The patch...

I must admit I do not enjoy a certain Fall holiday that starts with the letter H.  Call me crazy but I don't get excited about dressing up, eating large amounts of junk and having kids stay up late just to be grouchy the next day.  But don't worry, I do it for the kids.  They can dress up, eat all the candy they desire and participate in the H word. 

What I do love is Thanksgiving, Christmas and a good old fashioned hay ride into the pumpkin patch.  I took the three older kids  (Garrett was still recovering) to a local pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful Saturday, hay mazes, pumpkins, hay slides, hot chocolate, the feeling of Fall.  We had a good time together picking out pumpkins and playing.  It never gets old to me, it's part of the season, a part that I love.  

Running...

Another way to breathe.

Farmer's Market Flowers...

Thank you to my one and only, I love flowers and I love you.

Thanks...

I am thankful Garrett has stopped throwing up, 11 days was too long.

I am thankful Mase didn't get sick at all, everyone else did.

I am thankful for a washer and dryer, warm house, hot water for baths, towels, blankets, Lysol, a husband who can clean up puke, diapers to catch diarrhea, Netflix and Thomas the Train.

I am thankful for friends who bring Jamba Juice, popsicles, chocolate, stool sample kits, dinners and prayers.

I am thankful for a mother-in- law who cleans my kitchen, buys groceries, comes to sit with sick kids so I can breath some fresh air and run, drives Mase to soccer practice and doesn't care if my house is a mess. 

I am thankful for the huge flower bouquet Eric brought me from the Farmer's Market, it celebrates a new week, a week of health. 

I am thankful for online shopping and vintage inspired shoes that make me forget about how many times Eric and I cleaned up puke at 2am, 5am, 11am, 9pm for days and days and days.

I am thankful for the beautiful place I live and the people I get to live with. 

I am thankful for Trader Joe's Pumpkin pancake mix.

I am thankful for Fall, pumpkins and the coming holidays. 

Things are looking up today and I am blessed, really blessed.

Sand...

We got away one week ago to celebrate our anniversary that was back in August.  I will take a night away to the coast whenever I can get it.  It was so nice to read, sleep in, have a late breakfast, take a night stroll on the beach, go for a morning run and just be together. 

I wasn't ready to come home but we do have 4 kids and I think they need us around, although they do have a pretty good time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Lovely...

The face of a race...

We tried to surprise Eric at a Cyclocross race.  We planned on being on the course and cheering him on as he rode by, making him do a double-take.  But he caught us and saw us before the race so it was only a half surprise. 

Love...

A child needs love most when he's being his most unlovable.