October

We had a great month with a lot of highs and a few tough lows.   

The soccer season came to a close mid-October.  Everyone had fun playing on their respective teams.  Lincoln and Annika's team never won a game and rarely scored points, but they never let that bother them.  Their coach did such a good job unifying the team. 

Annika, Brynley, Quinn, and Lincoln

Playing with some friends from school after their game.

Rebecah's team went undefeated.  She improved so much as a player.  It has been fun to see her gain confidence and become more aggressive on the field.  She hopes to play next year.

Rebecah with Emily.

Birthday week!!  This year we really did have all of our birthdays in the same week.  Mine was Sunday, Eden's was Tuesday, and Lincoln and Annika's was on Saturday.  Birthday week is always extra busy for me, but it's fun, too.

It's hard to believe I'm 42!  I had my traditional French Silk pie for dessert. 

Eden's birthday was just a great day.  It was low-key and wonderful.  She started off the day losing her first tooth!!  It was very exciting because she had just discovered that it was loose the week before. 

Eden was SO patient waiting all day long to open her presents.  She helped frost her cake in the afternoon.  She and Annika are always very specific about how they want their cakes.  Eden had a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

Joseph worked the afternoon/evening of Eden's birthday.  We didn't want Joseph to miss out on the celebration, so we ended up waiting until 7:00 in the evening to open presents so Joseph could FaceTime with us.  What a patient girl!! 

Eden's favorite present was a new plush chameleon.  My mom gave Eden this colorful, soft chameleon when she was born that she calls "Meme."  He's a boy and he has been well-loved over the years.  He is no longer soft and his colors aren't as vibrant.  I have been looking for a second Meme for a few years and I finally found one on eBay.  We ordered it and it was the best decision!!  Eden loves both of her Memes.  

We love Eden.  She is so sweet and such a wonderful member of our family.  I just can't believe that my baby is 5! 

Our low came on October 15.  I received a call from the school early that morning saying that Lincoln and Annika had been exposed to Covid on the bus and would have to quarantine for the next 10 days.  It was a cruel blow.  I'm not a party person, but when my kids turn 7, I have a birthday party for them.  The party was the next day and I spent all of Friday contacting parents and the bounce house company letting them know that we would have to cancel the party.  It was very disappointing.  Lincoln and Annika missed 6 days of school and their last soccer game.  The silver lining was that neither of them came down with Covid and we still celebrated their birthday, just without a party.

Over the years I have gotten off pretty easy with two birthdays on one day.  I let the kids pick a special breakfast, dinner and dessert choice.  Lincoln and Annika almost always want the same breakfast (eggs and sausage) and dinner.  This year they both wanted pizza, but Annika wanted breakfast pizza and Lincoln wanted pepperoni.  Pretty easy.  For dessert, Annika had a chocolate cake, but this time I did a vanilla buttercream instead of a cream cheese frosting and it was super yummy.  Lincoln had brownie bombe with mint chocolate chip ice cream as one of the layers. 

We love our twinners!!!  One is an introvert, and the other an extrovert.  One has amazing penmanship and the other messy.  One has a neat and tidy room, and the other struggles to keep messes at bay. They both have a lot of friends, love school, and are wonderful additions to our family!  We love them both and they are a fun twin package!!

On Columbus Day I took the kids to Abbott Farms for apple picking.  We looked at a few animals and posed for a few pictures before picking our apples. 

Kimball and the goat staring each other down.

Kimball didn't want his face in one of the cut outs so I got to pose with the kids! 

Kimball wanted to try a few different varieties of apples, which was fine.  When he mentioned wanting to try red delicious, I told him he could pick ONE red delicious apple because they aren't very good apples, and they have a mushy flesh and a bitter taste.  He didn't believe me until he tried it on the way home.  He thought I had been exaggerating.  Now he knows for himself to steer clear of red delicious apples.  The farm only has one row of red delicious apples, so that is a good indicator how unpopular they are. 

  Quarantine was hard for me.  I was suddenly homebound because Joseph was working long hours and the other kids had school.  Lincoln and Annika would do school in the mornings and would need help every few minutes, so it was hard to accomplish a lot at one time.  When the middle school called on Thursday stating that Rebecah had been exposed to Covid and would have to quarantine it wasn't nearly so hard for me even though it would mean a second week of quarantine.  She could at least stay by herself and watch the other kids for me so I could run errands and grocery shop.  Their quarantine days overlapped three days.  Rebecah finished quarantine the day before Halloween. After two weeks of quarantine, I'm VERY eager to get my kids vaccinated.  It can't come soon enough. Once kids are fully vaccinated I don't believe they have to quarantine after an exposure, because Kimball has been exposed twice this school year and hasn't had to quarantine. 

Painting rocks during quarantine.

Football ended toward the end of October.  The JV team went 7-1 for the season.  Kimball had a great last game with a lot of playing time.  He threw great passes and came home so excited for next season.

Daddy/daughter date to get ice cream!

I'm really not a Halloween fan, so I'm glad Joseph organized the little ones and carved pumpkins with them.  

Eden got some funny glasses at her preschool Halloween party so we tried them out!

I'm so glad Halloween was on a Sunday this year, that meant we could skip trick-or-treating!  The last time Halloween was on a Sunday our neighborhood went trick-or-treating on Saturday, but that didn't happen this year.  The kids did attend the trunk or treat at the Church and had fun.  We just had "in-house" trick-or-treating.  I put bowls of candy at all of the bedroom doors and then Joseph and I passed out the candy as the kids walked to each bedroom door.  It was crazy and loud and fun all at the same time. The kids didn't get the variety or quantity of candy that they usually get, but it was still a fun Halloween for them. We watched a Muppet Haunted House as they ate candy.