Halloween

What a nice night we had for Halloween. It was sort of a crazy day. We were in Chicago all week and didn't get back until Thursday night. Friday was a really busy day so I didn't have time to get food for dinner. Instead of the traditional chili and cornbread Halloween night, we had mac and cheese. I know, lame. Then we set out to get some goods.

Here is a very excited Spiderman and a cute little ladybug (who had been sick all day):

My mouth and a little cuddly cow:

Begging for candy:


Spiderman couldn't see out of his mask very well so off it came. And here is Nate........being himself. We were lame this year. No parties and no costumes.


We saw some pretty spooky and funny things, but I had to get a picture of this guy. See the man in the camouflage get-up laying in the rocks? He would jump up and scare all the kids. It was so funny to watch. I kind of want one of those costumes some day.



A very cute little cow:


And some smiles: (I love it!!!)




And one more just because I can:

I feel bad I didn't get into the whole Halloween thing this year. I have already been focusing on Christmas and getting gifts to family when I see them (because I am too cheap to mail them). It was kind of sad to think this will be our last Halloween here. But 2 things I won't miss about it is...#1 - getting offered "adult Halloween treats" or in other words "Jello Shots". And #2 - noticing that 80% of the parents/adults walking around with their children had a "drink" with them. It was weird to see. The adults would wait on the road and enjoy a drink or 2 while the kids ran up to the house to get candy. Couldn't they wait until they got home? I guess I am the outcast here.

Dentist fears

So we finally took Dylan to a pediatric dental specialist because he has been having the hardest time at dental visits. He HATES it. Just hates it (and so do I, actually). He hasn't had his teeth professionally cleaned or examined yet because there is no way he will let anyone look in his mouth. I knew his teeth were bad and so did his dentist (because of a couple little holes you can see just by glancing in his mouth), so we decided it would be best to pass him off to someone who specialized in special little people like Dylan. So I took him yesterday thinking he would scream his head off again and scare every other child out of the office, but that was not the case at all. I even took Cassie as back up in case Dylan wouldn't open his mouth for the dentist to count his teeth. You see, Cassie does what ever Dylan tells her to do (most of the time). If Dylan tells her to open her mouth so her teeth can be counted, she will do it. And Dylan, being the brave older brother that he is (sarcasm), always makes Cassie do things first and if she comes out safe, then he will usually follow in her footsteps. It is very funny to see how these two interact together. So anyway, I didn't have to use Cassie. The dental assistant was a little miracle worker. He layed so still and did everything she told him to do. I really couldn't believe it.

I new going in there that the results would be bad, considering I was awful at keeping his teeth brushed because he would kick and scream like crazy, until he turned 3. And when I potty trained him, his reward was a gumball every time he would go. And he is a sugaraholic. So in the end, I am very embarrassed to admit this, but he has...



Not one....



Not two....



Not three....



Not four....



Not five....



But SIX cavities!!!!

I know, I have learned a lesson here.

Pumpkin farm

We went to the pumpkin farm for a play group this week and I took a couple of pictures of the kids. They sure do love SpongeBob!!! (I know some parents won't admitt to that, but I am not afraid!) And if you know anything about SpongeBob then you'll know that he lives in a pineapple under the sea. Notice the sign on the pineapple...



Apparently Cassie didn't read that sign...


My kids aren't huge fans of Clifford, but I thought this was a cool display...

They had a lot of fun feeding the goats. Cassie kept getting mad at the big goat for eating all of the little goats food. She finally got closer to the little goat so that he could get his fair share. The big goat then decided that Cassie's hair looked delicious so he went in for a munch...

Cassie then screamed, backed away, and didn't want anything to do with the goats anymore. It was kind of funny, she had goat slobber all over the top of her head. Yuck!

Bumbo chair

I put Claire in this bumbo last week to see if she would like it:


2 minutes later she looked like this:

I think that means she liked it.

Apple farm

When Nate's parents were here last week we all went with Dylan on his field trip to the apple farm. It is a really fun place for the kids and since there isn't too many other options around here for entertaining guests, we went on pre-school field trip. Fun.

Cassie kept getting distracted by this cat. She was lagging behind a lot and it was fun to watch her try to catch it.

Dylan and Cassie eating apple donuts (soooo good) and sipping cider:

Making pumpkin crafts:

Dylan's class:......and Cassie

Going through the ABC maze:


The funniest part of the day was when Dylan ran to these pedal tractors. When he found out we were going here on a field trip, all he talked about was how excited he was to ride these. He just loves them. So anyway, after we finished the maze, the kids were set free to play and as he ran to jump on one of these tractors another kid beat him. So then he ran to the next one and the same thing happened. He was getting a little frustrated when he finally reached one and jumped on it for a ride:

Only problem was, the pedals didn't work. So he jumped off again and waited patiently for a different one:


But it didn't go very fast. Soon, all the other kids were leaving the bikes so Dylan jumped off and he found a big red tricycle with big tires on it. He was tired of the tractors that wouldn't work so he jumped on the red tricycle and took off really fast. He was having a blast showing off how fast he could go when this happened:

It was pretty funny. He was being a little too cocky.

Here are a bunch of apples on a tree. You can't tell in this picture, but there are a ton of apples on that branch. I was really surprised. And our little guide told us that they only have 2 apple pickers for their whole orchard and it can take one of them as little as 5 minutes to pick every apple off a tree. That is crazy! I learned quite a few things about apples that day so if you have any questions, just let me know. I am an apple genius now.


Dylan finding his perfect apple:


It was a fun day had by all. We also went on a very bumpy hayride.

They next day, we were going to make a bunch of apple pies, but decided to do pumpkin and banana cream instead. Both my favorite.

Baby Blessing

We blessed Claire last week and had a wonderful time with family. My mom came out a week early because Nate was gone interviewing for jobs out West. It was so nice to have her here again and to spend time with her. She helped me out a lot and I really appreciated it. Thanks mom!



Then my dad came, along with the Griffeths and then Nate's parents too. We had a house full for a couple of nights and it was fun.

Here is little Claire on her big day:

And a tired Claire:

Cute kids:

Jackson and Dylan (cousins):

Mackenzie and Claire:

And one of mommy and Claire (and no, I did not wear that bright green shirt to church):



It was fun to spend time with Tanya and her family, even though it was such a quick trip for them. We are looking forward to spending more time with them in a couple of weeks.

Nate's parents stayed a couple of extra days and I will post more about that later.

Statistics

At 1 month Claire weighs 11 lbs 9 oz, which is above the 95%tile for her age.

She is also 24 inches long, which is in the 100%tile for her age.

I would say that we have a healthy little girl.

And she is sooooooo good too. We just love her to death.



Pictures will be coming shortly of her baby blessing. We have had major computer and Internet issues!