{halloween}

I love Halloween...well, parts of Halloween. 

There is nothing cuter than little kids dressed up in costumes!

I also really like eating my kid's candy:)

Both kids were dragons this year.

I showed Eliza a darling strawberry costume and all sorts of other girlie costumes,

 but she REALLY wanted to be a dragon. 

 Henry wanted to match Eliza. 

We BARELY squeezed him into a 5T. 

They were both thrilled!

This year it was so fun to have Gramme here to celebrate with us!  Gramme took Henry to Gymnastics and was able to take pictures of him in his Halloween costume.

  An action shot!

Stretching

Henry and Grant

The kids also got to dress up for the Ward Fall Festival.  The Primary was in charge this year.  We had a chili cook-off and tables set out for the kids to draw and play bingo.  There was a costume parade and then everyone went outside for Trunk or Treating.  It was a fun night!

Eliza

Two pretty cute dragons!

My mom and I had a girls day...which was seriously fantastic!  Chris made jack-o-lanterns with the kids and that night we put them on the porch with lights.  So Festive!

Halloween Night

Getting ready to Trick or Treat!

So Delicious..Eliza's favorite was for sure the suckers!  Henry went trick or treating a little longer with Chris.  They both had such a good time!

Happy Halloween!

{gramme's visit continued...}

We have been having lots of fun outside...especially Eliza!  She loves riding her little red tricycle. She leans back and pedals her little legs as fast as she can.  It is really really funny and adorable!  I don't have a picture, but I did take a little short video of her pedaling. 

While my mom was here I was able to clean out my pantry and get a little better organized!

I started to file away Henry's art, but some things I needed to throw away...I took some pictures of them first.  This is a piece of art Henry created during preschool last year.  He titled his piece "A rocketship zooming to the moon." 



* * *

A new Caterpillar Museum opened in Peoria.  We decided to go check it out!  It is right by the new Peoria Riverfront Museum.  The kids had a great time!  Unfortunately, we had to leave early because I was not feeling well.  We were able to come back later and ended up getting a membership.

Inside a huge dump truck waiting to watch a film about Caterpillar.

Henry standing by the world's largest dump truck!

There were different kinds of CAT machines you could climb up on and explore.

{a visit from gramme}

What a wonderful surprise!!!

My mom all of a sudden got an itch to come and visit right away.  She called me out of the blue and said she was buying a plane ticket...would these times work?  Um....YES!

The Autumn is truly my favorite time of year and it was so fun to share that with my mom who also loves this season. so much!  We had such a great time doing festive activities with the kids and seeing the leaves!  Thanks mom for the superb surprise!  We had such a good time!

Dancing

Eliza begging for a turn to take a picture

 

* * *

One VERY cold and windy and rainy night we decided that we REALLY wanted to do something festive!  There was a "Hotdogs and Hayrides" event at one of the local park areas (more like wooded grounds).  We ventured out and yes it was freezing!  They were still open, but of course there were not that many people.  We laughed and laughed and freezed!  The wind and rain were whipping our umbrella around when we went on the hayride.  At least the fire warmed us up some while we toasted our marshmellows and hotdogs.  This will definitely be a yearly tradition, but maybe we can go when it is a bit warmer:).

Gramme and her kiddos

{funny sayings}

This should tell my children something about me...

I have sticky notes, pieces of paper, receipts, etc., all lieing around the house, tucked away in crannies and in organizational units and even in my purse. 

They all have something in common...

They all hold the most important information I own...my children's words to me.

  I love writing down what they say that either makes me laugh or makes me stop and think or touches my heart or makes me think how smart they are.

I love my children and love writing down what they say

 BUT...

 I have got to figure out a better system!!!:)

Here are some sayings I found as I started to gather from all over the house all of the little slips of paper from the last year or so!

October 2011

At breakfast Henry (4yrs old) wanted me to write down a note for Chris.

"Dear daddy, I love you so much as a star.  Dear daddy I love to play trains with you.  I love daddy sincerely"

May 29, 2012

Riding in the car.

                                           Henry:  Mom, would you like to be a wild life biologist?                                   

Me:  No, would you?

             Henry:  Yes, It's when you get to study the life of creatures. 

Sept. 23, 2011

On a walk.

Henry:  You and Dad are my favorite buddies!

4 years old

Mom:  Teasingly I said Henry was a carnivore

Henry:  No, I am an omnivore, a person who eats plants.

4 years old

I told Henry to go clean his room.

He said:  "I would say yes, but I have to say no two times.  I say yes two times and then no two times.  That's my pattern."

August and September of 2012

Eliza, 2 years old.

Eliza loves to be a "naked jaybird".  When she is changing into pajamas or anything else we are always hearing "I am a naked jaybird."  When we are changing we also hear over and over again..."Are you a naked jaybird?"

Eliza
While eating a bell pepper

"This is a crispy pepper!"

She pointed to a picture of Chris and said, "Daddy!  He's cute!"

Me:  Are you sick?  (I was not really expecting an answer from my barely two year old as I felt her forehead)

Eliza:  No!  I am just fine!

Henry tied the vaccum cord up and down the stairs.  It was woven all around and knotted throughout the stairs.  He had to work very hard to get it all untangled.



November 2011
Henry:  Mom, I found two dead cheerios.
(He had found two soggy and dried cheerios under the kitchen table)

Henry:  This is my skunk dog.  When Eliza holds him he skunks her!
Henry had not gotten used to Eliza yet (yes, Eliza was about 15 months old at this time) and he for sure did not want her touching his dog that he sleeps with!


Henry, age four
Eliza, age one
I overheard this conversation while Henry and Eliza were playing downstairs.
"Eliza, you're not in charge.  You're just a little girl.  I'm in charge, I am...(he paused)...three years older than you.

 
More to come!!!!



{swimming in winter}

It was a very cold and windy day

and we decided to go swimming!

For playgroup we drove to down town Peoria and went to a great toddler hour at the indoor pool right on the Illinois River.  The kids had a great time!