It was Susanna’s turn to wear the beloved hot dog costume this year!
Yum!
Our MOPS church had a carnival last night, and the kids loved it!
Fishing for treats…
Traditional Hot Dog Pictures
Nov 1st, 2011 by ECM
Little Army Crawler
Oct 31st, 2011 by ECM
Honestly, I don’t remember the big kids army crawling this early. Susanna can cross the room in the time it takes me to turn around and do something for the kids. I wasn’t ready for her to be mobile yet!
Mission accomplished–Sophie in hand:
Hand-me-downs
Oct 29th, 2011 by ECM
Elizabeth was running low on pjs, so I raided Tommy’s old bin. These were my absolute favorites when he wore them, and it’s so fun to see her in them now!
A while back, Bethany wrote a great little piece on the distinction between arts and crafts. It definitely challenged me to encourage the kids to do more free art rather than set crafts. I am not artistic, so I rely heavily on others’ ideas (which tend to be on the crafts side of the spectrum). But yesterday, I opened up the art box and just let them go to work. Tommy (wearing pjs over his clothes because we actually were chilly yesterday morning) made a “baby holder.” Elizabeth spread a lot of glue on a toilet paper tube. They were happy.
Introducing Madeline and Pepito
Oct 27th, 2011 by ECM
The kids LOVE Madeline and the Bad Hat, so this year, they’re dressing up as Madeline and Pepito! After last year’s last minute stress to finish Tommy’s bear costume, I learned my lesson and started a month ago. Everything actually went really smoothly, so we’ve been playing with them for several weeks.
Moving into the Highchair!
Oct 26th, 2011 by ECM
Underwood Farms
Oct 25th, 2011 by ECM
If you’d asked me 3 or 4 years ago if I would ever take three kids to a pumpkin patch by myself, the answer would have been emphatically NO. Taking just Tommy to the pumpkin patch by myself would have been too overwhelming! But with a paucity of local friends and residual runny noses we didn’t want to inflict on the one and only friend we do have, the kids and I decided to go by ourselves.
I have to admit, I’m a sucker for farm-themed rides. I always wanted to do the little train ride type things when I was a kid, so I bought plenty of tickets for multiple rides. The kids enjoyed it–especially Elizabeth–but after only two minutes, Tommy was asking the man to stop it. He wanted out, and his sister decided she did, too. So much for all the tickets I bought…
We were able to use up some of them on a hay ride. If you didn’t see the mountains in the distance and if you pretended it was jacket weather, you could almost imagine we were home in the midwest.
Except for the exotic produce on the farm. The mom across the wagon snapped this one for us while we went past orange trees!
We decided to brave the corn maze. It was a little scary for the kids–and for me–because we spent about 20 minutes just trying to get back to the entrance, let alone find the corn pyramid and the exit.
Famished, we found that the only food they sell during the week is hot dogs and pop. Not even cider or doughnuts! The kids managed to consume hotdogs the size of their heads.
Then we played on tractors.
Then I thought it would be cute to get a threesome picture for the Christmas letter. Ha. These are the best out of about 50 attempts. Thank goodness I have a big memory card.
Yes, Susanna is eating straw. I didn’t notice it until just now.
6 Month Photo Shoot
Oct 24th, 2011 by ECM
With last week’s runny nose and all, I decided to wait for Susanna’s little 6 month photo shoot.
I’m so proud of her for sitting up.
She so badly wants to crawl!
Tommy’s Latest Book
Oct 22nd, 2011 by ECM
“Bert and Beth go on a moonwalk.” (I told him how to spell Bert–he sounded out the rest.)
This one was all him–he doesn’t quite get the writing left to right thing: “‘Grandpa,’ said Bert, ‘I would like to go for a moonwalk.'”
This is what things have been like all week. I get that three kids running around will trash any house. For some reason, the couch cushions will NOT stay on the couch, no matter what I do. But having Derek gone ’til late two nights and feeling so utterly exhausted myself this week means that I haven’t gotten to bring things to order in the evenings like I usually try to. And with the kids crying for Daddy or putting themselves to bed sick, I haven’t had my usual tidying help. I can handle mess in the middle of the day, but it’s so stressful to wake up to chaos, repeatedly. Watch out, carpet. As soon as this cold subsides, you and I are going to see more of each other.
