Feeling like Fall

It's finally starting to feel like fall and I'm excited for this cooler weather we've been having. Even though the cooler temps means the end of most of our outdoor fun for the year, it signals the start of the next fun season. But before I get wrapped up in all things thankful and magical, let's reminisce on our Fall so far. 

We'll back alllll the way up to September. Even though September still felt largely like summer, we enjoyed a few fall activities. We started the month with a family favorite- s'mores! Katie really just likes the chocolate and Brady really just likes the marshmallows, but the time spent together is definitely a favorite of ours. 

Many Friday nights were spent in the stands at Chizevsky Field cheering on our Eagles. 

We also spent a sweltering day at the pumpkin patch with our cousins. I think the heat kept the crowds away as we mostly had to patch to ourselves. The kids sure weren't complaining!

And October didn't disappoint with all the feelings of fall. The kids enjoyed a few combine rides with my dad that month. We might have had to reschedule them a few times, but I'm glad our schedules matched up to get them in. I hope it's a memory that my kids will always remember.

We also spent a lovely day at the zoo! It was Allie's first long car ride and big trip and she was a champ the entire time. The kids enjoyed the snakes, monkeys, and of course the penguins. We also tested out the butterfly area this year, and I'm not sure we will be allowed back ha! My kids are flower pickers and they might have got scolded by workers in there several times, no matter how many times I told them they couldn't pick the flowers. But no butterflies were harmed, so I call it a win.

We spent a warm afternoon at the park.

And celebrated with Eric after he shot a nice buck!

We were TP'd for the first time, and Brayden and Katie performed their first illegal activity by returning the favor to the cousins that got them! 

There's a funny story about this night that I don't want to forget. I stayed home with Ashley (who missed out on the fun because of a lie. However, when I was telling her how much fun Brayden and Katie were having, she responded that it's ok, because she had never been before so she doesn't know how much fun it is. Why is she too logical for her own good ha!)- but anyways, I stayed home with Ashley and Allison, and all of a sudden I'm getting a call from Nichole asking where we are hiding. I guess that Nichole and Connor came home while Eric and the kids were there. They saw Eric's van, but couldn't find him or the kids. Eric said that Brayden and Katie did such a good job hiding- they knew they had to be very quiet and hardly made a sound. If you can't tell by Brayden's face in this blurry picture, he had an absolute blast. And I'm pretty positive Katie had a great time as well. 

 

The next day we decided it was time to carve our pumpkins, well for Eric to carve the kids' pumpkins while I took pictures. Shout out to him for always being the designated pumpkin carver. 

Brayden chose a scary face.

Ashley wanted a face that looked like Allison's shirt.

Katie wanted a unicorn, but she settled for a silly face.

Allison didn't partake this year, but she filled in pretty good for a jack-o-lantern on her own. 

And then we can't forget Halloween!! We visited grandparents and great grandparents, and ended up with more candy than we could ever eat. I had kinda hoped we would be able to tie their costumes into a theme, but when they started telling me what they were wanting to be, I knew that that would be impossible. 

Brayden was a robot.

Ashley was a mermaid.

Katie was a puppy.

And Allison was the cutest little ghost I've ever seen. 

And to round out this ultimate mash-up of a post, Katie's first haircut! Her hair was definitely not long by any means, but it was getting a little mullet-y in the back, and some of her bangs were starting to get pretty long. She did an excellent job sitting for Pam and is already talking about getting her hair cut again. 

Our fall has been off to the best start, and I know that it will only keep getting better. Here's to looking towards the next few weeks with our crazy crew!

2020: Our Year in Review

I'm sure that most people would consider 2020 to be one of the worst years they can remember in a long time. Listening to the radio a few weeks back, I remember the radio announcer commenting about how 2020 has been the worst year in his lifetime. I almost had to laugh out loud, because 2020 has been the absolute best year of my life. 

2014, now that year sucked. 2017, another year that I'd like to skip over. But 2020? 2020 brought us two of our biggest blessings, more laughter than I can count, an ample amount of togetherness, and an overflowing abundance of love and happiness. Let's take a look back, shall we?

January started with some severe swelling in my legs. After getting checked out at the hospital at the end of 2019 for blood clots, and having testing done for pre-eclampsia, Dr. Haller determined that I was just going to be swollen. So to try to reduce my swelling, she made me move to half days at work. January also saw our niece and goddaughter Emily be baptized. What an honor it was to stand up there with her and be the ones chosen to guide her in her faith. 

February was a very big month for our family! Valentine's day will forever be one of my favorite days, because it was the day we finally got to meet Brayden and Ashley! I could go on and on about these two, but I'll just leave this first family photo here instead. 

This February I also turned 30! We celebrated by getting to come home from the hospital and it was the best birthday ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic really started soon after Brayden and Ashley were born. On March 16th schools closed and remained closed the rest of the school year for in person school. We poked a little fun at the pandemic craziness of empty grocery store shelves, especially the sudden lack of toilet paper. It was quite the hot commodity for a while! I know that I never would have thought that this thing would still be such a big deal and that so many people would die from it. Here's to hoping that with the newly developed vaccines we are one step closer to a little bit more normalcy again. 

At the end of March, Brayden had his tongue tie revised. He had the cutest little dip in his tongue before his revision. 

In April, both Brayden and Ashley rolled from belly to back. Since schools were in remote learning due to the coronavirus, I was able to go back to work after Easter and started seeing some of my kids via zoom.

May saw my first Mother's Day with Brady and Ashley, and 7 years of marriage with Eric. The twins were also baptized in May.  It wasn't quite the baptism I had planned (our grandparents weren't there, we didn't do the ceremony during a mass, they were older than what I really wanted), but with the unknowns of Covid, you gotta do what you gotta do. 

In June, Ashley rolled from her back to her belly. There was no stopping her after that- she was a rolly polly until she finally started to crawl. We had our first pool day with the twins. Neither baby was a huge fan- but knowing how much they like baths now at 10 months old, I know that next summer they will LOVE the pool. This month Eric celebrated his first Father's Day with Brady and Ashley too. 

Brady and Ashley met some of their new friends in July. It's hard to believe that there are now 12 of these littles (and since this October there are now 13!). July also saw Brayden rolling from his back to his belly. 

August meant back to school, and boy was I glad that we were going back in person! There are lots of precautions that we had to (and are still) follow- i.e. masks, social distancing, partitions, no field trips, extra sanitizing- but I know that we will do whatever we have to to make sure that those kids get to come to school every day. The night before I went back was a little emotional for me. I mean I was home with them for six whole months, catching every milestone, every laugh, every tear, everything. Luckily their babysitter Amanda is the bomb and did so well making sure I still felt like I was part of their day by sending me loads and loads of pictures. They still love going to Amanda's every day, and I'm happy knowing they are happy. At the end of August we had family pictures taken. And we also got to catch up with an old friend- Nick!

In September Eric and I went down to Pinckneyville to camp with Brian and Mara. We threw an air mattress in the bed of the truck instead of using a tent, I think I could get used to that. We did lots of hiking, deer spotting, and even visited Scratch Brewery. The end of September saw a kid free date with my besties. This month Ashley also got her first tooth! She now has two teeth, both on the bottom.

October was a fun month! Ashley started army crawling at the beginning of the month. We went to the pumpkin patch with Connor, Nikki, Grant, Emily, Chad, and Erin. Both babies really enjoyed the animal petting zoo. Eric's had his 31st birthday and celebrated with some baby snuggles. Brady and Ashley were a couple of cuties for Halloween, and while it took about a million times of getting Ashley in that box before she actually liked it, it was so worth it. Brayden got his first tooth this month, and he is going on five teeth now, two on the bottom and three on top!

Ashley started pulling up on the coffee table to stand in November. We also got to watch their aunt yay-yay (or Erin) run in her marathon. Thanks to Covid she had to run it around Effingham instead of in Indy, but it was fun to be able to cheer her on! November also saw me get my first buck kill! I really thought that we wouldn't find him after not finding any blood that night. But sure enough, when Eric and I went out to look for him the next afternoon, I walked right in on him. Brayden started crawling Thanksgiving weekend- and not army crawling, but full fledged hands and knees crawling. 

December has also been a full month. My Grandpa Wolf passed away on December 3rd. I hate that Brady and Ashley won't have any memories with him, but I'm glad that they will have some pictures to look back on. We started a new tradition with our cousins- PJs and Pancakes! I can't wait to see how this tradition grows as the years go on. On Ian's birthday, we had our first snow, and of course I had to throw the babies in the little patch that was left by the end of the day. In December Brady also started pulling up on the coffee table to stand. By the end of the month here, they are both cruising along the edge of the couch, and Brady likes to let go of the couch and attempt to stand on his own, which usually ends up with him either on the floor or quickly grabbing back on to whatever he was standing by. We celebrated our first Christmas and it was so fun to watch this holiday through their eyes. 

2020, thank you for quite literally being our best year ever. If you are reading this and are thinking that 2020 was far from your best year ever, I hope that when you look back and reflect on the year that 2020 was, you are able to find the good that it brought us, no matter how small that good might be for you. And if nothing else, rejoice in knowing that tomorrow starts a brand new year, full of all sorts of possibility, opportunity, and hope.