October, part 2

The Florida relative came for a visit! It was SO fun to see and spend time with them! I didn't get a picture of Aunt Beth and Uncle Mike :(

My kids fell in love with them all instantly. They are just another reason I feel so lucky to marry into this great family.

We carved up our pumpkins just in the nick of time!

Mike's, Faith's, Kate's


The kids and I made this spiderweb along with a huge egg sac that's not in the picture :)

Halloween dinner included broiled snake, eye balls, and monster tails!

October, part 1

I just love this whole month! Halloween everything is so fun! Aunt Michelle came to visit and we made spooky haunted houses.

And the terrifying results:

My bro and his family stopped to visit on their way up to Alaska, and we had a great time with the cousins! The weather was great and we went to the pumpkin patch/corn maze.

Grrrr.

Car Talk

I love conversations in the car with the kids. There aren't many distractions, and they often think about and say the funniest things. These are only two conversations that made me smile this week:

1: As you may have found out from Mike's blog, Kate lost two teeth this last weekend!

I pulled one out on Friday, and she pulled the other out herself at a birthday party. As we drove home from the party, Kate told me about how she pulled out her tooth. Then she said,

"Well, I guess you can lose a tooth anywhere... at the store, or fashion shows."

I was a bit baffled by the "fashion shows," but I agreed that a loose tooth can strike at any time.

2: I drive a couple of kindergartners home from school every day. The little boy started talking about Star Wars.

Kate: "Oh! I've seen that! Actually, I've only seen one Star War. :( "

Faith: "I've seen that too!"

Kate: "No, Faith, you haven't. It's the one with Yoga in it."

Yeah, Faith, listen to Kate. She obviously knows what she's talking about. :)

And here's a picture:

"Is This the Little Girl I Carried?"

Yesterday was Kate's first day of Kindergarten. Believe it or not, it was a tear free day for both of us! (Okay, I got a bit misty eyed after I picked her up, but that was it!) Kate had been to the school a bunch - she even helped paint her room. She had also met her teacher several times, so it was pretty painless. After two days of school, it turns out that Kate and Kindergarten get along swimmingly.

Family Pictures

Once again, Mandie did a great job! Thanks Mandie!

Words of Wisdom

While emptying the dishwasher, Kate offered Faith this sage advice:

"If you're feeling drunk, and you stole a truck, never say that you're going to McDonald's, or a policeman might give you a buck."

The Kids

Faith woke up feeling very benevolent today. Before we went down to breakfast the girls needed to clean up their room. Faith started hanging up her shirts, and then Kate's shirts too! While she was doing this, Kate approached Faith with her reindeer.


[A side note on Faith's reindeer. She is a Build a Bear reindeer and has a button that, when pushed, says: "Hi! I'm Clarisse!" Faith disregarded this and named her Rosabella. She doesn't like the name "Grease" (Clarisse). She is a bit miserly with Rosabella, which makes Kate long to play with her even more. Kate also continues to call Rosabella 'Clarisse' and it really annoys Faith.]


Kate then hopefully asked, "Faith, may I please play with Rosabella?" (she was careful to use the right name)


Faith considered aloud, "Hmmm, I don't know... Maybe..... Yes."


Kate delightedly hugged and kissed Faith, and started playing with Rosabella. Faith was obviously feeling pretty good about being generous, so after some more thought, she added:


"And you can call her Grease."


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This little guy learned how to go down the stairs today! He LOVES climbing up, but when it comes to going down, he would really rather hover or float down. This morning he embraced the law of gravity and slid down on his belly. When he got to the bottom, he game himself an enthusiastic applause.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

The kids and I started this book the other day. We got to the part where the lawyer tells young Cedric that as an Earl he will have lots of money. Cedric thinks it would be very nice to have lots of money, and proceeds to tell the lawyer how he would use it to help people. I then asked Kate what she would do if she had lots of money.

"Hmmmm, I would use it to buy lots of stuff for my family, just in case."

Me: "Like what kind of stuff?"

Kate: "Like ribbon."

It's nice to know that, if Kate ever becomes wealthy, we will all be well taken care of.

Our Best Bites

I borrowed my title from one of my favorite blogs, though this post has nothing to do with mouth-watering concoctions - far from it. I would go so far as to say that this post should be called Our Worst Bites, but you be the judge.

Bite #1

My good friend Kelsey has turned quite crafty lately. Not in the "crafty-old-witch" way, but in the "I make my own yogurt and graham crackers" way. We were out to lunch and she had brought some of the aforementioned home made graham crackers. I gave one to Jace to munch on while we ate lunch. Pretty soon, Jace had turned his cracker, which was more like a biscuit, into a gooey, slobbery ball of mush. I tried to clean him up with a wipe, then discarded the wipe and mush-ball into Kate's empty pasta bowl. (She had finished long before.)

Several wipes later, Jace started looking more like a human infant. Kate tapped me on the shoulder at this point and asked what that yummy treat was I had put in her bowl. I looked in horror at her bowl, now filled only with dirty wipes.

ME: "You ate that??? Why would you eat that?? Remember how we talked about not eating things when we don't know what they are? That was Jace's chewed up cracker."

KATE: "Oh. Well, can I have another one?"

Bite #2

The scene is Texas Roadhouse. It's Valentine's weekend, so the restaurant is extremely crowded and noisy, and there is a big ol' vein in my chicken. I discretely cut it out and place it on a napkin hidden on the side of my plate. Part way through the meal, Faith weasels her way to my side of the booth to say hi to Jace.

Now, some people may say that Mike is not a notice-er, but his eyes can be quite sharp when it counts.

MIKE (sounding slightly alarmed): Faith just put something in her mouth, do you know what it is?

Faith had swallowed the evidence as quickly as possible, but one look at my hidden napkin confirmed what I had already guessed. Mmmmmm, chicken vein...

Bite #3

Kate bites her nails. Not just the ones on her fingers. I found out recently that she also bites her toenails. When I discovered this, she received a good lecture on all the dirt and germs she is eating when she bites her toenails.

KATE: "But Mom, the dirty ones are the yummiest!"

(Sorry if you just gagged. Don't worry, I did too. And she has now stopped biting her toenails. I think.)

Bite #4

The kids and I were in the produce section of the grocery store. Faith pointed to a bunch of Crimini Mushrooms and shouted (because that's her normal tone of voice), "CAN I HAVE A DONUT!?"

I picked up a Mushroom and held it so she could see it and asked, "So you want to eat this 'donut'"?

Faith immediately leaned forward and took a big bite out of it.

And that's how I bought my first Crimini mushroom.

Jace the Wonder Boy

I can sit!!!

And I have cute boots.

Thanks Kelsey!

Being this child's mom is the best job in the world. He is 7 parts sweet smiles, 1 part manly burps, and 2 parts drool. I don't know how our family got so lucky! I love this little man!

Quotables

"Mother, sometimes I feel like you are the only person in my family when you're wearing a blue shirt."

"I been up in my room for a long time, for half of dollars, and no one came and got me."

(overheard praying)

"... an please help me clean up my toys, an help me get my toys back, and please help my mommy tell my daddy not to take away my toys, an please help get my toys back, an I will clean up all my toys..."

"My favorite colors are pink, yellow, and clear."

(Is she my daughter, or what?)