Meeting Nadia & Luke's Birthday party

Can't believe it's Friday already! Where did this week go? It's been a busy one around here.

On Monday I took Natalie for her 8 month pictures (will post them later - too lazy to hook the laptop up to the scanner right now).

Tuesday I took our Escape to the dealership body shop because we thought it had rust on it. I was so ticked - a 2008 Escape with rust? As it turns out, it's not rust BUT it appears the paint was contaminated at some point between the application of paint and clear coat. The good news is that Ford is obviously going to fix this. The bad news is they need the vehicle for a week and they don't give out loaners. I literally laughed out loud when the body shop manager told me that. As if I'm going to give up my vehicle for a week and not have something else to drive with a 2 year old and an 8 month old around. Anyway, that's a minor detail at this point. Yes, we do have Ron's truck but it's not an extended cab so the carseats won't fit in there. **update** As I was typing this, I got a call from the Body Shop manager and he finally heard from Ford Corporate Office. They want to try giving it an "environmental cleaning" first. They think that maybe this issue that we're seeing is rail brake dust from when the Escape was sitting in a rail yard (they're built in Kansas so it was a little bit of a trip to get it up here to Ontario, Canada). The manager doesn't think this is going to help but before we can go the next route (which is actually stripping it right down to the metal, re-sealing it, then painting it along with a clear coat), we need to try this cleaning method. Hey - whatever works! I hope this does the trick since I'll only be without the vehicle for one day this way. **

We didn't do a whole heck of a lot on Wednesday because Natalie is still not feeling 100%. She has a low grade fever and has her hands in her mouth constantly so I'm wondering if she's teething. Can't see anything in there yet but these things take time. I tend to not get excited about teeth around here because Rachel didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months old.

Yesterday was a super busy day for me. I went through the girls' closets and got everything organized for the fall/winter. Felt a little sad putting away the summer clothes but I'm thinking Natalie might actually fit into a lot of those clothes again next summer. I figure once she gets more mobile (still only scooting backwards) she'll thin out and as she grows taller, that will help too so I'm not getting rid of the 18month outfits yet. We'll keep them until next summer and if they fit - fine. If not, that's fine, too.

Today we are just relaxing. Pampers are on sale at a local grocery store and I figure I should stock up since we'll be using diapers for at least another year. With Natalie being so big, I sometimes forget that she's only 8 months old :) The potty training is going to go full force in a couple of weeks - as soon as Natalie isn't sick anymore. It will be weird only having one child in diapers :)

Ok, enough of the chitter chatter...let's get on to the pictures!

Ron holding Nadia. She's so tiny! You forget when they're that small. For us it's been 2 years since we've held a baby that little. Natalie was 9lbs 13oz when she was born so we skipped the newborn stage with her :)

Rybeca & Natalie
Natalie, Rachel & Ron checking out the toys at Rybeca & Tim's
Tim & Natalie

Rachel playing with Aidan's computer
Aidan pushing Rachel on his toy

This picture makes me almost pee my pants when I see it. Tim is using my Tigger costume this year because Aidan is going out as Tigger on Halloween. I forgot we had this little costume for Natalie to wear so we got Tim & Natalie dressed up and had to take a picture :)

After Tim & Rybeca's, we headed to Clinton to see my in-laws. We had a nice visit with them and Rachel loved Casey (their dog) this time. All the way there, she was talking on her phone to Casey :)

Rachel & Cha Cha having breakfast. Not sure why Rachel felt the need to use a shovel to eat her breakfast :)

Natalie playing with Casey & Oma
Luke, the birthday boy & Rachel. I love her comical smile!
Luke was pulling Rachel around on his new trike. She just sat there; it was so cute!

I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend this time around. It's supposed to rain all weekend so maybe we'll go through more totes in the basement or something. If the weather does cooperate I'd like to get rid of some of the flowers; they've definitely see their day :) At any rate, I'm glad we don't have to be on the highways. We did a lot of driving last weekend so it will be nice to sit on the couch instead of in the car.

Have a wonderful weekend!