october- the long condensed version

apologies to anyone who's checked in here once or more in the last month... i've been a little busy!! (ok, some of that is actually procrasination, but only a little bit.)

we started out the month with some beautiful weather! well, it was a bit on the warm side for october in wisconsin, but that was ok with us, since our furnace died the first chilly nights in september. so even though the 80*+ thing wasn't on my list of favorites, at least we didn't freeze.

first october sunday- perfect for snuggles with grandma!!

after lunch (or was it before? i don't remember...) cole and madi found a slightly more efficient way of sharing the "motorcycle".

it wasn't a quiet method, but at least we were hearing giggles instead of screaming and fighting.

the littles talked grandma into pretending to roast marshmallows over a campfire. she happily obliged and i do believe that in cole's little noggin, the imaginary goings-on were just like the inspiration for the whole deal: "curious george goes camping".

after the imaginary campfire burned out, we all took a walk in the woods. it was such a beautiful day and the trees were turning and the kids were up for an organized trek together, so off we went!

cole and his daddy... just because he walks like he's on a mission doesn't mean there's no time for a quick cuddle :)

the wild grass always looks so pretty this time of year. not sure why- it's just grass. in any case, it's true beauty can never be captured quite right...

miss squish and her "gwammah"

cole was anxious to show us the bridge that he "helped" uncle ted and daddy build. he's been talking about it off and on for a month, so we HAD to see it! they did a great job too- no falling through this bridge!

of course, we all tested it out.

ripples!

madison started collecting things: grass, leaves, a stick... and a feather!

colors! the woods is about the greatest place in the fall: there's no doubting the miracle of the creation.

the little collector... to her, those flowers are a trophy!

just like the wild grasses, the milkweed catching the sun was awesome. and just like with the grass, it's splendor just can't be caught on film (or cf card!) quite like it appears in real life.

random shots from around the yard... the rungs on the old silo. as a small child, they fascinated and scared me at the same time. we were told not to climb them because it was too dangerous, but i remember ted and i going up a few anyway. i'm not sure about ted, but i was never able to work up the courage to climb more than four or five, even though the desire to climb all the way to the top just burned in my young little mind.

madi picked out a squash for us to take home and cook up... she lugged that thing all the way from the garden to the silo. she's got determination, that's for sure.

barbed wire behind the garage... another memory from a long ago childhood.

kelvin and i got to take a short walk all by ourselves! well, ourselves plus a wee little guy.

oh, deer!!

uncle tedly graced us with a fly-by!

tiny toes tried grass for the first time...

... and so did a tiny little tongue!

we don't like grass just yet, i guess.
kelvin left for two weeks to work on a job in oklahoma. the first night he was gone, the kids were mad and i was tired, so we did the easiest supper i could think of (besides take-out): pancakes.

these kidlets eat pancakes faster than i can make them, so to save time, i made them pancake sticks instead. a clean applesauce cup with a little syrup in it for dipping, and they were excited for pancakes like never before.

yumm!

a new staple in our house: homeopathic fever pellets. they were a LIVESAVER when cole came down with a respiratory bug! the poor kiddo- we discovered that if his fever gets high enough, he throws up. when he first came down with it, we didn't have anything on hand except for some children's advil. since we were in a pinch, i gave him some. the first dose brought his fever down, but subsequent doses througout the night did nothing. our awesome neighbors let us try some of their fever pellets, and once the natural health store opened the next morning, i ran out and got two bottles right away. the mommy in me knew it was best to be prepared, seeing as how these things can drag on sometimes, but we only used a few doses for cole and one for madi. it worked FAR better than the advil, and madison never needed more than one dose because her fever was low-grade and didn't last long. poor cole got the worst of it, but he was on the mend in three or four days.
the weekend of dad's birthday, the kids and i spent the weekend at the farm. between sick kids, a few fussy nights from remington and the resulting "whups, too many nights wide awake so no sleep for you!", i was running on empty. mom invited us for a few days, which was great because it was starting to get fairly chilly at night and our furnace still hadn't been replaced.

madison busied herself with crayons and a coloring book while cole helped grandma in the kitchen.

then she moved to the couch where she got silly... who knows what goes through their little heads. i mean, they get the giggles and laugh like miniature lunatics for no reason; whatever the reason is, it's adorable!

musicians in the house! madi even does this cute bit where she unknowingly channels stevie wonder... if she doesn't think anyone's watching her, she closes her eyes, leans into the keyboard and sways to the music. it's pretty cute...

just as madi has her "stevie wonder" thing, cole does chef emeril. or whoever it is that happens to be hot on the gourmet scene. he loves helping in the kitchen, and since ours is too small even for one person, he takes advantage of being able to help grandma in hers!

grandpa's birthday cake... a delicious pumpkin, caramel and pecan creation that's just SOOO good.

it passes the "smell" test...

he almost got away with the taste test too!

add some whipped cream (the REAL stuff) and it's like eating a sweet piece of fall. seriously, this cake is awesome. :)

the kiddos on sunday morning... six shots and this is the best we could come up with! good thing it was just for my own entertainment, hahaha! they looked so cute i couldn't resist.
so... sunday evening found us back home in our own beds. well, more accurately, freezing in our own beds. so in the morning, i did some laundry and we packed up again to go back to mom and dad's. we only stayed till wednesday morning- that's when the furnace guys came to take out the old and bring in the new.

being back at grandma's meant fun in the boxes again! cole and madi were having such a ball that i just *had* to bring out the camera. ;)

cole and the "ah-noc-luhrs". not sure what it is about this photo, but it gives me the giggles every time i look at it.

the other thing that has us in fits of laughter lately is remington's new trick... this goofy face he does while sniffin his nose really fast. it never gets old, and he knows it. usually he's too quick for me to catch a good shot of it, so this is the best i've gotten so far. it's adorable- he usually wakes up smiling, but the lst week or so, he's woken up with a quick grin and then the "squooshy face". if that doesn't start the morning on a good note, i don't know what will.

and then there's the other side of him- the tiny, snuggly little peanut side.

of course, being back at grandma and grandpa's means being back in the kitchen...

... this time with squash! both kids had a half of a squash and were scooping seeds, but since i've already posted a few too many photos, you'll have to use your imagination.

no caption necessary :)

and lastly (for now, hahaha!), a poem that's meant a lot to me over the years. i first read it on a dedication/memorial site for miscarriage and infant loss remembrance. one of the wild grass photos i took on our walk at the beginning of the month reminded me of it, so i combined the two. october is national pregnancy and infant loss awareness month, so it's only fitting that i post it while it's still october. it goes without saying, of course, that we remember our babies every single day. anyway, i'm sharing it in honor of all the babies that we carry in our hearts.

now that i'm caught up, i'll try to post more often. again. i've been busy with more than just sick kids (that was only for a week or so)... i had a project, a custom order for a friend, and i'll share that in my next post. and i promise it'll be shorter too- that is, assuming i don't wait till the end of november to catch up. ;)