September 29th-October 5th

Poison Ivy came to visit us this week-

and I am not talking about the Batman Villainess...

Saturday:

Still had a couple of sickies in the house,

(though Baby Girl was much better)

so I had to go and pick up Jungle Girl

from her sleepover by myself.

Right before that, however,

I had a mini melt-down.

I was tired,

hormonal,

and just spent from the previous week

for a variety of reasons

that I will not bore you with here.

So my sweet sick hubby

just let me take Jungle Girl 

a couple of places after picking her up,

just the two of us.

We went to a garage sale,

Kohl's and Target.

It-was-nice.

Armed with a couple of
"treasures" and a Vanilla Chi Tea Latte,

I felt so much better by the time I got home.

It is nice to be married to a man who

"gets" me

and knows when I need a break...

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Sunday:

Just the kiddos and I went to church,

with a couple of our neighbor boys in tow.

The new family we have been hanging out with

in the 'hood is giving our church a look-see,

and I am so happy to have them there!

After church,

we went out to eat with another family

at our favorite

Chinese Buffet,

ran home for a bit,

and then went back to church for evening classes.

I finished up learning about the strengths

God has naturally "wired" in me

in a month long class led by our Children's Minister.

The book we went over is called

Living Your Strengths.

I discovered my top 5 strengths are

Connectedness

Belief

Maximizer

Developer

and

Communication.

(You can read a short summery of what each of these

strengths entails by clicking HERE.)

Such an interesting and inspiring class...

*******************************

Monday:

Smiley B, Mad Max, and Girlie V

came and hung out with us all,

but we did manage to get some school done

and straighten up the house

after a crazy week of the sickies.

The kiddos spent some time in the woods

later in the afternoon,

as they did earlier on Saturday afternoon-

this is an important fact to note

when you see what emerged later

in our home this week...

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Tuesday:

More school,

more laundry,

and I was

FINALLY

able to get all the kiddos' fall/winter clothes

out and the their spring/summer stuff

packed away.

I am SO GLAD that is over until next year...

(Oh,

and there was more playing in the woods...)

*******************************

Wednesday:

The little boys were with us today,

and after school,

I started putting up the Fall Decor.

I already had a few things up,

 but I finished the rest up today.

Fall is my FAVORITE season,

and with the leaves starting to turn colors,

I can feel my spirits being picked up.

Miss Marie came over for some

Baked Spaghetti and crocheting lessons,

and introduced

Super Dad and the kiddos

to the game of Skip-Bo.

While I was making my grocery list

in the room next to them,

I enjoyed listening to their giggles

as Baby Girl said,

(over half-way through the game, mine you)

"Oh, THAT is what we should be doing?"

(I worry about her future sometime...)  ;0) 

Before bedtime,

 I noticed that Jungle Girl had a bit of a rash

under her eye.

I told her to start putting Lavender on it,

but that we also needed to keep

an eye on it

(so to speak)

and see if it was going to get any worse.

Last year,

she and Little Wild Man both got a case of

Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac

(one of those)

and had to get shots to stop the swelling.

(Remember,

I said we had a "rashy" visitor this week-

this was just the beginning of his visit...)

*******************************

Thursday:

The kiddos and I NEEDED some groceries,

so armed with my Emeals shopping list,

we took our neighbor and her son 

to Aldi with us.

It was GREAT!  

Everyone really behaved well,

and we now have a fully-stocked pantry.

After shopping,

we headed over to my parents' for a visit,

and then grabbed a few things from Sam's Club

to complete our grocery shopping experience.

 When the kiddos got home,

they went out to play,

but chose NOT to hang out in the woods

due to Jungle Girl's rash.

Before bedtime,

I told her that if the rash was any worse,

I would be taking her to our 

friendly neighborhood physician assistant...

**********************************

Friday:

Guess who woke up with a swollen eye

this morning?

Yep,

we headed over to see Mr. Jim in the morning

so Jungle Girl could get a steroid shot.

She handled it all very well

(poor thing!),

and after the physician's assistant visit,

we went to the 

Food City Food Show

with our neighbor and her son

(Field Trip- woot! woot!).

I have heard several adults describe this event as

"trick or treating for adults."

This is SO TRUE!

 Look at the samples we brought home-

that is not including what we put in our bellies!  ;0)

So-fun!

In the evening,

we hung out around a campfire at the neighbors house,

having S'mores and talking.

The kiddos ended up staying the night 

in their tent,

which was full of 8 kiddos

and 1 adult.

I agreed to bring breakfast to everyone

in the morning since I wasn't 

sleeping in the tent...

I just LOVE our neighborhood!!!

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To read a photo play-by-play of the above collage,

just click HERE...

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Linking up

with:

Collage Friday

Week in Review