October 10, 2016

(click here for pictures)

• This morning we were all up early and getting ready to leave. Today was Keaton's pumpkin patch day and everyone else hung out at Nonna's house. My Whitman was not happy at all that the "others" were coming (He often calls his brothers and sisters the "others" or his "friends.") He had expected to spend the day at Nonna's house all by himself like he does each Monday.
• When we dropped everyone off, Keaton and I didn't have time to stick around for long because we had to hurry to get to the pumpkin patch to get a good parking spot. Keaton was so excited about her field trip. Ms. Stacy handed out the new school shirts and she quickly put hers on. When she saw her friend Harper, she was ecstatic and she no longer thought about me. Seriously, I could have picked her up later in the day and she would have never missed me.
• Keaton loved the swings. She picked our her pumpkin, took a class picture, rode on the hay ride, climbed on the hay mountain and rode the barrel bull. After we had done everything we could do at the patch, we headed back to Nonna's house.
• Since we drove by Beebee's place on the way back, we stopped by. Keaton was pleased to be the only one to see Beebee-or maybe she was pleased to be the only one to eat from Beebee's candy box. We did take some candy back to the others and they were pretty pleased about that.
• The kids at Nonna and Pops' house had been busy doing school and were about to eat lunch when we pulled up. My crew wasn't the only ones there since they were having an electric audit and there was also a houseful of workers. The kids were calm while I was there for a bit but around 1, I left for my doctor's appointment.
• I was at my appointment for over 2 hours but left happy (and stent-less). When I made it back to Nonna's house, everyone was playing outside including her neighbors. They had completely covered the driveway in chalk and had a huge chalk city. While we were there, Keaton hopped on a bike that was a bit too big for her but took off-without training wheels. I was pretty impressed with her skills and when we made it home, Reagan was ready for me to take Keaton's training wheels off. We did and she went to town-she needs a bit more practice but will soon be flying down the road like the others.
• Around 6, we all sat down to eat our chicken spaghetti. Then we moved our meal out to the patio for dessert. Cupcakes are too messy to eat inside and we have moved the picnic table to the patio so we easily ate out there. Surprising how cool and dark it was already! Winter is coming.
• The kids then started on showers and I was able to do a bit of work with the little girls on their reports for next week-Keaton has a lot to memorize so we better get started (4 sentences). Then it was time for bed for my crew and hopefully everyone will rest well and my 2 little sickies will continue to get better.