Our Thanksgiving

Okay, I'm pretty sure we are missing a week of our lives here but I am going to skip ahead to our update from Thanksgiving compliments of Dave!!

Sunday of Thanksgiving week we woke up and went to church.  I had to lead worship and we also had donut duty so we really did need to be there.  I had been scheduled for a flight on Monday.  The week before I had requested to be on a Monday flight.  The schedule that week was looking pretty slow and I figured I would probably only have to fly one time the whole week so I asked if I could be put on the Monday flight thinking that we would leave after that.  It turns out that neither of the two passengers who I was going to be taking on Monday were actually going to go on that flight so the flight was cancelled.  On Sunday afternoon, I called my boss to see if it would be alright if we left on Sunday since there was to be some freezing rain coming in that evening.  He said they could probably spare me so we decided to pack up and go.  The only problem is that we still had the Caldwell girls staying with us because their mom had just had a baby the day before.  Apparently it was not the most enjoyable experience and she didn't feel like leaving the hospital that day.  We were in luck, though, because another family had offered to watch their kids while they were in the hospital so Katelyn arranged for them to sleep with that family on sunday evening after she took them to visit the new baby.  Meanwhile, Haley and Emily took naps and I packed and tied up loose ends while trying to remember what it was that Katelyn had asked me to pack.  The kids woke up and katelyn arrived from dropping off the Caldwell girls with the new family.  We attempted to pack up the car as quickly as possible then and hit the road.  We grabbed some Wendy's as we were leaving Longview right around 6pm.  We drove all the way to Birmingham, AL where we spent the night.  Haley had a horrible night.  I slept with Emily, but Katelyn was up all night with Haley, who kept having to go pee and just crying.  We still don't really know what that was all about.  The receptionist was very nice though and gave us some milk for Emily, who drank it and went to sleep rather easily.
Monday morning we got up around 8 and hit the road after breakfast.  Just after noon we were passing the first Lookout Mountain exit when Katelyn texted Caleb, who goes to Covenant, to see if he was leaving anytime soon. I think she was really just trying to gloat.  Turns out, he was planning to leave like an hour later, was worried his car wouldn't make it, and wanted to hitch a ride.  A few minutes later we pulled off the exit and headed back up the mountain to the college.  I really like that area.  If there were an airport anywhere close to the top of that mountain I would really consider living there.  I think it reminds me of Honduras because of the view, and the USA because of the houses which is why I like it.  Cara, another college student came as well.  She was supposed to ride with Caleb along with another person who dropped out last minute.  It really worked out quite well time-wise.  That girl has actually already ridden with Katelyn and the girls/Caleb up to PA in our van before. Katelyn remembered that she was really good with the girls.  Anyway, the drive was basically non eventful and we arrived in the late evening.
We slept in Tuesday but Haley and Emily were excited to play with Calla and Kelsey so they were up pretty early.  It was pretty low key that day.  For lunch we went to Ted and Annamae's house.  It was sweet of them to invite all the out of towner's along with the in of towner's.  I think I heard it was like 19 people.  Haley and Emily had fun dumping out all their crayons on the carpet.  Don't worry, I made sure none went into the air conditioning vents :)  After lunch, the Iya's had to go to philly to their Survey of Church History class at Westminster.  I figured I looked enough like a college student and that is interesting to me, so I went along.  I grabbed my ipad to try to look legit.  I was planning on being inconspicuous.  That plan vanished when I followed the Iya's to their seats which were smack dab in the middle of a stadium-seating classroom...just eye-level with Dr. Jue, who I am sure assumed I was about to fail the final since this was the first time he saw me in class all semester!  I just tried to say things like "man! can't wait for thanksgiving break am I right?" and "This semester is killing me!"  Not sure if it worked.  When we got home, I had a little taste of Texas because Diane had brought back Bodacious BBQ sauce and made some pulled pork.  It was pretty good.  Bri especially loved it. (shoutout to Caleb's GF).  I think we just played games then after the girls went to bed.
Wednesday, Diane and her daughters made some of the food for Thanksgiving ahead of time so it wouldn't be too busy the day of.  Also, oven space can be an issue.  We pretty much just hung around the house.  I made a trip to Walmart to but some extra pacifiers (we were running low) and to buy some ingredients for the food on Wednesday.  In the evening, her church has a Thanksgiving eve service, which we attended.  After the service, Jon Mountz had invited the brother in laws over to hang out.  That was a lot of fun.  I also discovered, in the course of the night, that my favorite brand of sour cream and onion chips is Utz, the pretzel manufacturer.  Seriously, bar none.  JB arrived late that night and came with Merle.  After schooling Caleb at some FIFA (schooling = getting beat each and every time) we just hung out the rest of the evening.
On Thursday we went to Katelyn's mom moms house for the Stoltzfus Thanksgiving Dinner.  It was good to see some of them again.  I phrase it like that because the ones I remember, I was happy to see; but much like a Canche family reunion, there are some people I am not sure I've ever seen in my life!  Haley ate pretty much just fruit and a little dessert.  She's not gaining weight this season!  Uncle Kurt was giving rides in a wagon, so I rode in the wagon with Haley.  It was super cold outside, so that didn't last long.  We were there quite a ways into the afternoon, which straddled the girls' nap time.  Emily fell asleep in my arms while people went around giving updates and thanksgiving praises.  She awoke, her head a sweaty rat's nest of hair on my flannel shirt, quite startled as people began to sing some songs.  Im pretty sure she thought she had been asleep for hours and seemed completely refreshed.  Haley was not so fortunate.  I ended up leaving early (first time 4pm is early!) and took her home to sleep for a little while.  It was kind of nice, I got to read a little more "tale of two cities".  Haley awoke as people got back home from mom mom's.  Then Keith Dewalt, as well as Gpa and Gma came over for hours dourves and some games.  We got the family a little more hooked on BANG! this year, which is a card game similar to mafia.  One of the cousins would not stop attacking his father even though they were on the same team.  Kinda funny for the rest of us, not for the dad...
Friday we went to the outlet mall at midnight to catch some screaming deals.  JK, we slept in and went shopping after we woke up at like 10.  The deals were not that great IMO but we did buy a few items.  At one point we had separated and I had both girls.  Haley had to pee, as I finally got back to where Katelyn was I realized Emily had dropped her paci.  I found it back in the family bathroom nipple side up thank goodness!  In the afternoon, they had the Stoltzfus hockey game.  People kept trying to pressure me to go.  I have played two years.  The first year, I knocked over her aunt who now wears a helmet and pads.  The second time I almost slashed her cousin's nose off, who I hear no longer plays.  I am not sure, but I think that involuntary manslaughter still gets you some jail time; something I did not want to include in this holiday.  That night, we played more games.
Saturday we all went out to Shady Maple.  This is a sight to be withheld.  It's actually called Shady Maple Shmorgasbord and it is definitely that.  I just wanted to see what Daniel could put away ;) Katelyn got a few gifts to celebrate her birthday which is on the 20th of December.  After that we drove across the parking lot to Good's Store. After eating your weight in eggs and donuts, you simply must drive. Now, Good's had been described to me as "so cool and you can get a lot of cool stuff there".  I wondered what treasures awaited us during the 30 second drive. (actually it took longer because we had to find another parking space IN THE SAME PARKING LOT!!!) Two minutes later, I was standing in a Kroger except that the workers were all Mennonite girls.  Weird? Yeah.  Not for Haley though!  She would tell the girls "I like your pretty dress!"  Can't imagine they hear that very often (or ever before).  We bought a few little treasures and each girl was given a wooden quarter as we checked out.  I can only assume this can be spent in the store.  I guess they use this to generate customer loyalty instead of offering a Good's credit card.  Anyway, after that we stopped by the Iya's apartment which I think is awesome.  It was a lot bigger than I thought and cooler than our first home (maybe our second too?)  That afternoon we packed up and headed out. Only 4 and one in utero made the return journey as Caleb and his travel partner decided to go back a day or two later.  The trip was rather uneventful save for one thing.  At 1am just northeast of Knoxville, TN on I-40, we saw a car getting chased by the police.  No biggie except this car was in our side of the freeway going the opposite direction.  Katelyn moved from the middle of three lanes into the right lane a few seconds before they passed us.  The driver, maybe attracted to the lights or something had drifted into the lane we had been previously occupying. All I could think of was when Grandma and Grandpa told us about the suicidal guy on their way back from Galveston one year who was doing that and killed himself and some others.  Sure enough, when I checked the news the next morning, he was a drunk driver.  Just minutes after passing us, he hit two cars.  He was killed and the other 4 ppl in the 2 cars were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.  We were very thankful that what might have been, was not to be, only by the grace of our God who answered the prayer we had prayed in church on Sunday for safety for all of us who were traveling.

Shady Maple with the high chair kids

From left to right: Clark, Jay, Emily, and Ellie

Emily and Ellie at breakfast

Sharing food

Ellie is two and a half weeks older than Emily

Pops feeding Emily

Major big time catch up

THURSDAY, November 7 is where I left off last on here.  I may be behind on here, but I refuse to be an entire month behind so I'm going to quick catch up before it is December 7th.  That Thursday was our last day with Mimi before she headed back to Pennsylvania.  I had Bible study in the morning and she had stuff to do with the other trustee wives.  Her last event was lunch at Barron's bookstore so when she was finished Haley and I went over there to pick her up.  We ended up staying and shopping there for a little bit before bringing her back to our house.  I put Haley down for a nap then and I think we went and did a little bit of shopping before I dropped her off at the hotel where she was meeting Dad for a dinner they had.  Then David and I had dinner with the girls and then David watched the girls while I met with Ella and Chloe.  When I got home David had just put the girls to bed and then we went to Mom and Dad's hotel where they were just getting back from their dinner.  We met them there to watch the Billy Graham thing on their hotel cable TV but we really just caught the tail end of it and then the interviews afterwards.  After the interviews we stayed and talked with Mom and Dad for a while and then headed back home.  You may be pretty appalled right now as you think that we just left our kids at home sleeping by themselves but that means you forgot that we had the Feenstra's at our house.  A huge advantage of having house guests is that you can put your kids to bed and then leave!

FRIDAY David got up early and drove Mimi to the airport.  Dad had some meetings and David had to up early for a Bible study anyways so he did the honors.  He said the drive was pretty uneventful and Mimi made it on her plane safely.  He ended up having to fly after his Bible study.  The girls and I got up and ready for the day a little earlier than usual for a Friday because we had been invited to Lucy Caldwell's Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  I am actually using the term 'party' loosely because it was really just Lucy, her sister Evelyn, and two of her friends from church:  Haley and Addy.  Haley had not been to Chuck E. Cheese in over a year but when we pulled into the parking lot she told me she was afraid of the 'big bear.'  I told her there wasn't a big bear and I was pretty confused.  What she meant was she was scared of the giant mouse statue of Chuck E. Cheese that they have in there.  It is situated in the back of the place so we didn't ever have to get real close to it unless I was taking her to the bathroom.  I guess the statue kind of set the tone for our time there because Haley was not the most avid arcade player of the group.  She didn't want to do most the rides or games but she and Emily did both enjoy a horse ride that they had there.  In fact we used all of our coins on that horse ride and I spent the better part of an hour standing next to it putting coins in.  Amanda had made some Birthday brownies and they ate those and drank some juice boxes and then we headed out.  We were just in time to meet up with Pops for lunch.  Mimi had left for PA a little bit earlier than Pops because she was playing the piano in my cousin's wedding on Saturday and needed to be there for the rehearsal on Friday night.  Anyways, we called Pops and he said to meet us at LeTourneau and we could eat at the cafeteria.  I thought the girls would eat a ton with all of the choices but they really just ended up mostly cleaning out the gold fish container at the salad bar.  Who puts gold fish on their salad?  After our lunch we came back home and I put the girls down for naps.  David got home from his flight and we played Settlers with Pops while they slept.  While we were playing Settlers one of the neighbors stopped by to ask what they could bring to the block party we were having on that following Sunday.  I think they probably thought it was odd that we were both home playing a board game with my Dad, haha.  Then I made dinner while Pops played with the girls.  I don't recall that we really went anywhere that Friday night.  I think Pops just played with the girls until bedtime and then we probably played another game and then Pops headed back to the hotel for the night.

SATURDAY morning Pops came and played with the girls a little bit before we had to head to the airport.  We got there in plenty of time and the girls ended up roping Pops into buying them some M&Ms from the candy machine.  Now everytime we take someone to the airport they will want some.  I did tell Pops that but it didn't seem to deter him.  Haley got pretty weepy as Pops got on the plane and then ended up crying most of the way home.  She kept crying for 'Popsy' and telling me to go back to the airport to get him.  I told her we would see him at Thanksgiving but she doesn't really know what that is so I don't think it was very comforting.  When we got back I fed them some lunch and then put them to bed.  As soon as they woke up we headed out to the grocery store to pick up everything we needed for Sunday's block party.  We picked up a couple things at Sam's and the rest at Wal-mart.  Then we came home and ate supper and then the girls played while we made the burgers and everything.

SUNDAY we went to church.  David led worship so he had to get there a little bit earlier.  After the service we left right away to get home in time to set up for the party.  We really only got home thirty minute before the party started but we had done most of the work the night before.  We set up the tables and David fired up the grill and then we waited for the neighbors to arrive.  We actually had a pretty good turn out this year and the weather was amazing.  Just about everybody came that had come last year and we had one neighbor bring along a friend.  It was a lot earlier than years past because we already have a relationship with everyone who came so conversation was easy.  One of our neighbors has had back problems and David and him realized that they have the same back doctor.  The party started at 12:30 and everyone had left at about 3.  David and I cleaned up and then came inside and took naps while the girls finished up their naps.  I had put them down somewhere in the middle of the party.  In the evening we had invited the Grubbs and Yeakleys to come play games at our house.  We served leftovers from the block party for dinner, haha.  We had a good time catching up with them and playing games.

MONDAY, November 11 (just to clarify what day we are on here) I think the girls and I went to the gym in the morning.  I'm not entirely sure what we did that day and I already erased my November calendar so it really is all history at this point.  I probably did the laundry since it was a Monday and I may have done some cleaning. David had prayer time at our house in the evening but they pray outside by the campfire so the girls and I had the house to ourselves.

TUESDAY we didn't have MOPs so the girls and I went to the gym again.  The big motivation for me going to the gym is that I can shower and get ready for the day in peace.  I am there for an hour but I am doing exercise for maybe half of that time.  The other thirty minutes are spent in the locker room just showering in silence.  Well, it's quiet unless the senior citizen classes have just let out and then it is actually pretty loud.  The shower pressure is awesome on those showers too.  After the gym we came home and the girls took naps and then I probably did some more cleaning.  We don't have anything on Tuesday evenings so I probably gave the girls baths.  I think David worked that day but he was probably home in the evening because he hasn't had an overnight in a while.

WEDNESDAY we had BSF in the morning and then we met up with some friends at Chick-fil-A for lunch.  The girls were playing really well there so we ended up staying pretty long.  When we came home I put them down for naps and they slept really well.  In the evening we had Missio Dei and then we came home and went to bed.

THURSDAY I had women's Bible study in the morning and then I think we were going to meet with Chloe and Ella in the evening but they had to much school work or something so they couldn't.  Instead we all hung out as a family and I'm not sure what we did but I think we did give baths.  Sorry, my memory is failing me on this day so I guess there wasn't too much going on.  However, the next three days should be vividly recounted because David wrote them a couple weeks ago right when they happened.  He helped me out by writing a couple posts and then I realized that I was too behind to post them.  Anyways, I have finally caught up to the posts that he wrote and I will insert them now:

Friday morning I didn't have to work so I was able to be home with Katelyn and the girls.  Haley got up sometime in around seven I think and came to our bed.  However, she did fall completely asleep with us.  I think I took her to the potty and then she fell asleep next to me.  I know she was completely out because around 8, Kelly Liebengood was texting me and I picked up my phone to text back and she didn't even budge.  Usually, as soon as she sees my phone she starts asking for it.  Emily woke up shortly after.  She has been having kind of diarrhea lately and woke up with a poopie diaper.  Once I changed her, I could tell she was up for the day.  I put her in her high chair with a waffle, but she only ate a couple bites.  This is further evidence that she is feeling under the weather.  Haley got up a few minutes later but did not want to eat a waffle or cereal.  Instead, she insisted on eating one of the leftover chocolate oatmeal no-bake cookies that Katelyn had made for Bible Study with Ella and Chloe last night. Katelyn and I decided rather abruptly to go to the gym this morning.  It was already like 8:40 though and Katelyn had a MOPs event at 10 so we had to hurry.  Haley was very eager to go watch Diego in the Healthy Hideaway.  Emily, somewhat surprisingly to me, walked right in there and didn't cry at all.  She now is old enough to be with the big kids.  I think even just being able to walk in there and not have to be handed over like a baby makes her excited to be with the big kids.  Both of them did well I think.  I drove separately because I had something after the MOPs event.  Katelyn showered there and then went to the event which was a tour of the biggest firehouse in Longview, which is kind of close to LeTourneau.  I met up with them there after running home to shower and to the post office quick.  I got there around 10:30 and they were just finishing up the tour.  Haley was running out one of the main garage doors screaming.  I hope she ran out because she saw me, but I think she really just wanted out of there.  I held her while they blew the sirens and turned on the lights for the kids.  I covered Haley's ears since she was already scared and I'm glad I did because it was so loud in there that I could feel my head vibrating.  After talking there for a little while, Katelyn was invited to Chic-fil-a (for the second time this week, she's getting sick of it) and thought it would be good to go.  I had been invited to eat at LeTourneau with some of the professors, although I think they just felt bad having me run a check over there for the kids' confirmation class city league basketball team without letting me get something out of it.  Well, I got there a little early and talked with some LAS guys.  Then I met Drs. Liebengood, Kuecker, Tallon, and Rudkovsky as they were wrapping up a discussion on a paper that Dr. Kuecker is presenting in Baltimore next week.  It is about Theosis in Luke and Acts.  In these kinds of situations, I apply to myself the old refrain: "Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and eradicate all doubts".  Also, it helps to have an iphone where you can quickly and silently google: "define theosis"  haha.  Anyway, the only thing that didn't go completely over my head was that they compared Paul's blinding of the sorcerer to his own blinding.  Is this violence related to Theosis or simply an example of Paul's becoming more like Christ as he never appears to do this type of thing again? Go to Baltimore to find out.  Anyway, I had lunch with them while Katelyn ate at Chic-fil-a.  She says the girls ate pretty well.  Haley ate like 5 nuggets, which is quite a bit of protein for her.  Emily only wanted bread which is probably why she looks the way she does.  They came home and went down for naps soon after.  I arrived a little later and Katelyn and I looked at our employee benefit package and tried to see how screwed we were with healthcare.  Quite honestly, it's not that bad considering what I have heard on the news of people's costs doubling and tripling but it is a little high.  After the girls woke up, we ran the paperwork over to the corporate office because (I know, I know) today was the last day to turn it in and I remembered yesterday.  We are covered and thankful for it.  Then we came home and I played with the girls and read them books while Katelyn made meaty manicotti.  It was really good.  Emily didn't eat that well compared to her usual self.  She felt a little warm and seemed kind of out of it.  Haley on the other hand, wowed us as she ate three helpings.  Both kids had quite a bit of corn which we all know is the absolute healthiest of all vegetables.  Actually, I will probably see that corn again soon because of Emily's previously mentioned intestinal rapidity.  Katelyn then had a surprise Mary Kay party she had to go to.  I say surprise because it was one of those where you are invited to a girls night IN only to later find out you are going to get your face analyzed and see some amazing cleansing products and then NOT put make up on but stay all "natural" because: oh yeah, you were supposed to wear pajamas to the girls house....SURPRISE!!!!  I stayed home and gave the girls a bath which they really enjoyed.  Even Emily in all her sickness had fun in the tub.  After their bath, I rubbed some baby lotion on them as their mother requested for sick babies, and gave Emily some medicine.  Emily loves taking medicine.  She thinks it's a popsicle or something.  She laughs no matter how sick she is.  Very pleasant really compared to Haley.  After her medicine, Emily went right down.  I stayed up with Haley for a while.  We read books and watched a video of the song "speak life" by toby mac.  Haley heard the song on the radio the other day Katelyn says and has been obsessing about it ever since.  What a teenager.  After a while I put Haley to bed and began to write this very blog.  Then she got up and wanted orange juice, followed by goldfish, followed by more orange juice, followed by a sip of water.  Then I put her back in bed the final time and finished this up by typing the sentence you are currently reading.  

Saturday Katelyn went and got Emily after she woke up for the second time.  She just came to bed with us.  Haley arrived shortly after, claiming she needed to use the potty.  Within a few minutes we were all of us cuddling in our bed.  Cuddling really isn't the right word.  Emily and Haley were swatting at each other's hands playfully and laughing.  Emily eventually got up and tried to look out the window.  Haley soon followed.  They both eventually had breakfast.  Emily, again, did not eat very much.  I actually gave her some medicine because she seemed kind of fussy.  Haley had a bowl of cereal.  Katelyn and I each had a couple over medium eggs and toast.  Katelyn figured this was a bad idea because she felt sick shortly after.  We had some errands to run so after we had both showered and gotten the kids ready for the day, we all piled in the van and headed to the bank.  We had to deposit a couple checks, one of which was from Mundt Music who had bought from us the piano Katelyn found in a storage locker this summer.  It had been in our house long enough, plus, as she puts it, that is where the christmas tree will eventually go.  It was sad for Haley to see it go but once again, Katelyn doubled her money.  After the bank, we ran to the post office where we picked up a couple of flat rate boxes.  We ended up not using them anyway.  We are sending a package to Mark, a little boy we sponsor in Uganda, and Chris in China for christmas.  After that we headed to Walmart to do some shopping. The girls did ok while we were there.  Haley wanted to see the fish when we were done, so we headed that way for a little while.  When it was time to go, Haley did not obey Katelyn when she told her not to run away so she had to ride in the cart.  Other than that though, they were really pretty good.  When we got home, they were getting kind of fussy.  Emily had some goldfish that Katelyn had given her to help appease her during the two minute long car ride home.  Katelyn felt kind of sick so she lay down after she made the girls each a hot dog.  Emily again did not eat much.  Actually it was kind of difficult to calculate  how much she had eaten due to the fact that when I came out of the kitchen to check on her, she was crying as she stuffed pieces of hot dog into the goldfish container she had been carrying.  I tried to put her to bed immediately.  Haley played for a little while after, but pretty much went right to bed as well.  Haley fell asleep.  Emily did not.  Seriously, Emily would cry and cry or be quiet like 10 minutes and then cry again.  At 1 I got her up and gave her medicine again.  It seemed to help.  I told katelyn that it must be psychological because as soon as I gave her medicine, which she happily took, she readily reached for her crib and just lay there quietly.  I definitely spoke too soon because she lasted maybe 20 minutes.  I also gave her some apple sauce which I think she liked because she is teething it was nice and cold on her gums.  All in all she maybe slept like just over a half hour during Haley's whole nap time.  Haley woke up and came out where I was reading so we watched a couple episodes of Charlie Brown on the ipad while we waited for mommy to wake up from her nap.  We ended up watching snoopy gets married and a Charlie Brown thanksgiving.  Katelyn must not have been sleeping very soundly because at different points during the episode, she would laugh remembering what was happening on screen.  At one point she asked if they were making popcorn.  After Emily got up for good, we just played in the den for a little while.  Then I made mexican chowder while Katelyn vacuumed the van with the girls.  So much for traditional gender roles.  Haley was super excited about getting to eat corn bread muffins.  I think she ate three.  Katelyn got her to eat chicken in order to eat more muffins.  Emily, who usually LOVES mexican chowder if only for the black beans, did not eat very much. Katelyn and Todd cleaned up the kitchen while I played with Haley and Emily.  Then we read books with them for a little while until it was time for Emy to go to bed.  After she went to bed, Haley helped us pack the box for Chris and even drew some artwork for her.  She made a lot of "H"s and had me trace both her hands and her feet onto a piece of paper.  It was clearly time for Haley to go to bed as she repeatedly colored on the table cloth to mommy's dismay.  After cleaning up the den, Katelyn and I went to bed too.

Sunday  morning, Emily woke up early wanting a bottle.  I put some medicine in there too because she seemed a little warm.  Haley ended up coming into bed with us at some point during the morning.  Haley and Emily each ate a waffle then while Katelyn and I showered.  The weather has been very warm as of late, so the girls were able to wear dresses without sweaters.  The greatest result of this warm weather, at least according to Haley, is that she doesn't have to wear socks.  She absolutely hates socks and would rather wear boots just so she doesn't have to put any on.  She also likes wearing sandals even if it is very cold.   When we got to church, we saw Ben Caldwell there with Evelyn.  Katelyn and I both went up to him separately thinking that Amanda had had the baby or something.  Turns out Lucy was just sick so she had to stay home with her.  The girls were pretty good in church.  We went ahead and put Emily in the nursery because we figure her fever is just from her teething.  Haley was a little loud towards the end of the service when the kids come back in from the nursery.  She has been trying to imitate Emily so she just randomly and loudly says: "DA SCA BA DA". It is a little weird and just makes her sound dumb. After church, we came home and put the girls down for a nap.  Katelyn also slept because she felt kind of sick and I read for a while.  When the girls woke up, Emily was pretty mad.  They had taken seriously like 2:30 hrs to fall asleep.  By the time they needed to be up, they had only been sleeping for an hour.  Haley woke up on her own, but Emily was awakened by Haley running in her room and climbing on the crib after using the potty once. We figured Emily might do well to get out of the house and Katelyn wanted to go look at a Sit'N Stand stroller she saw on Craigslist.  We headed out with Emily in her front facing seat.  On the way to church she loved facing forward and was smiling and laughing the whole way there.  On the way to pick up the stroller, we rediscovered the down side of a forward facing car seat: the sun.  As the sun set, it was in a perfect position to blind, and overall infuriate that baby.  Finally I remembered the sunshield we keep in the car and Katelyn held it in between our seats to block the harmful rays from causing any further annoyance.  The stroller was just what Katelyn was looking for, with the exception of a cup holder which can be easily purchased online notwithstanding the fact that we never have cups to carry.  We kind of had to hurry back because the Yeakley's, Grubbs', and Creech's were coming over to play games and eat pizza.  Michael and Kelsey asked if they could bring their dog, Baxter, a red poodle or labradoodle or something.  Haley was kind of scared of him especially at first.  I had to leave for an hour for a prior commitment, but when I got home, everything had changed.  Haley was in Baxter's kennel pretending to be a dog.  she was trying to feed him a pig's ear and a bone.  Emily of course loves dogs, so she played with him the whole time.  Emily even went so far as to take his bed dog out of his kennel, and take it down the hall to her room to lay on it and pretend it was a bed.  Had I known, we could have saved ourselves the expense of a crib!  Haley and Emily went to bed during games but ended up both getting up again later to eat some yogurt.  Then, finally they went to sleep.

Okay, that is definitely all I am posting for now because this is already almost a book.  I will leave you with some pics!

When we had that game night the Sunday of the block party, the Grubbs brought their little dog along because they had been out and had him with them anyways.  Anyhow, the girls loved all of the dog's accessories.  I know this is kind of gross but here is Emily laying in its bed.

I think I put her to bed shortly after this...

Haley loved the kennel

Haley and Emily actually played in the kennel for a while, we joked about getting them one for Christmas

One random day the girls were playing in the pantry and Emily was sitting on this roll of garbage bags and it just got my funny bone.

Two weeks since Mimi and Pops; one week till M and P = super behind!

Two weeks ago Saturday November 2, Katelyn had a benefit garage sale in the morning for a friend of ours with a kid with down's and another kid with cystic fibrosis.  It was at our old church and she went by there in the morning to help price and sell stuff.  She said it was interesting having different people price items because two identical things would have a different price on them based on each person's opinion.  I stayed home with the girls and attempted to clean before Mimi came.  After Katelyn got home, we finished the cleaning and the girls napped.  Then we headed to Tyler to watch a LeTourneau soccer game.  It was their last game of the season before play offs and they HAD to win.  We got there shortly after the second half began.  Apparently they were evenly matched the first half.  We must have been bad luck because they lost like 5-1 or something crazy.  One of the guys on UT Tyler's team was definitely having a good day as goal after goal without assists attested to.  After the game we headed to the airport to pick up Mimi.  She arrived on time and we headed to BJ's Brewhouse for dinner.  We had gone to one in Wichita but this one was supremely terrible.  The waiter started out by saying "I think I need to be fair to y'all and let you know the kitchen is behind tonight and it's a 30 minute wait time." That should have been enough for us to go to Taco Bell, but we chose to wait it out.  A couple pieces of cold chicken and a ketchup-less burger later, we were on our way to Longview!  To his credit he did give us some free fries for the kids while we waited.

Sunday Mimi helped get the girls ready for church.  She combed and fashioned Haley's hair.  We should have taken a picture as this is the very first meeting between her hair and a comb.  Then, after church, she grandbabysat the girls while we went to a nesting shower which basically means a work day.  I scraped paint off some old cupboards.  I think they may have chosen to get pregnant simply because they needed help at their house.  When we got back, the Feenstra's minus one, had arrived.  They had left Jay with her parents in west Texas.  Mimi and Katelyn went to Bodacious and brought back some food for us for dinner.  I think we played dutch blitz after the girls went to bed.

Monday Katelyn felt super sick.  I had to go to Trinity School, where a couple ladies from our church teach Spanish.  This month they were studying Honduras, so they asked me to come speak to the school.  It went pretty well.  All the kids were attentive.  Katelyn, Mimi, and the girls came to watch me present the middle and high schools.  Mimi had gotten the girls ready single handedly as Katelyn felt sick.  So sick, in fact, that after the presentation, as we were walking to the car, she just threw up in the parking lot.  Aint no thang because she just hopped in the civic with Mimi and they were off shopping while I took the girls home and gave them lunch.  I was supposed to fly in the afternoon but that got cancelled.  Katelyn and Mimi went to chic fil a for lunch.  While the girls slept, Katelyn and Mimi went shopping again and found many stores to be closed on Mondays.  Then Katelyn came home and fell asleep feeling sick and Mimi went shopping alone.  At night we had Bible Study while Mimi watched the girls again and said they did pretty well.

Tuesday Katelyn took Mimi to MOPs with her and it became GMOPs.  Right from there, they met Pops, who had arrived that morning, at his hotel.  They brought him back to the Canche casa and Katelyn made BLT's for everyone.  Then Pops and I watched the girls while Katelyn and Mimi went to all the stores that had been closed on Monday. Pops showed Haley how to build color coded hollow towers, something she had never been exposed to before.  At night we went to Cowboy Chicken for dinner.  I cant believe how many times we went out to eat chicken.  Now that I write it out, it seems a bit excessive.  After dinner, we went to the yogurt bar for dessert.  Then Katelyn ran to a baby shower for Eli Freeman for an hour while the rest of us played with the girls and put them to bed.  Then the four adults played dutch blitz.  Katelyn wants the record to show that she won both nights.  I was about to and then chose to forfeit so she could feel good.

Wednesday Katelyn had BSF and right after picked up her mom to hang out.  Pops' golf outing got cancelled due to rain, so he came with me to Jobs for Life and got to meet some of the men we are working with.  After that, Pop's and I figured we should eat chicken again and headed to chic fil a for lunch.  When we got home K and M went shopping AGAIN (it is so much more annoying writing about it than actually living it) while Pops and I waited for the kids to wake up.  Mimi came with us to the pot luck at church while Merle went to his meetings.  Katelyn dropped her off after an hour for her meetings. At Missio Dei, we packed up boxes to send for Operation Christmas Child.  I had gone out in the afternoon to buy the toys and stuff we were sticking in there.  The girls had fun coloring a picture for the child who will receive our package.  I used to think OCC was an irresponsible, damaging, way for people to feel good about themselves by giving something that is easy to give, but Rin can tell you otherwise and enlightened me to care with which those material gifts are shared directly alongside the gospel.  After Missio Dei, we came home and went to bed.

Mimi looking at babies on backs and babies in papooses

Haley showing Pops pictures of herself (Belle) and Emily (Cinderella)

Emily cooking up a veritable feast for pops while Haley gets her backpack ready for the 2016 School year

A week of catch up October 27 - November 1

Sunday October the 27th was a pretty good day from what I can remember.  David didn't have to work which broke his 5 week stretch of having had to work on a Sunday.  Most of those he didn't miss church though because they were afternoon flights.  We relaxed and took naps in the afternoon and then in the evening we went to a Birthday party for baby Claire.  Baby Claire, if you remember, is a girl from our church who was born about a year ago with trisonomy 18.  It was amazing that she survived even being born and nothing short of a miracle that she is still alive today.  We were celebrating that she had turned one, something only 0.07% of Trisonomy 18 babies live to do.  Not to minimize it, but when they gave the statistic the first thing I thought was her percent of living is actually higher than Haley's weight percentage for her age (0.04%, haha).  Anyways, they had the celebration at the church complete with pizza, cake, and worship service.  I know the worship service seems out of place but Claire's parents wanted to sing praises to God because "to God be the glory, great things He has done."  It was pretty cool and kind of felt normal since we were meeting at our church anyways.  After the party David and I had invited some couples over to play games.  The Yeakleys and the Grubbs came and the Feenstras live with us so they were there of course.  I put Emily to bed early but Haley stayed up and watched Dora for a bit before turning in.  We had a lot of fun, I don't remember when everyone left but I remember it was later than usual.

Monday I think we went to a little harvest celebration in the morning that some of my friends from MOPS and Bible study fellowship were putting on.  They had tons of food for lunch and a craft and games for the kids.  The kids were encourage to come in costume but Haley was horrified when I suggested that she wear a tutu to the party.  I think she felt a little sheepish when we arrived and she was one of the only ones in normal clothing.  She even asked for a princess dress while we were there (there were several little girls dressed as princesses) but I told her I didn't have one on hand.  We ate lunch and played and then cleaned up a bit before we left.  The girls took awesome naps after that party.  I don't quite remember what we did in the afternoon but I know that David had men's prayer group at our house in the evening.  They meet outside by the campfire which is super convenient for me because I don't have to clean up the house or anything!

Tuesday I had a MOPs steering team meeting in the morning.  I packed a lunch and we ate outside at a playground after the meeting for lunch.  Haley really looks like a ragamuffin pretty fast when we are outside.  I heard a mom talking to her child who wanted to take his shoes off and heard him say, "but Haley isn't wearing her shoes!"  I looked over and sure enough, Haley had put her shoes nicely in a corner of the playground and was running around like a crazy person, her hair band was also long gone at this point.  I maybe would have noticed before then except at the time I was giving Emily her second peanut butter and jelly sandwich and her hundredth chip.  Emily loves to eat.  After the playground we came home and the girls took good naps.  I don't remember what we did in the afternoon or what we did in the evening, I don't think it was too interesting or I would remember...

WEDNESDAY we had Bible study fellowship.  It was raining and it's kind of a walk from the parking lot to the church so that was kind of exciting.  Haley wore her hood and I put a burp cloth on Emily's head which she kept on surprisingly.  After Bible study we came home and ate lunch and they played a little bit before naps.  We had church in the evening and then came home and put the girls right to bed.

THURSDAY we had Bible study in the morning at our house.  Haley and Jay were in rare form which led to an often-interrupted discussion.  I think Haley had to go on time out at least three times.  I should just put her on time out for the whole time, she just sits there quietly and stares into space.  I'm pretty sure she's not "thinking about what she's done" like she's supposed to be doing.  After Bible study I put the kids down for naps and then worked on making fliers for our annual neighborhood block party.  Every fall David and I have a block party for our neighbors.  We make invitations in the form of fliers and pass them out on Halloween night.  We decided that it makes it less awkward because people are expecting visitors anyways and we end up getting candy out of the deal.  After dinner I pulled out the girl's flower girl dresses and talked about how fun it would be to dress up like a princess.  Emily was game, but Haley would not have it.  I asked if she wanted to wear a tutu instead and it only made her more worked up.  In the end I made her change into a pink shirt because she was already wearing pink pants and pink shoes and she went as the color pink.  It took about thirty minutes to pass out our fliers and then we got home and didn't have anything to do.  We decided to go to Kroger to go grocery shopping which was the best idea ever because no one was there.  The place was almost completely empty, Haley even got to use one of the kid shopping carts which are always all taken.  We finished up our shopping and then put the groceries away and went to bed.

FRIDAY was a pretty big day.  David didn't have to work so we went to Wal-mart to finish up our grocery list and then quickly came home because we were having company for lunch.  I had invited my friend Libby over with her two kids Ruthie and Jude who are about Haley and Emily's age respectively.  When Dave's trip got cancelled he invited her husband to come over his lunch break so we actually had the whole family over.  I was running a little late on the lunch so when the husband arrived and admitted that he actually was done for the day and didn't have to go back to work, I was pretty relieved.  I made tomato basil soup and grilled cheese on french bread.  Grilled cheese is so much better on french bread, the difference is amazing.  After lunch we were all sitting around talking and Josh asked me where I had gotten my decorative pumpkins on the coffee table.  I told him I had gotten them at Canton, the biggest flea market in the nation, about an hour away.  Canton is only held the weekend before the first Monday of every month.  Anyways, Josh started going on and on about he loved Canton and that we should all go sometime.  Then Libby mentioned that it was actually going on today and that we should go right then.  We all looked at eachother and kind of shrugged and decided to do it.  I packed some snacks, put the perishable lunch stuff in the fridge, and we headed out.  We had to drive separate because there were eight of us total and our van only fits seven.  Libby rode with me and David rode with Josh and the kids all took a nice hour nap on the way there.  Haley actually took about fifteen minutes to fall asleep so her nap was more like forty-five minutes.  We got there around 3 and they're only open until about six so we didn't have tons of time there but it worked out nicely for us.  Usually people spend eight hours or so at Canton but I don't think many of them have one year olds and two and a half year olds with them.  I found a big picture frame that I wanted and David bartered the lady down to $8 for it so that made the time worth it to me!  We walked around and bought some lemonade and popcorn for the kids and funnel cake for the adults.  I offered some funnel cake to Haley but she didn't want any, Emy ate Haley's share.  We headed out around six and decided to grab dinner together on the way home.  We stopped in Tyler which is about thirty minutes away and ate at 'On the Border.'  It actually was our second choice but our first choice had an hour and a half waiting time and we only had to wait thirty minutes for 'On the Border.'  The girls did really well at dinner but by the end Emily was sitting in her high chair and resting her head on the table she was so tired.  We should've gotten a picture because it was so cute, kind of sad too actually.  After dinner we loaded up in the car and the girls fell asleep almost right away.  We transferred them to their beds and then went to bed ourselves.

Haleyism:
Haley loves to give compliments, she is quite flattering.  If I am in my bath robe she will tell me that she loves my dress.  Often she tells me she likes my hair, "It is brown like mine" she likes to say.

Emilyism:
 Emily loves to shake her head and say 'no.'  See the video below...

By the way, she did want the macaroni and cheese once it was offered.

Ready to go grocery shopping on Halloween night.  Notice her 'pink' costume.

Catch up compliments of Mimi!

First off, everyone can give a big thank you to Mimi who made this post possible by folding all the loads of laundry that were waiting for me in the laundry room.  If Mimi hadn't done that for me this afternoon I would be doing that right now!  The last time I posted was for Monday, October 21st!

I've got to be honest, I don't really remember too much of what happened the rest of that week.  We had MOPS on Tuesday but David did not have to work until the afternoon so I left the girls home with him.  I'm sure the girls took a nap in the afternoon and then we don't ever have anything on Tuesdays so we usually give them baths so we probably did that.

WEDNESDAY we had BSF in the morning and church in the evening.  David had to work late that night so he wasn't able to make it to church.  I'm not even sure if that was how the day went but probably!

THURSDAY we had Bible study in the morning.  We met at the Keuker's house which is the home of Haley's good friend Addy.  They played nicely during the study, they spent a lot of time changing dresses.  In the afternoon we came home and took naps.  Thursday evening I had a MOPs event called the 'Sip 'n Shop.'  It's where a bunch of moms can sell things from their businesses.  For example, Julianne sells thirty-one bags and she was there, there was a Mary Kay girl, and a bunch of girls that sew things to sell.  While I was at the event, David was home with the girls and entertaining my Uncle Dave who had come into town to look at LeTourneau with my cousin Turner.  Uncle Dave got in around eight thirty or so and he got to meet the girls before David put them to bed.  Then he and David chatted it up until I got home and then we talked some more before we all went to bed.

FRIDAY David worked but he made it home by the afternoon.  We went out to grab some things for dinner from the store.  Then we met Uncle Dave and Turner at LeTourneau and dropped David off with them to take them to the airport and show them around.  The girls and I went home and started dinner and it was ready by the time the boys got back.  I made pork tacos and Mexican rice and chips and salsa.  Uncle Dave ate several tacos but Turner only ate one, I don't think he was a fan.  It was pretty much confirmed when he ate four brownies for dessert, oops.  They left around 8:30 and we put the girls to bed and then probably did something wonderful  but I can't remember!

We actually have a pretty good account of Saturday because David wrote it for me back when it happened and I had it saved until I actually came to that day!
Saturday, I finally broke my streak of working six days a week and brought it down to five.  I was able to sleep in and spend time with Katelyn and the girls. Emily did not sleep that great.  She woke up once at like 2 am and I gave her a bottle. She was also the first one up just after 8 am. I gave her some allergy medicine because she seemed to be having a hard time breathing and her nose was really runny. She also could be getting teeth though because it didn't really seem to help much. Then I stuck her in her high chair and gave her some honey bunches of oats to eat.  Haley woke up shortly after and went straight to the den to play with jay who had been awake for some time already. Todd kindly made pancakes for everyone and Haley and Emily each ate one of those.  After Katelyn got up we got ready for the day.  Our church is thinking about buying a house...random I know. Anyway, it was open for us to see today at ten so we went over there and looked at it. The downstairs is set up as a coffee shop. It's really pretty neat. The upstairs is like 8 rooms but I don't know what you would use them for and they aren't finished anyway. After we were done looking at the house we stayed downtown. Actually, pretty much right behind the house is the Amtrak station. Next to the station is a park with a little jungle gym that looks like a train. Emily really liked sliding down the slide, which was all of three feet long and really shallow, perfect for a baby. Katelyn really did not feel good though, so we left after a short while. We came home and ate lunch quick and then put the girls down for a nap.  They really did not sleep well. After their naps we played a little while but pretty soon they were kind of fussy again so we figured they needed a change of scene. We decided to go to the park and walk on the trail. The girls did well on the way there and played on the toys.  Emily liked going down the curly slide too.  They also liked swinging.  We tried to get Haley to learn to pump so we won't have to push her anymore.  She gets it I think but she kinda got sick of it after a while. On the way home, they were not quite as easy on the way home. The Feenstra's cooked white chili for dinner. It was really good.

Haleyism:
Our pastor just finished a sermon series on the Lord's Prayer and we have been saying it more often, at meals and before bed and so forth.  Anyways, Haley has almost the whole thing memorized!

Emilyism:
Emily walks really well now, I think it started about two weeks ago...sorry about the late notice...

Emy playing at the park on Saturday

The weekend...last weekend that is.

FRIDAY of last week I did not feel very well so I spent most of the day laying around.  I threw up in the morning kind of randomly and it didn't get much better from there.  I didn't even shower which is saying something because I always shower.  David was still gone in South Dakota so I watched the girls from my place on the floor or couch and counted down the times until naps and bedtime.  We watched a Dora movie in the evening which I thought would make things easier but as it turns out, Emily really does not sit still for movies and just stands right in front of the screen and makes Haley mad.  Julianne made some popcorn and then Emily sat on my lap and ate that nicely.  Amanda had texted and asked if we wanted to do dinner with them and I told her David was gone and I felt sick and around 7:30 she stopped by and dropped off a chocolate cupcake, it was so super nice of her.  As I recall the kids went to bed fine.

SATURDAY I still did not feel great but I felt better than Friday.  I laid around again in the morning and then I took a shower during naptime which I think helped me feel a lot better.  I slept during the rest of naptime and then started dinner.  David got home just as I was putting dinner in the oven which couldn't have been better timing because I peaced out and laid on the bed while David played with the girls.  We ate dinner and then David played with the girls more and then I think we just went to bed.

Saturday night I slept really well and felt much better  on Sunday morning.  David led worship so he had to leave early and the girls and I came an hour later.  Haley was being kind of clingy during the worship time but Emily wanted to be down on the floor rummaging in the diaper bag so it kind of worked out.  After church we came home and ate and then watched a little bit of the Eagles game (bad decision, they lost) before laying down and taking naps ourselves.  When the girls woke up we took them to the park because they were both a little cranky and we thought a change of scene would help.  They were happy to go but Haley was sad when it was time to come home.  We made a frozen pizza for dinner and then let the girls play a bit before bedtime.

MONDAY David had to work and we didn't have too much going on.  Sorry, I feel like if you haven't already fallen asleep during this post, you are getting close.  I didn't feel very good during the day so there was more laying around.  I really think I must have 'morning sickness' because it does tend to wear off by evening.  This was good because David and I went to a Young Life Banquet in the evening.  Julianne and Todd graciously offered to watch the kids while we were gone for about three hours.  They said they did really well but Haley was still awake when we got home around 9:30.  David and I are big softies after we leave the kids with baby-sitters so we let her lay in our bed and look at pictures on David's phone while David and I read.  Then we put her back to bed a little after ten.

David playing doctor with Haley

Waiting for their Daddies

I guess it was mouth surgery

Awful picture of Emy

Emy getting the puzzles out

Catching up!

I know I am super behind on this blog but I do have two good excuses.  First, I have not been feeling well.  Not sure if it's the baby or something 'real' but whatever it was, it was bad.  Secondly, our internet bill went up (our promotion trial period ran up) so we decided to see how much internet we use just by using Dave's hotspot on his phone that his company pays for.  So anytime I want to use the internet David has to be home, and his phone has to be there, and the laptop, and the stars have to be aligned just right so that it works.  Well, the star thing is not really true but it is kind of tricky.  Anyways, all that to say, I am well aware that I am over a week late but not to fear, we actually did not do too much in that week so there's not too much to cover, haha.

MONDAY of last week, David worked all day and the Feenstra's were still out of town and I felt really good (I wasn't feeling sick yet) so the girls and I cleaned the whole house top to bottom and did the laundry.  That's what I used to do every Monday and man it makes for a pretty boring Monday.  I felt pretty good at the end of the day though, when it was all over.  The girls were really the ones that made it possible though.  They played really nicely together all day and stayed out of trouble.  Usually they would move from room to room with me while I cleaned and play on the beds or just watch.  I distinctly remember deciding that night to fold laundry instead of write the blog...

TUESDAY the Feenstras were home.  Haley was so happy to see Jay again.  We didn't have MOPs which worked out because I felt pretty awful.  I laid around and attempted crowd control from my spot on the couch.  The kids played nicely most of the day.  Julianne had to work in the evening so there was a short time where I had all of the kids while we waited for the Dave and Todd to get home, they're all still alive.  David has been graciously taking over as soon as he walks in the door which has been a life saver.  I think the kids are pretty tired of me by that point anyways.  On Tuesday night we gave the kids baths, it was pretty uneventful.

Tuesday night I slept pretty bad so I was pretty tired Wednesday morning.  I decided that it would probably pass as soon as I got to BSF.  That was laughable.  I was sitting at my table listening to the lecture and it was all I could do to keep myself from laying my head down.  It was a great lecture and everything but I was just so tired.  I was glad we went though because the girls had a great time and quite honestly, they were nice and tired for their naps.  I fed them lunch and put them down and then took a nap myself.  David didn't have to work so that was nice.  He had been busy in the morning getting physical therapy for his back and working on some stuff for church while we were gone and then he was home for the rest of the day.  It was super nice because he played with the girls while I made the casserole for Wednesday night church.  We had the little kids during the meeting part.  David led a rousing game of Simon Says and then we split up into our groups.  It was really rainy last Wednesday and a bunch of people were out sick so I only had three kids in my class, score!  We did the lesson and then did prayer requests.  The nursery was right next to the room we were in and I didn't hear any crying so I guess Emily and Haley did well.  When we got home we put the girls to bed but I remember they had a hard time falling asleep.  Emy was especially emotional for whatever reason so I rocked her for a little bit and then she went right to sleep.  She doesn't really fall asleep in my arms anymore, it's kind of sad to me.  Even when I put her in her crib after rocking her she was still wide awake and then as soon she got in that crib she went to sleep.

THURSDAY we had women's Bible study in the morning.  David didn't have to leave for his flight until two thirty so I left the girls home with him.  I hadn't slept well Wednesday night either so I was pretty tired again.  I don't know why I haven't been sleeping well, I have never had that problem.  I thought I should stop taking naps but it's not that I'm not tired, it's almost like I'm overtired.  Anyways, enough of that, talking about it makes me tired!  David and the girls were just starting to eat lunch when I got home.  He said they played and it was fun, his words not mine.  The girls were still napping when David left.  Todd and Julianne offered to watch the girls so I could still have Bible study with Chloe and Ella.  There was a pumpkin carving/painting contest at a pottery place down the road that I wanted to take the girls to so we went there right before the study.  We picked up Ella on our way and she helped me with the girls.  It was a pretty big event because they had all of the contest pumpkins on display, a hay bale maze, employees dressed up in costumes and handing out candy, and a bunch of places set up to take your kids to get their pictures taken.  I felt like the entire city of Longview was there it was so packed.  I was really glad I had asked Ella to come along because we really needed to each be holding a girl or we could have easily lost one.  Julianne and Todd brought their kids a while after we got there and then I gave them my two and switched vehicles with them so they could have the van.  Then Ella and I headed out to Bible study.  While I was at Bible study I got a text that Julianne couldn't find Emy's paci, AH!  She ended up giving her one of Carrington's so the crisis was averted but I felt bad!  She had it at the pumpkin patch and I guess it got lost in all of the crowds.  When I got home Haley was still awake so I let her climb into bed with me because David was gone overnight.

That's all I'm going to write for now, but here are the pictures I took at the pumpkin patch!!

I took a picture of Ella and the girls in front of the pumpkin display that her class made.  They didn't win and honestly, it was way less crowded in front of their display, haha!

Haley refused to look at the camera

Sometimes David and I refer to the girls as our 'things'

David mentioned that the girls are actually switched, Haley should be 'thing 1' and Emy should be 'thing 2'

Saturday Sunday

Saturday we slept in till around nine. We had stayed up the night before playing games till pretty late. We got up and fed the girls breakfast but decided to skip breakfast ourselves since we were going to go on a date. We had arranged for Ella to watch the girls around eleven for a couple hours so we could go on a lunch date. We took turns getting ready and watching the kids while they ate and played. Ella's mom texted to say she would drop her off, so that was nice and we didn't have to spend time going to get her. At one point though, katelyn started to feel sick from not having eaten breakfast so her and Emily and haley shared an apple. When Ella got here we told Haley that she had to obey miss Ella and she said she would. Katelyn and I went out to cheddars for lunch. We hadn't been there in a while.  It was fun to talk and eat without babies.  Also it was nice not to have to take anyone to the potty.  After lunch we ran by the dollar store to see if they had any bread...they did not.  Then we ran to Burlington coat factory in search of a present for Chloe Watson, who was turning three.  She likes Disney princess stuff as you can imagine so we were looking for some dress up stuff.  We ended up finding a sort of ballerina duffle bag with the Disney princesses on it.  She takes ballet so that really did work well. When we got home, the girls had just gone down for a nap.  Katelyn took Ella home while I convinced haley to actually sleep. We didn't let them sleep very long because the birthday party was at 2pm. We didn't check the invitation carefully so we didn't see that the party was not at their house, but at Somme random house on our side of town, so we were a little late.  It was ok though,  the girls still had fun.  Chloe's big gift was a Disney princess power wheels. Not sure she noticed the bag...  They also had a bounce house which Haley did not want to go into. That was alright though because it was raining outside just a little and I didn't feel like getting wet. Emily ate great over there, everything from fruit to a pbj sandwich to brownies and a cupcake Haley dropped on the floor. I talked to Gustavo (another engineering professor from church) about us getting motorcycles but it was in Spanish so katelyn doesn't even know. After the party we just played with toys for a while. It was rainy so katelyn decided to try her hand at making tomato soup from scratch. It was super good. I told her to write down what she did. Emily loved it of course, and Haley only tried one bite of course, and that with much coaxing/threatening. Then we decided to go to the LeTourneau men's soccer game. I had been texting the coach and they had been delayed for the rain and we kind of didn't want to deal with wet kids but we decided to go anyway. We were so glad we did.  Letu was up 3-0 when we got there just before half time. Then tho other school scored 3 goals, the last one with 26 seconds left on the clock. They went into overtime and the other team scored but they were offsides and then LeTourneau scored to win. Both teams needed this game to stay alive so it was huge and stressful.  Emily stayed in her dora chair the whole first half almost. She is a great fan.  She would clap and scream. She even stopped the ball under her chair once! Haley on the other hand wanted to play with the Haesecke kids who were running around in another field doing who knows what. I didn't rain while we were there which was nice.  After that we headed home and katelyn wrote some blogs while I watched some Cosby shows. "JUSTINE JUSTINE! DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEEN!"

Sunday we woke up and got ready for church.  I had to work immediately after church so we drove separately.  That actually worked out because we had donut duty and I went to Walmart alone instead of dragging the girls over there.  This Sunday was a special day because our church was being officially proclaimed a particular church in the EPC.  Some people representing different functions of the EPC came to install Dr. Liebengood, our pastor and do the ceremony installing elders and commissioning the church body to faithful living trusting God to equip us to do his will. Haley must have still been tired when she woke up because she was pretty horrible.  She kept whining and wanted to be held.  Typical baby stuff.  Needless to say, when the pastor forgot to tell the kids they could go to their classes, we were more than happy to stand up anyway and take our kids back to the nursery.  There was a lunch afterwards catered from Newk's. I had to leave before the service actually ended but Katelyn said that she got help from the little girls at church.  They love Haley and Emily.  She fed them but the other little girls at church were more than happy to hold Emily and play with Haley.  She really thought it would be awful without me there to help but she says she was pleasantly surprised. Then they came home and the girls went down for a nap.  Haley was super cranky, so instead of waking her up after an hour, Katelyn just let her sleep till I got home.  Once I got home, I ate some leftovers for lunch and I played with Haley for a while.  Pretty soon it was dinner time.  Katelyn had some leftover fried rice from "Lil Thai House" that she shared with Emily.  We figured out that Haley looks more Mexican, but Emily is actually more Mexican.  The rice was pretty spicy and Emily ate it as if it was candy. I think she could go to the trees and just eat jalapenos right off of them.  I don't remember what Haley and I ate.  I think I had lunch so late that I didn't need anything.  Then the Creech's invited us over.  They just spent two weeks in South Africa, visiting Jon's extended family and visiting the country. The pictures were pretty cool.  They had gone on a safari and it was amazing to see the details God invented when he made the animals.  It seems like they had a pretty good time. Sarah made domino cookies (chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips) for us to eat while we looked at the pictures.  Emily and Haley ended up eating their fair share for sure.  For not having any toys at their house, the girls really did pretty well.  Emily really enjoyed sitting on the ledge by their fireplace.  She would just sit down and laugh like a crazy person.  Haley liked to look at some of the animals, but also enjoyed walking around touching fragile things she wasn't supposed to be touching.  After the pictures, we came home and put the girls to bed and then we read some Robinson Crusoe.  I know, we really need to just finish that book.

Haleyism: Haley thinks bathroom humor is funny.  She says things are poopie or that she wants to eat poopie. Not sure where she picked up on that.  I think it is funny, but I don't say those things.

Emilyism: Emily seems to only get worse at walking.  I think she sees it as just a one time event, not a lifestyle change.

Emily stuffing her face at Chloe Watson's Bday party

You can't tell, but Haley has a bad attitude.

True love for the game.

We definitely gotta wash that chair.

No wonder we've been getting so much rain.

Regular bed time routine, with a triple axle dismount

Emily was somewhat of an obnoxious fan.