Happy Birthday, Cody

Today is my nephew's 17th birthday. Happy birthday, Cody!!! You were such a cute little boy and now you've become such a handsome young man.

We celebrated yesterday at my sister's house. We all had such a wonderful time, especially the kids. My sister had watched an episode of "Myth Busters" where they attempted the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment. She thought it would be fun to let Cody and the kids also try this interesting science experiment. Sure enough - it works! We all had a good time, whether we were participants or just spectators.

Fall Fun

The Pumpkin Patch

Typical for this time of year, we visited the pumpkin patch at a local church. It's always so much fun; the kids get such a kick out of walking through the patch and picking out their own pumpkins.

Carving the Pumpkins

Sunday night we got to enjoy the other annual tradition of carving the pumpkins. We let the boys draw the face on their pumpkins and then Bill cut the top off and all three got to have fun cleaning them out; I had to keep my hands clean for taking pictures. :) I did get my chance to get messy when they finished, though. I got the duty of picking out the seeds from all the goop and washing them. I did this while Bill carved out the faces the boys had drawn. Then while the seasoned pumpkin seeds were baking in the oven, we put tea lights in the bottom of their pumpkins, took them outside, and lit them. The boys were so proud. They did such an amazing job. And thank you Daddy for doing all that tedious carving! Good job everybody!!!

Staying up late in our pajamas, watching television and eating roasted pumpkin seeds - what could be more fun?

Ten Random Facts MeMe

I have been tagged by Celeste to do this, and I have spent the last couple days trying to figure out what in the world I would say. So number one was easy...

Ten Random Facts About Me:

1. I am extremely indecisive. If I'm out shopping for something I prefer to go with the first thing that works. I don't care if there might be something better out there. I'd rather not have anything to choose between. If a choice has to be made, I try to leave it to someone else. I think it drives my husband crazy. :)

2. I babysat for an astronaut when I was in high school and decided to become one someday... I was also going to get my pilot's license (I even passed the ground school part).

3. I have a terrible fear of heights, so there went the whole pilot thing. And obviously, I never became an astronaut. That's also because...

4. I am painfully shy (I can fully relate, Melissa!). In school, I can remember peeling off the wood around the lead of my pencil to avoid having to get up and cross the room to sharpen it. I really don't like drawing attention to myself!

5. Many people already know this, but my husband and I met while looking at moon rocks at NASA Johnson Space Center.

6. I love Starbuck's coffee. It's an expensive habit I absolutely must break!

7. I also love fresh baked bread and have often thought about how fun it would be to open a German-style bakery (minus the bees)... maybe joined with a Starbucks. :)

8. I share Celeste's passion for antiques as well. I'm so glad Bill also likes antiques because we have spent many anniversaries antiquing.

9. I have this longing to live in the country and take care of farm animals... Or at least, horses.

10. I used to play Dungeons & Dragons with my brother. We weren't weird about it (no dressing up or taking on new names). I guess because we both liked fantasy books and movies (e.g. Clash of the Titans). But I don't think my brother enjoyed playing with me so much; I was always a sore loser.

A Trip to the Zoo

Bill just returned from a week long business trip to Moscow, Russia so he took Monday off from work to spend the day with me and the kids. We decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was the perfect day for it. The high was only 72 degrees and it was a beautiful sunny day. We couldn't have picked a better day to go!

We knew the boys would have fun, but we weren't real sure what Amy would think of it. She loved it! She'd sit up as straight as she could in the stroller and would point at the animals as she'd let out an excited squeal. She'd follow up with a short commentary in her own little baby language about what she was seeing. So cute.


Alex and Nathan began the zoo outing sitting in the wagon being pulled by Daddy. They calmly looked at the animals from their comfortable (for them) seats. If you ask me, this would be the way to go!


But the moment came where they realized the vantage point from the wagon was not as good as out of the wagon. And that was the last of the wagon! They discovered how much more fun it was to be free to dart from one thing to the next (or in Nathan's case, to drag along behind, picking up rocks and trash and whatever else caught his eye).



Oops. Looked kind of like Alex and Nathan.... :)



All morning Alex kept informing us that he wanted to see the tigers. We slowly worked our way through the zoo to see the tigers. Alex was thrilled to see them - for about 1 minute. Then the subject of desire had changed to lunch.

We had a wonderful picnic lunch, made up of all the usual stuff: sandwiches, chips, yogurt, orange slices and cookies for dessert. Yummy!

The remainder of the afternoon the boys got to ride the carousel (Amy and I watched),

and they saw many more animals, even up close as they helped "groom" the animals. :)

They also saw the fish up close...

and even got to meet Nemo and Dory.

All in all, I think we had a great time and I'm sure we'll be back soon!

Awesome Cookies!

Thanks so much Melissa for that wonderful recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. I went out today and got what I needed to make them and I have the second batch baking in the oven as I type. I of course sampled the dough before baking and new they were going to be delicious. And obviously I had to try one right out of the oven because that's the best time to eat them. :) They are amazing!!! Thank you so much!!! For anyone interested, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Beat together 1/2 c. butter Crisco and 3/4 c. brown sugar. Then add 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 1 c. canned pumpkin; beat well.

Mix together 2 c. flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and stir until well blended, then mix in 1 c. chocolate chips (I always add a little extra!)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes on a greased cookie sheet.

I Try

After reading my dear friend's blog about her productive day, I decided to post about my attempt at a productive day. We did manage to eat our breakfast and complete our homeschool lesson by 9:00 am this morning. Sadly, we were still all in our pajamas through it all. And afterwards we went upstairs and I tried to do some badly needed organization in my bedroom. But the kids were less than cooperative and my attempt failed. We did eventually get dressed and went back downstairs for a little while; I took care of some work I needed to do at the computer while the kids played. We then had our lunch and I got Alex off to school. I tried to work upstairs some more after Nathan went down for his nap. I did actually make some progress, though it was slow going because my helper wasn't exactly helping. Amy had a lot of fun destroying the nice sorted piles I'd made of paperwork, etc. It was a two steps forward, one step back process. At least something was getting accomplished! Now Alex is home from school and we find ourselves downstairs once again. In a little bit we'll head back up and I'll see what I can do. I find that organizing my house is a slow process, but I'll just keep taking every opportunity I can to get it the way I want it. I'm sure I'll get there eventually!

Candy Corn Alternative

I am looking for a really yummy recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin cookies... Anyone have one? I usually rely on allrecipes.com for delicious recipes, but I've been having difficulty searching for recipes on that site recently. So I'm turning to all of you out there. I LOVE recipes calling for pumpkin. Celeste has already provided my favorite - her pumpkin bread is the best ever! But I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin cookies - you name it, I love it! Recipes with pumpkin are part of why I love this season so much (not that I haven't baked pumpkin bread in the middle of summer before). I noticed on Melissa's blog site she had done some baking one day and she had a picture of cookies in a glass pumpkin jar. I have that same jar. I use it for candy corn.

Mmmmm... Candy corn. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a dangerous obsession for candy corn. I can down a bag in no time. I always start out the Fall with my pumpkin jar full of yummy candy corn. In about a week or two, I'm refilling my special little pumpkin jar with more yummy candy corn. A week later, I'm adding just one more bag - this one's going to last, I say. By the end of October, I have boycotted candy corn. I'm actually already to that point, but this year I have little ones who also love candy corn. They don't eat it like I do, though, because I can monitor how much they consume. After seeing Melissa's jar of cookies, however, I decided to use mine for a similar purpose. Instead of filling it with my favorite candy corn, where I am tempted at every glance into my kitchen, I plan on making some pumpkin cookies and putting them in the jar instead. I love cookies, but my will power is much stronger when it comes to them. I can eat just one cookie after dinner and stop there. I wish I could say the same for the candy corn! So now the candy corn will stay in a ziploc bag in the pantry... or maybe a cabinet I rarely get into. Hopefully, out of sight - out of mind, and yet still available for the kids.

Okay, so back to the cookies. Anyone out there have a good recipe they can share?

Little Superheroes

Alex and Nathan love to dress up like superheros. Alex always pretends to be Batman, and therefore he's designated Nathan as Robin. And Nathan goes right along with it. They come running into the room and Alex says, "I'm Batman." Nathan comes in right behind him exclaiming, "I'm Robin!". They are so funny. This morning they put on their capes - capes that came from Alex's 4th birthday party which had the theme of - what else - superheroes. My mom and I spent a day making at least 12 capes to give to all the kids at the party. They turned out cute and I know my children have really enjoyed them. Amy had a cape for the party, too, and this morning the boys decided it was time she was a superhero, too. So here they are - the three superheroes. Never fear - they are always at the ready to come and save the day! :)

She Did It!

Amy took her first steps!!! We knew she was getting close. Amy has been standing for a long time now and she's even been "cruising" for several weeks. We've tried to get her to walk to us but she would always get excited and fall. Tonight she walked to her daddy, though. I was actually teaching at church and missed her first steps. As disappointed as I was to have missed this wonderful event, I'm thrilled that she did it for her daddy. He missed seing Alex's first steps; I don't think he saw Nathan's first steps either, though he did at least get to see him do it again that same afternoon. Similarly, Amy's first walking experience wasn't just a one time thing. When I got home, she walked again and again and again. I think she loves her new found ability. Every chance she got she'd stand and take a few steps. We're so proud of her!

What a Doll!

Amy was all dressed up in her new church clothes and we thought we'd get a few pictures...




Hook'em Horns!!!!

Prayers Do Get Answered

I have been off line for awhile due to a busy schedule and sick children. Alex came down with something last Friday and was sick all weekend. Bill and I did errands on Saturday separately so that someone could stay in with Alex; I took Nathan and Amy to my sister's to celebrate my brother's birthday that evening and once again Alex had to stay home; Sunday I went and taught at church while Bill stayed home with all the kids. Poor Alex was stuck indoors all weekend. I think by Monday he was feeling better and was ready to be active. And I was ready for things to get back to normal.

Sadly, Monday did not fulfill my expectations . It began earlier than I'd have liked and came equipped with grumpy, whiny children. As a result, our homeschool session was difficult and discouraging. We then dared an outing to get Alex a much needed haircut. He requested to go to the "place far away" for his haircut (the barbershop about 30 minutes away) as opposed to the other place we sometimes go to that is just 5 minutes from our house. I agreed and off we went... And about 20 minutes down the road I remembered that the barber shop is closed on Mondays. So we turned around and headed back home. At this point, Nathan and Amy were both asleep. Then as I neared the other haircut place, I asked Alex if he wanted to go there instead or wait until Tuesday morning when we could try the barber shop again. He gave me a blank stare and so I suggested we just wait. No protest. So to home we went. And the minute I pulled into the driveway it was like a bomb went off. Alex broke into a tantrum and Nathan woke and joined in; both were crying, "I want to get a haircut". So, I gave in and we drove back to the other place. After Alex's haircut we came back home and had lunch. I let Nathan skip his nap since he'd already had a short one in the car. He and Alex were playing and having so much fun, in between the usual moments of arguing. The day was starting to look up, until...

Nathan decided to perform one of his daredevil acts by standing on a beach ball at the front door. In a matter of seconds, he'd fallen off the ball and hit the back of his head on the tile. He immediately started crying/screaming and I ran over and held him. A huge bump quickly formed on the back of his head. After he quit crying I put him on the couch and got him some water. I called the doctor and the nurse asked me some questions and told me what to watch for. Nathan pretty much stayed lying on the couch over the next couple of hours and complained of a headache. I noticed he also had a fever. And though these symptoms did not match up with what the nurse had said and could simply be a sign that Nathan had caught what Alex had, we didn't know for sure. Nathan later turned down pizza for dinner and continued to either lie on the couch or he'd ask to be carried around. We finally decided to call our pediatrician's emergency line and spoke to a nurse again. She went through the checklist of questions and concluded that we should probalby take him to the ER to be checked out. So that is how we spent our Monday evening. I can't remember the last time I was so scared. You never want to wish an illness on your child, but this was one time that I was praying the symptoms Nathan was experiencing were due to illness and not the head injury. On the way to the hospital Nathan added another symptom to the list - he threw up. I didn't know whether to be more frightened or more hopeful by this latest event; Alex too had thrown up when he was sick. We didn't have a change of clothes for the poor little guy, but thankfully we had a clean towel and a child's sweatshirt in the van. This sufficed until we got him checked in at ER and then I headed back home to get him a change of clothes. I spent a lot of time praying that evening, especially on that drive home and back to the ER. I pleaded to God for everything to be okay. I know others were praying for him, too. And you know what? God listened. When I got back to the ER, Nathan's condition had completely changed. His eyes were bright and so alert. He asked for his clean clothes and once we got him dressed, he began walking around and started climbing from chair to chair. Bill and I were suddenly unsure if we should even be there! But we stuck it out and shortly after, we were called back in to triage. One look at him and the doctor said he felt certain he was fine. He offered to do a catscan if it would bring us peace of mind, but he didn't think it was necessary. We agreed and that was that. A whole afternoon and evening of worrying because of the coincidental timing of his fall and the appearance of symptoms from the illness he'd caught from Alex. I didn't enjoy going through this whole experience, but it did remind me how precious my children are. I thank God for my children and I pray that He will watch over them and protect them always.

Amy came down with a fever yesterday so we are still fighting this illness. But I don't mind; I'm too relieved it's the only trial we're facing right now! Thank you, God, for answering our prayers!