ALL CAUGHT UP

We went up to Emerald Isle towards the end of September to spend time with Dave's parents, sister and family and Aunt and Uncle!  It was a fun weekend!

We spent part of our time at the beach, of course!

Emma, Lexi and Maaike

We took the kids to the park one afternoon to let off some steam.

Maaike can now climb as high as Ben!  Go Girl!

Aunt Carol joined in on the fun at this music playing apparatus-thingy.... yup, that's its name!

Grant and Emma

Aunt Carol helping Lexi on the balance beam!

On Sunday, it was raining, so we went to the aquarium.

Cousins... Ben, Emma, Maaike, Grant and Lexi

We sat through a little sessions about snakes and ALL of the kids touched the snake at the end!  This is the only picture that didn't come out blurry.

He's so crabby sometimes for sure....

Aunt Carol, Dave and Maaike

Maaike, Dave, Uncle Peter and Aunt Carol

It was a fun time with family!  Now onto what we've been up to the beginning of our October...

We try to see Oma pretty regularly and sometimes bring her treats.  They sure are a way to her heart!

This Thursday, the 17th, Ben goes for his palate expander and headgear!  :(  Poor guy... This is only phase 1 but it should only last about 9 months.  Here's all of his orthodontic findings so far!  He has his Mommy's underbite and his Daddy's small mouth = disaster!

Dave was away for about 5 days in the beginning of October.  It was a long time away but the kids and I survived!  Last Saturday, October 5th, was quite possibly one of the hottest and most miserable days ever!  Maybe it was a combination of having to be super mom for yet another day or the fact that it's the beginning of October, but either way, it was HOT!

All before 11 on Saturday morning, the kids and I went to the gym, went to a Home Depot kids clinic and also to Maaike's soccer game!  It was crazy!

Then we came home and had a friend come over (through our Mom's babysitting co-op) for about 5 hours.  The great thing is that she told us to come over and use her pool, to which I quickly obliged!  Who thought?  An outdoor pool in October!  It was chilly but the kids had a blast.  I totally jumped in for a bit also because I was so overheated and it felt G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S!!!!!

Just a random shot... love having a fancy phone that takes great pictures!  I capture a lot more memories for sure!

I dropped the girls off at a friend's house this past Monday for Ben's orthodontic appointment because they said it would take an hour.  Hmmm.... we were in and out in 28 minutes!  Anyway, he had to get a mold of his top teeth so they can make his palate expander and I was absolutely dreading it for him.  Dave and I both remembered the miserable experiences we had.  Well, nowadays it takes 30 seconds!  After she took it out, he had tears in his eyes, (not because he was upset but because it probably make him want to gag) and said it was so gross!  So since I only had him and we just HAD to get that nasty taste out of his mouth, we stopped for a little treat before we picked them up!

Loving his blue, blue eyes in this picture!

Dave turned the big 3-6 on Thursday, the 10th!  We celebrated at home with a yummy, yummy beef brisket that I have to say I killed it!  It was so good!

Maaike also brought his birthday dinner to a new level by losing her first tooth!!!!  I didn't even get a close-up of it yet!  But you can see her cute little hole in these pictures.  I was just a little too emotional to get the camera, I guess.  She's growing up so unbelievably quickly!

Dave's wearing his new t-shirt that Maaike picked out as her gift to him!

My sister and Trey come down to spend 2 weeks between our house and my mom's while Cory is away for work!  He'll spend next weekend in Emerald Isle and will fly to Wilmington the following weekend to drive back up to NY with Lainie and Trey!  Looking forward to her visit for sure!