Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Kolby!

The kids had so much fun yesterday. We did special blueberry waffles for breakfast for Kolby’s birthday. Most of his fun will be this next Friday when we do his birthday party. But we did venture to Target with all the kids for Kolby to pick out some presents with his birthday money. He decided on some “big kid” Legos – the smaller Legos that we haven’t gotten up to this point because of the possible choking hazard – but now we have a room where Kolby and Eli can play with things like that. Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts, cards, phone calls, and presents for Kolby and Isaac. They really feel loved. While out, we also got our next batch of paint – dark tan – to paint the lower half of the kitchen and entryway.

While Kolby was busy working on one of his Lego sets, I decided to clean the leaves and mud out the roof gutters, and boy, they were full and dirty. I was able to finish all the lower levels in the front and back; I guess I’ll have to get to the upper ones another time. After dinner, we got the kids dressed in their cute outfits – Kolby as a fireman; Eli as Big Bird; Camden as a dinosaur; Isaac as Elmo (or Memo, according to Isaac); and Courtland as a lion – and then started trick-or-treating. It was pretty cold out, especially with a wind, but our boys are troopers, and nothing could get between them and their candy. We were all exhausted by day’s end (though I did enjoy watching Oregon beat USC in college football before going to bed).

Steph and I were able to go white water rafting on Friday with several of the people I work with. We did it at Letchworth state park (the “grandcanyon of the East”), and it was beautiful. It was in the 60s outside and the water was about 52 degrees F. We had wet suits for the adventure, which made it awesome. For about 2 hours we floated down class 2 rapids on the Genesee river, about 400-600 feet down from the canyon rim. Greens, yellows, and reds dotted the leaves; falcons and eagles circled overhead; and it was so peaceful. It almost made me wish that I had chosen a different profession. :) One of the stopping points was where the Wolf creek empties into the Genesee river down several waterfalls. The one at the bottom is 60 feet tall and has a pool that we were all able to jump into. Afterwards, we stopped at a country diner for real good cooking. Thanks so much to our friends, the Phillips, for watching the boys for us so that Steph and I could enjoy this fun together. I can’t wait until the boys are old enough to go on adventures like this with us.

Kolby continues to excel with his piano. There is a duet that I learned from my sisters, but for which I don’t have the notes written down. I spent about 10 minutes last week teaching Kolby half of the top hand part, and then another 10-15 minutes this week, and now he has it memorized. It is so much fun because we can play it together. He continues to amaze me with his talent.

Elijah was sick on and off the beginning of this week with a gastrointestinal bug, giving him intermittent high fevers and some diarrhea. He was miserable and had to miss preschool this week. We’re all happy he is finally feeling better, and so far, no one else is showing signs that they have caught the same bug.
Camden continues working hard on his potty training. He has more and more dry days, and even some dry nights.

Isaac loves to help out and is always trying to be involved, be it cooking, cleaning, or unloading the dishwasher.

And Courtland is just so fun and cute. He is now crawling all over the place, pulling himself up to standing, and starting to get into everything he’s not supposed to. He now is our curly-haired child and always has his tongue out.