Frankencelery

Last night Harrison woke up screaming. I ran into his room, picked him up, and held him tight. He had a temp. of 102.7. I gave him some Tylenol and cuddled on the couch with him for a while. He told me that he had a bad dream. He said that Frankencelery (from Veggie Tales, for those of you who don't recognize him) and other monsters were sneezing boogies all over his face. I asked him what he did when they did that to him. "I picked the boogies off and threw them back at them," he said.
That's too creative to think up when one isn't sleeping. Sounds like a great plot for a children's book. I can picture the illustrations now. I wonder if parents would actually read it to their children? Fun but kinda gross.

Good-bye October

Here are the last of the costume photos, at least for a while. The kitten, bee and Mr. Incredible stayed behind in place of the lion, froggie, and police officer. Michael's parents sent a cute bumble bee costume, but he refused to allow me to pull it over his head. He is donning the baby-zilla only because it zipped up the front, and even then he wasn't crazy about it.

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We went to Grammy and Papa's house tonight and enjoyed jack O' lantern pizzas. They surprised the children with a game of good old fashion fishing. Papa rigged up some poles with buckets on the ends and as the children dropped their lines over the back of the couch, Grammy was ready with goodies to plop into the buckets. I wish I could share a photo with you so that you could see the excitement and chaos of the event, but after many attempts of trying to download the images, I still can't get it to work. Use your imagination. It was great, but who was having the most fun, the grandparents or the children, I couldn't tell.

Sleep-Over with Cousin Michael

In our jammers and ready for story time!

The brown-eyed boys in their matching green jammies

Poking and eating
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Cousin Michael has come to visit. Funny how the simple things in life can be so much fun. We had a blast watching the little guy poke the Cheerios and feed them to himself. Entertainment at its finest.

Trick or Treating the Waterfront

It's been our family tradition for the last several years to Trick or Treat the Waterfront. I love it because it gives the children a chance to wear their costumes during the daylight hours, in a safe environment, and it is not on Halloween day. My sister and mom have gone with us every year so it was with great delight, joy, and super-cool-excitement that we added my sweet little nephew to this year's entourage. My dear sister strolled so proudly with her little punkin' in his carriage...she should have dressed up as Cinderella! The last photo is of our little Trick R' Treaters with their friends who also came to enjoy the festivities. Their family actually found our van in the myriad of vehicles and waited for us to leave the waterfront so that they could have our prime parking spot. It worked out perfectly!

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Note that Kennedy and Jackson have traded shoes in the last photo. Kennedy's feet hurt from walking so long in her cowboy boots, so on the way back to the van Jackson traded shoes with her. He's already a gentleman; looking after the needs of the young lady in his life...and it didn't hurt that we bribed him with a piece of candy to do it.

Here Wee Go Again!

We have been casually potty training our Baby Bear for too long. Now it is time to get serious. He was looking forward to being three years old so that he could play in the balls at IKEA. Unfortunately, being three is the not the only stipulation. One must be three AND POTTY TRAINED. Since chocolate chips and M&M's haven't done the job, we started the froggy incentive chart yesterday. It is not a perfect system, but Harrison is very proud of himself each time he gets to add another frog sticker to his chart.

Ode to Dad

We love Daddy. He's our hero.

When he's home we have nothing to fear-O.

He scrambles eggs like no one can.

He should know we're his biggest fans.

He blows the leaves and chases moles.

He scoops lots of icecream into our bowls.

Daddy, Daddy, you're the best.

Score 100 on that test!

Messy, Messy, Messes

Why is it that my boys seem to make the biggest messes?

I think they like getting dirty and love to see Mom's reaction.

Here are some of the messes I have captured with the camera over the years.

"I'm feeding the birds!" he said as Cheerios were scattered all over the kitchen floor.

This is actually purple INK. He found a stamp pad when I wasn't looking.

Yum-oh!

"Cleaning" the broom closet.


Don't leave peanut butter out on the counter unattended.

I won't tell you what the finger paints are made up of. I will just say that this masterpiece was created with the raw materials found in his crib...or diaper.

Captain, My Captain

I appreciate those of you who have been praying for Ken. He passed his first written nautical test this morning. I just got the text message with the great news. He also survived the swim/tackle in the pool last week, but still has to do it again in the river. His next big written test will be Wednesday the 31st. It will cover charting, plotting, and navigating. It will be a tough one but I know he is up for the challenge.

A Tribute to 57 Years

Yesterday my grandparents celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary. They are opposites in so many ways, but that's what makes them a great team. Where one is weak, the other is strong. In a society where divorce is so prevalent, my grandparents have stuck together through thick, thin, rich, poor, sickness, health, highs, lows, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They have been strong pillars in my life and I wanted to dedicate this blog entry to them. I love you guys!

Whoop Cream

It's a favorite family tradition around here. When the after-dinner treats come out, so does the "WHOOP" cream. Watch out though, Dad can be dangerous!

Fall Fun

Last night I took my bee, kitten & super hero to our local YMCA for some fall fun. They painted pumpkins and had some yummy autumn snacks.

Born to Be Wild!

We celebrated Harrison's 3rd birthday last weekend with a motorcycle party. It was great having family and friends come by to share in the special event! Now that he is three, he looks forward to taking swimming lessons and playing in the balls at IKEA.

A New Super Hero in Town

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Mr. Incredible, shaving in our bathroom!

That's right folks. For those of you who thought super heroes were a thing of the past, look closer. He was spotted recently in our bathroom; grooming that baby-soft face. What will he be up to next? Stay tuned to find out!

Godly Man

A funny thing happened last week as I was disciplining my son. I had just finished correcting him and we were praying. "Please help Jackson to grow up to be a godly man," I began.

Immediately he let out a emphatic, "No! I don't want to be a godly man!"

I asked Jack if he knew what a "godly man" is. And just as I was about to explain that it is someone who loves the Lord and tries serve Him, he cried out, "It's the Oatmeal Guy!"

I had to try to keep from laughing as I held him tight. You see, recently I had explained to my children that the guy on the oatmeal box represented the Quakers, a group of hard working godly men and women who came to America to share their beliefs in God.

Jackson must have internalized that be be a godly man, one must don a large hat, gray wig, and ruffly white bib. He wanted nothing to do with that!

Budding Artist

Kennedy won the bookmark contest at our local library. She won a cool new t-shirt and a gift certicicate to a local children's bookstore. But the most exciting part of the prize is that her design will be printed on bookmarks that will be given away free in the children's section of the library! We are very proud of our budding artist. Here she is pictured with the childrens' librarians.

I love autumn. We visited the local pumpkin patch last week. Our little Jack (O' lantern) brought along his sword and had fun lopping off the vines in the patch. Kennedy found at least 10 pumpkins that were her "favorite." Harrison liked stepping on the rotting ones and calling them "pumpkin omelettes (see The Pumpkin Fair by Eve Bunting; one of our favorite pumpkin books)." The only thing that could have made our time at the patch better was having some cash. A Kettle Corn tent was there, teasing our senses, but unfortunately they did not take credit cards.

This is a first

What am I doing? Is it me blogging? I should be sleeping now and instead I am posting my thoughts. Hum, will anyone read this? Will I keep up with this new blog responsibility? How committed do I have to be?

Well this is a start. Even if I have nothing to say worthy to write. I got started.