And check out this great picture from Lizzie’s blog.  Boy, Sam sure does love pumpkins.  I guess it’s good that she’s an October baby.

UPDATE:

What a trip!  We stayed in the big house again, and it seemed like there weren’t as many people there as usual.  I guess that’s because there wasn’t.

Sam enjoyed the water this year, but was still a little anxious at first.  Every year, it takes less time for her to get used to the water.

Ellie didn’t mind the sand at all, but I think the heat bothered her.

I think she enjoyed Patrick’s truck almost as much as he did!  We also discovered during this trip, that she likes push toys and wheels!

Some kids:

And some family:

Thanks a lot Alex.  Last year at the annual Betbeze Beach vacation, Alex asked me if I had played “mad birds”.  I got the demo and about three minutes later I was hooked.

So far, I have the following versions:

• Angry Birds FREE
• Angry Birds
• Angry Birds HD FREE
• Angry Birds HD
• Angry Birds Seasons FREE
• Angry Birds Seasons HD FREE
• Angry Birds Seasons HD
• Angry Birds Rio FREE
• Angry Birds Rio
• Angry Birds Rio HD FREE

In case you’re counting, I’ve purchased four different versions of the game.

I’m on a quest to get three stars on every level and all of those golden eggs and stars.

In case you’re not convinced I’m addicted, I’m currently rocking out to the Angry Birds Rio Theme Song.  At first I plugged my computer speakers into my iPhone and let it sit on the initial screen just to listen.  Then I found a YouTube video that had the music.  In the comments, someone left a link to an MP3 download of the theme.  It’s now in my iTunes on repeat one mode.  :)

Give it a listen, it’s awesome.  The music in the Seasons game is good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cseGJd2h_iE

It was almost cold and pretty windy, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves outside.  Here’s a family picture.  (And don’t mind my hair, as I said, it was windy.)

Silly girl with windblown hair.

Look out, Little Man!  Don’t you know that you’re supposed to keep your eyes on the road?

Whoa! Here comes Optimus Prime, ready for Trick or Treating!

We decided to get the kite out since it was so windy.  The three little ones helped me put it together.

What are those two scheming about?

Let’s go fly a kite!

On another note, my dad chopped off the tip of his finger on Sunday. He said he was messing around with his lawnmower, doing something stupid. It’s a good thing Alex wasn’t around or he would have passed out. (Maybe I should have added a disclaimer for Alex to stop reading after the first paragraph.) I haven’t heard the latest about my dad’s visit to the orthopedist to check up on the bone, but hopefully that went well. Add him to your list…

Last weekend on a whim, I bought some Hello Kitty panties at Target.  I had a few extra minutes, and I knew we’d need them one day.  To my surprise, she really likes them.  She wants to wear them.  So, we had LOTS of cleaning up last weekend.  We stayed mostly in the bathroom, so it wasn’t horrible, but we went through 4 pairs in 1 hour.  I guess it’s all that water…  I know she just wants to wear them because they’re new and different, but she hasn’t put it together what happens when she doesn’t wear a diaper.  I know she’ll understand soon enough.  Speaking of such:  she’s in her crib right now (supposedly sleeping) saying “change diaper change diaper.”  I’ll have to check that out.

We showed the house twice this week and once last week!

I made the Buttercup Bag a few weekends ago, as introduced to me by Lettie.  It’s too small for me though.  I chose a fabric that was a bit thick so it wouldn’t be too flimsy, but it’s still pretty flimsy.  It’s a red houndstooth, so how cool is that?  It was fun to make.

I’m still in the market for a new diaper bag.  However, I have seen several diaper clutches recently.  I think I’ll try to make one.  I definitely have the diaper clutch itch.  And on top of that, I’ve started baby #2′s stocking.  That’s right.  I’m seriously not motivated though.  I thought by starting it in January, I’d have a full year to complete it.  Although that’s true, it doesn’t mean that I have any desire to sit down and work on it for a year (even though I know that is what it’s going to take).  I worked on Samantha’s a lot during the last Olympics, so I thought this would be a good time.  However, I think I had put most of the effort into it already, so I was in the final stretch and was actually pushing to get it finished.  I pulled out my work-on-it-bag so I could store all my stuff without it being all over the living room.  A cross-stitch work-in-progress was in there (forgive the foreign language, I couldn’t find it anywhere else).  I knew it was there, but I hadn’t looked at it in a couple of years.  I was surprised at actually how far I’d gotten on it!  I thought about picking it back up too, but again, no motivation.  I had stored it in the hoop, so now it’s all creased, but I think it should be ok.

So, that’s what’s new.  No pictures.  I think I took some on my phone this week, but haven’t transferred them to the computer yet.  Sorry.  Gotta go get Squirt up since she has decided not to take a nap today.  Fun.

Finally, Happy Birthday, Alex!

I really like #5.  Who knew Alex has such purdy lips?

We went to Gatlinburg last weekend. It was beautiful! You can see a view from the deck here. Alex (flickr and blog) did a great job picking out the cabin and the weekend. We were glad to be a part of it. We went on a few short hikes, but mostly hung around the house and played with the kiddos. We can’t wait to go again in a few years when hiking with children will get easier.

In looking back through past trips, we’ve been on Grotto Falls each trip. I think we can check that hike off the list now.