Halloweening 2010

The kids had a great time dressing up for Halloween this year. Last night we took them to a Trunk or Treat at our church, then trick or treating at a nearby neighborhood that was holding the festivities on Saturday night instead. Check out more pictures of our spider, skeleton and witch on my facebook page.

Where???

Emma was banned from chewing gum after I found it 1. on the stairs 2. on a laundry basket handle and 3. (which was the ULTIMATE offense) in the clothes dryer. All over the clean load of laundry. I told her she couldn't have gum for at least a year. Then I proceeded to tell my good friend Felicia of this new rule since she often provided the good to said offender. There was NO WAY Emma was going to get gum.

Until today.

When she was super nice and did mommy a big favor. (of bringing me my shoes. I know. It really wasn't THAT big, but she was so cute about it and had such a sweet disposition.)

She was thrilled that I caved. When I handed her a stick of juicy fruit I held it in my hand and asked her where gum goes when you are through with it.

Her response, "The trash. NOT under mom's bed."

Hmmm... guess I'm going to go search under my bed now.

Anatomy Lesson

We've been practicing for the upcoming primary program at church and I've been working with the kids to learn the song "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." I just have to laugh every time Emma sings, "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a leg or two."

**For those who don't know, the lyrics are "when I have grown a foot or two" meaning when they are older.

Dishwasher Part 2

Brandon quickly graduated from pulling himself up ON the dishwasher
to climbing IN to the dishwasher.

Brandon and I Share a Love

A love of crockpots, that is.

I love them for their ease of yummy dinner making with little prep time.

Brandon loves them for their loud clanking and for leverage to pull his little body on.

Doughnuts with Dad Lives On

Lucky for me Andrew has continued his Saturday

morning outing with the kids to get doughnuts.

Even Brandon tags along...

which leaves me with at least an hour of "anything I want to do" time.

Like paint the bathroom green!

Do I Dare Admit This?

So now that Brandon's been crawling around, he's sometimes hard to keep track of. For instance, a few days ago I was doing dishes and he was playing happily at my feet. About 10 seconds later, he was gone. I turned off the water and followed his little baby noises about 10 feet away. He was now playing happily...with toilet paper...in the bathroom. (He only looks upset in the pictures because as soon as I saw what he was doing I picked him up and carried him with me to go get the camera, then set him back down to "recreate the moment"...he was not too thrilled with that idea.)

Wilson's Visit...Caught on Film

Back in July, we had a visit from the Wilson family. Christy, Ryan and their 5 kids drove 2 days from Kansas for a week at the beach with our crazy clan. Needless to say, we had a blast. There were lots of wave jumping, boogie boarding, sand castle building, sand hole digging, late night swims, settlers games, movie watching, cousin bonding, treat eatings, rollyup makings, and Pizza Hut dine-ins.

But after the visit, I was a little sad because in all the fun, I forgot to take ANY pictures.

However, about a month later I was downloading pictures off of our OLD camera and I found these gems. (Emma had apprently been playing with the camera with Mia, and they seemed to capture quite a bit of the fun. I'm apologizing NOW to Christy! Love you!!)

Quotable Quotes

Emma and I were doing our hair Sunday morning in preparation for church. I had just taken my hair out of curlers and this followed.

(Emma) Mom, I love your curly hair. You look like a pretty old girl.



I think it was a compliment...

Did I Ever Mention...

...that Nate played soccer?

I didn't?

Well, he did.






He was pretty good, but HE didn't think so and didn't like it too much. I think we're going to try basketball this winter and baseball in the spring.