Happy Halloween

Mike got to go to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game.  Touchdown Jesus.

Shoes

Next to the front door we have a basket.  That basket is supposed to hold everyone's shoes.  But most of the time, it is a cornucopia with shoes spilling out all around it and cluttering up the entryway.  Often times I get frustrated tripping over all those shoes and it seems like a constant chore to pick them all up several times a day.  However, the other day I looked at my pile of strewn shoes and I saw Mike's big sneakers, and Lydia's little white high heels.  There were Colton's lace up spiderman shoes that he loves and I despise.  I had my pink running shoes and I thought, 'how blessed am I to have big shoes and little shoes all over my floor.'  They are a symbol of the wonderful family I have.  We wear them here and there, we do activities together with our various shoes.  We are blessed enough to each have several pairs of good shoes.  Big strong shoes for Mike, versatile shoes for me, cute sparkly shoes for my princess and very active shoes for my active little boy.  So, for this week at least, I am not annoyed by the mess of shoes, but grateful for each person who wears them. 

Stuff

Time is flying!  Have the kids really been in school for a month and a half?  I am loving the fall weather and we have been doing lots of  fun stuff.  On Fridays before home games, the Purdue football team, cheerleaders, etc. walk across the pedestrian bridge that runs across the river.  The kids were so excited to see Purdue Pete. 

Lydia bucked up some courage and got her photo taken with some cheerleaders.  (I love how the male cheerleader is posing, but got cut out of the frame.  Poor guy)

We went to a place in Indy called Conner Prairie.  It's sort of like Nauvoo.  People are dressed up like it is 1836.  They do re-enactments and have houses and schools, and blacksmith shops that you can visit.  You can see how they made candles, wove, cooked, etc.  I love that kind of stuff and I could have honestly stayed there all day just learning, but the kids wanted to do the hands on activities and only last so long. 

Mike and Josie enjoying a quieter river area of Conner Prairie.  We are not really crowd people and we didn't know that it was a free day at Conner Prairie, so there were a ton of people there! 

Colton trying out a canoe in the indian village.  He was sad he couldn't find any real 'alien'- what he kept calling indians, but he did like the mountain man who showed how to make a real fire. 

sweetly sleeping.  Look at those cheeks. 

Lydia got to participate in a cheer clinic and then cheer at the highschool football game.  She was so excited all week to use her new pom poms to cheer at the game, and then the day of, it was cold, rainy, and miserable. She did her cheer (without pom poms because she didn't want them to get wet) and then came home. 

Lydia and Colton treating a younger sibling like all older siblings do.  Poor girl.  They were supposed to be setting the table. 

I wanted a picture of all three kids for my office.  (I've started working part time at LUM again and I love it.) 

Yesterday, after the photo of the three kiddos, I helped Lydia pull her front tooth.  I love her little toothless grin. 

Keepin' my head above water

 First Day of Kindergarten

 Sporting his sporty hat. 

My little Piggie.

Taken today.  Can't get enough of her bonnet!

School has started, life is busy.  A few snapshots . . .

school

 I forgot to post this photo of the beach house we stayed at in North Carolina.  Isn't it cute? 

I haven't downloaded the photos of Lydia from the first day of school yet, but a friend sent me this photo of her with her best friends walking to the bus stop.  Such cute girls!!  Lydia is really enjoying school.  She likes having so many friends to ride the bus with and she has a little boy from church in her school class. She LOVES packing a lunch- which means the extravagance of a juice box and go-gurt. 

North Carolina

 Can you tell that she has older siblings?  Poor girl.  She is very patient.

 Colton wanted a puppy  cake with his spiderman figure on top.  It's his birthday, so whatever her wants is fine with me. 

 Everyone at Ella's baptism. 

 Lydia likes to party! 

 Burying Mike.  They made him into a Merman. 

 Look who is smiling!  This photo was taken today.  She is almost 7 weeks old.  Time is flying! 

 Jocelyn at about 2 weeks.  I have yet to edit this photo shoot. 

 Colton was so proud he climbed this tree.  When I went to put the camera away, he fell down the tree.  He had a big cut from his eye to his ear, but I'd say he fared quite well considering how far he fell. 

 Jocelyn and Lydia  on Jocelyn's blessing day. 

 My mom and dad came out for the blessing.  Colton was helping Papa fix the sink sporting his new John Deere hat. 

The family at Jocelyn's blessing.  What a good lookin bunch.  

It's been a busy summer!  I've been to Ohio a few times and we went to North Carolina with Mike's family last week and spent a few days at a beach house there.  It was tons of fun.  Just about everyone got the flu while we were there, but it was still worth it.  I got the bug on a rainy day which worked out well.  Lydia wasn't so lucky. She threw up all over herself and the car on the 10 hour drive down there.  That was the low point. We pulled off the road and started stripping down Lydia, so she is half naked in the parking lot with puke in her hair and crying.  Colton was in such a hurry to get out of the car, that he cut his foot and won't let me look at it, so I am trying to hog tie him while he is screaming.  Jocelyn is crying and Mike is running on 3 hours of sleep and is so frustrated he is just kicking the car tire.  We just laughed about it though!  We also celebrated Colton's 4th birthday while we were in Ohio with the cousins.  My niece Ella was baptized and Jocelyn was blessed.  We went to Cedar Point as well, but those photos are on my other camera, so I'll have to post those photos later.  (Cedar Point is one of the biggest amusement parks in the country.)  School starts on Wednesday and I can hardly believe that our summer adventures are over. 

Jocelyn, Bday's, and Swim lessons

Yay for swim lessons!  It sort of looks like a grimace, but I promise she was having fun.

Love that big grin. 

Obviously before a baby is born, you play the waiting game.  We wondered if Jocelyn would come on Lydia's birthday, but she came one week later.  We celebrated Lydia's 6th birthday at home with Grandma Reed who flew in the night before for the baby.  Lydia had a princess cake and we went out to eat at Chik-fil-a, which was really fun. They were having family night so the kids got balloon animals and a tour of the back of the restaurant.  Grandma Reed also celebrated HER birthday the day we brought Jocelyn home- so it was birthday central for us. 
This pregnancy picture was about a week before baby came.  My basketball tummy.  

So here is the scoop on the labor story . . .  I had my membranes stripped on a Wednesday, a few days before my due date on Saturday the 23rd.  Nothing happened.  So frustrating.  Got to my due date on Saturday, which I have never done before.  The other kids were early.  Went in Monday and they stripped my membranes again and scheduled an induction for Friday.  Blah- I didn't want to wait for another week and my mom was supposed to leave soon.  Monday night around midnight, I started having contractions about 10 minutes apart- for several hours.  So I got ready.  I packed my toothbrush and ate a couple of bowls of cereal (Which Mike was afraid he would be seeing later on, but I didn't care- I didn't want to go into the hospital already starving!)  Once I was ready, I tried getting some rest, and then my contractions stopped!  Frustrating again.  We all got up Tuesday morning kind of down.  Mike took Lydia to her speech school and he went to work.  Colton and I were playing cars about mid morning when contractions started coming every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes.  I called Mike and asked him to pick up Lydia from school because I was contracting again.  He asked, "Am I just picking up Lydia or am I coming home to take you to the hospital?"  He couldn't believe that the time had finally come.  Mike got home and  I wanted to eat lunch and then go to the hospital.  (Again, I'm obsessed with not being hungry!) Mom convinced us to get going and eat in the car.  Contractions started hurting even more and coming closer together on the 20 minute ride to the hospital.  I was glad we got there when we did because I was dilated to a 6 when we got there and very much wanting an epidural.  The wonderful hospital staff hurried and saw that I got my epidural.  Oh what a relief.  I was so glad to be able to relax through the contractions.  I continued to dilate quickly and was soon pushing.  15 minutes later and Baby Piglet entered the world.  It all happened so fast it was surreal.  3 1/2 hours of labor.  It seemed too easy to only have to push for the 15 minutes.  I pushed for an hour with Colton and was wholly expecting a lot more work, but hey, I will take it! 

The proud parents.

First family photo.  Lydia was intimidated by the hospital- can you tell she looks worried. 

Things already getting a little crazy with 3.  (Colton's bandaids were covering the injury he sustained from learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.  He is now a pro!) 

Thanks for all the help Grandma! 

How I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo!  Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE all three kids in it!

Lydia has enjoyed picking out Jocelyn's clothes and brushing her hair.  Oh, and painting her nails.  What fun to be an older sister. 

Well, after talking so much about the new baby, I suppose I should go feed her!