Nick and Kelly's Barn Bash

Every year our friends, Nick and Kelly, have a Halloween party. This is one day out of the year that Brinn always goes to spend the night at her Mimi and Poppi's and Shane and I don't worry about when we're coming home. We always have a blast! Nick and Kelly live on farmland and have a barn that is only used for the Halloween party. There is always a bonfire and, most years, a live band. Then, of course, there is alway the witch's brew and Kelly's famously strong jello shots! Shane and I take turns every year where one of us gets to "let loose" and one is the designated driver. Last year I was the DD since I was four weeks pregnant. (You can kinda tell in the pictures which one of us is letting loose!)

The only problem with these parties is how pathetically bad Shane and I are at coming up with costumes. What makes it worse is that most everyone else that comes is so clever at putting together their costumes. One year Nick and Kelly came as Shrek and Fiona and walked into the party with a donkey. I love it! And one that always makes me crack up is when Ben and Meaghan came as Dr. Evil and Mini Me. I wish I had the picture. Someone please send me one! Another good one was when Tommy dressed up as Nick, and Holly dressed up as a pack of cigarettes and they came as "Nick's Bad Habit". Ha!!! Shaner and I always wait until the last minute and never seem to come up with anything spectacular - like the year we decided the only way we could have a good costume was to go to a professional costume store. Of course it was last minute and the only 2 matching costumes were skunks. So we went as "Two Little Stinkers". Ugh! Or how about the year I went as the blonde girl from "My Name is Earl" and I looked exactly like........Robin. Every year we leave the party and vow to each other that next year will be different. We will think of something so undeniably creative we will for sure get our picture on the invitation for the barn bash next year!

Oh well, no matter what we go as, we do always have fun. Unfortunately I won't be able to go this year because I will be on my way to Illinois. My sister and I are starting the process to move my parents, who are ill, down to Kansas. So, have fun everyone! I wish we could come. I can't wait to hear all about it and see the pictures!

Here's some pictures from last year. We were bouys along with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Carla and Rick. Shane and I liked this costume, although we can't take credit for the idea, it wasn't ours!

Me and Carla after we finished taping ourselves up.

The bouys - Shane, Robin, Carla, Rick.

Me and Shane.

Carla, Tim as "The Retired PE Teacher", Rick, and Samantha as "The Crazy Cat Lady".
Shane, Tim, Jarrod as "Macho Man", Rick.
Shane and Tim.

Lots of Projects and One Whiny Babe

Shaner and Brinn went back to Kansas this weekend so Shane could go to the K-State football game with some of the guys. Brinn got to spend some quality time with her Mimi, Poppi, and some of her aunts and cousins. That meant I had the whole weekend to work on PROJECTS!! I still feel like there is so much to get done until we are settled so it was nice to have a whole weekend to dedicate just to trying to get some of it done. I have been refinishing some furniture and, ugh, trying to find drapes for the living room which I can't seem to do for the life of me. Brinn also just got a new "big girl bed" and Shaner hung her chandelier the other day, so I finished getting her room together. Someone did tell me, "Don't you know you get two years to settle into your new house?" I thought, sure I'll use that and then some. Are we really EVER organized???

Meanwhile, as I'm trying to get as much done while I've got the time, I have a Babe.....(Babes...aka our dogs).....whining constantly in my ear. Sadie is such a Daddy's girl that whenever he leaves it doesn't matter how you try to appease her, she whines. Do you need to go potty? Whine. Would you like your breakfast Sadie? Whine. Do you want to go out on the deck and sun yourself Sadie girl? Whine, Whine, Whine. Eventually she had enough and decided to take it out on Sage. They wrestled for a good 20 minutes straight. I even got a good action picture in. Thank goodness Shaner will be home in a few hours.

Field Trip to the Farm

Brinn got to go visit a farm with her preschool class. She was so excited to see the horses and even more excited when they were the first on the list to see! There were two miniature horses, one brown and one paint. Brinn and her two friends from school, Carley and Kayla, ran over and started petting them. Then us moms told them to turn around so we could take a picture. Brinn was holding on to the wire fence and the little paint one came up and bit her finger! He actually drew blood. I thought for sure this would now turn her off horses. Wrong! As soon as we got her finger cleaned off and the band-aid on, she wanted to go pet the brown horse. My little cowgirl.

Daddy's Girl

She was seriously reading this as we were driving........

Daddy Goes to Brinn's Salon

Brinn couldn't wait for Shaner to go to work yesterday morning because she knew I was going to paint her nails. As soon as he left, I painted her nails and she painted mine. By the time he got home from work she still didn't have it out of her system and insisted on painting his too. The icing on the cake was when we went to Dairy Queen. He forgot he had it on and was waving his hands around for all to see!

October 15: In Remembrance of Owen, Andrew, Hope and Angel Armstrong

Grandma

"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

Rest in peace, dear Grandma. What a beautiful woman, who made so many sacrafices for our family. A wonderful role model in faith, marriage, and life. Thank you. The things you must have seen in your 93 years would likely astonish us. Please say hello to Grandpa and hug my babies for me. See you soon.

Love,
Robin

OCTOBER IS PREGNANCY AND INFANT LOSS AWARENESS MONTH

Rest in peace Owen, Andrew, Hope and Angel. I think of you everyday and imagine what our lives would be like if you where here.

The above postcard is from a wonderful organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It is a group of over 3,000 professional photographers across the nation that take beautiful pictures of infants that are either stillborn or die shortly after birth. I did not know of this organization when we lost the quads, but knowing what I know now, I would have jumped at the chance.

If you know anyone who has a stillborn child, or knows their child will pass shortly after birth, direct them to http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/. They will thank you for it.