Some Wednesday Randoms

I have several posts scheduled all about our seasonal activities and traditions that I'm excited to share with you all. However, today I want to post a bunch of random photos that showcase what we've been up to in between visiting the pumpkin patch, dressing up for Halloween, and being sick (we're finally all feeling better around here after 10 days of sickness in our house, so we are very thankful for that!)

A couple weekends ago, we went to a birthday party for our friend, Sadie, who turned TWO years old. It's hard to believe she's already two! She is such a doll, and we love her so much!

The birthday girl, Sadie

She had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed party complete with adorable decorations, games, and this fantastic cake!

Brecklyn, partying it up, haha!

Brecklyn doesn't allow too many people to hold her, especially in crowds. I was shocked that she let Grandma Darthine (Sadie's grandma) carry her around at the party.

Playing birthday party BINGO

Brecklyn really enjoyed just being down on the ground playing.

They had a balloon artist come and make all kinds of balloon animals for the children. Brooke waited so patiently while the balloon artists sculpted the perfect balloon creation for her.

She was thrilled with the result!

Sadie has this fun beanbag that matched the girls' outfits perfectly, so I thought it would make a cute photo. Brecklyn looks tiny next to Brooke in this photo, but really it's the way they were sitting that makes them look so distinct (there is a size difference, for sure, but not quite that much). 

Brooke's turn to play with Grandma Darthine . . . Brooke is very social and enjoys being held by other people.

The balloon artist made these super fun balloon characters (there was also a Mickey one). We had a great time celebrating Miss Sadie!

The last week of October was Red Ribbon Week at Brianna's school. This meant fun themes each day. Monday was pajama day, but I didn't get a photo of Brianna in her pjs. On Tuesday, they had Crazy Hair Day. Here is how I fixed Brianna's hair:

I thought it turned out pretty cute. I was concerned that it wouldn't stay in all day, so I made it super tight so it would (and it did). However, Brianna complained that her head hurt when she got home that afternoon, so I may have made it a little too tight, ha.

Wednesday was "My Future is Too Bright For Drugs" day, so everyone was instructed to wear bright colors.

On Thursday, everyone wore red. I'm not a fan of red, but I did like the way Brianna's red all came together.

On Friday - since it was the day before Halloween - everyone wore their Halloween costumes to school. They had a little party that afternoon, and we were able to join her class for the party. I included a few photos of this in my Halloween post (to come!)

Having four children who are all so little means that we have to make a conscious effort sometimes to spend one-on-one time with each of them. I have opportunities to do this during the week as most days someone will get up from nap before the others. Chris, however, doesn't get these opportunities as much, especially with Brianna. Since she's in school, she goes to bed much earlier than she used to, so Chris just doesn't see her as much in the evenings. To help carve out some time with her, he has been taking her to breakfast and then doing school drop-off once a month. It's cute because he has it as an appointment on his calendar and everything. Here they are before their breakfast date this month :-).

My one-on-one time with Brenson generally comes while the babies take their morning naps during the week. It's been a struggle lately as the babies have been sick and much needier than normal, but we've still managed to squeeze in some time together. We have continued to work our way through the alphabet, concentrating on one letter per week. Last week was H week.

I always start by reading a book that has something to do with our letter. For H, we read Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild (a super cute book for anyone with a spunky toddler). Then, we made an H out of marshmallows . . . and may have eaten as many as we glued :-).

I had him practice writing H on his art easel.

Then, we painted a big H.

And, we had a scavenger hunt around the house for objects that begin with H. We found a hand, hammer, house, heart pillow, horse, Captain Hook, hat, and helmet. 

Like I've mentioned several times already, with everyone being sick it's been rough around here. For the most part, Brooke has continued to be my happy little girl despite not feeling well, but there have been a few days that everything has gotten her down. Her biggest issue has been her eyes. They have tons of nasty drainage and have been very puffy and red (although much, much better now). One day, she had really had the blues all day, so I took and sent these photos to Chris. 

See the eye goop? So sad :-(.

I'm so, so thankful that she's doing better! 

Brecklyn also had a very hard time for about a week battling her own sickness. She was just pitiful when she wasn't well . . . just unhappy and crying constantly. I was thrilled to finally see some smiles again a few days ago! These photos not only show those first few smiles after she was feeling better, but also her very first ponytail!

Hahaha . . . typical Brecklyn look!

Speaking of ponytail, Brooke's hair continues to grow. I have wondered if she will lose her curls as her hair gets longer, but so far that's not happening (I know it still might). I put her hair up a few days ago and just loved how beautiful her little curls looked.

This past Sunday, we had a Thanksgiving dinner after worship services at church. I just had to dress my little crew up for the occasion :-). Love them.

And finally - as a last little bit of randomness - we had a family photo session Monday with our photographer. It was scheduled for a week ago, but I had to postpone it due to everyone being sick. It was quite a job getting everyone coordinated and ready to go, and then we still had the session to survive. And yes, survive is the proper word when you have four littles who are five years old and under, haha! I recruited my sister to come help entertain the babies in hopes of getting a few decent photos where everyone is looking. I'm hopeful! I snapped a few pics of Brooke modeling the outfits the babies wore in the session to send to Chris to make sure he liked them. Of course, he said yes :-). He pretty much leaves that kind of junk up to me (and it works well that way!)

Such a sweetie :-).

I hope your week is going well. Happy Wednesday!