Taking a break for Fall...

Change...

What have I done?

I am trying to become un-boring.

My wardrobe is mostly solids.

I thrive on order and as little clutter as possible.

I have a plain ole silver minivan. Just like the other 27 Odysseys parked in the preschool parking lot.

I'm as non-frilly as it gets.

I'm horrible at accessorizing.

I've carried the same solid red billfold for the last 10 years.

And now...

I've changed my blog.

I don't think I can do it. I went for a change (um, to be honest, I changed the background about six times, hoping one would grow on me). And now, I want the plain, old boring black back.

But it's late, once again.

And I'm all backgrounded out.

Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow.

I don't know. Maybe it's not so much that I'm boring.

Maybe I just don't like....

Change.

Randomness

Sick, but sweet...

Random thoughts...

...to go along with my thinking abilities at the moment. Tyler is somewhere between Oklahoma City and St. Louis, driving his brother's car across the country, helping him move from Arizona back to Indiana. I have four sick kids, plus a teething 15 month old, plus an inability to think clearly due to severe lack of adult conversation in the last four days. I've missed church five out of the last seven Sundays due to someone - anyone - multiple ones - being sick. That in itself is grounds for one really bad mood. I need my sermons to keep me sane.

But you know what?

I'm good. Really good.

Because being away from Tyler makes me realize how much I love being with him. And that is a really good thing. And I have realized that I can do it on my own (with the Lord's help, obviously), but that in God's mercy and provision, I don't have to most of the time. I'm thankful for my husband.

My kids are sick, but what a weird blessing it has been. I've barely had time to think about Tyler being gone, and have had a sick buddy in my bed every night keeping me company while he's been away. Jack told me this morning that he really enjoyed sleeping in my bed last night, because "the other boys weren't around to talk so much". Jack was awake at 11pm with a fever of 102, and instead of trying to sleep, we turned on the light and called Daddy. We even watched a little Discovery Channel. It was almost fun.

Today I realized that we hadn't stepped foot out of our house in four days. Everyone was getting a little stir-crazy, but with fevers still hanging around, I couldn't justify taking them out in public (the planned pumpkin patch outing will have to wait). So what do you do when your husband is who-knows-where and you have to get out of your house before you crack?

Load everyone up.

Put a Baby Einstein video on. In the van. Which is against the rules in town. Which was totally worth it.

Hit the McDonald's drive-thru to buy Happy Meals for three sick boys. Knowing they probably won't eat much, and what they will eat won't really be that good for them, but getting it anyway because the toy alone was worth it. Just this once.

Make a spontaneous turn onto the interstate, not really knowing where you're going. Just taking advantage of the fact that everyone is strapped in. And happy... momentarily.

Decide on the Arby's drive-thru for me. Because I haven't eaten anything but cereal in four straight days. Yes, Arby's sounds delightful.

Answer the request for a car wash across the street. Because this is yet one more thing you can do with four sick children strapped happily in their carseats, watching a Baby Einstein video.

Hit the Starbucks drive-thru. Because it's a drive-thru. And it's Starbucks. And because I've not yet tried the Venti Non-fat Pumpkin Chai Latte with Whip Cream this Fall. And because the Starbucks girl is always super talkative. And she's an adult.

(Tyler's theory: Starbucks charges a dollar for every word in the drink title. We laugh really hard when this actually holds true, which happens more often than we care to admit.)

So we hit four stops without ever leaving our van, and I'm telling you what, we all felt refreshed.

But I'm pretty sure the car wash guy thought I took a little too long deciding on my 2 wash options.

Should I get the wheel brite or the underbody wash?

I don't know.

Can we talk about it? :)

I'm pathetic.

But it's all good.

This girl's not a baby anymore...

Hmm...can you say spunky?

For us, October brings....

school in full swing...

kids who keep passing croup back and forth to each other...

Tyler to Arizona to help his brother move back home to Indiana...

a season of thankfulness...

a month-long adventure of Halloween costume planning...

a love/hate relationship with living in the woods....

Tess finally taking her first steps (consistently, that is!)...

new living room carpet (can I get an Amen?!)...

a trip to the Pumpkin Patch...

Fall baseball...

hot chai, candles lit for no reason, and then some more chai...

lots of friends and family...

and...

FALL!!

Love, love this season. What does October bring for you?