Happy Halloween

If you are reading this and don't live in the Des Moines area you are probably wondering how I got these pictures up before Halloween arrived. In this neck of the woods they have something called Beggar's night the night before Halloween. That's when the kids go trick or treating and "beg" for candy. Anyway, it was a super night for it and the girls didn't even have to wear coats. In own town you can trick or treat around to the businesses on the town square before you go trick or treating house to house. We had never gone before but we went this year. Oh my goodness at the crowd!! I didn't know that many people lived in our small town. Turns out when everyone comes out of there homes all at once it makes a pretty good crowd of us. Here are some pics of the girls.

Hair raising.

I snapped this pic of Grace after her nap yesterday. The best part of the story? When I showed it to Byron he said, "What was in her hair?" My answer, "Nothing, she just woke up that way." If you can't find humor in that, then you've never cared for a toddler.

Also, isn't this pic of Maddie cute? I love babies in little jeans and sweaters. Luckily I snapped this picture 30 seconds before she spit up all over herself.

The runaway president

Today Kendall came home and announced that she had voted at school. Here's how the conversation went.
Kendall: "I voted today, just like you mom."
Me: "Voted for what?"
Kendall: "I don't remember."
Me: "Was it president?"
Kendall: "Yes, I voted for who is running away with the president."
Me: "Who did you vote for?"
Kendall: "I don't remember, but it is supposed to be a secret. (Pause) I guess I can tell you though, but no one else. Keep it in the family."
Me: "Okay, was it John McCain or Barak Obama?"
Kendall" "I don't know. I picked a picture."
Me: "Did he have white hair or brown hair?"
Kendall: "Brown hair. I picked the brunette one because I am a brunette too."

Decomracy is process people. The scary thing, I'm sure some adults use the same criteria.

Raingate...Day 3

Yes, it has been raining for three days here and Mommy is at the end of her indoor entertainment rope. Kendall didn't have school today so I had three to entertain instead of two. We've done it all. We made scary pictures for Halloween. Pretended we lived in the jungle. Fed, changed, and carried around babies (real and pretend). The kids played in their tent and I served them lunch in it. We made a cake to look like a pumpkin. We watched cartoons. We played mermaids. When Byron is not here I get to be King Triton which is nice because I'm usually Ursula. I used to be Sebastian until Madison came along. Kendall wanted to glue leaves to Madison's diaper and make her a "jungle baby" but I said the leaves were too crumbly to bring in the house. (thank goodness). I would be up for smearing lipstick on our faces for war paint and gluing leaves to ourselves and doing some kind of no more rain dance. I would actually be up for smearing lipstick on and leaving the house without the children. I let the kids stay in their PJs today because what is the point of changing? We won't be going outside and they'll just have to get back in their PJs in 14 hours anyway. Sigh....I know the rain will stop soon, but this is sucking up the last few days we can play outside without spending 30 minutes layering clothes to fight the elements. Oh well. Maybe it will be a mild winter. Ha!

Those little pink things

This is my super busy time of day but I have to blog about this or I will forget. Kendall has to bring snacks to school tomorrow and so she brought home the snack bucket from school. I had bought rice krispie treats but had forgotten to check for peanut oil. (There is a child in her class that has a peanut allergy.) I told Kendall that I was checking the label for peanuts. After reading I said "No peanuts, just milk. I guess the milk is from the marshmallows." Kendall said, "No mom, milk comes from cows, not marshmallows! It comes from those little pink things that hang down on them." I said, "Utters". She said, "What others? Milk only comes from cows."

Yummy, yummy, yummy...

Hey! No one told me about clean up time!



Fingers and toes taste better.

Maddie has taken her next big step toward leaving the nest, eating cereal!! Okay, so we may have a few more steps to go before we're dropping her off at college but you gotta start somewhere. She seemed to like it pretty well. Like her attitude with most things, she could take it or leave it. If anyone finds a onesie or t-shirt that says "whatever" then snatch it up for Maddie because that is her thought on everything.

Festival Time!

No Iowa Festival is complete without a big sandbox full of corn.

Maddie just enjoys taking it all in.

The most interesting thing to Grace was this tree bark she found.

Kendall making a beaded necklace.

There was a guy making balloons for charity. Kendall asked for a cat and he made the pink panther. He was very good except Kendall didn't know who the pink panther was.


It is our county's Covered Bridge Festival weekend and like any good citizen we went to support our community; mainly by shelling out cash! Here are some pics of the kids at the festival.

"Maybe the dingo ate your baby."

That's what I think of when I look at these pictures of Grace. Where did my baby go? She's not a baby anymore! She is starting to look so grown up. She is the funniest kid and so good natured about everything. Of course she is like an F5 tornado and destroys everything in the house. That will pass someday (I hope.) She always wants to help with Madison and she loves to play together. Whenever I give her a sippy cup, so gives all her stuffed animals a drink. She is very into sharing right now. I hope it lasts. She loves to dance and has what her father calls freak outs. She starts hollering and stomping her feet and laughing until she falls on the floor. We don't know what triggers them but they can come at anytime and anywhere. It's so funny. Yesterday she was riding in the cart at Wal-mart, but the cart got too full. She had to walk in the store and let me tell you, I've never seen someone two feet tall walk so proud in my life. She loved it. She did a good job. We only had one incident when she brought a box of cupcakes to me she wanted to take home. She is something else.

If You Give a Mom a Cookie

For all you moms out there who have read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie countless times.

If you give a mom a cookie, she'll ask you for a napkin.

When you give her a napkin, she'll want to wipe her kids' mouths.

Wiping the kids' mouth will remind her that she hasn't packed their school lunches yet. So, she'll ask you for the peanut butter.

When you give her the peanut butter, she'll remember she needs to clean that sticky stuff on the refrigerator handles. So, she'll ask you for a sponge and some kitchen cleaner.

She'll clean the refrigerator handle, and ask you to hold the door. She'll clean the shelves, the vegetable crisper and the stuff oozing out of the duck sauce jar.

The duck sauce will remind her that she forgot to make dinner reservations for Saturday night. She'll ask for the phone.

When she reaches for the phone, it'll ring. So, she'll answer it.

Someone will ask her to volunteer for the upcoming school fundraiser. She'll agree and ask you for a pen and paper. Then she'll hang up.

Hanging up will remind her she forgot to put the dry cleaning away. So she'll go upstairs.

In her room, she'll forget why she went there in the first place. So, she'll go back downstairs.

On the way downstairs, she'll find the phone message about helping with the fundraiser. She'll pick it up, and ask for the phone.

She'll call a friend, who promises to donate plates to the fundraiser. The plates will remind her she needs someone to donate napkins. She'll ask you for the napkins. And chances are, if you give her the napkins, she'll want a cookie to go with them.

Except, someone else already ate it.

Taken from 14 Hours 'Til Bedtime by Jen Singer