Fall Break

Fall Break was so much fun this year! Originally we thought about going somewhere or camping this weekend, but when it came down to it to much other stuff was scheduled during this time. So we decided to stay at home and it was great! We kicked off the fun with a fun afternoon at the Treehouse Museum. My sweet friend Katie gets us in for free and we always love it! Hudson got to be in the "partici-play" and really fulfilled his role as monkey well! They also had a little panda hospital where both boys loved taking care of the baby pandas as part of their temporary China exhibit. 

 One night my parents stopped by so I could cut my dad's hair, after we put the boys to bed. Of course, they hopped right out of bed and immediately hit up Nana for stories. I'm not sure why they are sitting ON the table though...

 Then school was actually out and we planned a whole day of fun! We started off by going to Discovery Gateway. They have a Syd the Science Kid exhibit right now that I knew Chase would love- Hudson had already been once. Chase did love it! This boy loves science and doing experiments. He loved the magnets, microscopes, and other experiments they had. He's an inquisitive kid.

After the museum we headed down to Springville (we spent a lot of time in the van that day!) and met Ashley and her four girls at a beautiful park! We picnicked in the sunny, crisp fall weather and had a great time. I got to hold sweet new baby Sophie, and see the boys interact so sweetly with her (they will be the best big brothers when our little guy comes!). It's always so much fun to hang out with them and we stayed for a good four hours- and I didn't take a single picture! Sometimes you are just having too much fun to take pictures. We even rounded out the trip home with a Costco trip and somehow we all held it together despite none of us getting naps and being gone from home for a solid 10 hours. Luckily, Ben had a delicious dinner waiting for us when we got home that night!

Friday we took much slower. We did a bunch of cleaning around the house and then joined some friends at our neighborhood park for a little fresh air. The boys loved playing in the leaves and sand with Jazz.

 Saturday morning Ben left for a week long work trip to Washington DC. It's good fortune that his company headquarters are just a few hours from where his parents live, so we was able to just fly out a few days early and spend the weekend visiting his parents and grandparents. I don't love having him gone for long spurts of time, but it's worth it, especially when the company pays for it!

We had Chase's last soccer game of this season! Soccer has been such a great experience for him. He's loved every game and he even scored a goal on his last game! We were so proud of him, mostly for his good attitude and how hard he works, even though he frequently has to play the whole game without ever getting a break to sit-out.

 Papa and Nana came to his game- and Papa always brings them donuts and chocolate milk for after. These boys are always happy about donuts!

 Sunday we had a regional conference for church- meaning it's just two hours, but that's with the boys sitting (supposedly quietly) with me the whole time. I wasn't sure we would make it through, but with the help of lots of snacks, quiet toys, and nice people sitting by us, we made it through! I even got a few good gems of wisdom from the talks- which always feels like a bonus when you are trying to manage small children at church!

 Sunday night we went to my parents house and Nana had sugar cookies all cut out and ready to decorate! I was thankful since I'd been meaning to do this with the boys and hadn't gotten around to it. They loved frosting and sprinkling their cookies. They both definitely have a "more is more" philosophy when it comes to cookie decor!

 Then we started the normal school week. I was ready to rock this week as a single parent. I had plans to do lots of fun activities with the boys and our schedule was packed. And it was going fairly well- Chase had red ribbon week at school, but a few of the activities felt a little too weird for him, like mustache day. Hudson, however, DID want a mustache so he sported one for a day or so. Crazy sock day was also too weird for Chase, so we settled on him wearing one black and one white sock, while Hudson wore a pair he stole from Nana that had baby chicks on them all day. Chase was on board with pajama day and hat day though!

So anyway, things were going well until Tuesday night. I caught a nasty flu bug (that had gone through Nora, Will and Kate earlier that weekend) and it was terrible- like up-all-night-can't-keep-even-water-down kind of terrible. I texted my mom early in the morning and she saved my bacon by coming to help get the boys breakfast and settled for the day, and then came back after work to get them dinner, some playtime, bathed and to bed! And I mostly just laid in bed, completely despondent, all day long. And the kids watched lots of TV and stayed out of trouble in the time in between. They even got their own snacks, chocolate chips and regular chips. I'm was so thankful for my mom's rescue, and that my boys were good sports- otherwise it could have been even worse.

So other than that yucky virus, our fall break (and time afterward) was excellent! I sure am ready to get my husband back tomorrow though! Then we can start with the Halloween fun!