Pausing from the Whirlwind

I've been caught up in the whirlwind called life, which means I haven't caught up on a lot of things, especially blogging. I spent a few minutes finally catching up on some friends' posts, which was so fun, and then realized, yikes, last time for me was in March. ho hum. Just out of the habit, mostly, and trying to get better habits, like not being up late anymore (really! I've been getting better!) but tonight, I'm riding off a Halloween chocolate high :) mwa ha ha ha.

So, here we go, jumpin' back in...no catch up, sorry, we're just moving forward starting with today's events!

We got around to carving tonight at around 5 pm...it was fun! Lucas was the most gung-ho, he carved most of his all by himself. The others were nearly in tears begging for mom to deal with all the yucky pumpkin guts :)

And, also in true last minute style, everyone chose costumes right after pumpkin carving. Natalie insisted on being a soccer player (she is dying to play on a team again), Lucas looking so chivalrous in his knight costume (same as last year) and Elijah was so adorable as a fireman, his hat tipping over his eyes every time he got to a door to trick-or-treat. Christian made a perfect turtle, crawling at just the right speed :)

So, since I'm at it, I might as well post some pics from Elijah's birthday celebrations yesterday. It was a wonderful day. Elijah loves farms and animals, and we hadn't been to Hidden Villa in ages.

Gardens are one place where I feel closest to heaven. This scene is just totally fall to me!

All the little hiding places for kids are so magical here!

Here sheepy sheepy...right after taking this picture some lady told us not to feed the sheep straw. oh well.

These 5 piglets were 5 days old...and this sow slept right through the nursing session...wow, way to go mama! Absolutely adorable to watch.

My dear old friend Jia Jiang came to meet us since he was in town for a talk at Google. You can hear his inspiring story here: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Surprising-Lessons-From-100-D-2

It took quite a few takes to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time! We're so glad our cousin could join us!

Elijah's big present was a red wagon! It was a super fun way to serve cake (well, actually brownies).

Elijah is such a wonderful, happy child. He has been really snuggly with mom lately, which I love.  And he is becoming so expressive, and very quotable. One I wrote down recently he was talking to Lucas and said "Let's head bonk, and then we'll laugh!" His dimpled smile melts my heart. He loves doing school lessons with me when the big kids are working on their independent work, loves singing, and reading, and pretend play. This is such a wonderful age of discovery for him, and it's such a joy to be his mama!