October recap...a month late

I remember feeling after Anna Claire was born that it took me a good 6 months to feel back on my game. Evidently that is true for subsequent children as well. I feel like I am just now getting back to being organized, from meal planning to cleaning, to life in general. Mike has probably been wishing it would have happened sooner, but it has been a quick 6 months since Molly was born and it seemed to go by ALOT faster this time around.

I'm sure we are not the only ones that find the end of the year months getting busier and busier as the years go by; wanting memories to made for our children, wanting to capture each and every possible thing we can either on video or camera; and with Anna Claire being old enough this year to experience some of those things, we took advantage of the activities during the fall.

At the beginning of October, I threw a baby shower, along with the other women in my church, for sweet Lauren. It was just a little over a year ago that I threw her bridal shower. I have so enjoyed getting to know Lauren over the year and was so excited to have a party in her honor, and baby Ezra too. Did you know that the way to a pregnant woman's heart is through donuts? If you are a mother, I'm sure you did :)

For fall break, we headed down to southern Alabama to visit my sister. She and her family moved from Ohio to Alabama earlier this year and it was the first chance we had to take some time to visit. They just so happened to move to a city that neighbors where Mike grew up so it was fun for him to be back on his old stomping grounds.

Christy has a HUGE love of horses and some wonderful people in their church have given her the opportunity to ride one of their horses whenever she wants. She goes out a couple of times a week to ride Bama and one day we went out with her. Anna Claire was able to ride Bree, another horse who shares the same pasture.

Christy also took a few pictures of us one day at the park.

Sweet Molly.

It was only appropriate for Anna Claire to be a cowgirl this year for Halloween. She liked her "freckles" so much that the next day she asked if she could have more "sprinkles" on her face.

Molly went as her trusty sidekick.

We also visited Owen Farm, a local pumpkin farm that puts on a festival for the fall. They had tons of stuff to do for kids, a giant slide, a petting area, pumpkin shooting, big inflatables for them to play on, a corn maze and also a corn pit. It is definitely someplace we want to make a yearly tradition.

This is exactly how I felt as the month came to a close--and now we are in the throws of November! It's been another busy month with Anna Claire showing us exactly how strong-willed a 2 year old can be and Molly continuing to grow so fast; we have visits with family coming up and the long awaited arrival of my niece, Jessica, home from Australia for Christmas!

More pictures and hopefully a bit more consistency with blogging to come!