So Very, Very Tired

I have now realized that the end of October and most of November is my busiest time of year. I remember last year, I was very stressed while trying to stay on top of things, and it has only gotten worse this year. It's all stuff I bring onto myself - planning Grayson's birthday parties, handling the publicity for my adoption group's National Adoption Day event, doing dictation for my sister, singing with the praise and worship group at church, dealing with house building stuff, keeping up with Grayson's schedule (which includes toddler time at the library, gym class, playgroups, parties, etc.), potty training, assisting with a baby shower, and trying to balance my own pathetic social schedule in the middle of all of it - but it still takes its toll. I'm not complaining, just sharing. I love my life. I love being busy. I'm just amazed at how busy I actually am sometimes and I'm now very, very tired.

At any rate, I mentioned that I would hopefully have some good pictures to share because this past week offered up some great photo opportunities. Of course Grayson was his normal "non-photogenic" self in that he refuses to look at the camera, let alone smile for me, but hopefully I think I was able to capture the moment in most cases.

Our first event was a birthday party for one of Grayson's friends. It was at a pumpkin patch and unfortunately, after many months of a drought, it decided to rain most of last week which resulted in some rather miserable weather for an outside party. Luckily the first hour was fairly clear, so the kids got to play outside. Grayson's favorite thing to do was climb on the haystack and here you can see his reflective look as he sits atop a hay bail.

Since the kids couldn't go out to the pumpkin patch on the hayride, they brought the pumpkins to them and allowed the kids to paint them. Grayson definitely enjoyed this and I had a blast just watching his concentration. His final masterpiece is proudly displayed on our porch.

Last Friday Grayson was invited to a Halloween party with his playgroup friends. This year Grayson dressed as a firefighter for Halloween. This was for practical reasons in that I purchased one of those fancy dress up outfits at an expensive kid's boutique a few months ago. The plan was to give it to him for either his birthday or Christmas, but when I started looking for Halloween costumes, it seemed rather stupid to spend the money on something else when I already had this. He loved wearing his costume and his friend Griffin gave him an early birthday present to go with it - firefighter boots - so he now likes to wear his boots all around the house. (The picture is from before we left for the party, so he's wearing his Chucks since he didn't have the boots yet.)

This past Tuesday we went to another pumpkin patch. We took Grayson's cousin, Brooks, and we also met up with a few of Grayson's friends there. The weather was much, much better than the previous week, so the kids truly enjoyed themselves. Grayson loved the giant "pillow" and he also loved going down the slides and through the tunnels.

On Halloween, we went Trick or Treating with his cousins, Tevyn and Trevor. This was not only Grayson's first time Trick or Treating, but also mine. We went to the local "neighborhoods" so the boys could be seen by people we know. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Since we live out in the middle of nowhere, the houses are not very close together, so we did a lot of walking and after about an hour, Grayson was getting pretty tired and wanted to be held, which made it even harder on me. But we had a blast and Grayson brought home a ton of loot. And contrary to popular belief, I am allowing him to have some of it on occasion, but only after he eats all of his fruits and vegetables!!