General good things :)

Life is good, isn't it? Baby Kiara is adorable and we get to see her quite a bit....Teags still seems a bit intimidated of holding her, but I'm sure she'll come around.  Let's see- Halloween was super great- we have waaaaay too much candy!  CDA does a great downtown trick or treat, and then we usually hit a friend's great neighborhood.  Callista Bobista had her 1st real school dance this last weekend! She looked so gorgeous, but too grown up for me!  I'm so not ready for a tween....

Lastly, I would like to report----- I aced my Compass test (okay, aced in the English/Comp part- 100%! ) Now, the math not so much an ace- but if you know the Guthrie girls, not really our strong suit! It wasn't abysmal, just in the lower range.  Looks I'll be starting out in General Math- no worries.  So- looking forward to enjoying my last couple months of just work, work, work.  Once the holidays are over, it's hitting the books for me!  I can't wait.  Love you all mucho!

This one's mine- skeleton prison

Demonstrating the "puking pumpkin" 

Callista Bug ready to head to the 6th grade Harvest Dance! 

Check out my new boots! 

Ahhh- too pretty!! 

I should explain this one...it's our family night project- bulbs! we get to watch them grow all winter right in the kitchen :) Gotta love Pinterest

Teagyn the Tennis Great! 

Isn't Kiara Jane just precious? seriously....

Please note that Teags is stuffing her face as she thinks I'm not looking

Love the sky this day...

Welcome Kiara Jane Bingham!

Well everyone- the newest member of our family has arrived! And boy, did she keep us on our toes all day. Technically, Alyx was in labor for about 18 hours- she arrived to the hospital at 6 a.m. to be induced on Monday morning.  I got the girls off to school and headed there about 9:30.  By that time, she was starting to have some pretty good-sized contractions.. enough to make her shed a few tears. So, she decided to go with the epidural.  After that, life was just peachy again :) We kinda hung out all day- Stephen's family was there and we all watched TV, ate snacks, laughed with Alyx, braided her hair, etc.  I brought the girls back later to see her and that's when about 10 other people showed up so it was super chaotic.  By about 8 p.m. she started really getting good contractions again and was dilated to about a 7.... slow going!

All in all, she finally picked up the pace and was finally dilated and ready to push by about midnight.  At this point, I got to support one leg and Stephen got the other :) She pushed for about 2 hours and did soooo amazingly fantastic- even laughed through about the first 45 minutes- then everything got quite painful and serious, and at 1:50 a.m. on the 23rd of October....sweet Kiara Jane popped out into the bright world.  She is huge!! Seriously- Alyx would've had a C-section if they had any guess she would be... 9 lb 12 oz! And 21 inches long.  Ooof!! Poor Alyx had to get quite a few stitches, and she and Kiara had a fever, so they were put on antibiotics and will be in the hospital until probably Friday.  Things are going great now and they are looking fantastic! Alyx is super woman- she's been up and showering and cleaning her hospital room, changing diapers, wandering around the unit, you name it.  I can tell she's ready to get out of there though- thanks to everyone for all the love and support and well wishes and phone calls! Love you all- can't wait until you can all hold her.  Oh, and of course Calli and Teags are being excellent little aunties to her- they cannot wait until she can play with them.  Here's the pics!

Pres Debate Lip Reading

Don't you think this is a great quote? Love it....

My favorite time of year- watching the leaves change, crisp fall air, and lots and lots of soup making! 

The kids' attempt at catching a peep of the full moon.

They borrowed my camera and left me some cute surprise pics 

Ah fall....loving this weather.  We are enjoying watching Calli play soccer a few nights a week- only a couple more games to go.  It's amazing how she has changed in her playing since she was 5 (not quite as worried about her ponytail flipping the right way, and definitely not so afraid to get rough and tumble- it's co-ed this year, so she has to put up with boys :) She's a soccer star this year! Middle school is going great so far- Calli already went to her 6th grade camp- Trail Creek- and loved it! I think it's a great way for all these kids to merge with the other schools and make so many new friends.  Teags is going to start tennis after soccer is over- I can't wait to watch that! I am making some very big changes in my life as well- I am now almost finished registering for.....college! again....this endeavor is my last hopefully- on my way to becoming a FNP (family nurse practitioner).  I will be doing a 4-year RN course and then hopefully have a couple years after that to be completely done- so excited!!