October, so far

Phew, October's been busy. Okay, okay, 2009 has been busy, but really, lots has happened in 10 short days.

In the past 10 days:

~our cat L.B. went outside and didn't come back. She's 14. We're pretty sure she wandered off to die. I'm really sad, I miss her an awful lot. Especially at night, when she would normally cuddle up on my pillow. She managed to fit her entire body on the pillow next to my head without touching me at all. Oscar, her brother (from the same litter) misses her, too. They've never been apart. L.B. (short for Little Bit) is the calico one - Oscar doesn't share my pillow the way I share my pillow, as you can see.

~Sasha embraced that she is a Texan. Also, she started smiling and giggling.

~Sasha's went on her first picnic, and she slept right through it.

~my mom came to town. Her first visit to our home in Texas. She's the first grandparent to meet Sasha. We were all thoroughly spoiled. :-)

~we went to the pumpkin patch. Really, though, there's not a patch where you pick your pumpkins, but lots of fall activities, and loads of pumpkins in the barn to buy. Our favorite activity: painting pumpkins. The girls painted and painted and painted (and the paint took days to dry!).

~I made several trips to several animal shelters, and scoured craigslist. Still no L.B. (we're hopeful that she will come back, but realistic in that her nine lives are most likely up.) Visits to the shelter will resume again on Monday, though.

~after months of talking about it, and weeks of periodic searches, we found Daisy Mae and promptly fell in love. She is the best tempered dog I've ever met. Her family could no longer afford her, and after just over 24 hours with her, I know they must be in a really desperate situation, to give up an animal as awesome as Daisy Mae.

~I found the farmer's market. It's pretty small, but the variety was good considering there were only 4 vendors. As is my luck, next week is the last week of the market until spring, but one of the farmers lives maybe 15 minutes from me and grows all year long... I got his card and plan on making his farm part of my weekly shopping!

~Aubrey went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Not such a big deal, except this is the first b-day party since we've been in Texas, and I know none of her classmates and their parents. So, my mom, Sasha and I hung out at CEC's while Aubrey partied. I really liked the b-day girl's parents, and also the other mom from Aubrey's class that was there. And I hope that I don't need to go to too many parties at CEC's. Great for the kids, but sheesh, it's so loud in there. I could never work there.

camping

In 9.5 years, Andy and I have both claimed to LOVE camping, but had never actually camped together until this weekend. It was so much fun. So, so much fun. Andy did most of the cooking, which is the way he likes it (and I don't mind, either!) and I played with the girls. There were worms and acorns to be found, you know, and bathrooms to be investigated. But most importantly, there was a playground. A playground with a merry-go-round!!! The playground was maybe a 1/4 mile from our campsite, and Andy could hear our screams from that far away. And, just so you know, when I say "our screams," I mean mostly Lauren's screams, with a few of Aubrey's thrown in for good measure, and exactly none from me. I'm not a screamer. It was overcast, and was supposed to rain, but didn't. And the night was so much warmer then we anticipated, we had the tent partially open most of the night because we were too hot.

We got back from camping with enough time for me to shower and get ready for church, and then Aubrey and I went to church and a baby shower for a 6 week old baby recently adopted into a family of 7 - now 8. The family consists of dad, mom, 4 biological children and 2 adopted. They are so amazing. And inspiring. And I forget how small newborns come. Funny, but I didn't get baby fever holding Isaiah, but I got nursing fever. Even though Lauren still nurses at night, nursing a newborn is so much different, and I could almost feel the milk swirling around in my breasts, just holding that sleeping newborn.

I think fall is my favorite season. The smells, the crisp air, the turning leaves and the apples. Oh, the apples. I eat more apples in fall then I do all the rest of the year combined. Honey Crisp, Empire, Cortland, Ida Red, McIntosh. I become quite the apple snob this time of year, refusing to buy apples at the grocery store. Only an orchard or farmer's market will do. If there's an apple orchard anywhere near you, or a farmer's market, I urge you to buy some apples there. Yummy!