Well, Jerome took a vacation day today because we had our Niece and Nephew's (on his side) 1st birthday party. But first, in the morning, I took Kayla with her little friend and his Mommy to a Fall Festival in a nearby town. It was a lot of fun. Kayla painted a pumpkin and made a duck mask. And she got her hand painted by a Clown. This is shocking since she tends to be afraid of anything "character-like". But of course, I had to hold her the whole time.

We ended up leaving Alysa with my parents during the birthday party b/c of her cold. She was miserable and I felt would be better off NOT missing her nap. Plus as a Mom, I can't say I'd be thrilled with a 10 month old and their runny nose chewing on all the toys. So it was better for all.

The party went very well for the most part. We of course did our "anti-social" bit. It's very difficult b/c we have to isolate ourselves a bit b/c we can't have Kayla near the food or people with food. And these functions tend to revolve around food. But luckily BIL and SIL have plenty of space outside, so Kayla had some stress-free hills to run up and down. I of course got a few rude comments about the whole "can't touch Kayla w/o washing up first" bit. But we deal. I should get a medal for biting my tounge. So I just smile and slowly move Kayla away from the offending person. It's hard, but Kayla REALLY can't come in any contact with anything dairy, anything with any amount of dairy in it or anyone or thing that has touched dairy. I actually got tonight - "well, I haven't eaten anything made by a cow today". Um...ok? It makes me wonder how someone can be so condescending when they don't know what they are talking about?

Anyway - overall it went well. BIL actually surprised me (not the one who's party it was). He made chili for the party. He told Jerome and myself that he made the chili dairy-free and was going to put it out w/o the sour cream on the side. It was very sweet. I was touched. And he commented how hard it was to find a dairy-free margarine. Welcome to my world... :)

So the kids are now in bed and I'm beat. I'm going to relax a bit while Jerome finishes up closing the pool - yes, we're a bit behind.

And I'll try to remember to put up a few pics tomorrow.