Halloween...

Today is Halloween and so far it was one of the most anticipated days of the year (besides birthdays or our Lundy Lake trip). Unlike many kids our kids don't like to dress up in their costumes for days and days and days before the day that they are supposed to dress up. They like to do it just for the few hours to go trick or treating and then they are done...until next year. Last year, Hannah was a pink kitty and Ben was a T-Rex dinosaur and Noah was a little ghost. This year, Ben and Hannah dressed up the same...pink kitty and T-Rex dinosaur, but Noah was a dalmation.

So, Marissa came over with her Mommy and Ryan and we had dinner before going out on the town. (I had to get some real food in them before they gorged on sugar). We walked down two blocks and around those two blocks only. It took us about an hour and when we got home the kids pumpkins were full to the rim with candy (Ben's handle actually snapped in half from the weight!) They ran (seriously ran) from house to house that we had to run also. Only at the corners did they stop to wait for us old folks to catch up.

When we got home they poured their candy out and got to choose 10 pieces that they wanted to keep to eat and then we put the pumkins outside on the back patio for the great pumpkin. He was going to eat all the candy and give them a present for it. My kids were all excited about that. Who could be upset about getting a present? We just didn't want all that candy staring at them (and us) for the next three months. We'll see how it goes over tomorrow....

The trick-or-treat crew

More party pics here...

Halloween birthday...

We celebrated Ben turning 5 and Noah turning 1 today with a bunch of our family and close friends. There were so many people in our house celebrating with us! It was great fun! We had a clown, Thomas the Tank Engines, James, 2 T-Rex dinosaurs, a panda bear, a Moroccan, a lion, some jaguars, guests from movies like Cars and the Incredibles, a pumpkin, a dog, a cat...and I'm sure that I forgot some. Some parents dressed up too! The kids had a blast. We had painted rocks orange and white for the guests to decorate as pumpkins and ghosts to take home to their house as decorations. We bobbed for apples, searched for skeletons and jumping frogs, pinned the nose on Elmo and opened lots and lots of presents. Overall it wiped us out and the kids had fun! We missed those of you who couldn't make it...maybe next year!?

Hannah decorating a pumpkin

Ben bobbing for apples
Thomas serenading his Mom

Wicked Witch, Cowardly Lion and Tin Man

The mountain of presents

Happy Birthday Noah!

Today is Noahs 1st birthday! He had such a great day. It started with my singing him a happy birthday song when he woke up. He loved it and jiggled his belly up and down as he sat in bed then flopped his head onto my chest. We got up and read some books on the floor. Then we went to the park and he played hard. He loves the sand. Shoveling it, grabbing it in his chubby fingers or just plain ole throwing his body down in it. All of those work for him. He tried some sugar snap peas and celery for a snack. He didn't take much of a nap but that might be because he has a cold and the weather is wierd.

So since he was awake, we went to the backyard and found some airplanes in the sky. He was surprised to see them in the sky...and not in his books! He kept looking for them flying overhead. Ah... a new discovery! We read books, books, and more books in the afternoon. We drove around for a bit (hoping he'd fall asleep) only to come home with him not sleeping. He played around with Daddy when he got home and before we knew it the day was almost over. Noah got his first taste of carrot cake (in cupcake form) but didn't really dive into it. He kept eating the dinner pieces that were still on the tray.

Happy Birthday Noah! We love you!

Apple-pickers...

We went to Julian today for a little apple-picking! It was a blast! Heather and her kids came along too. Ben and Hannah love Marissa so they had fun running around with her. They told us to only pick a half bag but it was really hard to stop the kids from picking! (Besides...we drove for almost 2 hours to get there...with stops) We ended up with a bunch of beautiful apples, green and red and bi-colored. I have to find out the name of the apples but they were all so delicious. Crunchy, sweet or tart, big or little, all were so tasty. We even found some pear trees and picked a few of them too. The apples were falling off the trees in gobs landing at our feet in heaps, we were slogging through them as we picked. It took a bit of concentration to not twist my ankles!We stopped at a point where everyone seemed to stop and take pictures and tasted some of the apples. Ben and Hannah love apples but never with the peel on. Today they just crunched through a few right there proving to me that they will eat apples without peanut putter!!

Ben, Hannah and Marissa posing with their friends

Hannah munching on an apple in the orchard.

Noah finds all kinds of apples.

Ben finding some apples in the tree

Tons of apples under each apple tree!

Not bad for a day of apple-picking...well an hour or so...(see the pear?)

Elmo (part 2)...

We got online today (afer 2 failed trips to 2 stores) to search for a new Elmo doll. He has to be the exact same one that she had (we bought him almost 3 years ago and the version is not in the stores anymore). We found a couple of online stores that will ship him to our house and I think Hannah likes that she will be getting a new Elmo. I'm sure she'll be asking if the mailman brought Elmo yet...until he gets here.

Corey retraced last nights drive home this morning and found Elmo...but he is a little hurt. His eyes are missing and he looks a bit beat up (by wheels, I'm sure). When he got home from work this afernoon he took Hannah, Ben and I to the car to show us. Hannah held her hands together in front of her and was distraught. She didn't want him anymore, didn't even want to touch him. She was on the verge of tears. She told Corey to put him back in the car. We'll hold on to him just in case she changes her mind in a few days.

The story about Elmo...

When Hannah was about 10 months old Ben, Hannah and I went to Babies R Us for a little shopping. We had a few things to buy (a supply of diapers or wipes probably--with 2 in diapers then) and time to browse for things we didn't really need. I headed to the toys section in hopes to find something that would occupy either or both while in the store. We found Elmo. Hannah was in love and never let him down the entire time we were in the store.

So we bought him.

He has been a part of our lives for such a long time, he's practically family. We have since received gifts of Elmo in a Halloween costume, Hokey Pokey Elmo, Silly Parts Elmo, Elmo this and Elmo that but Elmo doll has remained "the one true love" for Hannah. Hannah sleeps with Elmo, nurses Elmo, rocks Elmo and cares for Elmo as if he were her baby (even though we have many dolls-he is "the one"). She loves to watch him on TV too, we even have many of the videos to choose from and take with us.

Lately Elmo's name has changed to "Boots" because Hannah is also infatuated with Dora the Explorer. We take him everywhere and when she brings him along but doesn't feel like sharing him with others he stays in the car, waiting for her return. He takes a ride in the stroller when we go for walks, he flies in the air for fun, he hangs in the tree (because he's a monkey--well Boots is), he eats dinner with us and shares Hannah's sleep right next to her in bed. Needless to say that he is a part of our family.

Today, Elmo helped Hannah pop bubbles in the back yard, he took a nap with her and then went to the playground with her, Ben, Noah and Corey. On their way home from the park, Ben and Hannah were looking forward to having dinner but still continued to play their imaginary games for the car ride home. Ben grabbed Elmo and threw him out the car window. Hannah shrieked and started to cry. Elmo was propelled into a dangerous area of the street so Corey couldn't reach him, couldn't park the car to even try. So they came home, Hannah in tears but Ben had a solution...he would buy her another at the store.

Such is the sad story of our dear friend Elmo.

More to come...

29...

POUNDS is how much Noah weighs today. Ack! I was wondering why my back is always aching! He was doing a little stomp-dance on the scale today (while watching himself in the mirror) and I really tried to get a picture of him on the scale...but it was impossible with all that moving around! Anyway, I think Hannah weighs in around 31 pounds (I'll have to get her on the scale soon) so they are about the same! Noah will be ONE year old in one week form today!!

Butter...

We made butter today! I had read that all you needed was cream or milk, a container and a marble to help mix it. So we got all the ingredients, poured the cream into the jar along with the marble and started to shake. We each took turns (the kids got tired after a while) kept peeking in to see what was happening inside-didn't look like much, but I'm sure alot was happening-and about 20 minutes later voila! Butter! It was very cool, very easy and the kids really liked tasting along the way. ....OH! And it is dee-licious!

Ben and Hannah (Noah in the background) holding the butter and the buttermilk!

The butter and container we used to shake it up!

Pssstt...Hey Bitsy Bunting...notice the Tupperware we used for this? :-)

Books...

We read books to the kids every night. Each one goes and picks out their books and most nights all they want to read is stories from the Bible. Noah has caught on to our nightly routine and goes in search of books for us to read to him. He picks out all kinds of books and brings them to us. He loves the books with real pictures of animals. He runs to get the books and ‘talking’ all the way. He growls at the tigers and bears, squeaks at the cats and chicks, turns the pages back and forth, and back and forth with excitement and anticipation for what he will find on the next page. I think we have a little reader on our hands!

Ducks...

We went to the zoo today (we are trying to make it a weekly event). Noah was enthralled with the ducks, or as he says “kuh”. We stayed by the flamingos for about 45 minutes and watched the ducks. Last week it felt like we raced through the zoo to see lots of animals. So today we took our time and hung out by the flamingos, the hippos, the raptors, and the giraffes. It was so nice to take our time and see what the animals do over a longer segment of time as opposed to the 'fly-by' that we usually do. We can't wait until next week!

Noah and Hannah watching the ducks

The mama & baby girl hippos posing together

Visitor...

Noah and I were in the backyard for a little while today (while the older kids were napping!)when we noticed that we had a little visitor preying on the birds nibbling on the bird food. A little black cat eyeing the birds was hiding in the bushes near where we were playing. Noah was infatuated with the little “tititititiii” He loves animals especially live ones. He wanted to go and see the cat but he didn't want to do it alone. He kept me very close to him. The cat was also a bit afraid as he stayed several feet away from us...even when he came and checked us out a little closer! Now Noah runs to the door and looks for the cat when I ask him where the cat is.

Nanny's birthday....

Today was Nanny's birthday. Ben and Hannah love birthdays and they love to give presents. They have been talking about Nanny and her birthday for a long time. They couldn't wait! They wanted to buy Nanny a bunch of chocolate "because that's what Nanny loves to eat!" It was either that or Ben thought Nanny would like some jewels (which would be very nice) but Hannah said that she already had some. The other idea Ben had for Nanny was a headband for her hair because she didn't have one. Another nice idea but I don't think Nanny would've worn it because the one he was talking about was elastic and it wrapped around her head on her forehead (something like those sweatbands for athletes). Such thoughtful ideas...

We had her over for a nice dinner and she brought her cute little dog named Annie (yes, Nanny and Annie came for dinner :P). The kids LOVE the dog and chase her around. She weighs only about 6 pounds and cowers when the kids stomp around her. Noah is like King Kong when he tries to get closer to her. He loves her too.

The kids really wanted Nanny to share her present with them. We got her some Mrs. Fields cookies and some flowers. She was OK with that.

Happy Birthday Nanny!!

Today is Halloween...

It's all about Halloween in our house. We have mentioned Ben and Noah's Halloween birthday party to the kids a few times but we are trying NOT to talk about it in front of them. But now they think that Halloween is today. And then tomorrow they'll think it's tomorrow. They can't wait and haven't stopped asking us about it! While Ben has decided that he wants to be a T-Rex like last year, Hannah can't decide...a pink kitty? a pirate? But I know what will happen...she won't decide on a costume and then...she will not want to dress up. Oh well... that's her choice! I'm not forcing her to dress up if she doesn't want to! And Noah...well you'll just have to wait and see what he becomes!

home bound...

Today was a good day to stay at home. Ben started throwing up this morning and now we (well I) am paranoid that everyone is going to be sick. ugh... So we started taking all the good stuff I know about (echinacea and elderberry extract) to keep it away from the rest of us. Hope it works...crossing fingers. We had the flu pretty bad in February and we don't want to revisit that any time soon. blech!

Pumpkin surprise...

Today we went to the zoo. My kids love the zoo. There is always something new to see. Today was Farmer Mike and he was carving giant pumpkins. It was amazing to see. We got there at the beginning when he was planning his pumpkin carving and then we saw it when we were on our way home. Amazing! I don't know how he does it...

Anyway at our first stop at Farmer Mike we decided to walk around between visits back to him to watch his progress. We turned around and bumped in (almost literally) to my cousin and her 2 youngest boys. Ben and Hannah were thrilled because on our way to the zoo they kept talking about who we might see. And I kept saying that I didn't think any of our friends would be there. I had put an invitation in to our playgroup but no one had responded so I figured we were on our own! My cousin is not in the playgroup, we bumped into each other purely by accident. A nice surprise. We walked around together and the kids got to run around together and bond. Noah slept almost the entire time which allowed me to talk without being preoccupied. So we think we will try to do it again (this time planned) and meet next week...we'll see!

Here are Ben (top), Levi (middle) and Hannah (below) climbing trees like the monkeys.

cutie...

Hannah got this shirt from her Uncle Chris. He bought it in Panama or Costa Rica over the summer. She loves it and doesn't she look adorable?

work...

Ben, Hannah and Noah love to hang out in the front of the house. We open the garage and they pull all their toys out. Shovels, buckets, scooters, bikes, trucks... lots of toys in there. We are out there almost every day waiting for Corey to home home after work.

Today we decided to finish our big garden project...well this first stage of the project. We removed the 7 or 8 iris plants on the street side of the sidewalk. They have been there for as long as we have lived here and have not liked them out there. They are planted in the ground and surrounded by pink rocks, yuck! We got all the garden tools out, soaked the giant iris bushes and got to work at taking them out of the ground. Ben and Hannah helped with the shovel, the watering, the work...they love to help us work. We are blessed with helpers (it isn't every day, nor for every task, but still it is something!). We have plans for all that extra space...trees, groundcover and maybe even some flowers! I'm sure I'll have some little helpers for that too.

As I was pruning some of the other bushes in the front yard, I was frightened by this spider who was about the length of my finger. yikes! But what a beauty! Any ideas on his name?