Friday Photo Flashback

This picture is from 1994. It is Byron and I at my high school's Sadie Hawkins dance. I'm not sure if everyone knows what the Sadie Hawkins dance is so I'll give you a very short tutorial. I think in other places they are called the backwards dance or MORP. It's just basically a dance where everything is backwards. The girl asks the boy. You do the opposite of dressing up. It is all very informal type stuff. Back then it was very popular for couple to wear the same flannel shirt. I'm not sure why. All I can say is I think I have 4 Sadie Hawkins pictures and my date and I are wearing matching shirts in each one. Goofy, I know. But fun!

Wordless Wednesday--Spooky Halloween Edition

Don't say that I didn't warn you about Grace from the start.

Goodbye Baby Tooth

Kendall just came rushing in from school and said she had an important announcement. She had a wiggly tooth. Sure enough, her bottom tooth is wiggling back and forth and will probably come out in a couple of days. Before becoming a parent, I wouldn't have thought twice about a kid losing their tooth. I taught 1st grade at one time and have seen plenty of teeth missing from kids mouths. I feel a little sad about Kendall losing her first tooth. Just another sign she's growing up I guess. The wiggly one is the very first tooth she ever got as a baby. I remember Byron and I being so excited when those teeth finally broke though. We must have sent a picture to everyone in the family of Kendall grinning with those two little baby teeth barely showing through. Now that same tooth is going to fall out of her head! So I have two questions for all you moms out there. 1. What is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days? and 2. What do you do with the teeth? I should probably say that teeth in general kind of gross me out. The worst thing to me is a pair of dentures. So, what do I do?

Pumpkin Patch

Just some quick pictures of the pumpkin patch from this weekend. I tried to think of something to write about but nothing came to mind. We went, we picked out pumpkins, we played around, we left. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. None of the kids did anything exceptionally funny. It was just a normal trip. I guess that's my story. The Halls went somewhere and everyone acted normal.

From the Mouth of Babes

Kendall has had some whopper statements here lately and I thought some of you might get a kick out of me sharing.


I was trying to coax her to get x-rays at her upcoming dentist appt. Her reply was "Yeah, they tried that last time. It didn't go to well."

After getting her x-rays and seeing her adult teeth were coming in she said this when I asked her to wait on the sidewalk for me before going into the parking lot to get in the van. "Mom, I almost have adult teeth. I think I can get into the van without assistance."

While driving and passing some cows, "Mrs. Reitzel (her teacher) likes cows. We should pick one up for her real quick."

Came home from the park with dad where they must have had wooden swings instead of the sling kind. "Mom, those swings were HARD!! I think they must have been the kind from the olden days. Did they invent swings when you were little?"

Grace said something that we couldn't understand. I asked Kendall if she knew what Grace was saying. "Nope. I don't speak Grace language."

First Snow (on October 10th!!!)

That's right. The first snow. The kids were very excited. You could hear an audible groan from most adults in the area this morning. Seriously? Snow already!! On a positive note, it's all gone by now and it's not suppose to come back until......Monday.

My Review of the New Resturant in Town

Cut the music and get this dude out of my face.

This is for all you Wintersetians (did I just make up a word?) that read the blog. Byron, the girls, and I went to Grace's Cafe Bar yesterday and I am going to right a review for you. Not because of the food (it was so-so) or the ambiance (it was below so-so) but because of the entertainment. If you don't know where it's located, it is right next to the Mexican restaurant that used to be really good a year ago but now has brought in what Byron refers to as the "B" team and now they're not as great. Byron swears he went in there once and the salsa they served was frozen. Yuck. Anyhoo, back to Grace's. The first thing I was interested in was the sign on the side of the building. The hard hitting news worthy Madisonian had published a letter to the editor that was complaining about how their crappy sign was bringing down the whole town square and making the whole place look like a rat hole. Honestly, I could name 10 things in 5 seconds down on the square that look worse than that sign but I won't because it seems a little petty to complain about a sign. Now, Byron and I had not planned to take the girls there. We were walking and riding bikes downtown and decided on a whim to have an early dinner. When we past it we were not even sure it was a place where kids should be. It's cafeish, but it's pretty barish too. There was only one guy in the whole place though and we thought "How rowdy could it really get in there with just one guy at the bar and us sitting on the other side in a booth?" It was only about 5pm for goodness sakes. And it was Sunday! We went in and everything was going pretty normal. The man at the bar had talked to us for a few minutes but then we both parted ways when we ordered. They have a jukebox in there that is free. I took the girls over to show them how it worked. This guy at the bar had the music in him. This guy started dancing for the girls. Not inappropriately, but kind of dancing around the table to see if he could make the girls laugh. The music went off and I thought "Thank goodness. He can sit down now." Nope. He put on some more tunes and started up again. This time he took Maddie's hands and waved them around in the air while he danced behind her. Maddie was not amused. Then he tried to get the girls to come out of the booth and dance with him. They declined. Byron and I both tried to diffuse the situation a couple of times but he never fully got the hint. He would stop dancing for awhile but he would start up again. He kept saying "I'm 61 years old and I can dance!" He was not drunk. He was just happy to entertain us while we ate. After I decided he was no threat, I let the girls interact with him a little more. We certainly had a good laugh during dinner and afterwards on the way home. Our bill was $18.91 for five meals, free music, and a show. You really can't beat that!

Friday Photo Flashback

This picture was taken of Kendall a couple of years ago at VBS. What in the world did they do to her to get her smile? If you could classify that as a smile. She looks like the joker on Batman!

Don't Cha Wish Your Sister was Cool like Mine...

Grace dancing and wearing one of Kendall's play dresses.

Maddie carrying Kendall's lunchbox.

If Maddie and Grace could articulate what they aspire to be their answer would be "my big sister Kendall." Those girls love to copy their big sister. Maddie follows Kendall everywhere she goes, including the bathroom. Except for Byron, the Halls are not big on shutting the bathroom door. I know its a bad habit. I have actually gone into the bathroom with company here and left the door open. So Kendall brings it on herself when I hear her tell Maddie and Grace, "I don't need an audience to do what I gotta do in here!" Shut the door child and your entourage won't be able to follow you in. Besides group bathroom sessions, Grace repeats everything Kendall says but acts like it was her own original thought. If Kendall asks for milk, Grace asks for milk. If Kendall has homework, Grace has some very important coloring to get done. Grace even puts on a backpack in the morning to watch Kendall get on the bus. Unfortunately, she usually isn't wearing pants and many times not even underwear. I don't see the reason to put on a backpack if your bare behind is shining under it for the whole neighborhood to see, but I don't have two year old logic. Even last night Kendall came into our room while it was storming and said she was scared. Grace was right behind her and said she was scared too. "Scared of what?", I said. "Momma, I scared. I scared like Tootie (what she calls Kendall). What I love though is Kendall takes it all in stride. She doesn't get frustrated when Grace repeats everything she says. She waits patiently when she gets home while Maddie runs up and down the hall a couple of times screaming in excitement. Don't get me wrong. Kendall has her moments when she puts them in a headlock and takes them down. They are sisters after all but I've got years of bickering to talk about. It's nice sometimes to remember all the sweet moments. It makes the body slams they give each other not so dramatic.