Reading time

Life is going crazy around here. Ricky had 5 days off of work and we spent them babysitting and sick. I got the flu and felt dizzy and achy all weekend. I was very grateful to have Ricky home to take care of the kids for me. So far, no one else has gotten sick. Now that Ricky is back at work, I am trying to recover the house from the long weekend. I think it will take me all week, but that's the joys of being a mom!

Last night, we went to a Family Reading Night at Dylan's school. It was really fun to learn different ways to incorporate learning into life. The kids got to make a little book to take home, which was a big hit. I'll have to get a picture of it when Dylan is all done with his. It's called, "The Lion." It's nice to know that the school is trying to get families involved in the children's learning. Dylan had a great time, as always, and got to show off his work in the hall.

We were supposed to get our family pictures taken this past weekend, but getting sick threw us all off. Now I have to find another time to get our family pictures taken for our Christmas cards. Speaking of, I am having a little dilemma with myself. I have made our Christmas cards for the past 4 or 5 years, but am debating on using a service to just make a card this year. What are your opinions? I'd love to have some feedback! Thanks!

Happy Halloween!

I love holiday, any reason to celebrate is great for me! Halloween is no exception. We started the day by making orange pumpkin shaped pancakes with green stems. The kids really like them and they are fun to do! After breakfast, we had some friends come play, since their mom was going to get their minivan! She decided to join the mom club by getting a minivan! It was a little busy with 6 kids (5 of them were 3 and under), but we managed to make it through the morning. After lunch, I had to make some phone calls to try to get our water heater to work again. (It has been going out about 2 times a year since we moved in! Not fun when you want to take a shower and wash the dishes!) We then headed over to Lauren's dance class, since it was Monday. After class, we went to Papa Murphey's to get a pumpkin shaped pizza for dinner. It looked really good and it totally goes with the holiday! While the pizza was cooking, I got the kids dressed for trick-or treating. Here are the best shots:

My little giraffe.
Iron Man 2, he would correct you if you just said Iron Man!My Barbie Princess again! (She loves to dress up and decided last minute to be this again instead of Cinderella.)
My three little cuties!
Look at that yummy pizza!

We went over to the church for the trunk-or-treat and the kids got to walk around with their friends, Kiah and Evan. They had so much fun together! I loved seeing all of the kids' friends costumes! Everyone is so creative!
Lauren had to hold my hand (probably because there were so many people around) and I had to hold onto Ethan so he didn't run off! Ricky was passing out Glow Bracelets at the car until they were gone, then he joined us! I guess I need to get lots more next year!
Ethan and his friend, Gabby. I thought it was too cute that they were both little animals!

When we got home, Dylan wanted to go around to some of the neighbors houses, so we headed off while Ricky passed out candy at home. Dylan was really into it!
Lauren and Ethan were just along for the ride! I think Ethan only ate 2 suckers, while Lauren ate just a few too many pieces of candy! Oh well! That's what Halloween is all about!
The next morning, we dump the candy out on their laps! How fun! (I was only a day behind on this, so not quite all of the candy made it there!) Dylan was quite proud of his bucket that was full! Ethan was being goofy, but cute!We had a great Halloween and I love building our traditions as a family! Happy Halloween!

The start of Halloween

We have had a busy week! Tuesday for moms and tots at church, they had a little Halloween party. I took the three little ones and they had a blast. Lauren liked seeing all of her friends dressed up, too. They did a cake walk, bean bag toss, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and find the ghost. It was really cute!Thursday was Dylan's Halloween party at school. I was grateful to some friends for watching my kids so I could help out at the school party! I had a great time and it's so neat to see and meet the kids in his class and a few parents. They played hot potato with a gourd, ring toss with a Witch's hat, and they made a skeleton and a fall place-mat that will get laminated. Lauren also had a little Halloween fun at her joyschool. It was a fun-filled day!This is one of Dylan's friends from class, Mason. Dylan talks about him all the time!
Friday, we had a Halloween playgroup at our house with some friends that I hadn't seen in a while! It is always fun to catch up with friends! The kids made ghost suckers and foam letter/shape cards. They had a great time playing while I chatted! There were almost 20 kids and they all played so well!
All the beautiful princesses!
Friday afternoon, we played with stickers! And then made mummy dogs for dinner! Yum! Dylan had fun wrapping them for me. What a big helper! Saturday night, we headed over to the corn maze. It was Awesome! It was a little chilly, but everyone had a blast! Ethan only fell a few times in the mud puddles! Boys will be boys! He loved running all through the corn!
Dylan and Lauren had a blast running through the corn, too! Dylan and Dad even enjoyed throwing the corn kernels at each other! They had a pumpkin patch there, too! Too many pumpkins to choose from!
Look at my little cuties!
It was a perfect family activity! We had a great time and can't wait to go again next year! I think next year we will rent a camp fire spot and make s'mores and stay for the evening! It was great! After the corn maze, we headed over to our friend's annual Halloween donut party. The donuts were amazing, just like every year! (they are home-made) They have a new kind called the Baconator, which is maple icing with bacon bits on top. It is surprisingly tasty! The kids were beat by the end of the night, but it was well worth it.

October fun

Last Tuesday, the kids and I got to go to a pumpkin patch with moms and tots at church. They scheduled a trip to a Purdue lab that grows pumpkins and we are allowed to take some home for free! How awesome is that?!?! It was rather muddy, but still fun! Dylan was sad that he missed out, but he got to go on a field trip to a pumpkin patch earlier this month with his class at school. Life isn't always fair! We are hopefully going to paint some this week, and carve another one before Halloween. Dylan carved the one from his field trip, but it fell over outside and the face got smashed. Bummer!Last week, Ricky had to work late so the kids and I made a band. Dylan made a guitar, Lauren made maracas, and Ethan made a tambourine. It was so much fun and the kids rocked out on the couch for an hour! It is amazing what paper towel rolls and old beans can do for you!
Ricky and I got to go to the temple this weekend. It's really exciting to talk to the kids about it and they understand where we are going. Thanks to a great family from church, we have worked out a babysitting swap for all day on a Saturday. It is working out great and the kids really enjoy spending time with some friends, while we get to attend the temple.

Lauren is such a little singer. She is actually pretty good, too! I love how Lauren sings "I love to see the temple" all the time! It is so precious. She decided that she doesn't need naps anymore, although some days she really needs one. The other day she went upstairs to get her pink blankie (she won't sleep without it unless she is exhausted!) and laid down on the couch and fell asleep. I guess she was really tired that day! So precious! She has such the little personality. While waiting in the car, she convinced Ricky that she had to go potty. She went in just to tell me that there wasn't any potty. She has already started the manipulations.
I have been trying out new recipes lately. Some have been really good, others just ok. It is really fun to experiment in the kitchen. I love to bake, but not so much on making dinner. I have been trying to get into it a little more now with a family of five. I am also trying to be creative and use some of the ingredients I have in my pantry. I think it is going pretty well. I really enjoyed the cake batter truffles best. I just really like cake batter! Yum!

Another day, the kids and I made a car track out of masking tape. (Did I tell you I have joined Pinterest and have found some rather useful things on there! It can be addicting, but I think it's worth it in finding fun things to do!) The kids played so nicely for over an hour until Ethan woke up and started messing up the track. What can you do with an 18 month old?Dylan is really enjoying school. He is learning so much and picking things up so fast! He is already reading and has improved his writing skills in just the past 2 months! I am so proud of him! He came up to me the other day and said, "I feel left out." I was a little confused since I was sitting on the couch watching the kids play. He explained that it was because Lauren was doing dance class and he said that he wants to do karate. I don't know where that came from, but I guess next semester Dylan will be doing karate while Lauren goes to her dance class. I had no idea that he was interested in karate, but ok! I love my Dylan!

Ethan is just getting into everything! He wants to do everything that the big kids do. He climbs much more than my other kids ever did. He is starting to talk more and I can actually understand some words! He started the mommy-clingy stage, by not wanting me to leave him anywhere. If he sees me leave, he throws a fit (or his pacifier) and after a minute or so he is fine. It is so weird for him to act like this since he has always been so easygoing. I hope it's just a phase for him!

Haircut and Make-up

Lauren decided that she wants to grow up faster than she really is. Friday afternoon she was supposed to be taking a nap in her room. Well, she doesn't like to stay in her bed, even at night, so this day wasn't too much different. I went upstairs to find her playing with toys in her room. No big deal, right? She looks up at me and I see her hair! I asked her what she did and she replied, "I on't know." I went into my bathroom to find chunks of her hair in the trash. I guess she just felt like cutting off her ponytail. Great! I don't know how to fix it, so I think we may have to take her in and get it done.
Then on Saturday night, I heard a noise upstairs. I told Ricky it was his turn as I had already been up there 3 times. He went up there almost 2 hours after we put Lauren to bed to find her putting make-up all over her face. She had mascara on her cheeks and blue eye shadow everywhere! Ricky thought it was hilarious, but I didn't. Probably because she messed up all of my make-up! We are going to have to start locking that girl in her room!
Saturday was a great day! We have been having wonderful weather around here! In the 80's for over a week! My parents came up here for the day to help around the house and to make applesauce. My mom and I made 3 bushels of apples into applesauce! We ended up with 110 pints! That's a lot of applesauce! It took all day and the help of everyone, but we managed to get it all done! Yeah! I love accomplishing things!My dad and Ricky worked on a few projects around the house. The kids toilet was broken again, surprise, surprise! When we were all sick, Dylan clogged it up and flooded the bathroom. It ended up coming through the ceiling downstairs, so they had to re-paint all the spots on the ceiling. Fun times! Then my dad fixed the mailbox, while Ricky mowed. Our homeowners association sent us a letter stating that our mailbox was not up to code since it was missing the topper. So instead of spending $200 on a new one, my dad fixed ours up! Thanks boys!
Why is it that life gets so busy when you think it's going to settle down? I can't believe that it's already October! Last weekend, we spent time in Illinois with my extended family. My dad's younger sister died of cancer after a few months struggling with it. She had breast cancer a few years ago and overcame it, but this time, the cancer was to far spread. It made me very thankful for life and all the blessings I have been given. It was hard on all of us since we were pretty close to her. It was very nice to spend time with my cousins, who I haven't seen in a few years, and my grandparents (my mom's parents). Although a funeral is not fun, it was nice to celebrate her life with the family that is still living.

That's all I can think of right now! Have a good day!