We gathered together some of our neighbors and went camping at the Spruces this last weekend. We hope to make it an annual tradition. We need a good name for it. Any ideas?
Our wonderful husbands set up camp in the drizzling rain Friday night. Setting up and taking down camp is always the hardest part, so I'm grateful for a husband who does it well, even in the rain. And if you know us, we don't camp "light." For our small family of four we had two large tents--one to house our sleeping bags, port-a-crib, and tent heater, the other to store our gear like my guitar and rocking chair. Yes, my sweet husband wanted me to be as comfortable as possible, so he brought along our wooden rocking chair!
Saturday we hiked to Doughnut Falls (Jill and Nate and family joined us for our morning breakfast and hike) and just enjoyed the amazing weather and beautiful surroundings. It didn't rain again until Saturday night when we were snug in bed. And then did it ever rain! The nights were cold and we got good use out of our tent heater!
The kids did great for the most part. C.J. slept through the nights and Eli didn't wake up any more than usual. We had a few incidences--like Aubrey throwing up, C.J. falling and getting a bloody nose and goose-egg on his forehead, time-outs due to fighting over toys and trikes, etc., but overall I think they loved the adventure of sleeping in a tent and throwing pine cones in the stream.
We definitely want to do it again next year!
Aaron and Ryan cooking breakfast. Yum!
C.J., Aubrey, and Ella playing ball
Jill and Baby Josh being cute
Margaret, Eli, and Barry hanging out at camp
Baby Eli being cute
Aldo drying his son's socks over the fire
What a day! Our Halloween celebration at Close To My Heart fell on my birthday this year. And this is no ordinary work party. It is huge. So big that the events dept hired an intern for the month of October, and her sole responsibility was to get the party ready. The decorations in the party room were unbelievable. Wish I had pictures. I don't envy the clean up crew though! 
Our fall garbage pickup is coming soon so it is time to clean up our backyard. The big items got thrown over the fence on to the street. C.J. was able to help put the smaller items in the wheelbarrow, and he made sure to get a few rides in. 
What do you think? Too small?
Almost daily, C.J. puts on my backpack and tells me he is going to school. This two year old also does homework! At least that's what he calls drawing. He recognizes letters as either "numbers" or as the letters "A" and "O". And he can count: 1-2-3-8-7! He puts his shoes and socks on by himself and yes, they are almost always on the wrong feet (see photo below.) He's getting his pronouns down. He refers to Eli as "he" instead of "it." And every morning he comes into our room and announces "I wake up" instead of "My wake up." And I imagine soon he'll even get his tenses right. Oh dear. Slow down little boy--you're growing up too fast!
