Finishing up Halloween....

In the spirit of catching up, here are a few more from the fall that never got blogged. First up, Little J's class trip to the pumpkin farm. This is the third year I've gone with one of their preschool classes and we always have a good time. It was nice to be able to go this year with just him (usually I have both kids in tow).

Sitting with his class....notice how he's properly trained to look at me at all times when I have a camera in my hand!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin

A day or two later, I let them decorate the pumpkins with paint and glitter. That was at least a good hour of fun! Little J concentrating:

Miss C making her perfect pumpkin:

Little J had to make sure the whole thing was painted--even with me begging him to leave the bottom alone (because now blue paint is all over the table). Look at the kid, he had a hard time holding it up

The finished products

Finally a family trip to the pumpkin patch

A day later, pumpkin carving! These are all going to be in black and white because it was pitch dark and the color is awful. Never mind, they are super grainy from pushing the camera to it's limits!

While I've been waiting for over 2 hours to load all these photos (in addition to not being able to figure out how to make this blue font black), I finally took the plunge and set up a new blog.....hopefully I can get it customized in the next few days and start posting without frustration!

Almost 5

Getting ready for this little one to turn 5. Took her out yesterday to get a few of those 5 year old portraits. I just love her to pieces. More to come next week....

10 on Tuesday

Man, it's been a long time since I posted a 10 on Tuesday.....and actually on a Tuesday for that matter!

1. I'm glad it's halloween time because the cob webs that I haven't cleaned I can now pass off as decorations. That buys me another two weeks before it's just a dirty house with cobwebs :)

2. Miss C has been a little sassy lately. I'm not sure what's up, but she's got quite the attitude. Today she was telling me that all her toys are sooooooo boring. Somebody call social services. The poor kid doesn't have any good toys. So I tell her that we can just go ahead and throw them all away so that I can finally have a clean house. To which she replies, "OK mom. If you want a clean house and throw all my toys away, then i want YOU to throw away your picture frames." HA! The girl knows me so well. Went right for something she knows is important to me!

3. Speaking of picture frames, I'm working on getting a new shot of the two of them together. I don't have very many because it's such torture to get them to sit still, look nice, and take a half way decent photo. Usually they sense my frustration and end up acting like monkeys.

4. We went to visit my nephew for his first birthday last month. I can't believe he is a year old already! This is the only photo we got of the three of them together.

5. Little J is playing soccer for the fall. He's having a ball! It's the first time that he's played a sport without the parents having to participate. The first time Miss C did this, she was so upset. Little J, barely waved goodbye as he ran onto the field for the first practice. He is actually behaving and listening to the coach. Miracle!

6. We had a family trip to the beach last month too. Kind of a last minute end of summer get away. It was great and the kids had a good time. Miss C has become so confident in the water. Little J was a little afraid to go into the water at first and preferred to hang out in the sand, but by the second day, he was having a great time.

Did I mention Miss C was acting a little sassy lately?

7. The kids love to watch J leave for work in the morning. Unfortunately it's a little chilly in the morning this time of year to head out in this attire

8. Today I was asking Miss C what she wanted for her birthday this year since it's right around the corner. She was telling me she wanted Strawberry Shortcake and something called a pillow pet. I have no idea what this pillow pet thing is. At first I thought maybe she was just saying those things because her friend, A, told us that is what she wanted for her birthday (A's birthday is two weeks before Miss C's). But she was able to tell me that a pillow pet is where you put your pajamas in. Huh. Doesn't sound too fun, so maybe I'm missing something. I guess I better read up on the hot new toys this year. Little J told that for his birthday he wanted Halloween candy. Sounds easy enough :)

9. The kids are already getting excited for Christmas this year. I actually can't wait for it this time around. I think they are finally old enough to really enjoy it. They have been so excited for Halloween and all the decorations around the house. I can only imagine that Christmas is going to be even better. Their excitement really makes me want to get into the holiday spirit.

10. Can't believe I made it to 10! The kids are doing well in school. On Monday we met Little J's class and went to the pumpkin patch. I attended a back to school night a week ago and the teachers said he is an absolute joy in class. One teacher even described him as "suave". I'm not really sure what that means, but I'm glad he is behaving. Sucks that I probably get the brunt of the bad attitude when he's at home. I wish he behaved as well at home as he apparently does at school. He talks about his little friends a lot and overall seems to be having a great experience. I'm so thankful for that!

I have a looth tooth

I took the kiddos to the dentist last month for their bi annual visit. Miss C did great last time, so I wasn't so nervous about taking her. Little J, well, that was a different story. So I wasn't necessarily looking forward to having to take him again. In the days leading up to the visit, he seemed to be ok....even looking forward to going. We role play dentist a lot in this house and we read lots of books about it, so a visit to the real dentist shouldn't be a big deal. He ended up doing great. It was like a totally different kid this time. They even thought he would be ok with the x-rays, but decided to wait another 6 months before they were necessary. Here is my big boy telling them how it was all going to go down before the appointment started (yes, literally. He made sure to tell them exactly what was going to happen that visit)

And then getting his teeth cleaned. He tried to lick the dental floss when they flossed his teeth...I guess he likes the taste of it.

Then it was Miss C's turn. She had been looking forward to this visit for months. She had a very important question she wanted to ask the dentist....did she have a loose tooth? A lot of her friends are starting to have wiggly teeth and she has been dying to have a loose tooth of her own. We talk about the tooth fairy constantly around this house. Yesterday she told me she hopes the tooth fairy will leave her a $1. As I was getting ready to say, "I'm sure she will," she changed her mind and requested $20. What?! How about your lucky to get a $1 and we'll leave it at that. I'm pretty sure I got a quarter when I lost my teeth so a $1 is more than enough.

The cleaning went well, as expected.

After the cleaning, she was waiting for the dentist to come count her teeth and give the final word on whether or not they have any sugar bugs. She could have cared less about how many teeth she had or if she had any sugar bugs. All she wanted to know is if she had a loose tooth. Can you see her excitement?!

Well, the dentist has confirmed she has two slightly loose teeth. And I do mean slightly. It's the bottom left and top left. They barely move when you try to wiggle them, but they do move (and I was certainly skeptical leaving the appointment). And that is all that mattered to her. If you could have seen the smile on her face! She was so proud and couldn't stop talking about it (and still hasn't stopped talking about it 3 weeks later).

The dentist said it would probably be awhile before they actually fell out (may be up to 4-6 months). Two days ago she asked me to wiggle her teeth again. Lo and behold, the bottom left one is noticeably wigglier. I almost can't believe it. I mean, it's really wiggly. I can't believe in just a few short weeks it's really gotten loose. Granted it still may be another couple of months before she looses it, but it's confirmed that we definitely have a loose tooth. If you happen to walk by her on the street, she'll probably tell you about it. She's that excited :)

Me, not so much. I'm kind of sad that she's growing up so fast. I've really noticed in the last 6-8 months how much of a little girl she is becoming. And now she's about to lose her baby teeth. Last night I told her to stop growing up. She looked at me and told me, "I can't." I know it's inevitable, but why does it have to happen now?!

Mine on Monday

Just one from last week. I was trying to scout out locations and keep coming back to this old building in an area near me. It's the same one that produced these two favorites HERE. On the back side of the building, I noticed this great green door up on a stoop. With the promise of candy, I took my willing subject to get a few pictures. What I failed to remember is that this place kind of creeps me out. As I was shooting, I kept one nervous eye on the lookout for anything or anyone that might be lurking around. I saw some graffiti and a few old mattresses through one of the windows, and that equals something I don't really want to know about. I think my imagination got the best of me because about 2 minutes into this "session" the wind blew, I heard a door creak and in about 3 seconds flat I grabbed the kid under my arm, threw him in the car and high tailed it out of there. I'm sure if anyone was watching this whole scene, they would have laughed their heads off. I don't think I've ever moved so fast in my life. After I got down the street a bit, I stopped to buckle him in the car seat and make sure I still had the camera with me :)

I'd like to saw it was worth it, but I was pretty scared. I don't think I'll be going back again! Fortunately I have another favorite to add to my collection.

Labor Day weekend

I'm kind of going a little out of order here, but I wanted to get pictures of their first day of school up while it was still relevant :)

Aunt K came to visit us over the labor day weekend and we had a great time. On Sunday, we rented a pontoon boat and spent all day out on the lake. It was heavenly! The weather couldn't have been more perfect (even a little chilly at the start) and we couldn't have asked for a better day.

We spent the first hour or so cruising around. Daddy even let his little helpers drive the boat.

After cruising around for a bit, we "beached" the boat on a little cove for the afternoon. Miss C had a great time splashing around the water and Little J was comfortable spending the time building sand castles on the shore. After lunch, we cruised around a little more and then anchored the boat in the water so Goomps could fish for a little bit. Miss C and Little J spent that time jumping off the boat and swimming to the ladder.....they loved it. I was surprised that they did it, considering we weren't in the water "catching" them. I think swimming lessons this summer have really paid off. They seem to be a lot more confident in the water.

First day of school

The kids had their first days of preschool last week and all-in-all, it was pretty successful. Miss C started on Tuesday and had a great first week. There was one little snafu (according to her). From what I understand, they were making a picture and at the bottom was the sentence, "Today was my first day at TK. I felt ________.". She tried to put "happy" in the blank. She got H-A-P and then couldn't figure out the rest. I guess the teacher pushed her to sound it out and she got pretty frustrated. So on the way home that day, she wanted me to help her spell it over and over again until she memorized it. I guess she wants to make sure she never has trouble spelling happy again!

Beyond that little wrinkle, she loves it. There are about 10 or 11 kids in her class and several of them she knows from last year. I think it's going to be a great year!

Little J went on Wednesday and had a good first day too. When I dropped him off, he was a little confused as to why Miss C wasn't going with him. She's at the same school, but doesn't start until 9:15 (he's at 9) and she's in a different "classroom". He didn't get upset or anything, but I think he really wanted her to be with him. After I pulled around, he forgot all about us and had a great time playing with his new friends. When I picked him up that afternoon, the only thing he had to say was, "the green shirt squirted me with the water." I guess they will filling up the water table for recess and a little boy wearing a green shirt turned the hose to Little J and drenched him. I'm sure that went over well, you know, because he's such a relaxed little boy and loves having his clothes wet (ha!). But he must of recovered quickly because when I got there, he was playing in the water table, drenched clothes and all.

This week they both go for the full week and I'm excited to get into a routine. Little J will go MWF and Miss C will go M-Th. So I'll have some individual time with each of them and I'll even get 2 days alone!