what to do on a Monday night

Travis is on a bromance man date with his best friend, at a bar watching the Bears game. 

The kids are asleep (finally!  nap time was horrible today!) and my headache has finally gone away (maybe it was all the water I drank?).

So now I can finally post a picture of my kids on Halloween.

A knight, a princess, and a lion.  roar!

Wow those kids are cute!  How 'bout we look at some more pictures of them?

I caught Lydia "reading" the Bible.  She was actually saying the words to the Guardian Angel prayer.  (Do you know that prayer? So good:  Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here.  Ever this day be at my side to light, to rule, to guard, to guide.  It's a great prayer to start the day, at bedtime, when you've got the heebie jeebies, or when you're about to blow your top.)

Also, Lydia's been practically living in her Rapunzel dress since mid October.  She's so cute.

James, greeting me at the door.  Did you know he's walking now?  He's walking now.

Bennet, super happy about his gigantic, warm from the oven, made from scratch chocolate chip cookie.

Do you remember awhile ago when I was on a serious hunt for the. best. chocolate. chip. cookie. recipe. EVAH!?  I found it.  That's what one looks like.

It is possible that Bennet may not be wearing pants or a diaper in this picture.

This was gearing-up-for-quiet-time time.  (Yes, I know it's lame that I do that but sometimes it's needed.)  Put on a PBS Kids show from Netflix to occupy L and B while I lay James down and then send the other two upstairs. 

Notice how spread out Lydia is?  I had just painted her toenails and fingernails and she's letting them dry. 

Need something a little different to read?  My dear, dear friend, Crafty Katie, has started a blog to chronicle her year on sabatical.  She turned down a teaching position and is living off savings and a small income from working as DRE at her church.  Already her blog is great.  God check it out: 

Look to Him and Be Radiant

Lastly, if you don't like country music or you didn't got to MTHS don't click on the following link.  But if you do like country, went to my high school, or want to see my high school crush is up to these days then check out Jake Maurer. 

I had a serious, mad crush on that man some 12 years ago.  Whew!  It's almost embarrassing to think about it now.

The crazy thing is that last night I spent the first half of my sleeping dreaming about Jacob and the Black Smoke Monster (does he have a name?  I never caught it.)  And the second half of the night I was dreaming that I was back in high school, dating Jake.  So it was interesting when I saw the link to his updated website on Facebook today. 

And I know what you're thinking.  But I was not stalking him - I saw it in my newsfeed.

Good night!

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treating with Mormor last night.

Bennet loved his little bucket.

Happy Halloween, James!

Little Boy Blue and his Mummy.

so handsome!

The nurses at the Children's Hospital are amazing at making things special for the families who are unfortunate enough to have to spend holidays there.  This little gut was filled with candy corn and nuts and has a tag reading, "I love my Mummy." 

Trick-or-treating at Papa's house.

The princess and the lion. 

Pictures of Wednesday

Dear readers,

Meet the surgically enhanced James.

No more ng feeding tube.  Doesn't he have a beautiful face?

He's got a blood pressure cuff on his left arm and an iv in his right hand.  You can see the wound on his right leg, the leg that used to be dark purple and the wound that used to be black.

And you can see his g tube.  After 6 weeks, when everything is nicely healed they'll take the tube off and put a button on.

Pretty crazy, huh?

Here's Bennet.  The face is pefect with the pj's, eh? 

Showing off his Halloween costume at Uncle K and Aunt M's house.

Lydia in her princess costume.

The best bow I've ever tied in my life.

Love,

Bonnie

PS:  The surgery went well.  Here's hoping he doesn't develop acid reflux!

October in pictures

Starting the month off in their Halloween clothes.

Lydia carries her baby doll around and says, "I know..." She also picks up my pump, holds it to her chest and says, "pump." :)

We're all tired.

Bennet's original sin is washed away!

Bennet, parents and godparents.

Lydia with her godparents. She actually does love them, despite what her expression looks like.

Daddy time.

Free fun at Tanner's.

Trick-or-Treating at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.

My little boy is so cute!

Trying to get a picture of the kids in their costumes. Lydia the Bumble Bee and Bennet the Giraffe.

Lydia and I went Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood and it was one of my favorite experiences with her so far. It was so sweet to walk around, holding her hand, in her cute little costume. She was having so much fun and was such a big girl. And I loved the way she made people smile when we went to their door.

A good month, October was. :)

Trick or Treating and the Day of the Dead

Trick of Treating was a success! Between EC and our neighborhood we collected almost $70 for Unicef. Travis and I are both really glad we did it - not only did we get to show off our daughter, raise money for a good cause, score a couple of pieces of candy, but we also got to meet our neighbors! That last bit was so great! If you have trick or treaters yourself, I would highly encourage you to let them Trick or Treat for Unicef next year. We only had one house that didn't want to give, though we definitely caught almost everyone off guard when we turned down their candy.

Today is the Feast of All Saints, wherein the Catholic Church celebrates all those holy souls in Heaven. Tomorrow is All Souls Day, when we remember and pray for all our loved ones who have passed away (this is for everyone in Purgatory). There will be a Mass for the dead at 10:30 am at the Cathedral in Peoria on Sunday. Also, at 3:00 pm at Resurrection Cemetery on Allen Rd there will be a prayer service for all babies lost in pregnancy or infancy. We will be attending on behalf of Peter Mark. If you or anyone you know has lost a baby I welcome you to come. While it will be a Catholic service, anyone of any faith should feel comfort.

Happy Halloween!

Lydia in her "I love my Mummy" sleeper on her first Halloween morning.

Letting everyone at EC know that it's her 1st Halloween.

Posing at the lake in her costume. She's the cutest lion ever! Today we went to several offices at EC, showing off her cuteness and trick or treating for Unicef. Here's Lydia playing with our Trick or Treat for Unicef container.

Roar!

Quick Thoughts

1 - Lydia is super close to crawling. Right now she gets on all four, rocks, moves in circles and scootches backwards.

2 - We turned on the heat. It was just too cold for the baby (though I'm not complaining!). First, though, Trav had to hook up a few more vents. Last winter we had just 2 vents: one in the bedroom and one in the dining room. We were cold, but our bills were low.

3 - WIU had its Homecoming this past weekend. We headed back to Macomb but we didn't go to the game. We did tailgating with the Newman Center and then came home. It was really good to see old friends, though. And Lydia was a hit. ;)

4- I completely forgot about my friend's daughter's first birthday party. Dang it.

5 - My daughter no longer sleeps through the night and it drives me crazy!!!!!!!!!

6 - This week is Eureka's Homecoming and for the first time ever I plan on going to the parade and football game.

7 - Lydia has a tiger costume and we'll be trick or treating for Unicef this year. We have 3 reasons for doing this: a- show off our cute daughter, b - raise money for a good cause, c - hopefully score some candy for ourselves.

Autumn Pictures

I love the Fall, and so to celebrate my favorite season I thought I'd put up some pictures of what Lydia and I have been doing to mark autumn.

Lydia and I went for a good walk at Lake Eureka park the other day. She had fun.

At Tanner's Orchard.

Halloween Tree = story. I was a bridesmaid in my friend, Margaret's wedding. After the rehearsal dinner I crashed at her parents' house and could not keep my eyes off this tree. Everyone would be chatting about the wedding and honeymoon and in a moment of silence I would say something like, "How much do you think it weighs?" as I'd reach down and pick it up. Margaret's mom teased me about stealing it, and the next day, after the wedding I did hide it behind the sofa.

When I got married 2 months later, Margaret's parents gave it to me. I should now point out that Margaret's mom had waited 2 years to buy this tree, loved it and then gave it away! I was floored!

This ghost with jack-o-lantern was a bunco gift that my mom won years and years ago. I have always loved it and the way it marked the beginning of fall throughout my childhood. Last time I was at my parents' house I told my mom that a) I wanted it when she died and b) if some day she came home and it was missing, she would know where it was. And then she gave it to me!

And this is just a really super cute picture of my 5 month old baby girl.