Random Ramblings

We had a great weekend... of course, I guess it depends what your definition of great is. Is great wading through the masses as you try to take advantage of great deals at Fred Meyer's weekend events? Dragging your kids through the store to look for REALLY good deals? Watching your 2 year old try to pick up all the apples that have fallen onto the store floor... even the ones that are under all the displays? Your 3 year old wetting the bed at 2 in the morning? Having a sick 7 year old throw up 5 times in one morning? Missing your nephew's dedication? Missing your good friend's baptism? Cleaning vomit off your son's floor right before going to bed because he couldn't make it to the bathroom? Nope. Those things aren't great. BUT, we did still have a great weekend.

I wanted Saturday to be a forced family fun day. We had talked about going to the Pumpkin Patch but decided that by the time we spent all the money there, we might as well be going to Disneyland. Seriously. To take 5 kids to the pumpkin patch is a little ridiculous! So, we ventured to the local Fred Meyer to get costumes and pumpkins. The kids had just as much fun picking pumpkins from the bin and didn't even miss the pumpkin patch. We ventured into the store which was CRAZY!! Apparently, they were celebrating the remodeling of the store. They had all sorts of great deals. Coupons galore! Who doesn't love getting FREE reusable grocery bags and a 10 lb. bag of potatoes for 98 cents? Moving on. We were honestly there about 2 hours. Getting the deals, dragging our kids. They were loving it. Or not so much. But, we were there for so long that we did get something great... free pizza and pop. Who doesn't love free pizza?

Saturday night we got a visit from our babysitter. "Our" Kayleen. She has been our sitter for 2 1/2 years. Our kids love her. She loves our kids. She babysat for us for the 1st time on Ella's 1st birthday. I knew right then that she was amazing. Ella would scream anytime we left her but didn't even bat an eye that night. From then on, it was as if we couldn't get out of there fast enough. Ella has always loved "her" Kayleen. Saturday evening she stopped by our house on the way to her 1st dance. She looked beautiful! When the kids heard she was stopping by they all raced to put their new costumes on so they could show her what they had gotten. Kayleen doesn't babysit for us as often anymore. Things changed a bit when Cole joined our family. We can't really have our sitter who is only 2 years older than our nephew alone in the same house together. Just wouldn't be right. So, she only gets to come over every once in awhile. We miss her and love to see her. Big hugs are always a must and there is just something about this girl that pulls on my heartstrings. I pray for this girl. I pray for her family. They are all amazing and such a blessing.

Sunday morning I woke up to Caden saying his tummy hurt. Truly, I thought he was faking it. Trying to get in an early morning snuggle. A little after 7 I found I was wrong. We heard the running of little feet into the bathroom and I knew he wasn't faking it. Poor boy. The blessing in this? I got to snuggle my sweet boy more than I have in a long time. Caden, Brenton and I stayed home from church and in between getting things done around the house I got snuggles. That afternoon, Caden napped in my lap. It was wonderful! I've missed snuggling with him and was so thankful to have that time. It was a blessing and we needed it!

Sunday also held the official start of fall in our family. The first batch of pumpkin bread was made. Oh how we love this!! The smell! The taste! Brenton seriously ate a half of a loaf. Yum!! I love fall! The colors. The smells. The baking. The cold crisp air. Oh, I love fall!!!

Last night we had some more family fun. We watched "Where the Red Fern Grows" with the kids all while snuggling on the couch and drinking smoothies. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Here's the cool part. Friday night as we were going to bed and talking about our weekend, we talked about how we really needed to watch out. We knew we wanted to enjoy our family. We voiced it out loud. We knew the enemy would love to ruin our weekend. That he would cause fights. That he would do whatever he could to distract us. He sure did try. He sure lost. God blessed us in our crazy weekend. He gave us amazing time with our family. He gave us our hearts desire. Thank you Lord!