Thankful for FAMILY

Yesterday we spent the day with our family here at our house. My side of the family came over for our annual brunch. Everyone brings a dish - always different kinds of foods to try out and enjoy. Dave and Andrew have been sick this past week, so we took it easy all afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa came for traditional dinner - with the entire dinner!! Everything was delicious. Now, today the kids and I are at home in our PJ's - playdoh, fort building and lots of rest.

Thursday

Jenna - the girl who likes to stand up to everything holding on with one hand and giggles away while you try to get to her before she falls.

7 MONTHS

I'm switching my posts for Jenna's age from weeks to months starting today - per Dave's request.... Hard to believe that today Jenna is 7 months old. As I've mentioned in the past, she is always on the go - wanting to move forward and now upwards - climbing up on anything in her way. She's pulling up to stand against the chairs, sofa, bean bag and really anything. She'll then try to take a step away and plop! We bought her a walker, so now she's enjoying moving around the kitchen. She's eating 3 meals a day - you can't feed her fast enough.... Just yesterday Jenna started screaming (not a cry, but a LOOK at me!!!!!) scream. Her nights are slightly better than my last post - waking up twice a night instead of three or more times a night. Jenna gives my mom a hard time when she's watching her for me.... crying for her, throwing her head into the carpet and then giggling about it when I've come home and she sees me. Oh, and last of all...whenever Jenna catches Dave's eyes her eyebrows arch and her smile is HUGE!!!!

HALLOWEEN 2009

And this year...... U.S. Marshal Drewsie Drew; Glamour Witch Amelia, Tinkerbell Ava and Pumpkin Jenna. The troops (minus Jenna) are out in the drizzly rain trick-or treating as I write.

TODAY

Today Ava's school celebrated International Children's Day. Students took part in a parade around the school building and then an assembly. Ava proudly represented Spain wearing her dress her daddy brought her home from Spain in April. Amelia participated in "crazy clothes" day at her school. You be the judge - Did Amelia do a good job?

Last Night

Last night..... (and really every night for the past few months) has been like this......

Jenna is so tired by 7pm that she drinks 2 -3 ounces of her bottle and falls fast asleep. We put the other kids to bed by 8pm. After watching about 5 minutes of the Redskins playing horribly we went to bed - about 9pm. Half the week Drew will "talk" and make noise from 9pm to 11pm; the other half he's quiet as a mouse the whole night. That's another story....

Back to Jenna..............so.... by 10:30pm Jenna was fussing, so I went in sat with her on the rocker and she drank another ounce or two and fell fast asleep. I was back in bed within 25 minutes. Then again the same exact drill at 1:30am. Then again at 3:30am, BUT this time I did it...... I let her cry. It took 15 minutes of her "complaining" and another very long 25 minutes of outright crying (which Dave said was a mad cry, I said was a sad cry). She fell asleep and woke when hearing her brother and sisters at 7am.

I've said it before....Dave and I are tired, tired, tired. See how tonight goes....

The Weekend

This past weekend we made our annual outing to Jumbo's Pumpkin Patch in Middletown. We went early, it had been raining and crazy windy. The forecast called for even more wind and rain, but we saw a break and tried to take advantage of it. It seems every weekend so far has been a rainy one. The girls got to ride the ponies, we saw some animals and I took my pictures, but no trip out to the actual pumpkin patch - too muddy and dangerous for that hay ride. We picked our pumpkins which were already picked there at the barn. We had lunch out at the world's best restaurant (for our kids).......... Olive Garden. BTW.. I have no idea where that black dog came from.....

Nightime brought the 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat at Andrew's school. The PTA sets up a party which is supposed to be outside, but once again the weather changed that. Everyone enjoyed the festivities in their costumes....trick or treating, food, crafts, and the magician.

We recovered on Sunday.