A Word (or two) About November

Brutal. November was just brutal. BRU-TAL. Have I mentioned that November was brutal? -Because it was. I am usually a glass half full kind of a gal. Seriously, I am a perpetual look on the bright side person; I cannot help it. It was a really tough month though, and I am here to tell you that there were a few days when the glass was just half empty.

'Why was it so hard?' you ask. In addition to the crazy call schedule and the 80 hour work week, Chris was spending all of his extra time with my arch nemesis, The Grant. The Grant, is a big thing that he was writing in order to get some more funding for some pretty amazing research that he is working on. Really, the research is great and exciting. -Truth be told, I love that Chris is such a 'Go Getter', and that he is so involved despite being a resident. He is able to balance family life, work and keep his foot in the door in research without getting stressed out or overwhelmed with all that he has on his plate. This is honestly something that I admire as I cannot balance that many things myself. The only thing is that all of this involvement, at times, means a lot more work for me. More work that I can handle for a few weeks at a time. After a while it just gets hard. That is what November was for me this year. Hard.

So, as I was looking back at pictures in order to get all caught up with the good 'ol blog, I saw only a handful them. My initial thought was, 'Where are all of the pictures from November?' Then I remembered. 'Oh yeah, that was the month of The Grant.' Fortunately, Chris has defeated and submitted my arch nemesis and is significantly less busy. One good thing about The Grant, is that it made me realize that the 80 hr. work week is really not so bad. Do-able in fact.

Here are a few written highlights from November, and a token picture to remember that there were, in fact, smiles in the Runyan house in November.

1.) We took a day trip to Columbus, OH to visit the temple.

2.) We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents, Chris's parents and my brother and his family. The girls had the entire week of Thanksgiving off, which was really nice. We headed out to Grandma's house a few days early for some rest, relaxation, and some good 'ol fashioned spoiling from Grandma & Grandpa and Great Grandmother. Chris was on call the day before Thanksgiving, and was thus post-call on Thanksgiving Day. My dad and brother drove all the way to our house (2+ hours one way) that morning to pick Chris up and bring him out to celebrate with us. This was done so that he could sleep and that we would not have two cars at Grandma's house. It was so nice of them to make that sacrifice for our family. Chris slept and woke up in time for the feast. I braved a few stores with my parents and Chris's mom on Black Friday, and had a nice time. All in all it was a lovely visit.

3.) I discovered that I LOVE to sew. I picked up sewing again in early Fall, but started in earnest November. The more I sew, the more I love it.

4.) We made it through the month. May not sound like much, but I was oh-so-glad to be on the other side of the month.

Kate discovered the drawer under the oven where I keep my pots and pans. She loves to climb inside if the drawer is open, pans in the way or not. (Is it just me, or does she have the pinchiest nose you ever did see?)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Chris has had to work a few Halloweens, and thus has had to miss the best thing about it; trick-or-treating. So sad. However, the doctor that he reports to this year said that he could sneak away from the hospital for a bit so that he could join us, so long as it was not too busy. Since I was not sure if he would be able to get away, I kept this from the girls. It turns out that he was able to get away, and the girls got the best surprise when he just walked right up to us in the street as we were trick-or-treating. It was a special treat to have him there. Thank you Dr. Goodman for letting Chris join his kids on Halloween!

A pre-trick-or-treating shot. Rachael was the 'Tooth Fairy' this year. She is holding Chief, who was a skeleton. Morgan was a 'Masquerade Ball Ballerina'. She is holding Kate, who was a lady bug. It was fun to see her in a costume that both of her older sisters wore...good 'ol trip down memory lane and what not.

A close-up of Chief. He really was so cute in his skeleton costume. In our neighborhood, some people passed out dog treats as well as candy. He thought this was pretty great.

Beleated Birthday Celebration

Opa and Nana (Chris's parents) came to visit and to celebrate Chris and Kate's birthdays a little late. We left the older girls with friends and went out to dinner. Four adults and one sweet baby Kate. It was so fun! Not only did we get to eat out at one of my favorite places, The Cheesecake Factory, but we got to have real live adult conversation. Uninterrupted. (Well, mostly uninterrupted. We still had Kate, but she is really low maintenance, so it felt uninterrupted.)

Chris had to work on Sunday, but Opa and Nana stayed and spent the day with me and the girls. We had a delightful time, and they had a nice little break from work and all of the extras that they do at home. (Chris is a bit of an overachiever, and he comes by it naturally...) We snapped some really great shots of Morgan and Rachael with their grandparents. (Kate was already in bed.)

Opa and Morgan.

Nana and Morgan.

Opa and Rachael.

Nana and Rachael.

*It is also noteworthy to mention that while they were here, Opa scrubbed my stove top. (I have an old school electric stove with the coils and the metal bowls underneath said coils.) I do not like my stove and would much rather have a gas stove, or even a flat cook top electric stove, but this stove does the job. Furthermore, there are other things on the "Items to Replace" list before the stove. Anyway, I don't clean the bowls as much as I should. Dad noticed that they were in need (desperate need) of some elbow grease, and he used his elbows for about 20 minutes. Thanks Dad for leaving my kitchen better than you found it.*

Autumn Outing

One Saturday this month, rather than be productive around the house, we opted to take a trip to a farm featuring a corn maze and a pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect for romping through a maze. We went with some friends, which made it even more fun for the girls. While at the farm, we enjoyed a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, feeding goats, and a hayride. It was a really fun, much needed little day trip. We may not have been as productive as we should have been, but we made some good memories, which is equally, if not more important when you have a super busy daddy.

Here is Chris modeling the baby sling I made for him to carry Kate around in.

Kate in the pumpkins. She enjoyed crawling all over them.

We came, we saw, we conquered the corn maze. It was a rather large maze which featured a scavenger hunt highlighting key sights from the city. (Pictured are Chris, Morgan, Rachael, and Dave, Abby and Jeana Simpson.)

At the farm, there was a big metal tub filled with dried corn for wee ones to play in instead of sand. We thought Kate might like it. She couldn't stand it, as you can tell by the expression on her face, and lasted about 10 seconds before she very clearly indicated that she wanted to GET OUT. FAST.

So, who hasn't wanted to throw an egg just to watch it splatter at some point in their life? This was a fun idea that had quite the line. You buy a pack of four eggs and then throw them at this ghost. Rachael said, "You mean I can throw the egg?!" The mom in me kept thinking how wasteful this was, while the child within kept thinking how fun it would be to grab an egg and throw it myself. The girls loved it. We had to do it twice. (Pictured are Morgan, Rachael, Jeana and Abby.)

Last, but not least, a little family picture with some pumpkins. I really liked this shot. Aside from Kate looking off to the right, the rest of us actually have halfway decent smiles. In fact, we almost used it for our Christmas card this year. The only problem was that Farmer Bob and Son were in the background with the hayride truck. Dang!

Chris's B-Day.

Chris's birthday falls on the 14th, just four days after Kate. My mom's is the 16th, so October is a big birthday month for our family. Despite working nights and being super busy, we still managed to squeeze in some birthday fun for Chris. A bit of dinner, cake and ice cream, presents, and then off to work he went...

Happy Birthday Chris!

She is 1!!!

Kate had her birthday on the 10th, and is officially 1-year-old. Wow. That was fast. She has been the sweetest baby and has brought so much joy to our family. We had some family come into town for her birthday, and we celebrated with a fun dinner, and the traditional cake, ice cream, and presents.

Discoveries made about Kate on her birthday:

1.) She prefers chocolate cake to vanilla.

2.) She loves ice cream.

3.) She loves clothes. I kid you not. She loves clothes. She got toys and clothes for her birthday, and showed the same enthusiasm for both. She 'Ooooooohed' and 'Ahhhhhhhed' and held the clothes up to her little body. I think we might be in trouble with this one later...

Here are some fun pics of Kate's big day:


Giant cupcake birthday cake. Chocolate on the bottom, vanilla on the top. Mmmmmm. Birthday cake.


Kate as we were singing 'Happy Birthday' to her.


Mmmmmmm. Chocolate cake.

CRAZY

Sorry all. Things have been, well, crazy. -I say that like I have been the most consistent of bloggers and a two week absence is unusual for me. I am trying. Just when I was getting into a blogging groove, life got even busier. Chris has been gone a lot. We have had three family birthdays that I have been getting ready for. We have also had company twice and gone out of town once. In addition to these things, I have been getting in touch with my inner Martha and crafting and sewing. Will post about it later. Too tired, and writing about it is making me more tired. G'night.