Time Flies when you're BUSY!

I cannot believe that it's almost the end of October already! It seems that my weeks fly by faster than I can even blink my eyes. Between Ben being in school everyday and Ryan twice a week, plus their swimming class, plus Ben's soccer class, and Ryan's sports class, and Playgroup on top of that, throw a baby into the mix and life is crazy! My house is a mess, but mostly it's because in my mind I just cleaned on Saturday, when actually it was 2 or 3 Saturdays ago (is that an okay excuse?). Where does the time go? Steve has already been in his position here in Appleton for 4 months! That means that IF we choose to return to Salt Lake at the earliest time possible, which remains to be seen, that we only have 20 months to go. I just hope that the winter months go as fast as these past few have gone. It has only been in the mid-40's for the high temps the past couple of weeks, I hope it will get a little warmer before all hope is lost and we have to live like hermits.

Well, here's a quick look at what we've been up to since the last post:

With our little playgroup, we went to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard where the boys were able to pick out their own pumpkins and run through the mud. They had races through the apple trees and picked more apples to enjoy. This orchard is only about 2 miles from our house, I still can't believe how close all of these farms are, we really don't live in the sticks, I promise.

Last Saturday I took the boys to the Fire House Open House just up the street from us. Brooke stayed home with Steve due to the freezing temperatures, and he spent the morning freezing his tail off at Ben's football game. The open house was really fun! They had fire trucks, and ambulances, the police K9 unit, and a kids learning trailer all set up for the kids to see. We had Brats and hotdogs for lunch. Ben was even able to use a fire extinguisher to put out a BBQ fire. Ben has been learning about fire safety at school too so he was really interested. The scary part is that rather than being afraid of fire after talking about fire danger and how to be safe, Ben asked us when our house is going to go on fire. I told him that I hope it never catches on fire, and he promptly told me that he wants our house to be on fire so that the firemen can come. I tried to tell him that we don't want the firemen at our house, if we want to see the firemen we will go to them, not the other way around. Lord help us all!!

I have been so greatly impressed with Ben's school. He has grown by leaps and bounds, he can write every letter perfectly in upper case, he has started sounding out words, he writes his numbers 1-10. He knows directions foe right and left. He now knows to call 911 for emergencies, as well as stop-drop-and-roll, and to crawl under the smoke, if there is a fire. His knowledge just astounds me. I don't know if it's because he's finally ready to learn, or the 5 days a week is helping, or the teacher just knows how to get to him, but I am grateful.

Here's just a new picture of Brooke following her bath yesterday. She seems to be growing so fast I hate it! Knowing that she's our last makes it just that much harder to watch her grow out of her newborn clothes. I love to let her sleep on me for her naps and I know that I spoil her rotten already, but she's the sweetest thing! Ryan is a little mother hen to her. He loves to get her binkie and stick it in her mouth, whether she's crying or not. Both boys love to her look at them and they'll talk to her and interact with her. She's sleeping about 5-6 hour streches at night now, which is great for me. Now if the boys will stay in bed, we'll be in good shape.

Life is great for us, even if it is a little hectic. We're trying to keep up.