Our Beautiful Three: October 2015

I had the bright idea to do monthly posts because I thought that would be easier to keep up with, but the truth is that doing monthly posts, means I only have to think about posting once a month and that leads to me forgetting about it all together!

I kept up on this blog so well when Mac was little, and I'm grateful to have those memories, documented, so here I am again trying to fill in the gaps for all three of these kiddos!

October, was a really fun month. I think I speak for us both when I say that October is our favorite month. We sure enjoy the holiday season, but the kick off to Fall and all of the pumpkin fun is totally our thing!

The start of October is still slightly warm in our parts, so you can see that we were still enjoying time outside with the kids. I recently started teaching Mac some soccer fundamentals (not that I have any experience in it). It was a fun way for us both to get some physical activity in and have some quality time together.

I pieced together a pumpkin patch outfit for Ava back in September and I couldn't wait to get her in it. She loved it, but wasn't really that interested in modeling the outfit for me.

This is just thrown in there to show how much these guys love their little buddy, Buster. I personally have not bonded with him, but the kids love him so he's still around and I am still the main caretaker of him, but isn't that the way it goes? I remind myself that I am doing it for the kids...

This is a picture Mac drew in October. I took a picture of it and also have it filed away, but I'm sharing it here because I thought it was so good and so sweet. He said it was a bunny.

Pumpkin Patch Day!

There are plenty of patches in town, in fact there is one about 5 minutes from our house, but Aaron and I have always loved taking a road trip and making a full day of going to the pumpkin patch.

The patch we used to go to has become increasingly more popular (good for them) and so it isn't as enjoyable to go there as it used to be. This year we traveled up the hill and made a day trip to Apple Hill which is a popular place to go in the fall here in Northern California.

Just before we left, Ava yanked the tulle leave off of the shirt I made for her so I pulled out the shirt I made last year. It still fit, thankfully, and went well with the outfit. I was sad that the shirt I made for this year didn't get featured in the pumpkin patch pics, but it still got put to use (you'll see later).

The next series of pictures is a demonstration of just how hard it is to get 3 kids to face a camera and smile (or do anything simultaneously)!

Still they make me smile.

Here is our little pumpkin princess posing for the camera. She says "sheesh" instead of "cheese" as soon as she sees a phone or camera.

This little guy on the other had is not as compliant with the camera (unless he feels like it and then he's super cute about it).

Adrian is teaching me a lot about myself and about raising kids. Before him, I thought I was really good at being a mom because Mac was easy going and took directions well. Little did I know that the majority of the credit for that was owed to Mac and I knew much less than I thought about parenting. Adrian is smart, persistent (or stubborn), a little intense, very sensitive and his manner of expressing himself is often through crying which is unpleasant at times.

You can see here that he was determined to lift the pumpkin. I warned him that it was too heavy and he could get hurt, but he would hear nothing of it, so I gave him space to test his abilities for himself and sure enough that boy got the pumpkin about half an inch off the ground for about half a second, but he did it, and then he moved on.

Gotta love that little guy and I'm thankful to have him because I am becoming a more understanding and patient person because of him. I just know all of the characteristics I used to describe him above will become attributes someday (except the crying, we can lose the crying).

Mac is still the ideal kid. He's smart, sweet and kind, funny and very capable in all facets, but he's got a bit of a mischievous streak to him that is coming out more as he gets older. It doesn't make it any easier that the kid is so witty he can make you think that the naughty things or undesirable things he does should be allowed.

We had lots of fun that day at the patch.

I thought this picture of Aaron was funny because he is so big in that car, and because there was a bench about two feet to the left but, he chose to sit in the car.

We enjoyed apple fritters, a first for all of us!

We bought our pumpkins then traveled a little further into town to have dinner at a local pizza place. There was another couple there with their kid and we both ordered combination pizzas. They ordered a large and we ordered a medium. When the pizzas came out we ended up with the large and they got our medium. When we realized it, we offered to pay them the difference or give them the remaining pieces, but they declined. It didn't feel right taking their large but it wasn't our mistake and they were happy to let us have the pizza so it was a nice little bonus to the night.

These pictures of the boys crack me up. Mac has started this eye roll thing that he says he learned from his cousin Delia and now Adrian does it too! I also wanted to feature this pic of Adrian because he was very proud of himself for combing his own hair! Ha Ha.

This picture of Ava is fun for me because it marks the beginning of the stage of her mimicking all of my motherly behaviors. It's now December when I'm writing this post, but ever since the day this picture was taken I have noticed her nurturing the boys and saying things she hears me say, rocking her stuffed animals and tucking them into bed, feeding the dog food, piece by piece and all sorts of things. She is such a feminine personality and will probably grow up with aspirations to be a mom just like I had. For her sake I hope that the dream comes true because there is nothing more incredible than having children of your own.

Here the kids are at my mom's school festival. We've been going each year and the kids really enjoyed the games this time.

After the carnival we went shopping for Halloween costumes. It's funny but you'd think all of this happened over the span of the month, but I think this was only like October 8th. Ha Ha.

Here are some pics of our day to day. Mac really loved this orange shirt, so he wore it a lot in October.

Love a clean kitchen (and its even better with sneaky pumpkins around)

Weekly loaf of bread!

Endless laundry...

I shook things up one day and moved the kitchen table into the entry near the kitchen and the kids ate a snack sitting on top of the table! I've been accused of being rigid, but I think this demonstrates that I'm not that rigid! :)

We went up to Apple Hill again with Aaron's parents and my dad.

My dad loves all three of his grandchildren, but I think his granddaughter really has his heart. Especially because she is his little look a like!

Proud grandpa!

My dad tells me that he regrets that he worked so much when we were kids, but that he's happy to have the time and money to do things with his grand kids and it makes me so happy that they get to spend so much quality time with him too.

Some of these pictures are sideways, but I really don't want to hold off on posting this until I get them all rotated because then I will never get to it so this is what we get!

I don't have favorites, but each of these kiddos has a special place in their mommas heart and this picture of Adrian really speaks to the special place I have for him. He melts me.

These pictures demonstrate the realness of my house because most of the time it is pretty close to pristine, but this proves that it doesn't just happen. I work really hard to keep my house in order and I hope my kids grow up to appreciate how hard I work to keep their environment comfy, cozy and orderly.

I love this picture. Mac almost looks like a baby here.

Little Ava's baby toes. I kiss those little tootsies (or toes-ies as she calls them) everyday and I never want to forget their cute, pudginess!

My little ballerina was "helping" in the kitchen.

I really wish these pictures were not sideways, but I think you still get an appreciation for her beauty!

That laugh was because I was saying "don't bend the blinds!" and she was still doing it anyway!

Our Halloween mantle was so cute this year!

Ava got an ear infection in October. This is a picture of her at the pharmacy. She was cranky for most of the week leading up to Saturday and then after being moody and clingy all day Saturday she came to me, pointed to her ear and said, "Ouch!"

I made an appointment with her doctor's office which does weekend appointments (thankfully) and sure enough she had a major ear infection.

I sneaked a look in her ears before the doctor came in. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I did notice a difference in the appearance of each ear and sure enough the one that looked really red and irritated was the one that was very infected.

The kids brought their toy cars and I brought snacks and those things are life savers. We rarely have meltdowns in public and I'm very grateful.

Changing out the decor on our front patio was quite an experience this year! Ha Ha

Mac consistently referred to these pumpkins as "booger" pumpkins. Only he pronounced it "Boo" like a ghost says "boo" and so it was "Boooo-ger" pumpkins.