Halloween Petting Zoo Fun

We did a little trick-or-treating and a little church festivaling. Atticus tried to take candy out of another kid's bucket (that was not his sibling). I guess he liked it better.

Here is a little Fynn interview before we left.



The best part of the night was watching Atticus at the petting zoo. The boy went absolutely crazy. Those poor animals.




Sadly, it's a little hard to pay attention to gates and such when you are chasing animals.


Next Halloween I am going to push for a Little Red Riding hood theme. Jackson isn't game, although he did ask if he could carry a real ax as the woodcutter. We would have one little red riding hood, one wolf, one wood cutter, one mom, one grandpa (we would have to adjust the story a little), and two more somethings.

Leftover stuff and a late party post

Fynn celebrated his birthday at my parents house. He had fun!

He got a puppy dream lite from Nanny and was very excited.


We have been Halloweening it up the past week. We painted pumpkins at girl scouts.


We made smores on a stick at the girl scout party.

and did a little face painting.

And went to a pumpkin carving party.

Finally, we did a little trunk or treating.



To burn off massive amounts of junk eating, Fynn did crunches on the couch while watching tv.

Pumpkin Patch Fynn

Fynn tagged along to MDO with me one day and decided to ham it up when asked by the director taking pictures.

Let the festivities begin!

We kicked off Halloween with a carnival. We are going to as much stuff as possible because I burned my fingers making their costumes. They will be worn!

When girls turn into boys

I had my sonogram today. I asked the lady if the baby was still a girl. She said "who told you that? It's a boy. Look." Yep, at 24 weeks, there was nothing there. It was the classic hamburger patty. No turtle in sight. Today? The other way around.

I thought I would be more upset, but really the whole thing is amusing. As Jennifer says, it's a change of perspective. Either way, I get to hold a precious baby soon!

That precious baby was weighing in at almost 8lbs according to the ultrasound, but I would say 7 is more accurate. He is just really long (in my opinion). He is inside me, after all. Ultrasounds can be off by a lot any way.

And after all, we have some super sweet boys! I mean, you can't get any cuter. Providence is fine. She wasn't upset at all. She just said that we need to pick a boy name out now.

1 month, give or take

Thoughts one month from my 5th child:

1. I waiver between excitement and fear. Seriously, 5 kids? I feel like I manage 4 somewhat. What am I going to do with 5?

2. Atticus was such an easy addition. No one got overly upset or jealous. What's going to happen this time? Adding a 3rd was rough, will adding a 5th follow that pattern? Is Atticus going to lose his cool when a new baby is around?

3. Please, oh please, don't let me go past my due date.

4. Please, oh please, make this my shortest labor and not my longest. Although, I will just be happy to be in labor after having Atticus.

5. How bizarre is it that a big part of me is completely giddy about being in labor? (and the plan at the moment is to deliver at home with a midwife.) I have developed hospital-phobia. Seriously.

6. How many sleepers do I really need? I have 8. Is that enough? I can't remember. Providence mostly wore onesies because it was hot. 5th baby and I am mostly over the cutsie outfits. They are nice, but in all honesty, the never fit correctly. I did buy a coordinating Christmas outfit for Providence and the baby, but the baby is wearing leggings and a shirt. You know, because a 1 month old in a dress = all you see is a diaper and cute belly.

7. I still worry about stuff that could go wrong. It haunts me. Once the baby is born, I will move on to worrying about SIDs, weird diseases, kidnapping and car accidents.

8. Will I finally get a baby with hair? I had hair as baby. I should get at least one. I dreamed the baby had hair. Providence had some. On that note, who will the baby look like?

9. I have to go in for a real sonogram. After the fiasco and extreme stress when they thought something was wrong with Atticus that would require immediate surgery and strongly pointed to a genetic disorder, I am a little gun shy. It turned out to be nothing. Can I demand to see the radiologist to check things over if they think something is wrong? This will avoid a) way more stress than I need and b) $700 for a level 2 sonogram. On the lighter side of that, I can double check gender. You never know when things can grow.

10. My pregnancy dreams have been more psychotic than they normally are. This has turned me into an insomniac.

11. I think November 5 sounds like an excellent birthday. If anyone can arrange that, I'd be much obliged. I guess I should just be hoping for a November baby and not a December one. My official due date is the 18th/19th, so I suppose that could be iffy.

Happy Halfers Providence!

You are now 6.5 (78 months old)! It's hard to believe how fast you are growing and how tall you are getting! You are all legs, girly!

You love all things science related. You can identify many spiders and birds. You love learning about how the world works. You love to draw and create. You like math. You have a strong dislike for reading. You do not like people to talk to you about school. You love talking to people about nature, animals, plants and anything related to those topics.

I hate that you have to struggle, but I know it will turn you into an amazing person. You will learn to never give up. You will learn to see people for who they are. You are already developing such a deep sense of compassion and empathy. You will learn to value things that the rest of us miss. You can move mountains, just as easily as the next person. After all, Moses was scared to speak in front of Pharaoh and God used him to free a nation.


You have your daddy wrapped around your little finger and it is very sweet. I love when he tells you no and you ask him if a kiss will change his mind.

Happy halfers Providence! You are on your way to 7.

Playground time

There is a garden by the library playground that Providence loves. She calls it her enchanted garden.

I am not sure if it belongs to the library or the house next door. No one has come out to yell at us.


She insisted I take a picture of these flowers.

The library stairs are always more entertaining than the library playground.

My 3 musketeers.

and my little lady.

and a spider web

Here are some shots from the playground by our house.

Pumpkin Patch

I honestly don't know how many more pumpkin pictures I can get out of Jackson. This year was tough.

This is as good as we got this year. It's not too bad. I am rather partial. It shows off some personality. And Providence's hair is always in her face like that. Atticus was refusing to stay put. I was also flying solo. It's easier with Jeremy's antics.


There was a nice volunteer trying to help me get a picture. Except, she wasn't standing anywhere near me.




Scarecrow fun.