A few little things

I went for a walk with Jens on his bike and Sylvie in the stroller. We were jogging along and Sylvie started shouting "Wun! Go fasser!! FASSER!" That's easy to say when you are the one getting a free ride, I guess.

My friend Natalie came over Friday morning to make bread. She got here before Mike left for work. When Mike was ready to go, he gave Sylvie a kiss and me a kiss and then walked to the door. Sylvie started crying, so distraught. "Nanee, kiss!" She was concerned that Natalie had been left out.

We had trunk-or-treat last night at church. Sylvie quickly caught on to what she should do, and all the way home she said "Cannee? Ha some? Sylvie?"

Jens is a Halloween pro at this point, and when he got home he started eating as much candy as possible. Finally I told him he could eat as much as he wanted, but that if he ate too much he would feel sick. His response: "You know how I feel? BAD!" Then we put him to bed.

My New ipod

takes video. How fun is that?

October 24th Happy Birthday!

I was well loved this year--lots of birthday wishes, a new bike, and a new ipod!! The demise of the last two inspired Mike to much appreciated action. Sylvie has been carrying around lots of little cups filled with treasures lately. This one has 2 sculpey bats, a sculpey ghost, and a gold dollar.

October 23rd

She doesn't look like she is enjoying this, but she really is. I loved the all-purple look. And she insisted on the purple cup.

October 21st

Happy Birthday a few days early! At last, my stolen bike has been replaced. And, dare I say, significantly upgraded.

October 20th

More cheesing.

A Bonus Post: Compare Contrast

It struck me today that I hadn't done one of these in a while. I always enjoy browsing through pictures, especially pictures of my cute little people.

October 17th Sunday at our house.

Sylvie and I had a serious battle over getting dressed on Sunday. I wanted her to wear this adorable, soft, blue dress. She was furious! When I put it on her she just screamed, then unbuttoned it and tried to pull it off. I distracted her with breakfast and then she was fine, and in fact, looked adorable.

She calls taking pictures "Cheese." Can you tell?

Reading with Dad.

It rained on Sunday and Jens wanted to go out and play but we couldn't find and umbrella, so we improvised.

October 16th Soccer Game

Jens paid attention the whole game this week. He mostly just loves running up and down. Afterwords one of the families had a soccer BBQ, which was very fun. There are a lot of nice boys on Jens's team, and the nice boys are attached to nice families, so we all enjoyed ourselves.

The Garden

I know I put up pictures of this back when I planted everything (above), but it has all filled in and is so pretty. I have been enjoying it all summer.

October 11th

Nothing like dinner outside. The kids were playing so nicely together and it was so peaceful inside that I decided this was much to be desired.

October 11th

More Halloween crafts, thank you Laura. We can't get enough pumpkins and ghosts around here!

October 17th

This week was a busy one! So busy I didn't do a really great job of taking pictures of everything. So no photos today, sorry--I'll put one up tomorrow, promise.

Sylvie has been her bouncy, cheery self. Her hair is past her shoulders and she tries to say everything. She likes to hop like a frog and say "ribbit." She also loves to tag after her brother and get very dirty.

Jens had 4, yes FOUR play dates this week. Two with Nathanael, one with Tyler, from school, and one with the Harrisons. He is a social boy, and he loves getting to play with other kids. He also got to go to a high school football game with Mike on Friday night. They had a good time being guys. After they'd been at the game for awhile, Mike asked Jens if he was having fun watching the game. "I like to watch the cheerleaders," he responded. "They're cute." He also boogied to the band and came home excited about going to another one.

I got to do a few fun things this week, too. On Wednesday I went to Jens's class to teach FAME. We talked about Goya and Greig, then did a cool art project with texture. I love seeing the kids in Jens's class. They are pretty cute. On Thursday I went to YW in Excellence, which was just darling. They did an awards show theme--"The Emma Awards" and it was a really nice evening. Afterwords I loaded myself up and went to Modesto to spend the night at the Mower house. Kristin and I had a great time Friday morning, although I was a bit of a distraction from the purpose of her visit, which was helping her mom sort and clean. We stayed up too late and did lots of talking and had a delicious lunch out and didn't have to take care of any kids. Thanks to Mike (my Mike) and Michelle for taking care of the kids for me.

Mike has been working hard all week. We have been swimming a few evenings a week, which I am loving. He just got a few books to help him with his technique and to come up with a training plan for his triathlons next summer.

The week was topped off with soccer and cleaning the roof and gutters on Saturday and the primary program on Sunday. Jens did great--he even sang the songs.

October 9th

Anyone care to guess what we did on Saturday? Anyone? Fine. I'll just tell you.

We did what we do every Saturday.Went to a soccer game and . . .
Apple Hill immediately afterwords.
She's on the run! Dog chooses this one.

Don't you wish you could come visit? We would stuff you with apple pastries and let you pick out a pumpkin to bring home.

October 8th

It is Halloween around here, which means pumpkin food:
(These are pumpkin pancakes--add 1 c. of pumpkin and some pumpkin pie spices to your regular pancake recipe--it makes the pancakes more filling, orange colored, and tasty.)

And Halloween crafts:

Thanks, Katy (@ thedillspiel.blogspot.com) for the idea. Where has Sculpey been all my life? I happen to know that I would have loved and I mean LOVED this stuff when I was younger. Although, I have plenty of love for it now, too. I have a feeling it will be back at Christmas time. Brace yourselves for home made ornaments!

Even Sylvie is getting into the spirit, although she still cries a little every time we pass the scary witch at Lowe's. She loves pointing out pumpkins and shouting "Hal-o-een!"

October 6th

An impromptu project because I always need one more thing going on around here.

Before: (look at the yard, not the boys)
And After:
Thanks to Michelle and Mike, who kindly let us haul away their leftover sod. I used every single scrap and it covered the back dirt strip perfectly. We are calling it our "experimental grass" because we aren't sure that there is enough sun back there to keep it going. Cross your fingers for us.

October 6th

A little Halloween preview:
Who wouldn't want to be rescued by a super hero as cute as this?

On a side note, one day at lunch, I was encouraging him to eat his peas so he could be strong like Batman, since that is what he is dressing up as for Halloween. He complied and cleaned his plate. The next morning he came down for breakfast and announced that he wanted cereal and peas, so he could be super strong.

October 5th

Up close and personal with Sylvie and her food.



I am not sure why she felt her mouth needed to be inches away from her hands, but it was pretty funny.

October 3

Look at my huge hair bow!And now I am sitting on the counter!

Apple Hill--again

Be prepared for a lot of pictures.

Natalie and I took the kids up to Apple Hill for some entertainment. The weather was surprisingly cool and rainy. We even got sprinkled on a little. We went to three places--Boa Vista (of course), Apple Ridge Farm, and High Hill, which was a crazy zoo with tons of people. Highlights include:

Treats (of course).

Fun in the pumpkin patch

More pumpkins

Tractors:

Does this look familiar? It is the same one we sit on every year.

Jens wanted to just sit on it and climb on it and sit on it. I was glad when some other kids came and wanted a turn so we could move on.

Feeding the animals was also popular. Sylvie loves animals so much. She was a little afraid of the chickens, which were really clucking and scratching.

And of course, more pumpkins.