10.14.2013

October 2012

October...sadly I don't have much written down about this month. Luckily I have some pictures...but as for documenting things, I blew it this month. whoops!



Topher's family was in town at the beginning of the month.  They actually came with his Grandparents and we had a lot of fun.  They stayed at our house for a couple of nights, and then we also stayed at the beach for a night or two.  We went to Cypress Gardens, Middleton Plantation, and I believe we may have gone to Boone Hall as well, but I'm not sure. Grandma Atkinson was as usual a total hoot.  She played in the sand with Grace and built sand castles and was just awesome.  Grandpa was in a wheel chair which was really sad, but he was still himself with lots of fun comments and antics, including sitting in front of a gift shop with a sign he made saying he needed money and food. :) He's funny.

But, I really don't remember a lot of specifics from their trip!! Dangit! This is why I need to do better at writing things down WHEN they happen instead of months or a year later.  Part of the problem is also in the fact that I don't seem to have a single picture of their visit, and pictures help jolt my memory a lot.








In the middle of the month Topher did a Triathlon down at Folly Beach and that was really neat.  It was a cool type of triathlon where instead of an open water swim, it was actually an open water kayak or paddle board segment.  Topher and I took the kayak down to Folly Beach and I helped him put it in and he got to kayak from the inlet around a little island and back.  After that segment he then did a bike segment along the beach and then finished with the run portion.  He did such a great job!  Not that that's not important, but more important is that he had a really great time doing it.  He really enjoyed it, especially that it was primarily on the beach and he ended up placing too.  He's such a stud. :) Gracey, Gus and I went out and hung out to try and catch glimpses of him.  Grace and I would cheer him on really loud when we saw him and then we'd just play in the sand while we waited for him to come back between segments.  Gus was pretty well behaved, he nursed and cuddled on me and Topher was really happy to have both his kiddos at the finish line to love on.




In terms of Gus happenings during the month, we got his first real giggles, and he started being much more smiley this month.  I took a lot of cute videos of him smiling, cooing and giggling and his laugh is just the sweetest sound in the world.  His neck control was basically fool proof by this point and so we started putting him in the bumbo and he loved being able to sit up and look around.




At the end of the month my sister and her family  came also. We were able to do a lot of fun things with them despite them being sick basically 7 out of the 8 days they were with us.  They all caught a flu bug while they were here and all took turns throwing up. :(



But we still got to the beach, Cypress Gardens, Downtown to eat at TOAST and Hominy Grill, the Childrens Museum and Patriots Point.  All in all I was so happy they came and loved having them, and cried when they left.  But, I'm not sure they will ever make the trip again or that they'll even remember their trip very fondly because they really were just that sick.


There were a few issues while they were here, mostly revolving around Grace and that she morphs into a somewhat aggressive and overly active/energetic mode when she's around her cousins.  It's strange because she doesn't have issues playing with friends here really, but she always seems to have issues with her younger cousins. Dacia is my best friend and I had been so excited for us to have kids together, but I frequently worry that us having kids is actually not very good for our friendship. :( We are both protective of our kiddos and so when they hurt one another or don't get along, it rubs off on us. I hope someday Grace and Ellie can be the best of friends and that they'll grow out of the labels we've unwittingly put on them and that we've trained them to act in and react to. But only time will tell! Like I said, their trip was mostly a fun one and they were all troopers despite being sick.

It was Halloween time after they left though and that's always fun!


Grace's pre-school did a fun field trip to a really neat pumpkin patch that we had a blast at together.


She got to paint her own pumpkin, we went on a "wagon" ride through the farms, she played in the corn box and in the hay bale maze, pet and fed some farm animals, and played on their makeshift playground. 

For Halloween Grace had originally wanted to be Willy Wonka...I had been a bit bothered by the idea of her being a boy and so I had discouraged her from that...later I felt really guilty about discouraging it because it is so her and she would have made a great Willy Wonka, but oh well...another screw-up of mine to add to the books.

She ended up being Cinderella because she liked the idea of Auguste being her little Gus-Gus mouse.  They made such a cute pair and I don't know if those costumes together can ever be topped in my book! I loved them so much!

We yet again procrastinated doing pumpkins until Hallow's eve and so I remember being stressed and frazzled that we were trying to cram too many things in before bedtime.  But Grace and Daddy had fun carving pumpkins while Gus watched.  When I say Grace had fun carving, I should really say that she just used it as an opportunity to stab something with a miniature saw.  That girl had so much aggression! It cracked me up! And frightened me....But she had a lot of fun and Topher is very patient with her. 

I made a really yummy and fun Franken-Pizza for Dinner that Grace got a kick out of and after we ate and got her ready, she went Trick or treating with me and some friends from the neighborhood.  She complained that she was cold and tired after about 15 minutes.  I was shocked!! She was getting candy, for free! All she had to do was walk up to a door and say trick or treat and it was hers! And she was complaining??! I was a meanie and made her go for about 30 minutes...because hey, its candy for me too ya know?? ;) 

Our ward also had a trunk-or-treat that was really fun.  But mostly because I think its fun to decorate the trunk of your car and sit there looking at cute costumes and passing out candy to children that then adore you because you gave them treats. :)

Anyway, it was a pretty fun October for us and I thoroughly enjoyed having lots of family in town and dressing my kiddos up in fun costumes.  Might I also mention that I totally made Gus' hat and ears myself? I was very proud of myself at the time.  I bought a super cheap sweatshirt at Wal-Mart and cut the sleeve off, then I made that into the hat for Gus.  I cut out semi-circles out of cardboard and then sewed brown minky around them and attached them as the ears to make the mousey hat look.  Then I found a yellow shirt online and used a longsleeved onesie I had and long brown pants. It was pretty easy and I had fun doing it too! 

2 comments:

princess jen said...

I love all the pictures and I love reading the stories. I miss you Bug!

C Johnson said...

Wow - and I had been told that MY blog entries were long! But hey, it appears you are using it to journal, which I think is a great idea. Believe me, I know how hard it is to be consistent with a journal and history - even though I am convinced it is worth it....or at least should be. I enjoyed the pictures and your account of visitors. Sorry, Dacia and family were such sicko's when they were there, but I remember you telling us that last year. And it was a good reminder of Topher's success and exploits in his triathlon! Go Topher! Keep plugging along - and now I'll need to come back more often to catch up on your history!