October Update

We've been a busy crew up in here for the last month.  Well, maybe not that busy, but whatever.  For the first time in a LOOOONG time, Scott and I are home for the next few weekends...until Thankgiving!  We've been traveling a lot on the weekends, so it's good to be home for the next few weeks.  Our last trip was to Lake George, yet again, to spend time with Scott's sister, Susie, and her family, and Scott's parents, brother and grandparents.  Brooke and Karis loved playing with their OH cousins.  Though it was just a tad bit cold (and by "tad bit" I mean pretty cold).  But Ben was a master fire-starter and had a fire in the fireplace just about 24/7.

Peanut butter and fluff for lunch:

It was so good to see Susie and Ben - and the girls warmed up pretty quickly - to Susie, that is.  For Ben it took a little bit longer with a few set backs along the way.  Baby steps...

Even if it was a bit breezy and chilly, the views were still BEAUTIFUL, as always:

A little sister love happening here:

Fall time at LG:

When you can't swim or lay in the sun at LG, for example, in the Fall at LG, and you're going stir crazy in the cabin, it's time for a "treasure" hunt!  Treasure consisted of leaves and acorns, but it kept the kids busy, for approximately 5 minutes:

Oh, and the goats.  They've grown a lot since August.  But they were still there and the kids were thrilled to feed them:

Brookie smothering...I mean LOVING...her baby cousin, Annie:

We had a great time!  Other than that, I guess we haven't been up to much.  Scott and I got new iphones.  And by "new" I mean the iphone 4s.  We like to be just behind the trend...it's like our "thing".  But I haven't used my camera for the last month - I'm thinking I probably don't even need my point and shoot camera anymore.  And we can just say goodbye to our video camera too (haven't used that thing since Brooke was born!)  Anyone want to buy them?

And I guess that I should confess that I bought Brooke a Halloween costume.  Scott's sister, Susie, is pretty much my go-to person for all motherly advice and I try to follow her example as much as possible:)  But Susie is very anti purchased Halloween costumes.  And so am I.  Or, at least, I thought I was.  I fully intended to make the girls Halloween costumes.  I did.  I promise.

But whenever I asked Brooke what she wanted to be for Halloween, she'd say Minnie Mouse, then 3 seconds later she wanted to be a monkey.  3 seconds later?  Why, she wanted to be a cow.  Our conversation about what she was going to be for Halloween would go on like this until she started listing things around the house - like a sippy cup or a chair.  At which point I would cease the conversation completely flustered, because if I was going to make this costume, I needed a definite answer as to what she was going to be.  I wasn't going to put in all this time and money making a costume and then have her change her mind because she saw the remote control and now she wants to be that for Halloween.

So we were walking around Target, and we saw a Minnie Mouse costume.  And it was $20 and Brooke fell in love with it.  I knew I had her - it was definite that she would be Minnie Mouse.  And $20 is probably cheaper than I would have spent trying to make her costume.

So when we got home, she tried it on.  A perfect fit.  Although I started calling her Minnie Mouse and I asked her where Brooke was and then she'd take off the ears and I'd say, "Oh Brooke! There you are!" and then she'd put the ears back on and she was Minnie Mouse again.  Anyway, I think I gave her a personality complex because she started having conversations with herself acting as both herself and Minnie Mouse.  I'm hoping this turns out ok.  I mean, a split personality like Clark Kent and Superman is a good thing.  A split personality like, "I gave my daughter schizophrenia" is a bad thing.  We'll see...

And that is our update for October.  I'll let you know how Halloween goes down in these parts.  Karis is going to be a panda - don't worry, Susie.  I'm planning on making that happen with my trusty glue gun and some felt.