Finally...

Something to blog about!
No. No new baby yet. That is next week. I thought I had better get up our Halloween pictures before Quincy gets here and takes over everything. We had a pretty good Halloween this year. First we had our annual Averett family Halloween get together which is always fun. We eat yummy soup and all the kids carve pumpkins and get a prize. During the week the girls all had fun parties at school and got to wear their costumes. Then Thursday the girls had their Halloween Spooktacular dance show. On Saturday we took the girls trick-or-treating. Saturday actually got off to a rough start. I had to run to Salem for the funeral of my cousins son. Funerals are always pretty depressing but especially when it's for a 20 year old kid. So I had to hurry home for the big night. We usually take the kids to the trunk-or-treat and they get tons of candy and we get to see pretty much everyone in town so there's really no use in going anywhere else to trick-or-treat. Well this year we never heard what time it started so we were just going to head out around the time it usually gets dark. Well Greg had to work and came home right as I was going to start to get everyone ready and he had fallen off something and landed on his shoulder and tweaked his leg and so we weren't sure exactly what was going to happen. I was trying to think of what to do with the kids so their night wasn't totally ruined in case we had to head to the ER and he laid down on a couple bags of ice. Thankfully after resting, icing, and ibuprofen....ing it turned out not to be too serious and we hurried to the trunk-or-treat only to find out we were too late and everyone was just heading home. Well of course this didn't go over well with the girls (especially the 8 year old) and we explained we were just going to have to trick-or-treat the old fashioned way! This didn't help calm anyone down but we stopped at a subdivision in town and they started going door to door and they were satisfied. Hayden even said she liked doing it the old fashioned way! I don't think they even went to 1/4 of the houses but once they started to see the candy pile up in their bags they were ready to go and make one final stop at Grandma Dixie's. She always makes homemade goodies for only special visitors and they had helped her make them earlier that day so they were anxious to get there. Greg's Aunt who is an EMT checked him out while we were there too and said he may have slightly separated his shoulder but that other than a bruised ego he was fine. Thank goodness because that's the last thing we needed a week before the baby comes.
So with all that excitement over and done we are getting ready to start a new adventure next tuesday. I'm excited but starting to get a little nervous. A million things are going through my head. My other girls were really good babies, what if this one cries all the time? It's getting to be RSV season and what about all the flu and H1N1 that is going on? I'm already a hermit, I'm never going to get out of the house now. It's really going to ruin Hayden's birthday and what about the holidays coming up? I just want to flash forward and get this next week over with. For some reason this pregnancy has lasted a lot longer that the others. I think when I have a healthy baby in my arms I can take a deep breath and worry about everything else later. I hope. Fingers crossed for us everyone!

My baby went to school today!

Today was the third and final first day of school for this year. My baby Chandler went to preschool! I have been sort of nervous and didn't really know what to expect with her. She's a mamas girl and really hasn't been away from me very often. She's also a little younger than the other two were when they started preschool for the first time. Today was a little hectic for me because I babysit two year old twins every Tuesday and I had to time it all just right. Lunch time, nap time, and now school, are all around the same time. Plus I had to rearrange the car and add 2 more car seats to the mix, which with a big belly is no small feat! (I knew I hung on to those old ones for a reason!) Any way I got everyone all loaded up and even made it to Miss Shari's on time. We were however the last ones there so she just walked in and dropped her backpack and joined the crowd. There was one little girl who was on the verge of a melt down which sort of distracted all of the others and actually made it a little easier. I didn't dare make too much of a fuss so I just waved and told her to have fun and left and she did great! When I went to pick her up she just talked about snacks and stickers and was excited to show me what she colored. She did say she will go back on Thursday. I just hope the second day goes as smoothly!

First day of Kindergarten!

So I'm embarrassed to admit it but I just found out yesterday that Kindergarten started today. (Thank you Billie Jo!) I thought I was so prepared. I have had a school calendar posted since the end of school in May and was planning on Hayden starting school next Monday. Turns out, they revised the schedule over the summer and I didn't have a clue. So after I gave Hayden the good news, thank goodness she was thrilled, we scrambled to get all of her homework ready for the first day. She has been bugging me to do it since we went to back-to-school night last week but I kept putting her off by telling her we still had plenty of time. Nice!! There's nothing like totally screwing up in front of your kids to make you question your abilities as a mom of the year! I'm totally blaming it on being pregnant because everyone knows you lose a few marbles when you're prego! Right?
Anyway It was a great first day. She got on the bus with Gracie this morning then I met them at the school and walked her to her class. I asked her as we were walking if she was nervous and she said no. She was more nervous when we went to back to school night. One of the papers she had to hand in today was for me to fill out and it just asked what your child's interests are, if there was anything the teacher needed to know about your child and then if your child had any worries or concerns. I asked Hayden if she had any and she said "just put nothing mom", like I was crazy for even asking. When the bell rang and the moms and dads had to leave there were quite a few sniffles on the way out to the parking lot but not from me. I think because she wasn't sad or scared, it made it a lot easier on me. When she got home she only really talked about recess and snack which is pretty much what I expected. She did say she met some new friends and that there was one naughty boy in her class and that of course she was a good girl. So that's two schoolgirls down and one more to go. I don't even know what to expect with Chandler on her first day. Somehow I don't think the drop-off will go as smoothly as it did today.

This is the two of them getting off the bus. I think Gracie was a little disappointed I was there. She wanted to be the one to show Hayden the way to her class.

Getting ready to go into her new classroom

1st day of 3rd grade

Yesterday was Gracie's first day of 3rd grade. She was excited to start school and a little nervous. She didn't have a whole lot to say about it when she came home except that her teacher yelled at them already and she was mad she didn't get her math book yet. Where did this kid come from? I can't wait till she's complaining about math homework and I remind her how excited she was to get that math book.




Hayden starts kindergarten tomorrow and Chandler will be starting preschool after Labor day. They are both really excited but when it actually gets here I'm sure it will be another story. I don't know who will be more nervous. Hayden, Chandler or Mommy. I guess we'll see soon enough!

The Beddoes Campout

Over the weekend we went camping with the Beddoes side of the family. We haven't done it for a couple of years and we all had a lot of fun. These are just a few of the things that we did.

We rode horses

We went fishing

We hiked to the Grotto and played in the freezing cold water

We played in the dirt and mud

We sang silly songs

We roasted marshmallows for s'mores

We played cards

And that's just all that I got pictures of! We ate tons of junk, rode bikes and scooters, made t-shirts and crafts, played with cousins, ate more junk, caught a frog, played play-dough, laughed and told stories and had a super good time. I was ready to come home and have a long shower and sleep in my own bed but nobody else was. Hopefully we can do it again and not wait 2 years but you never know with a new baby on the way.