Scary Treats & Pumpkin Fun

Saturday night I made a frightful meal.

Ghostly potato planks



Mummy wraps



Spider web sides & eyeball salad



And last night we had Grandma & Grandpa & Great Grandma & Great Grandpa over for pumpkin carving & soup with bread.

Etta was not into touching the pumpkin "gunk" at all. I thought that this year she would like it...



Mae was a little interested in what was going on.



Grandpa carved Etta a Nemo!



Mae did get a little closer to the action.



Minnie Mouse & Nemo. Two favorites at our house.

I like how it looks like Minnie is looking at Nemo.

It's Halloween!

It's Halloween season and we have been living it up. I don't even know where to start so I will just start and try to do a post every day until I am out of pics!!

Last weekend we went to the corn maze with The Girls.

We were first greeted by what has become an unofficial motto of the U of I.



But it was on a pretty impressively painted machine!



We headed in with Bob in the lead. He had to have a map of course. But with a 3-year old that is walking, better safe than sorry.



The corn was very tall.



Then the girls got to check out the properly sized hay bale maze.



Mae like it because: 1)She could walk through it herself and 2) she could see over the sides.



Etta really liked being Joe Vandal!



And the girls had to take what was left.



Pumpkin carving and our themed dinner to follow.

Bright Girl

It was slightly overcast yesterday so both girls really stood out in their bright colors. Pretty much every single person we saw "oohed" and "aah-ed" over Mae. She is pretty cute.

Checking out the surroundings while waiting for the other kids to show up.



Check my sweet ride.



Here is a second shot of one that I posted yesterday. Both kids can never be looking at the camera at the same time...



Mae loves her pumpkin!

3.5

Can she be 3 and a half already?

Have 1,277 days already passed since that first day?

Has it been 2 years since The Big Party?

And one year ago (tomorrow) since we last visited the pumpkin patch?

Time flies when you are having fun.

And have fun is what we did today. Today was her very first field trip. "With [her] class! With 5 students in it!" And she was excited.

We got there (really) early because I did not want to be late. I thought she was going to burst. But we had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves.

The kids were asked to look off of the bridge and describe what they saw. Lots of answers of "rocks", "water", "dirt".



Standing by the pumpkins that they (I) picked out.



Eating an apple the "regular" way. She kept asking to eat it and I kept saying, "Let's save it for lunch". Her response was, "But mom all the other kids are eating their apples by just biting them!" Can't really argue with that (when it's about apples anyway). And she ate the entire thing!



My girls and I. (If you look closely you will notice Mae was not having a good time by this point. She missed her morning nap.)

Makin' Cookies

Last week Bob & Etta mixed up some sour cream sugar cookies & then cut them out in the shapes of bats, pumpkins & owls. I think that it is going to be fun this winter!

Cutting out the cookies.



Mae doing her own thing.



Bob busted sneaking bites of cookie dough after specifically telling Etta not to eat anymore dough.

Lunch with Daddy

We are pretty blessed to be able to have lunch with Bob every once in awhile. With Mae being at the wandering stage we have decided that it is easier - and probably nicer for the other teachers - to stay in his classroom to eat. That way the girls can just play as they finish up. And risers make the perfect "table" for kids this size!

Warming Up

Trying to get Mae used to the idea of a toilet. I think that she is going to think of it as a library even more than her big sister!

Portland, Part III

Part III begins with the drive home. Since I had run 13.1 miles we decided it would be good to stop multiple times on the way home so that hopefully I didn't get to stiff & sore.

I love waterfalls & since we went to Palouse Falls a couple of times Etta really likes them too. So of course we had to stop at Multnomah Falls!

We love this place!



Getting a good view.



Loving my big girl!



Bob needed a turn with the kids too. But I didn't want to take Mae out of her stroller...(She was tired & crabby. And wants to walk everywhere. Not a good combination where large bodies of water are involved.)



So simple, yet awe-some.

Portland, Part II

I got up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready & walk to the MAX to ride downtown. Thankfully it was only 3 blocks from the hotel & it only took me 6 minutes to walk there. Unfortunately it wouldn't take my credit card (but I later found out it was user error...) and I started to have a bit of a panic attack imagining various scenarios of calling Bob & having him bring the children, trying to make it back to the hotel and then back again and and and....

Back to the thankfully - there was an older gentleman decked out in his race gear who was also having technical difficulties. His response to the whole issue? "Let's just get on. And if they ask we will just tell them it wouldn't work!" Ummmmmm....sounds good to me. And as I was about to discover, there were so many people that got on between our stop & downtown (there finally wasn't room for anymore people) no one could have asked us even if they wanted to!

Andrea and I ended up running the entire way together. There is just something about running with someone else that makes it that much easier. And let me tell you what. When I got to mile 6 I was SO THANKFUL that I only had 7 miles to go - not 20!! I may do another marathon someday, but not anytime soon.

We crossed the finish line together at 2 hours and 22 minutes. Not too bad. The amount of food at the finish was staggering. Puts all other events that I have run in to shame. But since I felt like throwing up at the mere sight of food I just gathered some goodies for the girls, got my rose, sapling (which is now planted in our backyard), pendant & charm, and long-sleeved shirt and met my support crew.

We re-boarded the "train" (by far Etta's favorite part of the entire weekend) and headed back to the hotel for a shower before leaving town. Next time, part III.

Andrea and I posing for our post-race shot. Mae was dead set on using my finisher's medal as a teething toy. Boy, she really went to town on it!

Portland, Part I

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Portland so that I could run the Portland Half-Marathon with my college friend and roommate, Andrea.

To start the weekend Mae awoke with an approximately 103 degree fever on Friday night at 9:30 pm. I made a call to a friend/mom/nurse who recommended a medicine dose regime that we followed religiously all night. Saturday morning dawned bright and early and Mae seemed fine - fever broken - so we headed out. Made it to Portland around 3:30, found our hotel, ditched our stuff and started for down town to get registered.

Let me stop here and say that neither Bob nor I are big city driving people. But after a bit of stress we made it to The Hilton Portland, I got all my goodies and we got back on the road to meet our friends for dinner.

After we got back to the hotel Etta watched a bit of TV and then we went swimming in the indoor pool. Silly me, I thought it would be a warm pool since it was inside. Not so heated. But Etta loved it and it made the hot tub all that nicer.

After we got back to the room (and watched more TV) Etta decided she wanted Bob to sleep with her in her bed. Works for me since I had the race the next day but...Mae had a bit of a relapse and woke up every hour all. night. long. 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 and 4:00. Thankfully she was only 3 steps away.

I'll continue with the rest of the story next time, but for your enjoyment...

Etta settled right in to the hotel life. "This is my bed. But this is the bed that I will watch TV in until I want to go to sleep."



Mae hit the hay early after a quick bath while Etta & I were swimming. Bob didn't even have a chance to get her pj's on. We took this picture because she sleeps just like her Grandpa Eddy!

Go Cats Go!

Dear Uncle Erik,

I wore my Bobcat overalls for the first time yesterday. To school!! I really like them. So does my dad. Do you think they come in his size?

Thank you.

Love,
Etta



Dear Aunt Molly,

I wear my red Converse All-Stars to school almost every day. They make me run fast as fast. I'm glad that you know red is my favorite color.

Thank you.

Love,
Etta

Sharing the Love

Etta doesn't usually like to share.

But if Grandma Cathy is buying, and there is huckleberry ice cream involved, she is willing.

Note the spoon in the left hand heading away from Cathy. That would be directed at Mae who was screaming for her fair share from the stroller.

Red!

Red is Etta's favorite color. So two weeks ago (yikes!) when Beacon was having their "spirit week" and the color RED was the pre-k/k color for a Tuesday we were all very excited.



Even her backpack is red!



These are Etta's classmates. Since she just "visits" two days a week I'm not sure if they really even notice her. But it does seem like they are talking to her a bit more and including her. She doesn't seem to mind, there are a lot of fun things to do at school!