Octobre

Oh October.  How lovely you are.  With you comes Tball games & uniforms & cool mornings under the trees as the leaves change & fall.  The sycamore trees are the only ones in town to actually remind us it is indeed Fall, and we get the chance to enjoy it during Tball.  The beckoning of the cool mornings with my little ones & watching them play & sitting with dear friends.  I absolutely love this sweet tradition of ours.  Looking forward to many more Octobers full of these kinds of mornings.

The boys very first game this season was the same day as my sis-in-law's baby shower, and I had to miss it to attend. :-(  I was really bummed to be away, but thankful for videos from a friend of my boys at bat & some great pics to remember the day.  Super Daddy did awesome with our three!

Momma&David jumped in the car & drove down to spend the say at Mimi's house full of celebration!  The baby shower turned out so lovely, and I know everyone enjoyed getting to celebrate with John&Kelsey.  We cannot wait to meet their baby girl!

There were so many beautiful details to the shower, because of course Mimi was in charge!  I was able to bring two games & the Curry Chicken Salad & decorations to add in.  What a whirl wind day, but it was worth it to be there.  We are so excited about Nora Mae Prose!

The boys' next Tball game was the following Monday night, so I didn't have to wait long to see my boys play!  :-)

Oh my, Cinottis Pumpkin donuts!  Hanna W. & I made a run out to the beaches to pick up these little wonders, & they are worth it.  My favorite donut!  Don't they just look awesome?

Hayden really liked playing catcher this season.  He liked it because he could make so many outs! haha, he was very serious & in one game made close to a dozen outs in two innings!!  We were amazed, but it was the perfect combo to do it: catcher then first base.  He was loving it!

Hurricane Matthew came rolling in & canceled Hayden's special trip with Mimi&Grandpa because everything closed, even Legoland! (and Disney!).  We we decided to spend the weekend in Tampa to escape the storm, and spent the time playing & watching the weather channel as our home was very nearly in a direct path.  We are so thankful the Lord spared our small town!  Still plenty of damage, but nothing devastating!

We could not wait to come home to see how our house did.  I loved getting to see it all with my own eyes & feel less disconnected from what was happening.  Being away was safer, but so hard.  

These little fellas... so alike & so different.  It has been such a joy to have our sweet 'bonus round' baby.  I loved soaking in all the moments with Calvin, but it also felt sad in the same moments.  As he grew we celebrated & I grieved the loss of any more.  Don't we always want more?  Well, it seems the answer is not necessarily.  I have truly enjoyed David as a baby more than any other probably because his big bros love him SO MUCH.  Their enjoyment of him has multiplied mine, and I don't feel the same sadness.  It is still a little sad to pack up baby clothes, but it all feels like a sweet surprise.  I didn't expect to have this precious one & so I don't mourn the loss of more.  Praise the Lord for His surprise blessing to us.  We are so thankful to have him!

We celebrated his 8th month mark during the hurricane!  He's now truly sleeping through the night & eating so.much.baby.food.  His little teeth are still coming on strong... number 3 made a debut, on the bottom.  So no top teeth yet!  He's really getting going crawling & all of the sudden is pulling up too! I was shocked!  He's really ready to move & its going to be a whole new ballgame soon.  I had to move him up to 12-18 month sized clothes & we lowered his crib just about his 9th month birthday.  He's our little love bug & we all sing 'baby beluga' to him at least once a day. :-)  My favirte is when Calvin sings... "Davvy be-wuga.... oh Davvy be-wuuga!  Is the water warm? Is your momma home, with you so happy!!"

Our ceiling did have some water damage during the storm, so we fretted a bit about what to do.  Luckily, we were able to have our contractor come take a look quickly, and he said we were not in any rush to fix.  We are so thankful to have the right person to call to help us assess what's needed.

Mimi&Grandpa were able to reschedule Hayden's special trip to Legoland for his birthday the following weekend, so the little guys&I made a drive to Orlando to drop him off.  He was so exicted & had the.best.time.  We are so grateful for his adventure!

He cannot even contain his excitement.  Makes my heart swell.

Here is my precious little 8 month old!  Such a happy baby.

Tooth #3...

I wish I could bottle up the mornings sitting at the table with this boy.  The way he sits. His eyes how big&bright they are. His skin, so perfect.  His eyebrows & how I think he keeps raising one at me. His hair, so light & so much like Hayden's. He is just the most beautiful little thing in my eyes. Those little lips & nose, golly.  I could just love him up!

And then there was this day where I wanted to snap a picture of his favorite thing: the baby piano.  I ended up getting a play-by-play of him pulling up to standing as well!  I thought he would fall right over, wild man!

This last face... haha!  He's like: "uh-oh"  It make me laugh so hard!

The boys & their spray painted hair at the fall festival: Hayden became a red head, James was red & blue, and Calvin just got one dark blue streak only in the back. hahaha.

My road trip buddy Hannah & I at Rifle Paper Co!  We had the best time & will be making it an annual trip for their side walk sale for sure.  It was such a great time.

We found a new little family date night spot: The Loop in Riverside!  It has a deck on the creek right off the St. Johns, which was full of turtles & fish.  The boys had a blast & I loved the view.  Not expensive or fancy, but absolutely perfect.

This bullfrog must have gotten lost in the storm, because we've NEVER seen anything like him before!!  He was rescued from the pool.

Calvin's first pumpkin patch field trip with his Rainbow class.  He had a great time & so did David.  David&Kingsley were so funny I couldn't help but post their picture!

Mimi came up again to chaperone Hayden's field trip to the pumpkin patch, and she brought David's Halloween costume as well!  Check out baby R2D2!  It looked awesome; she did an amazing job!!  Maybe my favorite she's made, with the sharks as a close second. :-)

My guys: post Tball game lunch at Grumpy's.

We said, "See you soon" to Truitt from Calvin's class as they are up north for a few months, so Calvin had a great time hanging out with his buddies on their last day to play.

The Storybook parade & Scarecrow day at OPE!  Hayden the Scarecrow & James the Jawa!

Hayden&his buddies from Mrs. Pounds class!

This October was my 4th year writing in the #write31Days challenge!  I wrote about what it means to give up your self to the Lord, and it was really a lot of fun this year.  I didn't have any expectations, and neither did my readers.  I loved the freedom of how I didn't know where it was heading, and I learned so much.  I truly loved it!  Check it out at www.mylifeinprose.wordpress.com

Of course, October closed with Halloween & our Star Wars theme for year #2!  These guys looked awesome & had a blast.  Yay for the innocence of dressing up & visiting your neighbors & eating sweet treats.  The boys were James: Jawa, Hayden: Captain Rex, Calvin: Luke Skywalker Jedi fighter pilot, and David: R2D2.

Lord, thank you for all the fun & memories & family time we had this month.  Thank you for the beautiful pictures that make memory lane feel so close as the days slip past one by one.  Thank you for the time to sit & write & grow.  Thank you for the chance to capture the progression of my sweet baby's early months, and see how the big boys spend their days.  I love watching them do all the things, and I'm so glad I get to be here.  I struggle when they fight Lord, I struggle when they don't listen.  I struggle with they hurt each other, and I struggle when the mess becomes a chaos that engulfs my sanity.  Lord thank you for your grace in those moments of my weakness & sin.  Forgive me for losing my temper & for their tender forgiveness.  Thank you for the wisdom you give us for how to guide each one on a path towards you & towards your plan for their life.  Thank you for teaching me how one step at a time.  I am so grateful to be the mother of these four sons.  Thank you for putting them in my life.  Amen.