October 1- ran 10 miles at 5:15am (started as cold, rainy, windy and dark...ended as just SUPER windy and dark) with K and M, sang to braden for gotcha day...all day long, smelled waffles, went to co op and taught a fun preschool class, saw goo and play doh that braden and kinsey made, hugged a giant bug (aka cailey with a bug craft hat), heard ephram say, "hi car car" to his bff carter, went to the mall for free cookie day and lunch with the klicks, played games all afternoon with my gotcha day boy and big girl, dropped b off at his sleepover at caden's, ate a quick dinner out with the others before sending cailey with brian to a women's carolina soccer game, shopped and played with the youngest two for the night, and got a call asking me if braden sleeps in the nude (which he does NOT:).
October 2- woke up early to get braden from his sleepover and go to his soccer game, LOVED the cooler weather, played on the playground with the kiddos and brian, had a 'flashback' seeing ephram in braden's old warm up suit, went to c's game, cleaned, baked, cooked, had the eshleman's over for dinner, heard ephram say, "here ya go ma ma" and "thank you" (tank to) about 20 times whenever he'd hand us things:), ate yummy food, laughed...a lot, played games, talked, laughed some more, and found two sleeping princesses in our bed.
October 3- church with the fam, met some new people in Sunday school, played in a homemade tent with the kiddos, had lots of neighbor boys playing LEGOS in the house, kids had choir and bible study, braden tried out cub scouts, hugged and played with my big 16 month old, and caught up on blogging.
October 4- had a great run with molly, got done with school quickly, met the klick's at the park for playtime and a picnic, had a veggie dinner (braden's fav food group), heard ephram say three new words ("slide, whee", "wipey" for wipe), took braden to a cub scout field trip to the library, watched the oldest and youngest see saw and swing together (at home) and talked with kinsey...about NOT biting the neighbors.
October 5- overslept my 6 mile run grr.....heard "turtle" and "open" from ephram all day (as he pulled a turtle toy behind him and opened doors, cabinets, etc.), played with e for two hours...uninterrupted, had great kinsey time, chatted with cailey, listened to braden read, enjoyed a great family dinner, and played outside.
October 6- LOVED the weather for my 6 mile run/chat time with beth...and finally can say i LOVE running again:), had an awesome school day, played outside in the gorgeous weather...for hours, watched the kiddos see saw with e and it was precious, saw the kids transform into giraffes, zebras, and elephants with tricia's help, ate dinner with the eshleman's and williams at cfa, had two girls win 'best' costume, and served at tnt and sparks.
October 7- had a tummy ache all day, got done with school quickly, listened to the kids enjoy the gorgeous day outside, heard, "here ya go, mama" and watched ephram clean all the tiny trash off the floor in every room (i think he's gonna be a cleaner like braden), read lots of books to the kiddos, spent hours switching the girls clothes out, read Genesis 1-3 with braden, spent 'girl time' with kinsey, and prepped for co op.
October 8- taught preschool in co op with janet, listened to the fun times all the kiddos had, went to the park with the williams and other new friends, the kids were 'photographed' for an outdoor playthings catalog, chatted with cailey, heard e say, "your welcome" after i said, "thank you", read more bible with braden, relaxed, got kiddos ready for soccer practice, and carbed up for our last 12 mile before the big race!
October 9- met with lots of girls for my 12 mile run...didn't go as planned b/c i woke up sick...only lasted 9, came home and crashed while brian did both soccer games, sweet neighbors watched the kids while i was in bed and brian went to a UNC game, went to bed.
October 10- had the worst night of my life last night..was up all night with a severe sore throat and sore body, took 3 baths starting at 3am, went to urgent care, found out i had strep and the flu, started meds, listened as brian played with the kids, stayed away from everyone, and rested.
October 11- better night but still up a lot, ate soup for breakfast, still in a lot of pain...feels like knives are in my throat, brian stayed home until naptime, slept, listened to kids playing, had a sweet friend (laura c) bring dinner for the fam, got neighbor to watch e while others played outside until daddy came home, sent boys to cub scouts, saw girls play babies for hours, and watched two movies.
October 12- been on antibiotics for 48 hours now and expected to not have such a sore throat by now, attempted school but it hurt too much to talk, started feeling super anxious about not being better, asked ephram where his shirt was and he said, "i don't know," was spit up on, changed a diaper that leaked, caught the soup just before it boiled over, caught up on months and months of blogging because i hadn't downloaded the red camera, listened to the kiddos play babies, heard ephram say, "poop" as he pooped, and prayed...a lot.
October 13- woke up feeling better than yesterday (still bad sore throat..but BETTER), did a little school, watched the kiddos picnic outside and play with the klick's, ate more popsicles and soup, listened to kinsey READ, heard e say, "down" "juice" "moon" and "i don't know" (when asked where his cup was), made a picnic dinner, missed my tnt girls, and had a sweet talk with each of my biggies.
October 14- did a little more school, heard ephram say, "nose" and "bounce", cleaned a very messy house, read the bible with the kiddos...a lot, watched them play with a box turtle we found after a big thunderstorm, packed, started getting excited for my weekend, and played LOTS with the kiddos.
October 15- left the house for the first time in a week after being sick, got picked up by Karen for the start of our girl weekend in Asheville, gave Karen a tour of our house (which used to be hers:), caught up on our lives...uninterrupted, met the rest of the girls (anne, even, adele, laura), listened to the kiddos talk about soccer practice and spending the day with daddy playing and eating at Golden Corral.
October 16- ran 3 with Laura, bought a bushel of pink lady apples at the farmers market, went hiking off the blue ridge parkway, picnicked, went to lake lure and chimney rock, bought a pottery bowl from a craft show, broke it an hour later:(, laughed...a TON, made LOTS of memories, laughed more, played games, ate too much junk, did a craft, stayed up too late, and laughed more. (the kiddos went to soccer games, played at baileywick park, played with daddy, ate pizza and chili, and did some school.)
October 17- said goodbye to Laura and Eve, hung out and talked with Anne, Karen, and Adele until 12:30, said farewell again, rode home with Karen, had great conversations, got BIG hugs from kiddos and Brian, felt super loved, sent the big kids to choir and bible study while ephram and i played with chalk and 'rides' outside, heard ephram say, "shirt" "hat" "knock knock" "wagon" "ride" and "chalk"
October 18- ran 5 with beth, had a great (quick) school day, played lots of games and read with Kinsey, had great one on one time with ephram (played farm, read, sang, etc.), got lots of hugs, napped briefly, had an awesome playdate at the Corbett's (minus the snake:), took braden to cub scouts, chatted with cailey, heard ephram say, "eek" "tissue" "circle" "eye" "outside" "socks" "shoes" "trash" "yucky" "down" "book" "bear" and praised God for healing!
October 19- had a great 5 mile run with Kelly, did school in record time and had fun, ran errands with the kiddos, listened to kinsey READ me Bob books...YAY!!, put ephram in his jumpy...and he loved it, read lots to Kinsey and Ephram, rested with Cailey, read a great description of Braden (that he wrote), stirred spaghetti sauce all day, noticed how ephram ALWAYS says thank you umprompted...consistently, heard e say, "hot" and watched the girls do the elliptical while singing:).
October 20- heard ephram say "popcorn" (which i made after he said it) "braden" (bay bay) "tissue", and "kinsey" (ki ki), started getting nervous about the race, did school, listened to many verses, had a PROUD moment as kinsey read more books today, taught kinsey and braden how to tie their shoes, brought Cailey's friend to AWANA, served in Sparks and TNT, prayed I didn't get sick from all the coughing kids, and planned a playdate.
October 21- ran my last 3 before the race, had a super school day, had cailey's friend, Natalie, here for a long playdate, ironed LOTS of fuze beads, did puzzles with ephram, played go fish opposites with kinsey, listened to kinsey read, had a great 'heart to heart' with braden about trust, played outside, gave out banana popsicles, made a collage with cailey, played a game with braden, realized i haven't taken many pictures of the kiddos this month, and looked up verses of praise.
October 22- went to co op, had the klicks over for a pizza lunch, had a blast watching addison for the afternoon, played outside, heard, "bottle" "elmo" and something else new from ephram that i didn't even know he knew, sang lots of songs, pulled kiddos in the wagon, packed, did chalk on the street, and sent the kids to their last soccer practice.
October 23- got up for the last 8:00 and 9:00 games of the season, drove to myrtle beach for my 1/2 marathon, shopped, had a 'peter pan' moment when i realized kinsey was chasing her shadow...and literally trying to catch it:), met up with the klicks, picked up the packet, watched the kiddos have an AWESOME time together, ate dinner together, had a giant slumber party, tried to drink enough, watched the kids set off fireworks and use sparklers, made brownie sundaes, and went to bed at 9:00.
October 24- race day...didn't go as planned, had great encouragers, ate lunch out with everyone (though wasn't hungry), hugged my babies...who were SO kind, went to the beach and watched the kiddos enjoy themselves, bought everyone candy bars (withOUT coupons:), drove home, sang songs, had great time with the fam in the car, sent the big kiddos off to choir, and heard cailey say, "you're not a loser mommy, you finished!" after hearing me talk to brian.
October 25- woke up SUPER sore all over, did school, enjoyed CHEESE (in the form of pizza) and ice CREAM after months of none of it, heard ephram say tons of words including, "juice" "door" "open" "down" "spoon" and animal sounds, rested a lot, had lots of fun listening to kinsey read, loved playing with ephram, had great talks with cailey, sang with braden...and got him to giggle so big for a pic, watched dress up, was encouraged by many friends, and sent them to a Halloween party for boy scouts (and siblings) where they won a cupcake!
October 26- felt better today, did more fall crafts with the kiddos, painted e's hand for the first time, did school, listened to piano lessons, listened to lots of rain...and thunder, played cookies and colored with ephram, played math games with kinsey, rocked my cailey girl, brainstormed crafts with braden, party planned with kinsey, got lots of hugs, sang silly songs, and prayed.
October 27- did school quickly, did TONS of fall crafts with kinsey, played games, sung motion songs with ephram, didn't like the strange stormy 85 degree weather, loved the sweet talks i had with cailey, listened to many bible verses, and went to AWANAS.
October 28- had a great school day, wore shorts AGAIN in this heat, listened to kinsey's plans for her party, watched the oldest two make dinner together from start to finish, went on the great blankie hunt, did door art and more fall crafts with all of them, played lots of games, went on a walk, got tons of hugs from ephram, cherished e's 'thank you' that comes automatically in his precious voice and the sound of 'mommy', and sent braden and brian off to a football game for boy scouts while the girls and e enjoyed a surprise dessert and more crafts.
October 29- sang 'Happy Birthday' to Kinsey all day long!, went to co op where they sang more, headed to the williams for a playdate where the big kids disappeared for adventures in the woods while the babies played inside and the mommies caught up, ran errands and went on a date with kinsey, baked a rainbow cake, and spent time getting ready for kinsey's party with my big helper, cailey, until after 9:00.
October 30- ran 5 miles with molly and kelly after brian ran his 12, had friends over for kinsey's 5th birthday party, helped them make rainbow colored everything including bracelets and necklaces, hung out with the williams and caught up for a little while, went to the pumpkin patch as a family, heard more words than I can remember to write down from ephram, watched the kiddos giggle, and had a FANTASTIC day!
October 31- hung out with the family, read Genesis with Braden, heard so many more new words from ephram, watched the girls dress up in costumes all day, listened to them play outside in the beautiful weather, went to a fall festival for Halloween at Bayleaf with the fam, LOVED watching the kiddos have such a great time and enjoy yummy free food, stopped by the eshleman's, trick or treated to a few houses then sent the three big kids with daddy for the rest, and listened to ephram cry then picked him up and rocked him (which made him stop immediately) until braden came home and went to sleep.
