Halloween fun!

The night before Halloween, we decided we needed to carve our pumpkin before it was too late. The project really did start with every boy fully dressed...

But in no time, the shirts were off! When one boys strips, they all strip! If there's even a hint of a reason to take your shirt off in our house, the boys will do it. Just ask the Schwann man, or anyone in our old small group bible study. :)

Shirtless boys are standard for the summertime, but on brisk Fall evenings? These three are hardly bothered... although we did only stay out long enough to light Jack Jr.'s candle and take a quick pic!

The boys raided from the dress-up stash once again, and the only thing we had to buy for costumes this year was an extra black cape. And trust me, a ten dollar black cape will definitely get it's money's worth in this house.

Daddy had to work on Halloween night, so Hali and Cameron (our amazing friends/babysitters!) offered to hang out with us and take the boys Trick-or-treating. These two seriously are amazing, to Trick-or-treat in the pouring rain, and with Cameron's non-functioning gall bladder! We love you guys!

The troops getting ready to head out to houses in our subdivision... Our good buddy Bjorn joined us too! The boys thought his costume was hilarious, but Tess was a little scared by his crazy wig! We almost talked him into cutting some hair from his wig and taping it onto his chest, but he never did give in to that. :) Man, we are blessed with such godly, fun influences for our kids.

My favorite little cow hung out with me, taking candy out of the bowl and throwing it all over the entryway handing out candy as Trick-or treaters came to our house. The turnout was low due to the rain, so we quickly became famous for giving out handfuls of candy. I think we may have even seen a repeat customer or two. :)

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?

A little peer pressure, please...

To celebrate the end of summer (well, you know what I mean... I would never, ever actually celebrate the end of summer!), Tyler took the older boys on a much anticipated trip to Chicago on the Amtrak. This picture is my absolute favorite from the many Tyler took that day.

Check out those eyes... just like his daddy.

For the record, I have no idea what that structure is in the background. Because I wasn't there. And maybe I should just know what it is anyway, but I don't. Because being pregnant four times has fried a lot of my brain cells.

That's what I like to tell myself anyway.

I missed this trip, because a three and one year old would have been on complete meltdown around hour three of the seventeen hour day. And you already know that we just don't do that.

But, we also want to take advantage of the ages that Jack and Trey are now. Fun, energetic, curious, learning ages.

So sometimes, we split up.

And it works.

For us.

Back to those amazing pictures.

There's no way I'm doing them justice. Because minus one famous Chicago building, and the ones who have the titles printed right on them, I'm pretty clueless about what is what.

So, I'm asking for a little help here. If you have a spare second (and you must because you're reading this!), leave a comment in the comments section (duh, where else!) encouraging Tyler to post about their fun adventure to (on the train) and in Chicago.

Maybe enough "votes" will convince him to share...

I think he definitely wins on the brain cells anyway, so I vote him.

A little peer pressure, please... :)

College town...

I love living in a college town for lots of reasons. MY college town. At first we wondered what it would be like coming back to Purdue country as a family instead of as college students. What we've found is a great balance of university energy and family friendliness.

During the school year, we don't get to campus much. It's a busy place. Don't get me wrong - I actually look forward to when the students arrive in the Fall. The city comes alive, and it brings back some great college memories (along with the other memories of Organic Chemistry... oh dear). But traffic gets a little hectic, parking becomes more difficult, and I have to redevelop my skills in dodging fearless jaywalking pedestrians.

I'm quick on the ol' minivan brakes, don't you worry.

But summertime. Oh, sweet summertime in this town...

We take advantage of walking around the quiet campus. The boys play in the fountains, and I tell them where I first kissed their daddy. Tyler and I reminisce about when we were young and thought we had so little time and so much responsibility.

You heard that right.

That's what I thought when I was taking approximately two naps per day. In between eating breadsticks at the Union and hanging out way too much with four guys who lived on Littleton Street when I should have been studying.

But do cut me some slack, if for no other reason than Organic Chemistry.

Sounds like a good time to change the subject.

So we played in the fountains and I tried to get a sweet brother picture after they were done.

Because when there are great flowers in the background, every mother wants the perfect frameable picture.

Why I try, I'm not quite sure. I think I must have told Trey 10 times to keep his gum in his mouth.

...which caused even more distractions...

...and more...

Until finally I made him throw the gum in the flowers.

There.

I can live with that. :)

Summer memories...

A trip to Tropicanoe Cove with Grandma and Grandpa Fincher... Lots of bike riding with friends...

Four weeks of swimming lessons...

T-ball for Trey (and coach Dad)...

Fun at the ballpark for Chaser...

First year Pinto for Jack...

Still here...

...and with lots to say... I'm just one busy momma! The last week or so has been packed full of good, but busy stuff. Just for fun, here's a glimpse into our lives these last few days:

- We spent our last few play times with our great friends, the Zuyderwyks. Tyler and some other guys helped them load up their moving truck last week and we said our tearful goodbyes as they began their new adventure to New Mexico. My boys have grown up with Brock and Tristan, and they're going to miss their good buddies!

- Hosted an awesome Father/Son camp out in our backyard over Labor Day weekend! The original plan was for Tyler, Jack and Trey to try out a campground for the first time, but everything was booked over the holiday. So, they opted for our backyard instead - this time with our brand new tent! The Beaver boys joined us overnight, and they enjoyed lots of pudgie pies, S'Mores, ribs, backyard creatures, light saber duals, biscuits and gravy, sticks, and general boy stuff. Fun!!

- Chase started preschool!! That cutie - he loves it. And I love it that he finally has something to call his own after watching the big boys do their thing all this time. He goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-11:30am, just enough time for me to lay Tess down for a nap and start a load of laundry. :)

- We've had a some neat opportunities to minister to some families this past week. We've taken some meals to friends who've had babies, plus another one to a busy, recovering momma with a recently repaired ACL.

- The hatch on the van door finally got fixed! This seems terribly lame and insignificant to even mention, until you try to unload your groceries with a baby in one arm, a grocery bag in the other, all the while propping the hatch up by your forehead. Yeah. Hopefully no one in town actually spotted me doing this.

- The big boys started Fall baseball (Trey's crazy into it. Jack, not so much), and the-momma-without-a-nursing-infant-for-once started attending a Ladies' Workshop at church on Wednesday nights.

- One very sweet husband spent his morning off work taking care of the little ones so I could make an early morning trip to visit the Paschals at Riley Children's Hospital last Thursday. It was an emotional trip for me for many reasons, one being the fact that we spent many hours in the same hospital treating Jack's urinary reflux a few years ago. Nolan is doing great post-surgery... please continue to pray for his recovery!

- We even squeezed in a garage sale (ok, it dominated our lives for days on end) with our neighbors last weekend. I am seriously a glutton for punishment. I thought about throwing in the towel half-way through pulling out every item out of every cabinet and closet I own, but then realized that I'd be stuck with one huge mess if it didn't all go. Somewhere. It ended up being time well spent after all: we lost some significant clutter (even after all of the men in my life carried at least one thing back into the house...), and gained almost $600 bucks to show for all of our junk. Sweet.

- A baby shower for my cousin back in my hometown, plus our first meeting for our new small group bible study rounded out Sunday. All of this in one week!

Did I mention the two sick kids, the girl who learned to climb up onto everything overnight, and the rebellious three year old?

Never a dull moment, folks...

Family Game Night!

There's nothin' better than a little friendly family UNO competition

on the back porch on a warm summer night.

There's nothin' better than hearing Chase yell "BAM!!" every time he plays a card with words on it (Skip, Reverse, Draw 2, Wild Cards...). No, this is not in the UNO rules, but we'll do whatever it takes to keep a three year old happily in the game...

There's nothin' better than playing with two kids who actually

"get" how to play a game, according to the rules.

Finally.

There's nothin' better than hanging out with our favorite little people...

and showing them that's exactly where we want to be.

Compromise... or not.

If you don't know Tyler or me very well, I'll let you in on a little something. We're perfectionists. Both of us. Aren't opposites supposed to attract? Anyway, I suppose every couple works differently, but God knew that we both needed the other to be some sort of a perfectionist. I say some sort because I think we're perfectionists in different ways. And in a healthy sort of way, at least I think. Hmm... now you've got me thinking about that. But, this is getting way too complicated for a post on the fair. Ahem.

So how do perfectionism and the 4-H fair go together? Well, perfectionism is how we landed on our plans for this summer. Tyler and I like to do lots of things, and we like to do them well. But we also know how limited we are with four children ages seven and under. Many people are great multi-taskers. Lots of parents (and children) are way more flexible than we are. But through trial and error, we know our family's limits. And we'd rather do a few small things well than tackle more than we can pull off successfully.

Do you see it all coming together yet? Yeah, I'm not so sure either.

We try to think like a three or one year old when making plans, and that often sways our decision one way or the other. So instead of lots of travel, forcing kids out of their schedules, unmet expectations and crabby children (and parents!), we opted to simplify our lives this summer. Really, this mentality has become a way of life for us over the past year since Tess has been born. And guess what? We are having the time of our lives!

Here's a newsflash in the world today: kids don't need fancy stuff to make them happy. Now "stuff" could mean lots of things here, and if I start listing examples someone is sure to get offended. Which might not be a totally bad thing. What I mean here is that I feel the pressure the same as anyone else. Jack and Trey are constantly talking about their friends and their latest trips and gadgets. And it's easy to start the comparison game.

But what I've found is that my kids can go a long way on a little attention and some cotton candy.

I'm just saying.

We have this fair tradition. Even though the older boys hit Indiana Beach this summer and got to experience bigger and better, they wouldn't have missed the fair for anything. We left without our camera this year, and had to drive back to get it, because our photo-fair-tradition dates back to 2004. That's not long to you and me, but that's a heck of a long standing to a seven year old. And he would miss the 2009 pictures if they weren't there.

We always get foot-long corn dogs. We used to share, but now we have to get six of them. You could eat for a week on what six corn dogs cost at the fair.

We're also getting distinct in our fair roles. Daddy rides the rides, and I cheer everyone on while watching the baby. This is a good arrangement, trust me. And when there's no baby, I'm still not riding rides.

Just so we're clear on that.

Mostly because I wouldn't be able to keep my corndog down, and nobody wants that.

Wait, I do have to ride the green wavy slide every year, because Tyler won't do that. Yes, I think I can handle that. The last official day of summer break is today, and I'm off to find Prang watercolors for my school boys. Anybody know where I can find some? Eight stores already searched, the rest of the city to go. I'm a woman on a mission. More summer stuff to come!

Now I know why...

Remember the Summer Rewind Series (SRS for short... catchy, huh?) on this blog last summer? Well now I know why I had to do that. I originally thought it was because I had a newborn and was nursing half my life away at the time (wanna bet?). Turns out, summer itself just does that to me (although it's still good to blame a newborn for a lot of things). And summer should.

I neglect the inside and soak up every minute of fresh air I can get. I work in the yard when the little ones are napping, monitor bike riding on the road in front of our house, hand out lots of Bomb Pop Jr.'s to the neighbor kids. I drive a van load of kids (yes, they're all mine) to a different park than the day before after Tess's morning nap, and pack a lunch so we don't have to come back home until it's time for her afternoon one.

I've watched cute little baseball players come into their own, and took three very happy boys to four straight weeks of swimming lessons. And oh yes, there were the children to feed. And bathe. Unless of course Tyler talked me into pool time taking the place of bath time.

Hey, it's summer.

So I find myself catching up again, and I'm not one bit bothered by it. Because summer makes me care a whole lot less about things like this. I'd rather be in the back yard, reading with my six year old, smushed right next to him in the middle of the hammock.

(I get really sweaty sitting that close to someone, but it's worth it when it's your boy.)

So, at the risk of sounding repetitive and a bit uncreative, I'm committing this week to catching you up on our summer. Don't hold your breath for too long...

It looks a lot like last summer.

Minus the newborn, that is.

The Backseat...

Classified Ad: Wanted

• snacks..........check
• flame thrower..........check
• super strength coat..........check
• dynamite..........check

Say...does anybody have a boulder axe we could borrow?

College Girls' Weekend

I did it. I left four children ranging from seven to one in the care of their very capable daddy. Went away for two entire nights and days, something we had planned for almost six months. I stayed up until 4am, an hour I hadn't seen, well, at least for a month or two.

We talked and laughed. We looked at ridiculous pictures of ourselves from 15 years ago and remembered details about each other's weddings. We covered kids, schools, our kids' friends and how to encourage our husbands. We might have even noticed that we're aging. We went for a walk in the rain, then ran home the last bit, completely soaked and giggling. We opened up the Bible on the porch and were reminded of how we got here.

Friends.

Sisters in Christ.

No matter how much time passes.