"I have pumpkin skids on my hand!" -Jocelyn

Isn't this a cute picture of the kids with their jack-o-lanterns? Oh, you can't see them? They're standing right behind their pumpkins... Gage did two-face. Very clever.
The Jossy-lantern!
I came up with that all my own.
You can't see it, but it has a bow and lovely hair.


And Lauren's needs a better candle.
Joss thought Tony's interpretation of pumpkin hair was sub-par. "It just looks like grandpa Jenks."

Many a pumpkin has been carved in this kitchen.

And I'm starting the Ouch-of-the-Month club. Lauren is president.

Look how nicely her golf club hole is healing!

Which is good, 'cause now she has room for a goose egg. You can't really tell, but she also has a black eye. Goose egg is from jumping off Gage's bed onto the trundle. She missed. Black eye is from trying to balance on the headboard and falling, smashing her cheek on the desk.

I moved her upstairs to David's old room. There is no furniture. Just a mattress. Hopefully there she will be safe(ish).

Lookey there... I got a bite!

Tony and I took the kids fishing for the first time on Saturday. We went to a little bend in the river, completely secluded, and so beautiful. Tony even busted out his waders and fly rod.I got stuck on the bank with this mess maker. And these ones...

Notice they are all wearing their rain boots... I guess they thought they looked like waders?

Contrary to the title, we did not, in fact, get any bites. From fish, anyway.
We also had MHS Mini-Cheer on Friday night. We had a great time at the game, but I have to say it was a madhouse!! I was shocked at how many of the parents just dropped their kids off with the freshman cheerleaders at the beginning of the game and then left to go watch!! There were over a hundred girls, and there were 4 babysitters. I let them sit in the bleachers and then stood near the fence where I could see them but they couldn't really see me. True helicopter-mom style. It was a good thing, too. Lauren tried to wander off about six times to go play and no one even noticed she left. (They did have a couple of little girls get lost. They were found in the bathroom and concessions.)

Still, I think we'll do it again next year. Jossy LOVED it! Lauren tolerated it.

Brain feels younger, body feels older.

I've been 30 for almost a month now. I purposely didn't want to talk about it, so don't feel weird if you didn't know. I think 24 was my last "excited" birthday.

It's one of those birthdays that I casually call an "Assessment Birthday." You know what I mean, it's officially an age where I can no longer make excuses about being a dumb teenager, or an inexperienced twenty-something. Officially adult. (The government says 18, but I think that was a typo.) One of those milestone ages where you must decide if you are where you thought you'd be when you were growing up.

So I've been thinking about it, and I've got a few things checked off my list:

Graduated college. (Phew!)

Married. (For a lot longer that I thought I would be. I was picturing 26.)

Kids. (Double what I thought I'd have when I was a teen. When we first got married, however, I said I wanted five kids and be done by 30. Idiot.)

House. (That one is tricky, because we don't have a house now, but we have had several houses.)

Gospel. (Still important to me. And I'm seeing the little seeds of faith grow in my children. Warms my heart.)

Bonus: I still have my driver's license!

And there's a few places where I've found myself falling short:

Travel. Since I've been married, Tony and I have taken ONE vacation. I am not counting road trips to Washington, which we did for our honeymoon and usually a couple of times a year.

I thought we'd see the world together. I think we should work on that.

Career. I used to have a decent head on my shoulders, but my kids are too important to me to leave in the care of someone else. Plus, I really like heels! And pencil skirts! Maybe someday...

House. (What! A repeat?) I thought we'd be done with moving by now. Settled and steady. Not the case.

Master's degree. Have not even started. I'm too scared to take the test because, as referred above, I am now an idiot.

Even with the above list, I feel like I am in a good place. I feel exhausted but decently happy in bed at night, and I find so much joy in my role as wife and mother. Even as maid and cook. (I do sometimes feel like I could be switched out with Rosie from the Jetsons and things could carry on just fine.) I like to think most days, though, I add a little something extra.

So I went to this baby shower...

So today I went to a baby shower for my cousin Lance's wife. They are having a little boy. I took Krew with me and we had a lovely time.
When I got back, the girls were riding their bikes in the garage, wearing gowns. Jossy asks me, "So how was it?"
"Very nice, thank you."
"Did Krew like his bath?"
Huh?

Then it dawned on me that maybe I should explain what a baby shower really entails...

Oh, the leaves they are a changing.

Can't you just smell the autumn? A view like this almost makes up for living in the parents' basement! (Almost.)

If we have to sew her up anymore we'll call her Franken-baby

These pics were all taken with my phone, and are all sideways. Sorry.

This one's funny...Marker Measles.

I believe we had watched Nanny McPhee the night before.

And this one's not so funny.

That is one FAT lip. Teeth exit wound. You can't see the stitches very clearly. They're blue. The entry point where her little teeth punched right through.
I still love her face. Those little brown eyes melt my heart.
She is just wild and to say "not careful" is an understatement. She did this when she fell from the monkey bars. She was swinging from the last rung trying to get her feet on the ladder and hit her face on the ladder on her way down.

I was outside with them, just a few steps away watering the tomatoes that seem to never ripen. I sweep her up and run inside to assess the damage. Blood is everywhere and I'm not sure she has all her teeth. Looking out the kitchen window while I wash her lip, I see Gage kneeling by the swing where I had left Krew, eyes squinted shut and his little arms folded in prayer.
"She'll be okay Mom. I said a prayer for her."
I couldn't even talk to tell him he was right, for the lump in my throat.
And she is alright.

I was even able to save her favorite shirt, that I was sure was lost to the blood stains!

Ahh, the scent of chalk and paste...

This picture was supposed to be at the end of the post. I found it in the cat's mouth this morning. I thought it's leg was a mouse tail. I wish it was. I HATE spiders.

The kiddos have both started school now and I think they are going to really like it. This is Jossy's first time riding the bus. She said she got to sit with Gage and his girlfriend. What?!? Big brothers first...

Getting dropped off the first day. It looks like someone else wishes she could stay too...

Mrs. Stevens- Jossy's teacher (who actually taught when I was a kid).Getting set at her new desk. (Tag along still in her post.) I'm excited for Jossy to have school. I think it's a place where she's going to do really well. She loves having friends and being the smartest she can be. I think she will thrive in school!

Handsome boy on his first day. Sorry the picture is sideways. Oops.

And two summer highlights I forgot to post:

Jossy won a photo contest! It was at the fair, and their photos were voted on during the week. I told her to do something funny, because everyone likes funny. So she painted Krew with watercolors and took his picture. I was honestly shocked when they pulled her photo off the wall because none of us had gone to the fair during the week to vote! She is loving her prize: a real digital camera!

And Gage won first prize at the home run derby! Also at the fair- he was so thrilled. They told him he could choose a baseball bat or a trophy. Of course he picked the trophy. I'm okay with it though- I can buy him a bat.
(It may be of interest to note that he was the only 6 year-old to enter. He was guaranteed first prize. Of course, he doesn't know that!)

The kids start dance and soccer next week!

I'll be sure to post some photos because you know it's gonna be funny!