On Saturday, October 15, we ran errands as a family in the morning including getting more advil for Daddy. Then Mamaw called to go shopping, and Shawn suggested I go myself with her and enjoy some time out as the boys napped. It was fun! We looked at silly hats, fun rings and came home with new Clark shoes for both of us and Daddy (thanks, Mamaw!!!). Since the boys were still sleeping when I got home, I went for a jog. It was a lovely fall day.
The following morning, I tried to take the boys to my sister's church to see if I'd see any old friends and because one of our friends was preaching that morning. Since Shawn still needs recovery time, I was going solo and thought maybe this would be a better option than our regular church. It wasn't a good experience, unfortunately. She slept in that morning and didn't go, the church didn't have a great system for checking in new folks so it took forever. Not only did I miss most of worship, I ended up getting called out of the service just as Brian was starting to preach because there weren't enough nursery workers and all the babies were fussy. I realize that one kiddo can cause all the rest to get upset. :( I ended up leaving. No worship, no teaching, nothing but a long drive and a lot of hassle.
That afternoon was our neighborhood "fall fling." This is the first year that I remember being invited to fall fling in our neighborhood. Each year they talk about doing something with chili, but I don't think they've done it for a few years. Cathy, the host of all our neighborhood gatherings, made a bit crock pot of chili. Another neighbor made white chicken chili. Then another neighbor made hot dogs & sauerkraut. Cathy said to bring any kind of "fall food" and lawn chairs. I asked Shawn if I should go or not since I knew that he wouldn't be up for walking around. He said "we're not moving anytime soon, so go and represent." :) :) :) He also told me to leave the kiddos behind and he would take care of them. I thought I would make an appearance. But, I wasn't sure about what fall food to take. I was thinking about pumpkin dip, but eventually I decided just to go to the store and buy something. It had been a relatively busy weekend, and I wasn't sure I'd have time to get creative.
Weis had advertised cute cupcakes, so I decided to go there and pick some up. When I got there, I saw a platter of these leaf cookies. The cupcakes weren't as cute in person, and I thought cookies would be easy to pick up, especially for kiddos. So I purchased them. They said $7.49 on the package, but when I got to the register and swiped my credit card, I saw on the receipt that I was charged $7.99. I asked and the gal told me to go to customer service. I truly debated on whether or not it was worth my time for .50 cents. But, since there wasn't a line, I decided to pursue it. It wasn't a huge deal but more annoying to pay more than what I had expected to. Then, because of their error, the girl gave me the cookies for free. She put the entire $8 back on my card. Woohoo! Free is the best price. :) :) :) And then I didn't feel so guilty for not making something creative on my own. I ended up taking cookies and chips with me to share in the festivities.
The group was smaller this time than the summer one - or maybe the same size and it just seemed smaller because we were outside rather than all together in their garage (no rain on this day!), but there were different people there, too. I met a couple more school teachers and their kiddos. At first I was solo. I love hearing all the neighborhood gossip. And, I must admit that it's not really gossip because it's each family sharing their own stories. I heard about the untimely death of a ground hog, a fugitive, and all sorts of other interesting tales of children in school, dances, driving, etc. It was fun! Two of the "new" families had younger children. Many of the other families had older children there. The one family had six-year-old who kept wanting to play with the older kids. They had set up a game of "Sprite 'pong" rather than "beer pong" as you can see behind the picture of my men below. Then they were riding on a homemade skate board and doing other activities that weren't wrong but not necessarily great for a six-year-old. She told her mommy that she wanted someone to play with. Her little brother (2 years old, I would guess) was there as well. I told the mom that I would go home and get my boys to play and some younger activities. That's when I brought them down, and Shawn said he would come for the last little bit and eat some dinner as well.
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