RUN, RUN, RUN

Do my fellow Mommies out there ever feel like all we do is RUN, RUN, RUN???? This week is proving to be a bit crazy with all of the Halloween commitments we have or should I say, I HAVE. The kids don't make the goodies for the parties or the PIN THE SPIDER ON THE WEB game for the amusement of a class full of hyper first graders. Charlie's answer is that I shouldn't volunteer for all of this, but it means so much to the kids to have me there. And in all honesty, I enjoy peeking inside their classrooms and participating in their fun at schools. It allows me to see each one of them in a different light and usually it is because their siblings aren't involved when I volunteer at their schools. Beckett is always present, but he still doesn't quite count because he doesn't steal their toys or talk yet.

In the chaos of it all.... Beckett has double ear infections again. We hurried off to the doctors office after picking up Jordan from school and got the diagnosis that I was pretty sure of before the doctor actually looked in his ears. I seriously think that our older children think that the doctors office is like a second home! With four kids, we seem to be at the clinic all the time. I have them convinced that the doctors give misbehaving children shots if they touch all of the medical equipment in the exam room. But, seriously if I were 6, 4, and (almost) 3 I would want to touch all of that stuff, too.

DRUM ROLL please, for the best news I have received in the last 4 months.....

BECKETT IS 100% SALMONELLA FREE. We got our last lab results today and I couldn't be more ecstatic to close this chapter of motherhood. I pray that we don't ever have to revisit that chapter again!

Aspiring Artists

With Charlie being absent from Sunday nights to Friday nights for the last 4 months, sometimes I go a little crazy with entertainment for the kids. Being that it is Halloween this Friday and it was raining all day yesterday, I decided to let the kids potato stamp some pumpkins and then paint some eyes on them. The crazy part isn't the paint.... but I let all FOUR of them paint.
Clean-up after the mess. Beckett was a bit upset that I took the paintbrush away once I stuck him inside the bathtub.

Beckett was defintely the entertainment for the evening. Jordan, Ava, and Brady had so much fun watching him stick his tiny hands in the paint. Jordan took this picture and I think it is priceless. ENJOY!!!

Friends and Soccer

For the fall soccer season we were very fortunate to find out that our closest friends are on the same team. Jordan is actually on a different team than Ava, but has the same color for his uniform. Anyways, the soccer season is coming to a close on Thursday and I am fairly relieved. It keeps getting colder and darker out there each week and I think Brady and Beckett are done with being the fan club. But, I am a bit saddened by the end of it because this will be our last soccer season where we will be able to play with the other B's from our apartment building. Brady will be lost without his little girlfriend to share snacks with, play in the bunny poop (we try not to allow this), or have bathroom breaks with.

Mr. Mischievous

My baby is trying to grow up way too fast! Seriously.... his siblings didn't crawl until 8 or 9 months and they certainly weren't climbing stairs at 7 months and 6 days old.

Who needs toys when he can shred magazines? Jordan was a bit upset the day he got ahold of his Big Backyard magazine.

I never imagined that he could figure this out already....

He stopped to check out his big brother at the top of the stairs.

With a smile like this, I could only smile back and admire my little climber. We continued to let him try to climb to see how far he could get and he made it to the 3rd step. Now, he is fast asleep for the night. All that climbing wore him out!

PINKALICIOUS

Our pinkalicious playdate with our newest friend was ...........well........

PINKALICIOUS!!!

For all the princesses out there who absolutely adore the color pink, I would recommend this book, "Pinkalicious" by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann. It is about a little girl who loves the color pink and eats too many pink cupcakes. After eating the cupcakes she comes down with Pinkititis (turning pink, of course) and has to eat some leafy greens to turn back to normal.

side note: Brady kind of gets sucked into all this pink business when Jordan is off at school and the next in command is a big sister. She kind of rules the roost when Jordan is MIA.

Sweet Pea Soaps

A friend that is very dear to my heart started a natural soap making adventure a couple of years ago and her adventure has blossomed into a successful home business, Sweet Peas Soaps. http://www.sweetpeasoaps.com/main.sc I was fortunate enough to test some of her samples out for myself last year and I found that I loved them. My favorite was the Oats and Wheat for its mild scent and exfoliating properties. Great on the kids and I was pretty confident that it wouldn't ruin my children's skin. If you find yourself with a free minute, check out her website. I have already placed my order with plans to gift some of it away and keep some for myself!

Congratulations Sweet Peas Soaps! I admire your ambition and drive to succeed, while continuing to raise a family. I look forward to the day that we are on the same side of the planet (maybe even in the same region of the country) and we can take our kids to the park like the old days! Maybe, we will be out of the diaper and sippee cup stages of our lives by then.

My favorite time of year!

FALL!!!!! To my suprise, Germany looks alot like New England in the fall. The only thing that seems to be missing is the deep reds from the Maple trees that we have in New Hampshire. The kids don't seem to care about the colors as much as they do about the piles they can make with them once they fall. Only a few pictures were taken on my camera, so this is the best one I have so far of the kids and Daddy playing in them over the weekend.

After spending a day playing in the leaves, I went on a Fall cooking spree. On Sunday, we made turkey breast for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert. I have to admit, I am not a pumpkin pie eater. Charlie loves it and so do the kiddos. I love the smell it makes in the house as it is cooking, though! With our leftover pie dough, the kids got a cooking lesson from Mom and made their own pies in the shape of tarts.

Jordan and Ava were taking this pretty seriously.....

Brady was so serious that he wouldn't give me a "CHEESE".....

The results before they were cooked.

HAPPY FALL!!!

Ava's attempt at making Beckett stylish!

Ava thought it would be fun to give Beckett a mowhawk when he got out of the bath this morning. She wanted to add some gel and I ruined the fun and said, "not today".

Jordan's First Love Note

I just had to share this.....

I found these in Jordan's backpack today, all wrapped up in a homemade envelope. When I asked him who gave it to him, he said, "Sidney. Not the Sidney who gets in trouble, the Sidney who is cute and nice to me." He was a bit embarrassed about the fact that she wrote he loves him. But, I think he admires her, too. And I am thankful that he is choosing friends that don't get into trouble! I am sure someday he will be mortified that I shared this with everyone, but I am holding on to his innocence.

I promise....

I am making a promise to myself and all of my friends.... to actually use this blog and keep everyone up to date on our crazy lives. A ton of stuff has happened since my first post when I ATTEMPTED to start this thing. Where to start?

Charlie got orders to Stuttgart Germany so we are PCSing again. This will be our 8th PCS move and to be quite honest, I am tired of it. Since leaving Walter Reed 27 months ago, this will be the 4th. Can I say that I am tired??? Since July, Charlie has been in Stuttgart on TDY because the Army decided that we couldn't do 2 PCS moves in a fiscal year. We (me and the kiddos) have stayed in Wiesbaden waiting for the army to cut orders and for Charlie to find us a house. He recently found one in a quaint little town called, Waldenbuch. It is not available until December 1st, so we won't officially say goodbye to Wiesbaden until then.

Beckett got diagnosed with salmonella in July and his little system can't seem to get rid of it. I have gone through a lot of highs and lows since dealing with this because we have one pediatrician here and lets just say that she has been a little frustrating. And to answer every one's question... he caught it from his big brother who went to hourly care and caught it from another child. I didn't feed a 4 month old raw chicken, I promise! He finished a round of antibiotics last week and we go in for a check-up tomorrow.

Jordan started first grade and both Ava and Brady are in preschool. Jordan and Ava are also playing soccer and both seem to enjoy it. Brady potty trained in August and Beckett is trying to crawl. He can't really do it yet, but he does a great version of the Army's low crawl.

Attached are some pictures! I will post again soon! (I PROMISE!)