So much has happened in the past month.  Here is a small summary:

We took the boys to the local traveling fair about a month ago.  We purchased the unlimited armbands and the 1st few attempts at rides made us doubt that purchase. Sawyer ended up riding several things by himself. The deal breaker for him was the mini roller coaster. He made it 2 times around by himself and he was d-o-n-e. So the ride had to be stopped for him. We definitely got our “monies” worth from the bounce house and Batman slide/play area. They would have stayed there all night. Their only issue with that is that their shoes had to be removed. These boys love their shoes. Sawyer even rode the carousel twice with me while Braddock rode the boats by himself. That was a huge improvement from our last carousel attempts. The 1 thing they wanted to do that was not included in the armbands was the $10/per play basketball game. My boys are obsessed with all things balls…footballs, basketballs, baseballs…we left after bedtime and we were those parents dragging away crying, screaming kids who did not want to leave. Yup, we were a sight.

Then we attended Oktoberfest:

Next we went to the Pumpkin Patch.  Last year it was about who could pick up the heaviest pumpkin.  This year it was about who could throw the heaviest.  While that was not a shining moment, I love how much the boys enjoyed the patch this year, from the hayride to the hay maze to the patch itself, to the inflatables.  Speaking of inflatables, I had no clue when we purchased the combo ticket for each boy that it included a HUGE, JUMBO, GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS vertical slide.  But my boys climbed the almost straight up, super tall climb multiple times.  Braddock was a little more reserved about it, as he usually is (just like his Momma), but Sawyer went for it over and over again, laughing each time.

the big slide:

Next was pumpkin carving:

On October 7, 3 years ago to the day, Mandi went into the very same hospital in the very same exam room, also in labor.  The next day I became an aunt.  Sweet Adlee was born.  The boys got the meet her on the 2^nd day of her life.  I was shocked there was not much jealousy, and they called her by name and were fascinated with her “blankie”.  I am sure jealousy will eventually happen as I plan to hold her and love on her often.  We just have to get our family healthy again as we are sick and I will not expose Adlee to our germs.

After we visited Adlee we took the boys to a park that I remembered from my childhood (Tom Bradford).  It was not like I remembered it.  Sure, it had awesome slides and apparatuses for the boys, but when we headed to play on 1 of the playgrounds 2 grown adult women were being intimate in a tunnel slide with each other.  We were the only people at the park with kids.  Everyone else acted as if Joey Greko from Cheaters was going to pop out with cameras at any moment and exposure their affairs.  Ugh.  Disgusting that such a pleasant innocent place has become full of nastiness.

We have also returned to a church that we loved in the past.  It has early services as an option and of course we love the contemporary style of service.  The boys also love that we go with Chandler and Elliot every Sunday.  Cassie even holds Elliot down a class in Sunday school so he can be with B and S.  Love her for that.  They now color and interact so well in such a large church nursery.  Sure, there is still some anxiety, but with them attending school 5 days a week now has broken them from their complete fear of such as large class setting.