Catching up on Fall

Well, fall brings cold and virus season, and a week after Hallie's birthday she came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. It started with a high fever, and tiny red spots on her torso and diaper area. Within a day, she started complaining about her mouth hurting, and I knew what was coming because Emma had HF&M when she was little, too.  It's highly contagious mostly to very young kids, and poor Hallie developed painful sores and blisters in and around her mouth and on her hands and feet.  She could barely walk sometimes, her feet hurt so badly. And she could only eat bland foods for about a week since her mouth was so sensitive. It's a virus that has to run its course, so we could only give her Tylenol and put hydrocortisone on the most painful spots until it went away.

Her poor feet seemed to get it the worst. She had terrible, painful blisters between each of her toes. And after they went away, the skin peeled off in strips as she healed. It was really disgusting.

 You can see some of the blisters on her fingers. She didn't get too many on her face, but she had some inside her mouth and ears that bothered her a lot.

In happier news, our families visited Bacon's Castle in Surry, VA together on "free museum day." It was nice to see each other and learn about the oldest documented brick dwelling in the U.S. 

Our family in front of Bacon's Castle

I got to join Emma's kindergarten class on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. It was a very hot day to be outdoors, but we had a great time.

Emma's class - ready to conquer the world

We rode a hay ride and picked a pumpkin

They had fun activities for the kids at the pumpkin patch, including these kiddie pools that were filled with corn. The kids loved the way it felt!

When we got Emma's pumpkin home, she couldn't wait to carve it ... into a lion. She stretches my subpar crafting skills. Heh!

Grandpa and Grandma Jester stayed for a week at their timeshare on Virginia Beach, and we stopped by to play with them a couple of days.

We had the best time celebrating our niece, Naomi's, 5th birthday. Her party had a "mermaids and pirates" theme - so cute!

Emma's school hosted Grandparents' Day and we absolutely love having our parents near enough to attend! Emma was thrilled to be the center of everyone's attention for the day. Haha!

Her class recited a Bible verse and a poem for their grandparents

When Hallie saw the kids sitting at the front of the room, she decided she needed to be part of the action.

Our family photo after Grandparents' Day. 

Speaking of school, we got a note from the StoneBridge nurse letting us know that Emma was delinquent in her immunizations. We haven't taken her to a primary care physician for several years for a check up because we were taking her to the urologist/surgeon so often. We knew exactly how healthy she was or wasn't most of the time. Apparently, she was supposed to have shots at her 4-year-old well child visit. (oops!)

So off we went to the doctor. This was Emma's reaction to the paper dress they gave her to wear. Ha! She got three shots in her arms and lots of hugs and kisses afterwards.

Hallie is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. She's speaking in complete sentences and amazing us with her creativity. 

The girls are enjoying playing and interacting with each other more and more. They can be so sweet.

And crazy. Heh!

The weather dropped drastically this month, so we busted out the hats, mittens, and scarves. 

And decorated our yard for fall. We're ready for the holiday season!