Can you believe it???

Still no BABY!! This week has been a series of events that I wasn't planning on being around or up and about for so I've been going around like a chicken with my head cut off. I've missed things and forgotten things that I would never normally forget and we've (I mean all those who love me best) tried to pack my last days of pregnancy, full of fun times and good memories. Probably so I won't be so stinking ornery.

I am really not in that much discomfort. I feel pretty good actually. A little too good. Like if my body is given the chance it might go on like this for awhile. The problem really roots from just expecting to have had a baby by now and not having one at all. It's like Christmas is a week overdue at our house. The kids are starting to not believe us that a baby is actually going to come to our house.

Now that the baby didn't come when we thought it would, we really need him not to try to come anytime this week. I can just see how Steve (bless his heart) would get all the kids cute & ready in their Halloween gear. Luckily most of my kids wanted to be something scary this year. So he might actually be able to pull it off. Otherwise he'd have to haul them all up to the hospital with all their stuff so that I could get them ready. Yikes! Double Yikes! The kids would all be bawling and Halloween would be ruined forever.

So in lieu of a newborn, smelly-good, beautiful baby boy we have tried to have some good fall fun. And in lieu of pictures of said boy we have pictures of our family doing what we do best, having a good time. Stay posted for the other pics too since my doctor said we will definitely have a baby by Saturday. Ya, ya, ya. You can judge for yourself, but even with an operating room scheduled for 9 a.m. I have learned not to believe it till I see it. Don't hold your breath and we'll see you Saturday.

Some Crazy kids posing at Frightmares Lagoon. We had to get in at least one more visit. We love that place!!

We waited in line for 40 mins. so the kids could "Trick- or- Treat" for 5 pieces of candy at Lagoon. You gotta be kidding me! They loved it though and they were champs in line. After all, that's pretty much what Lagoon is all about.

We carved our pumpkins! It seems like fewer and fewer people are carving pumpkins these days but it is one of my all time favorite fall activities. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Just look at those smiles and you should see those little works of art.

After the pumpkin carving, we dressed up (in something other than their good costumes by the way) & then we hit our local 5 Buck Pizza. Our kids like pizza... a lot, which is good because they get fed pizza... a lot! But getting to eat pizza while dressed up like freaks is way funner!!! Say cheese! Get it???

After entertaining the local pizza eaters we went to the Syracuse city Pumpkin walk which we had never been to. It is a good thing we all used the potty at the pizza joint because, man what a line!!

There were like 1,000 pumpkins all lined up in a row & there were carvings of everything that you could ever imagine. Cinderella, Jasmine and Dash were all carved into a pumpkin. That's what the kids were dressed up as, in case you didn't know. At least Em's decided she was cinderella once someone at the park mistook her for cinderella. She started out a princess fairy. And if we knew exactly what Maddie was dressed up as, that would probably have been carved into a pumpkin too.

It was pretty cold after our long wait in line and the even longer walk around the park looking at the pumpkins. Good thing they had these handy fires going for us at the end. Plus, we went home and had hot chocolate and watched a Halloween flick in Mom and Dad's bed. By the time everyone dozed off they were toasty warm again.

Now for my favorite activity. Sunday after church we took a drive up by Lost Creek to see the leaves and get some fresh air. Even though we missed the prettiest part of the leaves changing colors, we did enjoy a Gorgeous day in a beautiful place. When we finally got to Lost Creek we couldn't resist getting out and going for a little nature hike even though we clearly didn't come dressed for it. The kids are sporting everything from moon boots and dresses to jammmies and flip-flops. Dad looks a little over-dressed for the occasion, No?

Maddie is so fun to be with in the out of doors. I mean she's fun to be with everywhere but she's really in her element outside. She spots the weirdest things in rocks and clouds (and you can really see it too if she points it out to you) and she knows way more about the things we see than we do. She loves to teach us the things that she knows and she always has a captive audience in her brother and sisters. Her thirst for knowledge and her fascination with the world make her so fun to be with. We love that girl.

Brinlee of all people got her foot stuck in the mud and her shoe came off. She didn't want to wash it off in the stream because it was too cold (this is the same stream that her other siblings are already up to their necks in). Mad dove in for the shoe and she stood and whimpered on the edge of the water just long enough to get washed off and then we were off again. Brin mostly notices how beautiful everything is and she likes to tend to all the bugs Brig catches along the way, believe it or not. What a character! Her and Brig laughed all the way home (a good hour drive). Who knows what they were laughing at but even though we love to see them smile, we were all about to wring their necks by the time we pulled in the driveway.

Brig just loved tromping around in his sweet boots. He went in the water, out of the water, up the hill, slid down the hill, he stomped on grasshoppers, jumped off of tipped logs and over the stream and everything else you can imagine a little boy doing on a hike. Pretty soon he tired of me taking his picture and would say, "I am looking at you," even when he clearly wasn't. He was too busy loving it to stop and pose for a picture. This is a problem I never have with his photo-op-loving sisters. He leads the way and the girls try to follow. What a good brother they have.

Em is always on the run to keep up with everyone. Very rarely does she pull out the, "I'm the baby of the group" card. Anything you can do she can do better... so look out! She found shells, and animal holes and something metal she thought was a belt. She climbed higher than Brig, got farther away from the parents than Maddie and attracted more burrs than the whole group put together. So imagine this picture.....Em with her dress hiked up over her shoulders and nothing else but undies and brig's spray painted moon boots from there down, hiking through the wilderness. I wanted to kill someone when my camera battery died! Dad was sooooo paranoid about snakes he hardly let the kids get five feet from him. We had a really good time.

So many good times and that doesn't even include the Spooky Halloween Dinner we had at my mom's on Saturday night with Grandma & Avan. When she sends me the pics I'll post those too! See, we know how to have a good time even without our brand-new little one. Imagine how much fun we're gonna have when he gets here! Can't wait!

Harvesting Pumpkins at Grandma's House

I really, really, really love Fall!

We had an awesome day of collecting pumpkins at Grandma Lisa's House. It was pretty chilly out so we all bundled up and headed out to pick pumpkins. In order to get them all in the front yard we loaded them on the 4-wheeler. It was so funny. The pumpkins spread out and grow all over the place there. It's like a little treasure hunt. They go into sunshine's (the goat) field, the bushes, the fruit trees. How fun is that? We have gotten a lot of enjoyment and food out of grandma and grandpa's garden so we are glad they have it. It just feels good to pick somthing that you have watched grow. Fall is pretty theraputic, I think, when all of your hard work comes to fruition. It's kind of like raising kids.

Get a load of these performers!

We re-opened the Vote

Everyone kept telling me that they didn't get a chance to vote so we re-opened the polls on what our little boy's name should be. Feel free to pipe in but you'd better hurry. Today the doctor told us it won't be much longer. Yeah! What is the matter with you people anyway. Rhett is a perfectly good name. Just kidding! I'm not bitter.

Maughan Family Home Evening

For family home evening this week Steve decided to teach the kids the story of Abraham and Isaac. I guess that he thought we needed a refresher course in obedience (Don't we always??). Anyway, for the activity at the end he wanted them to act out the story. They had so stinking much fun, but I don't think the gravity of the situation really sank in because no one could stop giggling. Not even poor Isaac.
P.S. Steve is a donkey in case you can't tell & the person in the blue furry blanket is a ram (I guess that is the only furry thing he could find). All in all, if you judge a fhe by how much fun it is, this one was a complete success. Thanks Dad!