Ba-Bye October

Yard Décor Seen on The Spoon River Drive

Fulton County, Illinois

I blame all of it on aging, the way time just screams past. The older I get the shorter the days. I blink and my own children are middle aged,  I take a deep breath and my GK's are in high school. I cough and...never mind.

My baby sister, for crying out loud, turned fifty a couple days ago! Below is a rare pic of Keith and I together at her birthday party. 

Each day I wake up with a long list of things to do, excited about the possibilities and then realize seconds later it's already midnight and I've accomplished only 1/10 of my goals. Faster and faster this carousel goes-but most days-I'm happy to ride it.

I'd just like to have one day a week drag a bit. Just one. I might blog more (among other things). 

We did take some down time this past month though, and I'm so glad we did. I love the fall and hate how it speeds by. Early in the month Keith and I did the Spoon River Drive on the west side of Illinois. It was rainy and cold that weekend but that meant better deals at the flea markets! It's always easier to run around on rainy days anyways as we don't feel so guilty about not working back home

In mid- October my three sisters and I went away for two nights to the Lake Geneva area in Wisconsin. We try to get away together every year for a couple nights and this year we travelled about three hours north and rented a .Quirky-Fun-Eclectic-Artists home. We also found a farm slash winery that offered wine tasting out of their garage! We shopped, thrifted, ate out, talked and talked. I love my sisters dearly and treasure them more each year as we creep towards that sixth decade of life. Well, at least I'm creeping in that direction. Those other three are lagging behind.

In the midst of the short trips I've been running a bit between some of the elderly folk in our family with Dr. appointments and surgeries, while enjoying the First Birthdays (!) of two of our youngest GK's born just 10 days apart. Happy birthday again to little Eli and September. We also found out last week that GK number seven is on its way. Our youngest son Kyle and his wife Amanda are expecting child number three due in May. 

We're still plugging away at tearing down the old house. The second story is half gone and most of the good floorboards of the second story bedrooms are now relocated to the new barn where they'll be used to build lofts. Keith boarded up the open south side of the house for winter. Yesterday he started building some walls in the new barn and had me helping with some small concrete pours. It's nice to be back building up again instead of just tearing down.

And then finally today, the last day of October and Halloween. Below is eleven year old GK Wesley aka Spiderman. I was able to spend an evening with him last week at his schools Fall Fest followed by a morning of thrift shopping. We are so blessed to have all six of our GK's within twenty minutes of us, not all in the same direction, but still, all are close. 

Happy Fall !