Truck cart

Jaxson was with Kaden and I while we ran some errands this morning. Our last stop was Food Lion. Kaden loves cars, trucks, tractors, buses, etc. Each time we go to the store now, we have to use the "truck cart" (or car cart)! The one that Lowe's has is really neat!
This makes shopping a whole lot easier, although it can be tough turning the corners!

Peek-a-boo!

Seventh and final project!

This morning I drove the children to school with their decorated pumpkins. I'm so glad to see them out of the house! I now have my counter space back and all the paints put away.Avery wanted to make Shrek for his project. We did the best we could! I had made play dough one time when Jaxson was here playing with Kaden. It just so happened to be green, which we used for the nose. Kassie was a big help forming the nose and making the ears from empty toilet paper rolls. Unfortunately, by the time we got Shrek into the school building both ears had fallen off! I'm sure the teacher has glue. I'm hoping to now have a break from school projects for a very long time!

Six down, one more to go!

We're almost done with all these October projects, and I can't wait! Bryson's pumpkin decorating project is a jack-o-lantern that dressed up as a ghost for Halloween. Nana and Pappy brought us more pumpkins today. I might get brave and bake a pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin! I have only ever used canned pumpkin. I'll have to wait for some day this week when I'm feeling ambitious!

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Ashton wanted to decorate a pumpkin for her school this year. The project was optional. She decided to do the nursery rhyme Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater.
Looks like Peter's wife is going to have a hard time trying to get out!

The back of the pumpkin was bare, so Ashton added a mouse with cheese!

Character Dress-Up Day

Avery and Bryson also had to dress up like a character in a book and give an oral report. Bryson was Jeremy Jacob from the book How I Became a Pirate. He did his own make-up!

Avery dressed up as "the small cowboy" from the book Bronco Busters.

They said their reports went well. We still have two more projects left to do. I'll be so glad when this month is over!

Junie B. Jones

Tomorrow Kenzie presents her first "book talk" for Character Dress-Up Day. She chose to be Junie B. Jones from the book Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl by Barbara Parks. She needed green ribbon/bows around her head and waist. I found 2/3 yard of green material in the remnant bin at Wal-Mart for one dollar. Kassie made the bow and sash.

Kenzie did her written report earlier in the week and has been practicing her oral presentation. She said she is sort of nervous, but I'm sure she'll do fine!

Two down, five to go!

I know it doesn't look like much, but it took more time than you think! Bryson insisted that his Washington Monument be made out of sugar cubes. (Wal-Mart, $1.08 a box.) In order for the monument to get slightly smaller as it went up, we had to shave some of the sugar cubes. This morning I drove the younger children to school so the monuments didn't have to go on the bus. When we got to Avery and Bryson's classroom, I was pleased to see other monuments more plain and simple than our own. I'm just glad they're done and out of the house! Next we'll be working on finding costumes to match the character of a book and preparing oral reports for Avery, Bryson and Kenzie. We did the written reports this weekend. Avery and Bryson also have two pumpkins waiting to be decorated. Ashton also wants to decorate a pumpkin for school, but hers is optional. I'll be glad when this month is over!

One down, six to go!

Between Avery, Bryson and Kenzie we have seven school projects due within the next two weeks, including oral reports. Today we got one done, as done as it's going to get! Fortunately for me, Avery decided he did not want trees added to the grass of his Washington Monument! Now if I can just talk Bryson into the same thing. We'll be putting his Washington Monument together next!

Think we'll get points off for dripping glue?

Notice how I use the word "we"? This is just as much my project as it is Avery's! Kassie and Ashton also helped.

Pappy's Pumpkin Patch

For the last few years Pappy has been planting pumpkins in his garden for the grandchildren. Yesterday we had to go to Gettysburg for Brady's orthodontic appointment. Our first stop was Pappy's pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins.
The pumpkin flowers are all but withered and gone.

Brady uses one of Nana's kitchen knives to cut our pumpkins from the vine.




We picked this little one especially for Kaden.

Hey Maren, you're right! My camera does have the micro and super micro mode! I finally learned how to use it, and was practicing with what I found in Pappy's yard and garden.

Chestnuts roasting by an open fire...

My red blessing

Last week I was given a garbage bag full of very nice clothes. Most were like new, one item had the price tag still on it. All of these clothes were too big for me. I wanted to try to find someone who I thought could use them. In the meantime, I set them aside. A few days later someone on Freecycle asked for large size clothing. I offered her this bag of clothes. She was so appreciative and left me a hand written thank you note and a small decorative pumpkin when she came and picked up the clothes. She and I continued to communicate through email. I then told her that I also had three coats that were too big for me and that she could also have them if she was interested. She told me that since I had been so generous to her, she wanted to do something for me. She said she had a closet full of clothes size 4 to 14 that no longer fit her, and wanted to know what I might need. Well, since I was giving away my beautiful long winter coats, I no longer had one. I asked if she had a long winter coat that I could wear to church. I delivered the coats I had to her and picked up this gorgeous red wool coat in return! I just love it! It's my blessing in red!

Happy Birthday Ashton!

I can remember like it was yesterday... I just gave birth to our third child, a girl! What are we going to name her? We had a list of names, but hadn't settled on one before her birth. We had decided we first needed to look at her. I can still hear Dale saying, "She's an Ashton!" At the time I thought Ashton was a girl's name, apparently not. Oh well! It all worked out for the best since she's my tom-boy! (She makes her Nan Nan proud! She too was a tom-boy!) Along with being a tom-boy comes Ashton's love for reptiles and critters. When she came home from school last Friday and saw her snake cake, she was so tickled! She grinned from ear to ear as she said, "It's awesome!" I'm certainly not a cake decorator, but I made Ashton's eleventh birthday memorable non the less. I got out several bags of candy and had Ashton make the snake her own!

In case you haven't guessed, these are Ashton's favorite colors -- green and orange. Her birthday was Friday, October 12th.

Check one two, check, check one two

These are the words my husband repeats over and over into the microphone when doing a sound check for his band. I couldn't help but think of them for this post. Dale bought a new computer and has been working at getting things switched over. I liked things the way they were. I'm not big on change, especially when it comes to the computer. Just when I knew where to retrieve my pictures to blog, got familiar with the programs, he goes and changes everything! Now it's all different and I'm doing a trail blog, a sound check if you will. Ashton and I wore similar outfits to Stake Conference last week and the children were taking turns taking our picture. Kaden was being fussy at the time and only wanted his "Bobby" to hold him. The pictures aren't the best, but my young photographers are learning.

Kaden loves his "Bobby"! (Have you ever known a child to switch their M's to B's?)

An October Tradition

Each year for as long as I can remember, Rayna Homan has been making "Pumpkin Brownies" and delivering them to the families of our ward during the month of October. It's an October tradition my children look forward to. We never know which day in October will be our lucky day, so each year it's still a surprise when the pumpkin brownie arrives!

This year it couldn't have come at a better time. We were in the middle of our Sunday night Family Home Evening when Chuck (Rayna's husband) made the delivery. I hadn't yet figured out what we would be having for our FHE snack. I was going to let Kenzie pick something from our food storage snack shelf -- Cheez-It's, cinnamon graham crackers, fruit snacks, granola bars, whatever she could find. Rayna's pumpkin brownie was way better than anything we had on that shelf! We ate half the pumpkin brownie, barely able to hold ourselves back from devouring the entire thing! I managed to save some for tomorrow's after-school snack.

Thanks Rayna!!!!

Early Halloween

This past Thursday I found an adorable shaggy dog costume at the church in Taneytown for only .50 cents! Ashton was anxious to try it on Kaden. He loved it, and refused to take it off!

Such a cute shaggy dog!

One of the best things about this Shaggy Dog, he likes to help with the cleaning!

Take me to school!

Each school day morning Kaden and I watch for the bus together. As it drives off with Ashton, Avery, Bryson and Kenzie on board we say goodbye and wave. Often times Kaden will fuss or cry as the children leave. Yesterday Ashton was trying to find ways to take Kaden along with her, and discovered he fits nicely into her backpack!

Are we ready for this?

Two weeks ago I bought Kaden a potty. Earlier in the week I put it together and placed it in the bathroom. Soon afterward he brought it out into the dinning room saying, "Potty! Potty!" He just had to try it out! Within a minutes time there was a small bowel movement in the potty! He sat a little longer and also urinated! At this point I left the room, turned my back for a minute and returned to find him still sitting on the potty, but with another small bowel movement on the floor! I placed it in his potty, because that's where bowel movements go! (Yes Shelley and Angie, I used a tissue this time! LOL!)

David Letterman and I now have something in common, we're both trying to potty train our sons! I know this is only the beginning, but I think we're off to a good start!

Another day, another hike

Our hike Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, my memory card had a malfunction! Another family hiked in the trail behind us and we ended up taking pictures with each other's cameras of our families. I saw the picture she took, but can't get to it now. I took several more pictures that I can't get to. My camera said, "memory card error". I don't know what that means or what happened, and my computer smart husband hasn't had time to look into it for me yet. I may have to buy a new memory card. That's fine, but I'd sure like to have my missing pictures! Oh well, good excuse to go back and re-hike the same trail!

Boy, would I like to have this brotherly love in my home 24/7! Guess I'll just have to take it when it comes and enjoy the moment!