Halloween

For Halloween this year, Trey wasn't sure if he wanted to go as a Cyclops.... 

Sad, huh?  He decided to use his face, instead

of his hands when he fell of the porch.  :(

Or, Batman.

 There were lots of, "Aww....'s" when this little Batman came trick-or-treating at their doors.
We also had a Chinese Princess, and a tapdancer.  

 Sorry these are so fuzzy.  I tried to take a really cute picture of all three kids by a tree, but I went to take the picture and our camera said, "Low battery," and died.  Are you kidding me?

Fall Day at school

Friday was the dreaded day.
Halloween costume parade.
Pumpkin centers.
Fall Party.

blah.

I haven't been to school in two years on this day because of someone (either myself or one of the kids) being sick on this day.  Not that I minded...

But, I started my day in a panic.
What costume was I going to wear?
(procrastinator?  yes.)
I tried on about 4 outfits.  Finally, decided to be a butterfly, like Gracie.  Black pants.  Black shirt.  One set of the girls' butterfly wings, and homemade antennae.  I thought I looked pretty cute.  Until some friends (or are they?) at school told me I looked like the Gimpy Butterfly.  Apparently, little girl sized butterfly wings aren't to scale on a grown woman.  
But, I wore it anyway.  
In front of the entire school.
I'm cool like that.
And no, Thankfully, there are no pictures.  (That I know of.)


Later in the day, we played with our food.

bread for the house

crust for the roof

marshmallows for smoke coming

out of the chimney

pretzel stick for a tree trunk

3 colored peppers for leaves

celery for grass

candy pumpkin

candy corn for porch light

candy corn for a gate

I got the idea from this cute website.
Here is Gracie as a butterfly.
She wants to go as a Chinese Princess for trick-or-treating, but they couldn't put on face paint or wigs at school, so she was a butterfly.

All in all the day was really exhausting, but fun!  And besides one kid puking at lunch, we had no one get hurt, they all were sugared up good before heading home, and I got to put up my feet after school! 

You think I'm stressed?

I have dumb dreams.  
But, I especially have dumb dreams when I'm stressed.
I had to work hard during the one I had this morning, so my back is really sore this morning.  My jaw also hurts, so I guess I was clinching my teeth together pretty hard.  The dream went something like this:

First I was "swimming" in the bathtub with my children (impossible?  yes.).   I looked over and Trey decided to fall asleep face down in the water.  Most of his face was under the water, and when I picked him up, I freaked out trying to get him to wake up.  He wouldn't wake up, so I screamed for Chad- who came over and said he was fine, and put him in our bed to sleep a while longer.  Our friend, Daniel, was at our house (which wasn't our house) and wanted to grill brats.  I took over on the grill after awhile and burned them.  Daniel was annoyed and disappointed.  He made some comment about doing it by himself next time.  I went upstairs (which was my Aunt Marcy's old basement layout), and the house all of a sudden belonged to Jessica.  I dropped some glass on the floor- which shattered everywhere, so I was trying to pick all the tiny pieces up before the baby (who's? not sure.) stepped in it.  When all of a sudden this girl that's in our youth group started to grab me and tried to pull me down the hall by my leg.  It was super scary because when I would get away, she would come after me again.  I wasn't sure what she was going to do to me IF she got me downstairs, but I was REALLY mad when Chad wouldn't get off the couch to help me out.  After several failed attempts by her and this other guy (which makes me confused how I even got away, because every time I tried to kick them in the face or in the stomach, my kick would be short and they would make fun of me) I yelled at Chad to help me.  He told me that, by law, he wasn't able to help me unless I was carrying a kid and they tried to kidnap me while holding a kid.  So, I grabbed a kid that was there (the room was full of people by the way), and they left me alone.  However, I felt terrible about putting a child in danger, so I put him down and Jessica's husband, Mike, came after me.  I kept trying to protect myself by putting the couches' ends together in a triangle so I could sit in the middle and "be safe," but Mike just crawled under the couch (he must have become super tiny!).  So, I waited until his head was sticking out from under the couch and I pushed down on his head and neck super hard so his face was smashed to the ground and he couldn't move.  Apparently, he couldn't use his hands though because he never did try to  grab me while I was holding him down.  Jessica's girls even tried to come distract me, and I found out while Chad was playing charades with the girls that the whole idea of kidnapping me was Jessica's because I spilled the glass on the floor.
You think this dream is over, don't you.  
Nope, it kept going.
So, then I was in our van with the girls.  We had just arrived at some camp out in the country.  As the girls were trying to make their way up to the front to get out, we saw some small animal with a long tail on the back seat.  I tried to climb back a little farther to take a look and it darted to another spot.  The girls got scared, and stumbled quickly up to the front of the van.  I noticed some guy was walking toward the camp and he was coming closer to our van, so I asked him if he could take a look at this animal in our van.  He went around to the passenger side as I was standing at the driver's side with the door open.  I stepped back to watch the guy through the window (in case he caught it), and I felt a little sting on my leg. I looked down and there was a huge black snake that was trying to nibble my leg!  So, I kicked it and made it even more mad.  I had to think quick- if I tried to jump in the van, it might slither super fast and make it into the van with us.  But, if I tried to kick it, it might bite me again.  
The outcome is unknown because I woke up.
Dumb dream, huh?

Tis the Season

Tis the Season for:
covering up your friends with leaves!

carving pumpkins (which apparently rot after only a few days!)

 wagon rides!

 cheesy grins!

icky

Even though this adorable kid

entertained the people around him

at Pizza Hut, I'm pretty sure the

employees were happy when we left.

See the smear marks on the windows?

Yeah, he got it good today!

the park

Jada, Trey, and I walked to the park this morning.  It was so relaxing.  They played on the merry-go-round, the slides, these bars you climb, and in the sand.  But, my favorite thing was when I held each one of them on the swing with me and they laid their head on my shoulder and wrapped their legs around me, and we swung back and forth, back and forth.  So peaceful.  I have only one picture to share because, for once, I wasn't trying to capture that perfect moment.  Then, they got back into the wagon, and ate their snack while I pulled them home.  I felt God's presence around us today.  I think he was holding us tight on the swings.  After such an ugly evening last night, it was nice to play happily with my children today.  

ugh

Parenting.
Sometimes I suck at this.
Like tonight.
Kids crying, screaming, tackling each
other because they don't like what the other
is doing.  I go and pull one off and she 
starts crying for "grabbing" her.
At one point I told myself,
I quit.  I walked away so I wouldn't
say something I'd regret... but ended up
saying something I regretted to Gracie.
Why does it seem I do this to her
more than I'd like to admit?
It's not like she's necessarily "harder"
to raise than the other two.  Is this something
a lot of parents do to the oldest one?
I don't want to look back and think,
"Man, I was hard on her." 
Sarcastic comments don't help.
From me.
"A gentle answer turns away wrath.
But a harsh word stirs up anger." 
Proverbs 15:1.
It's good advice.
I should listen to it more often.
I don't want to miss out on the fun 
times because I'm angry that they're
at each other, again.
I'm so lucky I worship a God who
forgives me.  Who shows mercy and grace
and tells me to try again and again.
Sometimes we give the best we have
at the moment.  But, I know I can do
better at times.  
Parenting is hard.
But, I'm so lucky to have my 
children.
And even luckier that I have a 
Teacher that I can learn from.

field trip

Today, Jada's preschool class went to...

 This little guy REALLY wanted to have Jada with him at all times.  "Jada, come sit by me!"  

"Jada, want to go to the swings with me?"

"Jada, wait for me!"

"Jada, hold my hand!"

I'm pretty sure his mom filled him up with candy before we came.

I bet you can't tell which one is my Jada in this line-up.

I know, you're shocked- Jada... in a skirt... when everyone else is in jeans!  I love this kid! 

First, we all sat down to listen to a lady talk about pumpkins, gourds, and corn.  One kid asked if we were going to be doing boring stuff all day.  HA!  Miss Mari was hilarious when she announced that this kid felt like the tiny spinning gourds were worth his time here at the pumpkin patch.  

Then, we picked pumpkins, and played on the "jungle gym."

I kept asking her if she wanted to sit

like Kyle on the horse swing.

After a while, she replied, 

"No Mom, I'm sitting like

a princess does!"

Here is my shocked face...

some things never change!

The last thing to do was the slide.  This was Miss Mari's face at one point.  

I do NOT know how she has so much patience.  She's such a great teacher.  So beautiful.  She's the perfect teacher for Jada.  So girlie.  So funny.  And she understands these little creatures.  

 Today's field trip with Jada was the perfect way to spend my afternoon away from school. Such a fun little girl. Love you, Jada!

 

ouch

This Childs is a biter.

 He may look at sweet and innocent, but two of us now have been bitten by him.  Watch out- he first tackles you, then he takes a hold of your shirt and your SKIN with his teeth and he pulls!  Yep, this kid gets time outs.  "Your teeth are not for biting people." OUCH!
 
 

Omaha

What happens when our family goes to Omaha?

Bug wrestling:

Chicken shopping:

 Lunch while wearing sunglasses:

 dog chasing:

 And.... THE PIZZA MACHINE!!

 Thanks for a fun weekend, Mimi and Papa, Hannah and Tom, Amanda, Grandma Applegate and Aunt Louise (and Paris, Lilly, Abby, and Mirada)!!

 

Fall

I Knew It was Fall Because...

On Monday monsters invaded my classroom.

On Tuesday two little girls wanted

to rake my leaves for money.

On Wednesday a super hero jumped

off the fire hydrant to save someone.

  On Thursday a baby monster

  smiled at me.

 On Friday yellow leaves 

appeared on our tree.

And that's how I knew it was Fall!

Bulletin Boards

They're up!

The girls had so much fun 

going through their stuff.  

They wanted to put up things they

made last year, AND this year.

Why not?

I love that they're so proud of

the things they make.  

Now, Gracie won't be worried about

me throwing her things away-

it will just be put up on the bulletin board.

(Yes, that's what she actually said

to her ART teacher last year- that 

she can't take her work home because

her mom will throw it away.

Sad!)
Thanks, Amy, for letting me
steal this idea from you!