They All Call Me Mom

the one where I play catch-up

It’s about TIME I come back to this blog!
Seriously, do I have any followers left?  I don’t blame anyone from thinking I’ve just run away…
In a way, I sort of did.
From the blog, that is.  Not from home.
But I have good reason.  Which we will get to later.
(the video at the end can explain it)
For now, let’s have a little update, shall we?
Where did I leave off?  October?!!!  Seriously?  Well okay…here goes:
OCTOBER
 
My sweet little Alex (who’s no longer so little and not always so sweet) became a teenager in October.  
I still can’t believe it.  THIRTEEN!  A teenager!  What?  No way.

Is it just me, or is this kid as handsome as all heck?  Stop-traffic-and-stare handsome, right?  Yeah, he is.  Don’t even try to disagree with me.

This is a birthday Alex had been looking forward to for quite a long time, and it had nothing to do with turning 13, but all to do with the VERY COOL DATE that this day fell upon:
10-11-12
Alex thought it was very cool that he was turning 13 on 10-11-12 because that makes it 10-11-12-13 for him.  I guess that IS pretty darn cool, if you think about it.  I mean, what’s the likelihood of that ever happening with your age?  To fall in perfect order like that with the date?  No, it just doesn’t happen for the Average Joe, does it?  But it does happen for the not-so-average kid like my Alex.     
So I made this cool sign for him to wear all day at school on this very cool birthday of his.

And to top it off, he had balloons to carry around all day, too.  And you bet everyone “asked him” what 10-11-12-13 means.  All. Day. Long.  Yeah, he had a good time with that … for maybe the first ten minutes.  Then it got OLD very fast.  But he kept the sign on all day, just like I told him to.  I wasn’t worried about him looking ridiculous because he’s a cool kid and I knew he could pull it off.

Happy 13th Alex!
 
 
I took these three to the pumpkin patch in October.  Why only these three?  Well, there’s two reasons for this.  
1) All the other kids are in school during the time I can take them, and 
2) All the other kids find the pumpkin patch boring.  Can you imagine that?  The pumpkin patch…boring?  No way!!

 
But, this is only to be expecting as they grow up.  
I suppose my 9, 11, and 13 year old would find these rides a bit…. well, less then thrilling.
 

 
And I suppose my 17, 19 and 21 year old would look a bit silly posing on the haystack horses.

                                                                                                     So that only leaves the youngest three for my Pumpkin Patch ventures.  Ah well.
 
 

We had a few hot days in October.  Perfect beach days.

Andrew was always climbing and jumping off the rocks.

my sweet six year old
 
Aria enjoyed finding the sea life that hid in the tide pools.
 
This fall our 9 year old was a soccer star …

AND a baseball star.

Playing on two teams in two different sports made for a very busy fall season for A.J.  (and mom & dad!)   Both seasons are over now and for the next two months we have a break.  Yay! With two practices per sport per week, plus games for each sport on the weekends, it’s an understatement to say that we are all enjoying this much needed break from A.J.’s sports commitments.  Time for him to do his homework after school, and then just playing outside with the neighborhood kids and his siblings.  And time for me to catch up on laundry, among other stuff.
HALLOWEEN!!
Now we are at the end of October.  And we loooove Halloween!  And carving pumpkins!

 And getting our hands all yucky with pumpkin guts!

 Waaaay too much candy, as usual.
 

In addition to A.J. playing soccer in the fall, Alex played soccer, too.

 
and Andrew

and Aislynn

NOVEMBER
Andrew is a Pilgrim during his Kindergarten feast.
A Pilgrim wearing a Monster Energy Drink t-shirt.
 Love this shot of Andrew with his Kindergarten friends!
 
And here is how we spent our Thanksgiving Day …. with Rich’s side of the family.
 Can you count all the kids?  Only half are ours, I swear!
SEDONA, ARIZONA
At the end of November we took a trip to Sedona.  It’s so pretty there!  All I wanted to do was take a hike with the kids.  That was my goal: to go on a long hike in Sedona with the kids.  And that’s just what we did.  

We hiked all the way to Bell Rock.  It took us nearly two hours to get there, and then another two hours to walk back.  The kids all did great, hardly any complaining at all.  Well, maybe just a little bit of whining on the walk back!

 We saw a lot of cactus along the trail.
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AISLYNN
Aislynn celebrated her 8th birthday at the end of November.  She wanted her party at our local candy store.  It’s a cute little shop, kind of old fashioned.  What I loved is that I did NOTHING to prepare for this party.  We just showed up and the staff took care of everything!  Now, that’s MY kind of birthday party.
 All the girls got a glitter tattoo to start things off.
Then they got busy making all the candy projects!
 
 Happy Birthday to my 8 year old!
 
 
DECEMBER
 
Not too many photos for December yet.   But here are a couple of the decorations we have up in our house.
love this little guy!
And now that I’ve caught you all up, here is a little video for you to enjoy.  Merry Christmas!

 

 

Comments

  2. I’m crazy-impressed you kept that a secret from your kids! Their reactions were the sweetest (although Afton’s made me laugh out loud). YAY for babies! Congrats!

    Reply

  5. That was just the cutest video ever!!! I am so happy for you and your family and you will be in my thoughts for a safe arrival of this little baby. I have an aunt that is 48 years old who has never been able to get pregnant (despite IVF) and she is going to have a little girl in May as well..however this is their first baby!! So anytime I think of them I’ll be thinking of you too!

    Reply

  7. Congratulations and so happy to see you back posting again. I truly enjoy all of your beautiful pictures of your family. Have a wonderful Christmas and keep posting when you have time of course.
    God Bless you all.

    Reply

  8. I am so happy for you! And it’s awesome that you were able to keep it a secret from your kids for so long. I’ve had 9 and my belly always looks like I’m 4 months pregnant. :-) Good luck, and what a lucky baby to be joining such an amazing family. You’re a great mom.

    Reply

  9. My iPad won’t play the video but from the comments I can see you announced the news (I had read your comment on another blog awhile back). So so happy for you! 😉

    Reply

  17. Congratulations! What exciting news! May God bless you throughout your pregnancy :)
    Wishing you all health and happiness in 2013 :)
    Love from the UK x

    Reply

  18. Ohhhh, Congratulations!!!!! You’re video made my evening. I’m so thrilled for you and your family. What a lucky baby this is to be coming into such a loving home.

    Reply

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