Celebrating Fall

This week has ushered in true Michigan Fall weather. The kind of weather we have at the end of fall as opposed to the beginning. It has been rainy, windy, and chilly all week. This is the time of year I feel tired and just want to hibernate! The kids have still not been sleeping well and consequently I am tired and worn out!! I have tried to have fun this week regardless!!!

We took one day and painted pumpkins.


Lilliana even got to paint one and Eli of course decided towards the end it would be more fun to eat it.

It has been cool enough to break out the baby legs again. So Lilliana has been making her fashion statements all week with her baby legs.



She has been a much happier baby this week although she is getting in a lot of teeth!! Poor child can not get a break. Ill be honest she has been much more fun to take pictures of lately. Eli is so busy and would rather play. I try to keep it even but he just is not in to having me take pictures so I will just let him be. I would rather not push it. He and I have been spending a lot of time playing and learning. His vocabulary is amazing for his age. The child is a sponge. Lilliana is learning to wave, clap, and count. Since she has been so fun with taking pictures I have went with it.

Rocking her new winter hat. It is a little big but you know she looks cute when Anthony is in love with it and he normally detests all my "accessories" that I put on her.

Beautiful Eyes like her brother

There has been a coveted toy this week at the house. Every so often Eli rediscovers a toy and that is all he plays with. The only problem is Lilliana loves this toy too! It makes noises and has flashing lights.
Thankfully Eli is such  a big brother he plays and shares with her.

This fire truck was given to Eli before he was even born. I am so glad that he is such a great brother and shares!!!


We also were able to purchase and get a new furnace installed this week. It has been a huge answer to prayer! God very much provided what we needed. It has already made a huge difference in how warm our house is. It came at the exact time we needed it and I am so very thankful. It has been by God's blessings we have been able to do the extra things we have done this year by vacationing, having Lilliana, and getting a new furnace. The best part we went from 50% efficency to 95%!! I really hope that means our bill goes down!! We are blessed!!

Today we really celebrated fall by going with good friends to Uncle John's Cider Mill. This is a tradition I have started since moving to Michigan. We go to the cider mill and get donuts and cider. It is so much fun. It is a beautiful drive there. The donuts and cider are amazing and it just screams fall! Today was probably the most unpleasant day I have ever visted due to weather. Lilliana screamed all morning while I was trying to get ready from her teeth. It was pouring rain but we were determined to go. We got there and thankfully there was no rain. There was however wind. We met our friends and got our donuts and cider. I am sure we looked  a sight. Two mothers with two year olds going everywhere while we both wore our 7 months olds. Abby and Lilliana are a couple weeks apart and Eli and Kayla are about a month apart. They are so much fun. Abby is tiny compared to Lilliana so it is always fun to see the comparison. The picture taking was limited as I only had so many hands and well we were outnumbered. The few I did get were so cute!!


Surprisingly they all cooperated for this. Eli kept telling Kayla, "We get pictures then we go outside and play." He was so excited to see Kayla. That is all I heard about all morning!!
He was right after this we let them go out and run even though it was cold!!



We got a few pictures in between the apple tree rows. The kids loved walking around in there. I was wet from laying on the ground to take the pictures but that is ok.

They were so over pictures by this point.

When it was time to go home Eli had a bit of a melt down. I have never seen him act the way he did. He was so sweet and apologized on the way home though so I was grateful. He just did not understand it was too cold for him to be out longer.

We all got to take a long wonderful nap today so that was nice! We also were able to watch the homecoming parade this afternoon with Aunt Toni and the daycare kids. Eli loved that they all came to our house to watch. Lilliana is our mover and groover! She loves to dance! Anytime there is music she just stars dancing even if she is nursing so I took her out to listen to the school band and she loved it!! It has been a wonderful long week! We may have had a few rough patches but it was still fun!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Plans Gone Awry

Thursday night was an interesting night at our house. Lilliana began getting very cranky around 7. We put her to bed thinking she was tired. Then the coughing started and the screaming and well she was up all night. I figured she had gotten what Eli got so Anthony took her to the Dr. first thing. She had an ear infection and the same thing Eli had. At that point we decided to call our plans off to go away. I was very bummed but knew it would not be fun with both of them being sick.

Friday was spent Anthony and I taking turns with them and trying to catch up on sleep as we were both exhausted from the day before. Thankfully they both seemed to be pretty content to just relax and play quietly. When they are sick and congeted we always give them a vapor bath. Eli loves it because it means bubbles!


Lilliana got her teeth brushed for the first time that night. She was not thrilled but that is ok.


Eli was starting to feel better at this point and had remembered me telling him we were getting ice cream when we went up north. He kept asking so I let him make a small sundae and we watched 101 Dalmations.


Saturday was a day I wish in so many ways could have been redone! I got a lot done as I was the only one feeling well. I got the fridge cleaned, homemade applesauce made, corn froze. It was a productive day for me. The kids still were iffy but much better than Friday. Anthony was the one that was not good. He was seriously so angry at the littlest things. It was pure rage. I have never seen him act this way. He also was so tired even though he had gotten plenty of sleep. His eyes were swollen and hurt. He also just felt sick I was about ready to lose it because he was just so angry and just not himself. Finally we realized he probably had mold poisoning. He has been working in a house that is just terrible for the past week! Even with the equipment they are supposed to use he is still having side affects. Finally after realizing it I could cope a little more but I hope I don't ever have to endure that again. Thankfully they all filled out accident reports last week so if something does happen it is documented. We also went for a short walk so the kids could get some fresh air and the dogs would be walked. Eli was fascinated that the clouds were moving. He kept telling me to take a picture of them. He also found some leaves and kept telling me how they were falling.



It was nice to get out of the stuffy house!


Thankfully the kids slept well on Saturday night. They were still coughing a lot but they were not up all night crying. Anthony was so nice and let me sleep in on Sunday. Apparantly Eli thought I needed to be up right away though. He kept asking to come get me.  Anthony told him at 9:00 he could come get me. Anthony took the dogs out and Eli snuck upstairs. He came to my side of the bed and said, "Alexis, Alexis" while patting my shoulder. I opened my eyes and he smiled his silly grin and said, "mom its 9 o'clock time to get up." I just laughed. I could not believe he called me by my first name. Needless to say I came downstairs and it was only 8:00. LOL Anthony told him he was silly. I got the kids breakfast and dressed and all that stuff. I let Lilliana brush her teeth by herself after I did it. She loved it and was making funny faces.

The kids both still had nasty noses and coughs so we decided going to church was not a good idea. I worked on Christmas presents. Anthony and Eli played Legos and Lilliana slept a lot. We all took great naps. I made the best calzones for dinner. It was a nice relaxing peaceful day! I had been wanting to go take some before pictures of things before the leaves really started changing so I went and took some. I took Eli with me. He loved it. So here are my pictures for the past few days of "signs of fall."

Our maple before it completely changes!

My Tag-A-Long Photograher

Walnuts

Maple beginning the beautiful change

Fields of beans ready to be harvested. Many days that pond is filled with geese or cranes on their way south

Pumpkins and my Little Man

Scarcrows

Beautiful Maple Leaves

Birds flying south.........these happen to be cranes

We decided to go for another walk and let Eli go to the park last night. He had a lot of energy and it is supposed to be rainy all week as you can tell from the clouds so we went.



All in all it was an enjoyable weekend even if everybody was  sick!! We will go up north soon and the colors on the trees will be brilliant. This week should not be too busy so we will enjoy it and hopefully be able to get outside and enjoy wonderful fall weather!

Waiting in Confined Spaces

Kids make life interesting. Just when you think you are prepared they throw you a curve ball. It usually a big curve that messes up all plans and organization.

This weekend we are going out of town. I started Wed getting ready to go. I have all clothes ready to be put in the bag. I have all food out and seperated to go. I have any extras ready to go. My plan was to get up today and clean so we could come home to a nice clean house.

Last night Eli told me he had  a sore throat. I honestly did not think anything of it. I chalked it up to allergies gave him his meds and put him to bed. He started coughing through the night. So I thought he was getting sick. He was up and was not himself. He cried drinking juice. He had a fever also. Then, his nose began running and it was a nasty green. He was still sweet as could be!! So after cleaning the kitchen I decided to try and get him in. We had to hurry and get there and they would try to squeeze us in. I came prepared! I brought toys and books.  Mind you this was right after lunch during their would be nap time!

They did pretty good for a while. Eli read a lot of his books and Lilliana talked and played. Then they started to get restless. We had to sit there for at least an hour and a half. I have been working on shooting what is called "wide open" so it was a perfect time for me to practice. They were  confined.




Finally Eli was seen and he had a double ear infection and the start of something viral. That meant antibiotics so away we went to our favorite Meijer. I say that it total sarcasm. I detest this Meijer. MSU college students especially the foreign ones drive their carts like they drive in their native country and well its scary!! I just made peace with it and tried to think of having fun and making it fun. By this point the kids are tired. I also have not eaten since breakfast because I was just trying to hurry and get him in.

We get Eli some apple juice. I also needed more toothpaste and some more motrin for my teeth. I am still in a lot of pain but hey that is icing on the cake for what was to come. We do all our shopping and I took time showing Eli stuff.

I paid for the 3 items I had gotten and took Eli potty. Then we go to pick up his script. It is not even close to being ready. So I go and sit down in the little waiting section with the lovely Dr. Scholls foot inserts display in front of us. Yay something colorful for them to look at. I turn Lilliana around and let them play.



That lasted about 20 minutes and then Lilliana needed to eat. All the while Eli is being a terror while I am feedin her. There is a guy sitting next to us and I am mortified because I can not keep him contained. I am using the shopping cart cover as a cover up and there is a little boy trying to get a peak while he is messing with the blood pressure thing. Needless to say I was flustered!! Then somebody calls my name. I think GREAT we are ready to go only I am still nursing. I also realize it is the one tech that is always so rude! So I say give me a second so I can get everything put back together and then start walking to  the counter mind you they are super busy! They always are at that store! Eli won't sit down so I deal with him in a stern voice and she is getting annoyed. She does not ask me any info like they usually do. As I slowly walk away I decide maybe I should check to make sure its the right script. Thank goodness I did. It was for another Alexis. I realize duh! I am not looking for me but for Eli. So she gets all mad that I took somebody else's medicine. Like it is my fault. She threw a huge fit. I finally said you asked me no information. You would have never known had I never even looked. I was not happy that she was mad at me for it. It was a honest mistake. She ended up storming off leaving a mess for everybody else. The other people apologized for her but talk about making the flustered mom more flustered. Needless to say Eli got taken to the bathroom and got a spanking for being unnusually out of hand and telling me no non stop! I did get get gas for $3.20 on the way home so I was very excited about that. We made it home in one piece and I got a lot of stuff done. He fell asleep in the car and then came inside and has been asleep since.We have tried waking him up but he is out like a light. We almost are ready to go and I can't wait for a relaxing weekend of fun with our family. No cell phones, TV or computers! Just us!

I decided today for the next several weeks I am going to take a picture of "the signs of fall." Today's picture was orange Mums. I love mums and today I found pretty orange ones. I really like the burgandy color but these were nice too!