Fall is here among other things...

October has been an eventful month in our house, a good one though! I turned 27 on the 15th, Ella turned 3 on the 18th, Jonathan and Katie came to visit, Andrew bowhunted his first deer, and last but not least, John Lewis was born! It's a strange thought to have 3 kids before I'm 30! It was fun to see Ella turn 3, although she still does not enjoy having "Happy Birthday" sung to her. She's turned into quite the little woman, while she is playing, she plays hard and has lots of fun and while she is frustrated, she has the personality of a tiger! Her quotes get funnier all the time and her questions make us have to think twice for just about everything. Peter is loving life, full of energy, and keeps us quite busy. He's been a little better recently about accidents and injuries, which has been nice! He and Ella play well together half the time, and the other half, they fight over toys, blankets, Mommy, and food. This all comes with their age I suppose, but they also look out for each other. They go in the same nursery most of the time, and I have been told a few stories of Ella protecting Peter, or consoling him if he's sad. It makes me smile to know they help each other out.
Jonathan and Katie came to see us from the 14th-21st. They were here for our birthdays and a surprise early birth of their nephew! It was so nice to see them and share the events of life together with family. The kids had a lot of fun playing and getting to know their Aunt & Uncle. We were able to go on a little hike in the woods to see the beautiful fall on Ella's birthday and that was nice. We appreciated their help with everything, because in the midst of the events, our kitchen is out of commission and we lived entirely in the living room.
The kids have spent a fair amount of time in their silly "bones jams." I got these mostly for halloween when they are handing out candy at the door, but they like them so much, they just keep them on when they can. I think it partly has to do with the fact that they match each other and they think that's funny. Ella asks me to turn the light off so she can see them "grow." (Glow)
Andrew killed his first deer on the 21st. It was with a bow and he is pretty thrilled about it. We are all happy for him, and his brother got to help him bring it out of the woods since he was here too. They brought it to the house wrapped in a tarp in the car trunk to get a picture with it. I didn't want Ella to see it, but she managed to peek in the trunk on the way to the swing set. With a confused look on her face she walked away and we didn't think much of it. Later, after Andrew took it to the butcher, he met us in the Wendy's parking lot with the car. We were all in the van and when Andrew went to open the car trunk, Ella shouted out, "Watch out Daddy! I'm pretty sure there's a deer in there!" We all laughed pretty hard because none of us really thought she understood when she saw it in the trunk.
As you can see, this has not been a dull month for us! The kitchen should be done by the start of November, in time for Andrew's mom to get here. We look forward to what life has in store for us as we adjust to all the changes, but God is good and we are thankful for that!