it was from teething), but everything looked perfect! So no more well-baby checks until January, though we will continue to see the nurse for vaccines due to our alternative shot schedule.

November is a hectic month in our house!!

Maybe I'm giving this update because I am feeling slightly anxious or maybe because I want to apologize in advance if I miss getting back with anyone this month....

Well, wow, November....Kevin is going to be traveling like crazy which leaves me to tend to the little ones by my lonesome. I worked extra late this past Monday, then was off yesterday and spent the day with the kids cleaning up and running a few errands. Today Kevin leaves for Minnesota (ay) and will not come home until Friday night. This weekend we are hoping to catch up with Kevin's sister, Jenny, as she will be in town. We also hope to get the Halloween decorations put away and back up into the attic and close down the last few things in the yard.

Next week, I will hopefully be going to LLL Monday (Ladies, I am so up for going out afterwards), then Kevin will go to Ohio for the day Thursday and I will take Aidan for his 9 month checkup. Friday I am going to take the day off and get things ready for Rachel's birthday, as well as, pick up Kevin's mom to come spend the week of Thanksgiving with us (she is such a God send). Friday, hopefully, we will be able to get tickets to see Twilight and may even possibly go to dinner (date nights are few and far between for us). Saturday, is Rachel's 3rd Birthday and we are going to have cake and ice cream that afternoon.

Thanksgiving week (as if that isn't already busy), Kevin is going to Pennsylvania for a couple days and it will just be Peggy, me and the kids (did I mention she was a God send?), then we're going to be cooking dinner (hmmm, I guess I need to see if the Mortemore's are coming over??) and hopefully finding a couple must have items on Black Friday....

Wow, with everything going on November seems like it will be going by faster than October....well wish us luck, hopefully all will survive...

Our wonderful Halloween!

We had a great time getting ready for Halloween this year. On Wednesday we carved pumpkins. Rachel did a GREAT job cleaning out her pumpkin and even helped Kevin clean out his when her pumpkin was all done. Aidan had some snacks and supervised...

Rachel decided the shape for her mouth, nose and eyes to make a "scary face" and Mom carved it out for her. This year I decided to do a face with Rachel and Kevin, being the wonderful hubby he is decided to make a "Twilight" pumpkin for me to enable my addiction (www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilightseries.html). I think they turned out wonderful!

Halloween Day: I got them all decked out in pumpkin garb and got a couple pictures before they left for daycare.

The kids had a costume party at Daycare, so Linda was already going to have Aidan in his costume and Rachel into the bulk of hers (like I was going to send fairy wings with a 3 year old to daycare), so when we got home, Rachel got a couple snacks, Aidan nursed and we waited for Kevin to get home from Dr. Julie's (www.aboutlifechiropractic.com/) so he could take them out for a little while and I could get the pizza in the oven. A friend of mine from work came over (She's our Halloween buddy) and she and I took Rachel back out after dark. Rachel hit the motherload as every house would let her grab handfuls or give her a handful themselves. She was good at saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you", even if at times it was only a whisper. Here are some pictures of the kids waiting for Kevin to get home.

Overall, the night was good and the kids made it to bed at a decent time. We had a few trick or treaters and Rachel seemed to enjoy herself! Mr. Blonde on the other hand was exhausted by the whole process....