A Sunday afternoon post:

Jonas is currently playing outside with all 4 kids, so I have a QUIET HOUSE to myself to work on a COMPUTER!  That's rare these days, folks...haha.  :)

Our weekend was entirely derailed by illness:  5 of the 6 of us got sick with a 12 hour GI bug.  The only one not impacted?  Kellan.  Thank the dear sweet Lord he didn't get it, either, because it was not pleasant.  Finn got sick on Wednesday, Cora on Thursday, Layla and I on Friday, and Jonas on Saturday.  We all feel fine now, but it was a fun 4 days.  After Cora got sick I went into hyper drive, sterilizing EVERY surface in the house, washing all door knobs, cleaning both bathrooms, washing all the floors, running a diffuser, etc., etc., etc.  Nope.  No good.  Haha.  The rest of us got it.  Sigh. Ah, well.  Thankfully it was very short lived.  This is also a testament to the power of breastmilk, folks:  the liquid gold never disappoints!  Kellan should have been deathly ill based on how many sick people were ALL OVER HIM, all the time, touching his hands, his face, kissing him, sneezing on him...ugh.  Formula can't hold a candle to the immune-system power of breastmilk!

On Monday of this past week we went to Costco for the purpose of picking up massive pumpkins for Jack-O-Lantern carving (which happened today finally, Sunday, thanks to illness).  We ended up with a "few extra" items as well.  Layla learned about the $1 churro at Costco the last time we were there, and she's a BIG fan. 

Dang.  Just realizing I have still forgotten to take his 6 month photos.  Sigh.  Ah, well.  Maybe tomorrow?  Kellan turned 6 months on October 24th, so on the 25th we let him try a solid food:  banana.  He didn't really bit it...just sucked on it.  He wasn't impressed, and he wasn't disgusted.  So, good enough.  I think I'll be holding off at least another month to really introduce more solids to him.  It's super important to wait at least until babies are 6 months to start any kinds of solids for their long term gut health, but beyond that it's also recommended (based on more current research) that you wait until you baby can fully sit up on their own before starting solids.  I forget why that was...something about them being able to sit on their own also being linked to them being able to control food in their mouths better?  Neck positioning and choking?  Anyway, whatever the reason is, we'll do that.  I waited until 7 months to start any solids with Cora and she is by FAR my best eater.  Could be total coincidence, I know, but I've never had to force her to eat a food in my life.  And I also never (well, rarely to never...sometimes she wanted some of my soup, etc) fed her with a spoon...any food she put into her body, she put there.  She got to decide how much she at, and of what food.  That has been shown to be important when it come to knowing body autonomy and helping to prevent overeating and obesity later on in life.  *Sorry for my soap box moment.  The amount of misinformation out there related to feeding babies drives me nuts sometimes!* . So, Kellan is headed down the same "Baby Lead Weaning" path we took with Cora.

One of Finn's many drawings on the white board.  He documents them with my phone then forgets about them.

Finn was sick for school on Wednesday, so it was just Layla.

Poor sick baby.  Sleeping away on the living room floor in the middle of sibling chaos.  

I brought a meal to friends this afternoon, gave Kellan a nap, then dropped K off with Jonas in the back yard so they could enjoy the beautiful day.  Kellan LOVES being outside.  He just goes calm and quiet when out there.  

Sunshine picture!!

My phone keeps encouraging me to use reading my Kindle app.  Thanks, phone.  Haha.

This has been kind of cracking me up.  My phone has been letting me know lately how much I am reading...like I need encouragement to read more, haha.  I disabled my FB a while back (because dang, a certain category of people were causing my heart to HURT) and only go on Instagram about 1x a week now, so I've been putting in a few more minutes than normal reading.  I've probably read an average of 4 books a week for a while now....and close to 25 in the last month and a half.  Now, before that sounds impressive, it's really not.  These are not LITERATURE books in any way.  They aren't exactly increasing my vocabulary and literature knowledge, if you get my meaning...haha.  They're just mostly mysteries, with 1 or 2 actual literature books thrown in there.  But, reading makes me happy, so that's always a bonus, no matter how "low brow" the book may be.  So...yep.  Back in it.  Reading lots despite the 4 kids and homeschooling chaos.  I guess it just goes to show you that we find time to do what we actually value, not just what we say we value, right?  Give me 6 more months and then I'll value regular exercise again, hahaha.  

A quick update:

The kids decided the DESPERATELY wanted to be Star Wars figures for Halloween.  They are so stinkin' excited this year.  Each of them totally IS their character.  Haha!  I'm delighted that Cora wanted to be an ewok and not Princess Amidala or something like that.

Our little R2D2.

It never, ever gets old to me.  My favorite part of having a baby:  holding a sleeping baby.

Finn has been waaaaay into creating his own halloween decorations this year.  This is his Frankenstein.

Playing the Nintendo from Grammy for the first time.  

Doing an artventure of an old plane.

Someone found his feet last week.  Toes in mouth all the time now.

Kellan watching Muppets with Elena on our MEA break sleepover

My BABY GIRL is old enough to have a legit french braid!!!  *gasp*

Playing a rolling game with Anja and Elena on day 2 of the sleepover

The moment when Cora got injured...haha.

Kellan and I enjoying the seat out on the back porch while Jonas and the kids stacked wood.  

Saturday work day:  winter prep.  Getting the stairs ready for another coat of stain.  

Finn wanted to document the piece of wood he chopped with his own axe.  

Finn created a "trap" for squirrels on our back porch.  PILES and PILES of bird seed leading up to the trap.  *gah*

The trap.

So, a week ago Sunday it snowed for like 4 hours!  Big wet flakes!  It was so disgusting.  It rained for 3 weeks straight, then snowed.  BOOOOOOO to YOU, MN Fall!!!!!
October 14th, 2018 = MN FAIL

We tried out a new church last Sunday...the First Covenant church 2 blocks down the street from us.  There was a lot to like about it, so we'll be going back to try it again.  I'm loving the idea of 2 blocks, let me tell you.  Plus, the pastor was female...and she is great...and let's just say I'm in a place in life where that is really appealing right now.  Haha.  

Jonas and Kellan enjoying a lovely fall day outside last week.  

Using his hands to make a leaf-jumping pile.  :)

Snuggling in the sunshine

Layla helping to stack wood on winter prep day.

Finn went with Jonas to rent the wood splitter.

Our little maple tree out front.  It's so pretty in the fall.
2 days after Jonas took these photos ALL the leaves fell.  It was crazy.

Finn has been making his own Halloween decorations.  They are awesome.  

Look at my little baby.  

One year ago it was a gorgeous fall day, as you can see.  On that day THIS year?  Snow.  Just dumb.