Just some October fun...

Jared & his friend, Natalie, making a fire with Grandpa Unger at the cabin. That is now Jared's favorite activity. This was Thanksgiving weekend - snowed all day, every day.

Yeah, I know. Those eyelashes.

Ayda, my bumble-bee for halloween. She kinda reminds me of a character out of a Dr. Suess book. Cindy Lou Who, anyone?

Whoops, this one is supposed to be after the next one. Anyway, Ayda's had enough brotherly love...

Awww, so precious. I love this picture. And Ryan's head which snuck itself into the background tops it off.

Halloween has come and gone and I couldn't be happier. Now on to more important things, like the celebration of Christ's birth. I've been in charge of Cravings' new "baby" - stay tuned for the birth announcement! - so haven't had much time for anything else, as I've been doing the work from home. My part is mostly finished.

As for the house, we are trying to push for an almost-complete home by Christmas. Not sure if it will come to pass, but we are hoping. It's hard when everything is scaffolded. As in, we can't get the remaining trim put up because it needs to be painted. We can't paint it, because our garage is too full. Our garage is too full because we have stuff that should be in a shed in it. That stuff is in there because we haven't had time to build a shed. Sigh. But the shed is well on it's way to completion, so hopefully we can start making progress soon. And I feel a bit useless, because I can't build a shed and I can't side the house and I can't hang the drywall in the basement...but I can paint trim and doors, so that will be my job soon!

I've also gone through all of the kids' too small clothing, right from size 0. Ryan and I have really been convicted about how blessed we are, and since we are able to purchase clothing for future kids when that time comes (and lets be honest, who doesn't want to buy new clothes for new kids!), we decided to give away the clothes we had been hanging on to for those future kids. I kept sentimental stuff and some basics, like jeans. But we have 2 big rubber maid containers for our church's winter clothing giveaway and 1 1/2 big rubber maids for Haiti. Ryan's aunt and uncle volunteer in Haiti every winter and she was telling us about the need for clothing, so that's where the summer stuff is going. I am really glad that the clothing is going to be used by kids who desperately need it. God has definitely been showing me how blessed I am, even when I sometimes look at others and play the "not fair" game. Shame on me, that's for sure! But it's always a struggle...

On a completely different subject, I've finally successfully made bread! I've tried a few times before, and it was always raw in the middle. But no longer! Thanks to my Aunt Linda, who gave me her yummy recipe (which she wrote out as she made bread one day, because she does it from memory), and thanks to my sis-in-law, Karen, for indefinitely lending me her KitchenAid mixer, so the whole process is a breeze! Of course, Shaun and Karen benefit too, as they get fresh bread!

Ummm, what else?! Christmas is coming and I am so excited about it. My Mom's side of the family is coming out here for the celebration and I can't wait to see them all. They are so precious to me, even more so now that Mom is gone, and I treasure the few times I get to see these members of my family. How I wish they lived closer! Yup, all of them!!!

And I'm starting to think about Ayda's birthday party. Grrr, nothing seems to work out nicely as far as that goes. I love throwing big bashes, so even though our house is nice and roomy, I think 43 adults and 32 kids is a bit much...So that leaves dividing it into two parties, or renting a big place to have one party. I really wanted to go to a gymnastics place, since Ayda loves that kind of stuff, but they only start renting on Saturdays halfway through the afternoon...when every child is napping! And weekend evenings around Christmas just don't work - even Ryan and I have an event on the evening of her birthday. If I could be guaranteed a decent weather day and lots of snow, I'd be more willing to host a group - we could pile up a bunch of snow and go sledding, even possibly have a hot dog roast outside. But no guarantees on that...any suggestions anyone?! Fun Factory might be an idea, but it's so expensive...

Anyway, that's all for now. Oh, except that Ayda's hips, legs and back are just fine! I'm not sure if I've blogged about it, but we were concerned about her. Her back has cracked regularly when picked up from birth, she's very clumsy and runs with her butt way out, and a physio friend had concerns when she checked her out. So we thought, hey, let's go see the peds ortho, just in case. And she is fine. Her tibias are still twisted from her position in utero, and she's just been slow in straightening out. The Dr. said that she might not totally straighten, and if that's the case, she'll just be a really fast runner. She said that a lot of sprinters have a bend or twist in their tibias. And she actually has the same body type as mine - both of our lower backs cave in quite deeply. (I've been asked if I was a gymnast or dancer because of that - ha! Flexibility is NOT my strong point!) Actually, the lack of flexibility might have to do with that whole twisted tibia/concave back thing. And the cracking back thing is normal. So we are relieved. It wasn't a huge concern, but it is now one less thing to worry about. And I'd say Ayda is getting less clumsy. One day she'll just up and out-run all of us! :)

Okay, g' night.