Pumpkin patch.

We took advantage of a warm weekday and spent a few hours at the pumpkin patch.  The girls loved it!

Cutest little witch!

When I look at these pictures of Hattie all I see is how badly she was hurting.  A few hours before we went to the pumpkin patch she fell off our bed and I was sure she had broken her collar bone.  She cried any time I picked her up, put her shirt on, or put any pressure on her shoulder/collar bone area, and was pretty miserable all day.  I called right after it happened, but wasn’t able to see the doctor until the end of the day (after these pictures).  They did x-rays, because the doctor was pretty convinced she had broken it, but the x-rays didn’t show any fractures.  Hallelujah!  It still hurt her for a few weeks, but it gradually got better.  This picture shows the only time she would let me set her down to play—mostly she just wanted to be held.  Poor girl!

Enjoying some yummy treats!

Sisters 2014.

Sisters doing my cute mom’s nails.

These two cute nursing babies got to join us.  They made me miss my babies!

Brian sent a few pictures while I was gone.  They happen to all be of Hattie—Elna must have been too busy having fun with her Grandma!

A picture of the stool Brian remodeled a bit by adding the side rails.  Hattie loves being on Elna’s yellow stool, but wasn’t quite ready for it without some support.

We took so few pictures, I’m bummed.  We had such a great and relaxing time—doing nails, working on a craft project, eating yummy food (including eating at Chevy’s mexican restaurant), lots of talking, and exchanging Sister’s gifts…which we didn’t get a picture of.  It was a nice break for me, thanks to Brian and his parents help!  I wasn’t going to go, but decided at the very last minute (like the day before I think) that I would go with Brian’s encouragement.  Brian was a good sport, but the girls weren’t easy on him—Elna didn’t go to bed the first night until 10:30 p.m., and accompanied that late bedtime with a tantrum of all tantrums.  I was happy to be able to come back to my sweet family!

I came back from my little break so refreshed and ready to soak my little girls up!  And they had missed me too and couldn’t stop hugging and kissing me.  It was all very sweet.

And we got out to play in the fresh air!  (Elna’s face!)

Rooster Rock.

Friday, October 10th we spent walking around Rooster Rock with friends and enjoying the last nice day of the season.

I took a million pictures of the kids this day—the lighting was great and they were just being happy and carefree and beautiful, so I couldn’t resist.

Cody, Sydney, Cade, Ian, Elna, Ella, and Hattie.

How can I pick just one of these to post?  Hattie’s smile is killing me—such a big cheeser!  And Elna is just so sweet!

Those sandy hands and legs have me yearning for summer or San Diego.

All of the kids spent a lot of time digging this hole and filling it with water for Hattie to sit in.

Cade, Ella, Sydney, Hattie, Elna, Cody, and Ian.

Cody, Elna, and Harriet.

After playing on this beach for a while, we decided to brave the other beaches that we had to walk through (and the nudists on them) in order to get to a place we could cross to an island that’s in the middle of the river.  Because it’s so late in the year there’s a place you can cross without getting wet because the river is so dried up.  We made it without the kids seeing anything, and they had such a great time playing at this other beach.

Elna is out there with the big kids.  She’s such a good swimmer I really don’t worry about her, and plus the bigger kids were out there and the water was very shallow—like maybe Elna’s waist deep.

These two pictures of Hattie just fill my heart up—I love seeing my children in their very happiest most carefree state.  My girls love the beach and wide open spaces.  We are missing the summer, can you tell?

Elna looks cold!  But happy of course!

Warming up with her buddy!

Walking back to the cars.  This is the dry stretch in the river, and you can see behind us where we spent the last half of our day there.  We had the best time!  I feel so grateful for good friends, healthy bodies, and this beautiful place we call home!