October Recap

October has felt really tiring this year for some reason. I know a major part of it has been allergies for me, but also some very restless nights to start the month, coupled with Kendrick battling an ear infection as well as a respiratory infection. I also feel like I just don't have the energy most days to put one foot in front of the other (especially by the day's end), so wrangling two little ones through harvest has proven challenging. As usual by this point in every pregnancy, I begin anticipating the end, when I'm tired only in my head but not also in my body. With a grueling 19 more weeks to go, I need to snap out of that mindset already, or it's going to be a very, very long winter!

We haven't had any super major things going on, beyond, you know, having the big anatomy scan in the middle of the month to find out the gender of this little one!! :)

That being said, the weather could not have been better. Seriously. It has been GORGEOUS! We've spent a ridiculous amount of time outside, and the boys have been rolling in the leaves like it's their job. We've been out to the farm to "help" Daddy and Grandpa with the farming for harvest this year, and in between all of that, we've had a fun trip with friends to Grandpa's Fun Farm in Worthington, a fun Fall Fest with our church body, family pictures, lots (and lots) of raking, playing in the leaves, another couple fun local Fall festivals, pumpkin carving, celebrating birthdays (Grandpa's and mine) and, of course, trick or treating for Halloween.

And really, the boys have been VERY good overall. We have our tantrummy days, but for the most part, they're very sweet and kind and helpful. It helped that I ended up somehow having an entire day to myself in Mankato one Saturday, which gave me a chance to unwind and just really enjoy myself while the boys were having fun in Worthington with Grandma and Jess while Mark and his Dad worked on bringing in the harvest.

Mostly, we spent a lot of time outside soaking in the last few longish days of autumn before the long, cold, dark winter sets in. Granted, it was significantly less time than I would prefer outside this time of year, but I did try, even with the limited energy I've had.

As always, Mark has been out in the field helping with harvest again this year, although this has been one of the least-demanding harvests I've ever experienced in the ten years I've been with Mark! We made it through completely unscathed, and I wasn't completely overwhelmed even once, really, which says a lot! Thankfully, I won't have to go through another planting season pregnant, but this year it WILL be with a preschooler, a toddler and a newborn, so that should be fun :)

We've just so thoroughly enjoyed having a few days here and there of just kicking back and enjoying the colors and leaves and what not, but it has been a struggle for me with my innerds being squished up so much so that it's hard to breathe normally, and I can't chase after the kiddos as much.

We finished off the month with a sweet visit with Mark's Aunt Karen and Uncle Del, then trick or treating for Halloween, and just like that...it's November. (Full recap of the weekend HERE.)

Looking Ahead...

I have a feeling the rest of this year is going to just totally sneak up on us. As of right now, it seems like the month is fairly unscheduled, but I know we will fill that up quickly!

The first two weekends of the month are hunting weekends for Mark, so we won't be seeing him too much. This coming weekend, I'll be down in Humboldt with the boys to visit my Mom while my sister and her family are out of town, and then one of the next two weekends after that, we're planing on doing a "Friendsgiving" meal at our home, which we haven't done in ages, with some of our friends from the Worthington area.

At this point, we have zero plans for actual Thanksgiving (which is crazy, as we're usually OVER-booked for the holidays), but we're certain that will fill up easily as well.

And really, beyond "have a baby in March", there's nothing else really major on our calendar for the rest of the year or next. (And yes, for those of you who know how much I live for vacation time in the middle of winter, it's killing me inside to know that I get to face an entire Minnesota winter being 7...8...and then 9 months pregnant with no reprise from the snow and cold...but it's mind-boggling to think about taking all of us on a plane somewhere to escape it as well).

Maybe I'll have more exciting things to talk about next month. Until then, however...have a blessed November!

Halloweekend (October 30-November 1)

We had such a great, relaxing, productive weekend this past weekend, and it was so nice to finally have one of those kinds of weekends.

Friday evening, we were so blessed to have Mark's aunt and uncle from Oklahoma up for supper at our home. (We try to do that on occasion basically just so that we actually clean our house up haha) It feels like it has been years since we've had a chance to catch up with them, since every time they're in town, it's usually for a big family event, and we're super busy with the boys during the family event. It was great to visit over some Stromboli and let the boys play in the toy room after supper while we kept on visiting. We sure wish Karen and Del and their sweet family lived closer!

Saturday morning we woke up to a pretty darn "clean" house, which gave us the opportunity to actually finish some projects (okay, MARK got to finish some projects) that had been on our "to do" list for quite some time. I keep saying that I feel like I have a brand new bathroom simply because all our toiletries finally have an enclosed place to go instead of just hanging out on the open shelving that was previously above our toilet there. THANKS, HONEY!! :)

After naps, the boys had a fantastic time trick-or-treating, and got WAY too much candy!

Sunday was a pretty relaxing day for us. Daylight savings didn't mess with us too much, even if the boys were up at 6:30am (which isn't too crazy for us anyway, as that's when we're usually up during the week). After church, we had Mark's Mom over for goulash for lunch, and then after a failed attempt at getting the crankiest Cashel ever down for a nap, we decided to re-direct his energy into raking an enormous pile of leaves. Kendrick joined in as well, and Mark helped them out a bit before they totally demolished it by taking huge handfuls of leaves and clobbering Mama with them. I was totally covered before long. FUN afternoon :)

The boys napped so great after that, and Mark enjoyed finishing up the Vikes game and NASCAR race while I got majorly caught up on some digital scrapping.

It was so nice to finally have a weekend to just sort of unwind and relax at home. I just love the ages that our boys are at right now, and am so excited to see how we fit together as a family of five in just four more short months! I'm already plotting costumes for this little one for next year, who probably won't quite fit into the monster costume at seven months old, and will be too big for the tiny tiger. The question is...will it be a princess or a puppy dog? Wouldn't you like to know? ;)