I was pretty sick for the next day or two, and then fatigue and congestion continued to hang around for two solid weeks. It was annoying.
Here's my promised photo of Hazel and Jack at soccer.
My Grandma Bingham passed away the first week of October, so that next weekend I flew to Utah for her funeral. It was nice to be able to visit with all my siblings, meet my brother's girlfriend Xiao, and take some time to drive through the canyon and soak up the beauty of fall. It was also nice to remember Grandma when she was healthy and reminisce on many good memories we all shared.
While I was gone, Todd took the kids boating with some friends from church. I'm glad he was able to plan a fun weekend for the kids and enjoy himself as well.
Jack lost his first tooth. It's so cute! He wanted to lose it at school. I dropped him off with it dangling loosely in his mouth and was sure it would be out in minutes. I was totally surprised when it was still in there after school! With Jack's permission, I grabbed it between a couple of fingers and yanked it out. Jack hid it from the tooth fairy that night because he wanted to show it to all his buddies at school the next day. Ha! And then he wanted to hide it again the next night. Todd and I had to warn him that the tooth fairy might stop coming by to get it and he would end up penniless.
We took the training wheels off Gemma's two-wheeler. She's been practicing in the cul-de-sac and is getting pretty good, but we don't spend enough time working on it. She's so little! I'm sure she's shorter than Hazel and Jack were, even though she's the same age they were when they started riding two-wheelers. I think I'm holding her back because she's my baby.
Gemma is always talking about how big she is and measuring herself against me. She's up to my belly button and thinks that's pretty great. She was excited to show me that she can reach from the bathroom doorway to Hazel's doorway.
Jack's been writing an epic story in school about our family reunion in July. It's pages and pages long and really cute. I was lucky enough to be working in his class when his teacher invited him to read what he had so far to the class. It was adorable to see him standing there, back to the kids, kind of shy, as he went on and on reading this .... book. Little smartie.
Todd's sister Missy drove out with her kids for a quick visit. I took them on a stroll downtown while Todd was at work, and we all spent the afternoon at the G & M pumpkin patch and corn maze. The cousins had a blast playing together. It was fun to watch them all zooming around the cul-de-sac, on bikes and scooters and bare feet.
I just love this picture of Gemma with her two best friends, Clara and Grace. She gets excited to see them when we go to kindergarten drop off and pick up, and gets bummed out if she doesn't get a chance to see her buddies, like if it's raining or someone's late.
Todd has been building bookshelves with Hazel and Jack for their bedrooms. They love going to Home Depot with him and hanging out in the garage, using tools and painting and spending good quality time with Todd.
Between church parties, class parties, and pumpkin patch visits, Halloween seemed to last all month. At last, it was the night of the real deal! Hazel was a witch, Jack was Darth Vader, and Gem-Gem was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).
We tried out a street nearby we'd heard lots about. Turns out it was pretty crazy. Closed off to traffic, with a live band and a food truck, at least a thousand people milling about, and many of the houses on the street went all out. I mean, ALL OUT. Robotic dragons, smoke machines, jumping spiders. It was insane! Definitely a memory-maker, but hard to keep an eye on all our little kids in the crowds.
