Evening with Daddy

Aaron stayed home this evening (after much encouragement). We went on a walk and raked leaves, but we had a really fun evening. It makes all the difference to have a friend to share something with.

Eldon has been telling me this for quite some time. We babysit a little boy on Fridays and when I try to get Eldon to do something that he does with Sam he tells me, "it's not as much fun without a friend." I completely agree.

Sleep!!

It always seems to be an issue, right?

So these are my predicaments:

#1 My husband and I never sleep in the same bed. Why did we move to have extra room? I sometimes wonder. After much cajoling we can get Lilly to fall asleep by herself, but she inevitably wakes up during the night and insists on sleeping with her daddy. Being tired, I often decide it's better that Aaron sleep with her than to listen to her wailing. Then sometime during the night I often go sleep with Eldon (when he wakes up whimpering) or he scampers into our bed. We're going to visit my mom during Thanksgiving and she said, "we only have two rooms." No problem that's all we need. One for Aaron and Lilly and one for Eldon and me. Maybe this is just a season. I sometimes think that. This will pass and I will miss those days when I get to snuggle with my kids.

#2 Sleeping during the day makes Eldon grouchy (!) and then he’ll fight to stay up until 10pm (if someone doesn’t lay down with him). I think maybe this is a sign that he doesn’t need the nap anymore? I'm not quite sure what to do or what to do with him since yesterday afternoon he said he was sleepy, but wouldn’t fall asleep. Maybe he just needs some time to adjust to not sleeping in the afternoon? He didn’t take a nap yesterday and was exhausted (!) at 7:30pm. I have no idea how to negotiate this transition between one and no nap.

Any suggestions?

Pumpkin Patch in Pictures

Two Saturdays ago we went to Exploration Acres with Lori, Jack, and Cody to pick out pumpkins and go on a hayride! Here are some pictures, most turned out blurry:(, but they still document the fun we had. One of these days I'd like to take a photography class and get better at photographing children. Does anyone in the area know where to take a good photography class? Ok, here they are!





There was a great tunnel made out of bales of hay by the entrance. Eldon, Aaron, and Lilly went through it.





There was also a big haystack for climbing.



Eldon enjoyed the corn maze a lot and was pretty sad when Aaron took off without him (Aaron really enjoyed it too and just had to finish part of it! He couldn't stand it.) So well we went off to pick out pumpkins Aaron did some more of the maze. Lilly couldn't stand up in the maze. It was muddy and slippery and she fell quite a bit. I had to hold her hand and then hold her for most of it and that was just too tiring so we went and got a wagon by the pumpkin patch.



Here she is in the wagon with our pumpkins. Eldon wanted a big one and Lilly wanted a "baby" one.



This is Lilly standing on the road by the cornfields. I just loved her smile. She has gotten to be quite a poser lately. She stops and smiles and changes her position when I ask.

After we picked out our pumpkins we rode back, raced some rubber duckies down a chute, and got some homemade caramel corn and hot cider. It was a really beautiful (although chilly) day. Thanks, Lori, for planning all these fun activities!!

Welcome home!

We have a new abode for the next three and a half years! It feels like we have so much space! We were getting pretty crowded in the apartment. The kids have their own rooms (and we have our own room for the first time since Eldon was born). We have a playroom for the many many toys that Grandmas spoil us with:) and we have a backyard(!), although it is getting a little chilly to play out there. It all feels so crazy and the house and our old apartment are still in disarray. We have to be out of the apartment soon so we'll probably clean today.

Lilly calls the house "new house" and our old apartment "home." When we get in car after going somewhere she yells, "new house, new house, no hoooome."

Eldon likes it a lot although he gets nervous at night because he thinks we are too far away. It helps when Aaron is home. He's been working late nights recently.

The kids love climbing up in the bay windows and playing there. Eldon likes jumping off with his friend Sam. They also like hiding in the closets which aren't so stuffed with stuff that they can actually fit in them. We've played a lot of hide and seek recently and Lilly has had some traumatic instances when she left her blankie in her hiding places and we couldn't find it afterward. We've been late taking Eldon to preschool because of it!

It's really nice to have the extra space, especially this winter, when it gets REALLY cold, and we'll be stuck inside, but moving is so much work. I hope not to do it again for a couple of years:).