The McGarys : Outrageous October

Kallie said her first entire prayer. She repeated after Daddy and it was adorable.

This month we flew to Minnesota for a few reasons. First and foremost, to eat my step dad's cookies and gain a significant amount of weight in one week. Second, so my sister and I could meet each others' new babies. Third, my grandma's funeral (you may wonder why this isn't first on the list. We were planning the trip before my grandma died and also, it's sad. I don't want a sad reason to be number one). Fourth, who doesn't love the shock of moving from Florida weather to Minnesota's freezing autumn in one day?

The Cousins

Before we left I was SO excited to see Kallie play with her cousins. Seriously, four years ago I never thought I'd be so excited about a bunch of kids. They played a lot but they didn't play together much. It wasn't until our LAST night there that they got all hyper and followed each other around the house giggling about something only toddlers know. I failed to realize it would take them awhile to warm up to each other and by that time, our visit was over. Have I mentioned how much I love living far far away from family? NOT. Sleeping arrangements worked out fabulously though: Jessa and Kallie slept in a walk-in closet together and Jayda bunked in a laundry basket with us. Win-win.

Kallie & Bina hugging it out

Brad and I didn't take many pictures in MN because everyone else did but I always forget that no one actually ends up copying their pictures and passing them out like they say they're going to so, we end up with none. Don't worry family, I'm not bitter. I know it's a big project. I just need to keep that in mind and take my own pictures. We did however reach our goal of binging on cookies, junk food, sugar, snacks and anything that helps us pack on the pounds. Mark even made a gallon sized zip-lock bag of cookies to send home with us.

Movie Night with Eden & Asia

I'm so glad my grandpa waited until we got there to have my grandma's memorial service but it kinda stinks cuz with two small kids I feel like half my mind is always on them (and that was WITH Brad basically taking care of them completely). So many relatives were there and I barely got to talk with a fraction of them. The whole thing went by so fast. I found out later a couple relatives were there and I didn't even see them. On the bright side, my grandma gave me her necklace before she died and when I wore it to my doctor's appointment the other day someone complimented it. It felt special.

Our day of flying back to Florida would have actually been pretty great if not for one little glitch in the radar: food poisoning. On both flights we got the entire back row to ourselves (three seats on one side of the aisle AND two on the other). So that was awesome. As soon as we got to our 2.5 hour layover in Atlanta though, I had blurry spots in my peripheral vision. That went away but then I got a headache. Then I had a headache AND horrible upset stomach. Then Kallie got cranky because she hadn't napped. Then Jayda started crying because she was hungry. All right before it was time to board our next plane.

Leg up? And left handed??

Our family was making so much noise it was ridiculous so we cut in line way before our zone was supposed to board and demanded we get on the plane right then so I could nurse Jayda. I even held open a leftover fast food bag because I felt like puking. We sat down, got settled, I started nursing Jayda and was still feeling horrible. I was praying to throw up, hoping I would feel better afterward. The whole time Jayda nursed I sat with my head in my hands trying to keep my mind off the pain. She finished eating, I sat her upright in the crook of my arm, the plane started taking off, I reached for a barf bag and as soon as I had it in the perfect position over my mouth I exploded into it. When I finished, Brad was holding out a napkin for me and as soon as I was nice and clean I looked down at Jayda and she was sitting quietly in my arm, looking up at me with a face that said, "What just happened?"

I have to count my blessings that 1) I was not sitting next to a stranger when I puked and 2) I felt totally fine afterward. Arriving home that night was pure bliss.

Every year since Brad and I got married I've declared, "This year I wanna start decorating for the holidays" but it still hasn't happened because we have no room for that stuff so every year we decide again to wait until we live in a house. We didn't come up with a cool family costume either because we missed the church Halloween party but we did dress up Kallie and go trick-or-treating with friends. We had a little pot luck together beforehand and my friend brought an old costume for Kallie but I had no clue what it looked like until we got there so we ended up winging it with matching the under clothes to keep her warm.