October in pictures

I finally got proof that sometimes Benny and Ruby actually play together and don't fight. 

We watched General Conference, ate cinnamon rolls, and delivered extras to our neighbors. It was an exciting conference as they announced new changes like the 2 hour block and the family centered approach to teaching. 

Shad and I took a trip up to Minneapolis for the midwest area husband/wife convention. We left the kids with James and Monica for 4 days. We learned some really great things to implement in our family including "Mastery Monday's" where we will work on finding answers through doctrinal mastery.
We also had an opportunity to serve at "Feed my starving children". putting together manna packs that would be shipped off to Jamaica. It was such a great experience. I would love to take my kids there one day to serve too.

 We are so grateful for good friends that are like family and are willing to take on all of our kids. They moved into our house for 4 days to make it easier on our kids too. Between our family and theirs, they had 9 kids running around.

Laney also liked being Ruby's personal stylist....

Monica did some fun things with the kids while we were gone like visiting the fire station open house.

Ruby has been a dream toddler, but lest you think that she is always happy, here is proof that she does get stuck in her ways and has meltdowns every once in a while. They are ridiculous and cute all at the same time.

It was a super warm October, but when we returned from Minneapolis it was cold all of the sudden. We went from 80 degree weather to 50 degrees. It was 54 degrees outside but they just had to eat their ice cream outside after dinner. I think we are all in denial that Fall is actually here.

I had 20 women running around my kitchen compiling freezer meals. We ended up making 264 meals in about 2.5 hours. Between that night and another night compiling meals in Champaign early November I have 32 meals in my freezer ready to go when the babies get here....or before (I've already starting using them as I've lost motivation to cook).

We went to Rader Farms in Normal on early out day. My kids love this place and look forward to it every year. Steph came and helped us out. I took Jack into his appointment in Peoria while they went to Rader Farms and then we met back up with them and Shad for another hour of play.

Benny learned how to draw people. This is a picture of him with "his babies". I'm glad that he is starting to show that he knows what is going on and talks about it.

My friends Monica and Charlotte threw me a baby shower at Charlotte's house. I didn't get pictures of anyone there, but I did remember to take pictures of her cute decorations. People are so generous. We received so many diapers and wipes to get us started with the twins.

Gracie and Jack have become pretty great friends. It makes me excited to see what Benny and Ruby's relationship will look like in a few years as they are the same distance apart.