Pumpkin Time

 

We have something mysterious happen in our house every year at pumpkin carving time. OUR pumpkins grow candy inside of them. Do yours? The only thing we can figure out is that when the farmer is planting his seeds, he, or his kids, are eating candy, drop some of it and so their pumpkins grow candy inside.

Jenna of course was never fooled (we started a few years ago), and Mikki was very very skeptical this year. Next year Haley will probably not believe us either, but it was fun while it lasted. As Halloween approaches each year they wonder if there will be there will be candy inside there pumpkins again.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Mikayla's dream was to have a hayride birthday party. Because this can't happen in the middle of December we decided to let her have an early party with her friends. Everything was planned and the invitations were sent. Then...it rained! We decided rather than to cancel it we'd change the theme. She was disappointed but also excited to realize that her party day coincided with the opening of HSM3. (High School Musical 3- for those of you that aren't in the know!) We took them all to the movied and they had a great time. Maybe next year for the hayride and grandpa and grandma's.

Grandma's Big Day

Make a Smilebox greeting

The "Real" Tooth Fairy

I have to relay a story that I was told from my friend Brenda last night. A group of us went out for supper...and during the conversation various topics came up. One of them being when our children found out, or if they have found out, that certain childhood characters are not real. Here is her story. I must say that the inflections and expressions make the story, if only you could hear it in person, but I think you'll find it funny. The following conversation takes place a couple years ago between my friend Brenda and her daughter Micaila, riding in the car after picking her up from school.

Micaila- "Mom, the kids at school are telling me that you are really the tooth fairy. Are you mom?"

Now Brenda was totally caught off guard at this turn of the conversation, and wasn't prepared to have it. So she did what any good mom would do and didn't say yes or no, just some lame hem-hawing around...

Micaila-says very adamantly, "Mom, if you are the tooth fairy, you really need to tell me the truth because I don't want to have to go back to school tomorrow and not know the truth."

Well, that sounded logical to Brenda so she said...

Brenda- "Yes, Micaila, I am the tooth fairy."

Micaila- very stunned says... "HUH!!!!? MOM!!!!!!...HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME TO GO TO ALL THOSE HOUSES!!!???"

At this time Brenda cracked up and decided she needed to tell her that she wasn't literally the tooth fairy before Micaila went to school the next day and told her friends, "you're right, my mom really is the tooth fairy.

We laughed so hard! Oh... the innocence of children and the hero's that they hold their moms to be!

Brenda...may you always be that hero in Micaila and Tyler's eyes that you are now... :)

Happy Birthday Jeff

Boy am I late! We have had a whirlwind week. I have either been working or away every single evening this week so here it is 2:20 a.m. Sunday and I am blogging. I wasn't able to sleep and so decided to be productive. Jeff's birthday was the 11th (My brother's was the 12th and I didn't get a card sent! I am a slacker! Sorry Doug! Hope you had a good one!) He turned 37. Friday night, the 10th, we went to Carlos O'Kelley's with my parents to celebrate. The girls enjoyed wearing the hat after the waitresses sang to him with it on. Then we went to the Iowa Volleyball game. I wasn't feeling that well, a bad cold, so I was ready to go home to bed.
On Sat., his actual, birthday, we just hung out, he watched football all day, and I made his favorite meal, chicken n dumplins, corn and pistachio pudding. We got his several shirts, Mikayla gave him $2 out of her piggy bank, and she dug around and found an old cd case and an old cd to put in it. It didn't matter that the cd was a very old Christmas one. She was thrilled to give her own gift.

Applesauce

One of the things that kept me so busy this week was making applesauce. On Tuesday my mom came up at 8:30 and we began. Dayna, Haley's side-kick, was over to help. We had a good time. This day was incredibly busy! We began applesauce at 8:30,(after I took the girls to school) I left at 10:30 to go to the school to get Mikayla, for a DR's appt. I then went to McDonalds after that to get lunch for all of us since the kitchen was a little crowded, then I took Mik back to school. I went back home and helped clean up the applesauce stuff, then I went back the school about 45 mins. later to go and get Jenna. I took Dayna home and J and H went to the DR's for their appts. I took J back to school for about the last 1/2 hr. I then went to the grocery store and bought food to begin cooking for the 10 people that were coming for supper, TONIGHT! H and I went homeand began cooking, I squeaked in a 20 min. power nap. Mikayla was brought home. Later I went back to school (yes, this is my 4th round trip to school today) to pick up J from volleyball practice. I cleaned house when I got back from that, company came at 6:00 and stayed until around 10, I got the kids to bed (2 hours) late and then fell into bed EXHAUSTED myself!!!!

Happy 12th Jenna!

Last night, (Sat.) we celebrated Jenna's birthday. It is actually today, the 19th. It was another whirlwind day. Jeff and I bought Leah's Iowa vs. Wisconsin football tickets so we could go with our neighbors, Steve and Sherryl. He is a Wisc. fan and had been looking for tickets but they are all outrageously priced on stub hub. I called Leah to see if she had sold hers on Ebay yet and she hadn't so we bought them. It was a beautiful day and better since Iowa creamed them. Jeff and I then raced back home where lots of girls were waiting on us to go to the mall to celebrate Jenna's birthday. We had a picture scavenger hunt planned. They had an hour to do a list of things and the team with the most done in an hour won, WOW, these girls took it serious. The pics are hilarious. I am going to include those pics on another post b.c I want to get Team 2's team disk and down load it on my comp then give you the highlights. They are pretty funny! They had to do things like: carry a strangers tray to their table in the food court, try on a Halloween outfit, rub their aching feet for one minute etc. and take pictures of them doing it. They had a great time. We then went to Pizza Hut for pizza, chocolate dunkers (her cake) with ice-cream and opened presents there. We then went to the Iowa Volleyball game, where we creamed Michigan State. The girls waited in line afterwards to get the autograph of a couple featured players and then we took them all home. The party lasted from 2-9:30. It was a long day for Jeff and I, but fun! I went to bed exhausted but now can't sleep! Too much stimulation! I am praying that this next week is calmer!

Babysitting William

You might think that you have logged onto The Lyons blog when looking at this page. (I have their link on the right column) But, no you are at our "house." We were given the privilege of babysitting William this past Tuesday night. As you can see from the pictures, he is soooo cute. His parents are Troy and Angela, good friends and church members, basically our church wouldn't be where it is today (or in the future-for that matter) without them. We really like William. Here are a couple quotes: From me to Angela..."If you ever decide you just don't want him anymore I would adopt him from you in a heartbeat!" From Mikayla to me...a random thought at the breakfast table..."Ya know mom, when William was in Angela's tummy I thought, 'oh, just another normal baby', but THEN he came out and he is SO CUTE!!!' " Mikayla's comment on Tuesday night when we got the call to babysit..."I thought it was going to be just another normal boring night but then William came over!" Anyway...we really enjoy this boy! He loves Mikayla as much as she loves him. He looks at her and just starts laughing! The 2 pictures above where he is laughing are because he is looking at Mikki. The girls loved feeding him his supper. They had to switch spots every 5 bites because they all wanted to feed him and were fighting over the duty. Mikayla is reading him a Clifford book above too. We are still hoping that they decide to give him up for adoption...we could have a boy!!!! :)

Love ya Troy and Angela, thanks for bringing him into the world for our family to enjoy! :)

Amanda

It is not often that I get to show off my neice in Arizona. This is Doug and Jen's (my brother and sister in law) daughter. Here she is going to her first homecoming dance. Isn't she beautiful?