Notes

• Puff died today. Poor little thing. She lived to a ripe old age for a hamster, I guess, but the kids are pretty upset.



• We did get a bed for the kids this weekend. We managed to find a floor model solid wood bunk bed, twin over full with a trundle bed, for just slightly more than we would have spent on three box springs. It was marked waay down. Hooray! The kids love it. If I can find my camera I'll post pictures soon.



• I'm still sick. Cold/allergy/flu/weather-change season, I guess. At least the cough I've had for 5 or 6 weeks finally seems to be getting better today, and the worst of the cold seems to be subsiding. The FMS/CFS always seems to flare up at times like this, ugh. Nobody else had the cold as severely as I did or for more than a few days, so that's good.



• I can't believe it's almost the end of October already. Where did the year go? I'm happy, though, that I've already got most of my holiday shopping done. Since my parents and sisters don't celebrate Christmas, we exchange gifts with my side of the family at Thanksgiving instead. I found something rather special for gifts for several of them already, with a unique signature touch. :)
  
  I also found a ton of Lincoln logs at a thrift store for almost nothing. I've been wanting to get the kids some of those for a long time, but they're so expensive and you'd have to buy several kits to make it worthwhile. This way I can buy just one kit to get the roof pieces and that sort of thing, and the kids will have tons of extra logs and windows to use with them. AJ will particularly enjoy that, I think. She really likes building and assembling things. I think I'll also get AJ some art supplies, and maybe even an easel, since artistic endeavors are so important to her right now. I want to do what I can to support her love of art.
  
  And, I have Baby E's gift . . . it was so perfect for her that I just couldn't pass it up. Shhh . . . don't tell . . . it's a Mr. Potato Head playset. Those things have come a long way since I was a kid. Now they have all sorts of different kits and outfits you can buy to add more variety. Since E so much loves putting together the little bugs in our Cooties game, I thought this would be the perfect thing for her.
  
  M&M says that she wants a doll in a light pink dress with hair the same color as her own, but we haven't decided on one for her yet. She really likes this one, but it won't be available until January. She really loves the higher-end collectible dolls, but . . . well. She has good taste, that girl. :) Both AJ and M&M really like reading the Magic Attic and American Girl books, so I might see if I can find something similar to those dolls on sale.
  
  It's fun that the girls are enjoying dolls. Baby E and M&M especially love to cuddle and hold them, and AJ likes to redress and rearrange them. Now that the girls are old enough to enjoy the collector dolls and be careful with them, I'm enjoying them more again too. I know which one (or which of two) I'd choose if I could pick any doll to add to my collection, but I'm happy to just look at pictures and enjoy the ones I have right now.