October

The month of October has flown by, and (again) it's been quite some time since I updated my blog.  Here's a quick look at what we've been doing...



 

I like to use David's birthday as an excuse to take a trip, and this year we went to Shenandoah, VA for 4 days.

The cabin that we rented was set on a hillside in the middle of the country... a perfect spot for relaxing!

A view inside the cabin (from the living room, looking towards the kitchen).  I enjoyed the open layout, especially because it helped us watch Audra in her new surroundings.

At first, Audra was content to sit on the rug in the middle of the floor and play wth her toys.  But that didn't last for long!  Soon she was crawling all over the place, and carrying her toys with her as she went. 

It had been years since I worked on a puzzle, but on Thursday night, after Audra went to bed, I decided to start working on a 1000-piece Norman Rockwell puzzle.  After I separated all the edge pieces, it didn't take long for David to join me at the kitchen table to begin putting the frame together.  A few hours later we the edge almost completed.

On Friday afternoon we were joined by my father and his wife, who drove up from North Carolina.  We enjoyed their company immensely over the next day and a half, while we played Sequence, shared many meals, played with Audra, watched 2 Dick Proenneke movies and worked on the puzzle together.

After many hours of frustrating work done on the puzzle (mostly by Dad and David... Gene and I dropped out before the puzzle was 1/2 finished), we had a completed puzzle on Saturday night. 

Two weeks later, on Tuesday, 10/16, Audra and I went to Big Flats, NY to visit Alenna and her family.  On Wednesday my brother-in-laws parents joined us at Alenna's house for the day.  It was so nice to see Dad and Mom Loucks again, and for them to get reacquainted with Audra.  Here they are with the littlest cousins, Mikiah and Audra.

As always, I enjoyed spending a few days with my sister and her family.  Watching her 3 oldest children interact with Audra was especially a treat!  Aiden and Seth took turns helping her stand up, and Cora was trying to hug Audra about every 10 minutes.  It is clear that they love their newest cousin!

Back in NJ on Saturday, October 20th, the weather was perfect for Audra's first hayride and first time picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.  (Though I will admit that she didn't voice much of an opinion about what pumpkin she wanted to bring home.)

I'm glad we were able to have this family outing while the weather was nice, because the following day Audra came down with a nasty cold which had her very congested and sleeping poorly for the next 6 nights!

Thankfully Audra was feeling better by the following Saturday, because my dear friend, Audra's honorary Aunt Karen, drove up for a visit from Annapolis, MD.  (It looks like a cheesy photographer posed Audra's left arm, but I promise you she did that herself!)

On Halloween, after no issues from Hurricane Sandy (praise the Lord!), we dressed Audra in her first costume.  What a happy little "elephant" we've been blessed with!!