I am not sure how we are to middle of October already, but we are. Of course, we have been busy and it's only just beginning. Eli is loving school and is learning to read and is so far doing great! The girls are doing great too and they like to see their friends at school.
Labor Day we, of course, went camping and a chilly day of boating. With the sun behind the clouds and the cool breeze we were not in normal swim gear and Eli had an idea to start a fire. So the group sat around it chit chatted. A relaxing day. Happy Labor Day everyone
Ella enjoying the sunset and the evening.
Well I woke up to my face looking like a mongaloid and very itchy rash EVERYWHERE! That fire apparently had some poison ivy in it and well....I was very miserable post labor day. Steroid creams and steroid dose pack and now some scars to remember Labor day 2021
Joey has joined Ottumwa Leadership Academy, which is people from the community taking this class to lead the city and learn how to better it, take on a project and learn stuff. One of the meetings is a retreat to a local resort and they encouraged family to join and enjoy the resort. That is what we did.. the kids and I tried paddle boarding, we rode bikes on the biking path and they have an indoor water park. I was finally able to relax at a water park. It was just small enough I could see everyone while sitting and all the kids can swim now. We were glad we could take advantage of this opportunity, even if dad was in class during most of it.
And just after this I FINALLY was able to hit my goal! I dead lifted 225lbs. I have been working so hard to do this and have hit a ton of road blocks like covid, kids cove closing, more covid stuff and just life taking over. However, I kept going and I did it!!!
Swimming has started up and this year Eli is in it with the girls. All 3 are sleeping so well after swim nights :)
And what I didn't know, was that while I was deadlifting my goal, I was infected with covid :( The next day I started feeling off and then went down hill from there. I thought it was just the flu as I had all the flu symptoms (high fever, aches, chilled, congestion etc) but I eventually lost my sense of smell and figured it was THE COVID. Thankfully I was vaccinated and so was my mother in law because she was here visiting us. I managed to spread it to her and 2 co-workers, on accident, as I didn't know I was infected at the time. Jane ended up staying an extra 10 days because she ended up with it. Sorry Jane! So while we quarantined, we ended up going boating and being away from all people except us. I also got family pictures done too. Joey was still able to go to work because he is vaccinated and showed no signs of infection, so that made isolating impossible. The kids somehow tested negative and never actually showed symptoms with 2 +'s in the house. We are all recovered (including my co workers) and are back it.
And at some point Josie chipped her front tooth. We eventually got it fixed just before picture day. Except she missed picture day because we were all home quarantining. Then the darn thing fell off and she had to get it fixed again. Now they all have dentist appointments tomorrow and I am sick of going to that office.
Eli is enjoying it and the girls are doing it but not sure they love it. They have a friends with them in the pool so I know that helps. I am planning that we do some swim meets this year, a nice family time event.
Ella is just improving so much and looking good diving off the block! Now time for Josie to learn to dive!
And fall means HALLOWEEN!! I seriously cannot beleive we have pumpkins and candy at our house now. We have painted our pumpkins...Ella's is a black cat, Eli's is fire and Josies is Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. All did them by themselves. Eli really surprised me with his and it was hard for me to do his own thing, but he had a plan and ideas and I decided to let him go to town. He is very much into art and is pretty darn good at it so this should not have been so hard to believe! Go Eli!
We had a nice little group for trick or treating. All the kiddos ready to go!
And now, Joey is dealing with the UAW strike at work. His stress level is high, but he does a great job of not showing it. Hopefully an agreement/contract will be signed very soon and everything gets back to "normal." And I am as always super busy at work, especially at the beginning of the year and this year is no different. I think it's actually busier than normal but eventually I hope it calms down.
And that's a wrap on our fall so far! Whew, we had LOTS going on, I guess! Hopefully I can blog again before Christmas and not have such long post. Fingers crossed!
