Happy Halloween

We made it around the whole circle this year. We skipped a lot of houses at the end to get home quicker, but everyone had a great time. W did end the night happy and tired We were also very excited about getting to eat a piece of candy! Bryson wasn't so sure about the night and spent most of the night riding in his car. He got out a few times, but had no idea what he was doing. Anytime someone dropped something into his bucket he would look inside for it.
Note: I know why these plastic pumpkins cost only a $1. We have never put this much candy into them and carried them around. When they get heavy the thin plastic handle really digs into the hand. I will have to hunt for new bags for next year. If I get really serious maybe I will make something when I am feeling crafty!

Mason's School Halloween Party

Oh, I have mixed feelings on being a party mom for school. Our school makes each grade have the same exact party for all the grades. We have 3 kindergarten classes, so you have to plan the party with two other moms and make it the same. Making a craft for 24 kids is fun, but doing it for 75 isn't as fun. Working out schedules to get everything planned is tons of fun as well. I found cute little signs for each group of kids so they would know what station to go to. I divided them up into groups based on the signs. Rob printed cute name tags for me out of skeleton font and then we put the coordinating stickers on them to place them into groups. My kids had a great time painting the signs prior to the party!
I love to look at the costumes. Our school also does a parade so you get to watch all the kids walk through. Well, I didn't because I had to get everything set up, but I did watch Mason go through.
Nothing makes a party run smooth like stations! I dressed up as a witch with long eye lashes! I also had witch stockings on that were red and orange stripped! I think everyone had a good time so I would call it a success!

Pumpkin Carving

We did our annual pumpkin carving. The kids help more and more each year, but still can't stay focused for the whole carving process. They really enjoyed gutting our pumpkin. Ellery was slow to start, but once she got her hands dirty she was having a great time. They really enjoyed picking out what to carve. I am going to give one of those "I remember whens" Brace yourself for it, because I remember when carving a normal jack o lantern was pretty darn cool, but noooo. It is not good enough for our children and considered boring. Mason chose the Superman symbol, Ellery chose Little Mermaid, and by default they chose an Angry Bird for Bryson because they both really wanted an angry bird, but wanted their first choices more. They were very convincing that Bryson would want this one! I tried to say Bryson would like a normal jack o lantern, but as you can see I lost! Thank goodness Rob has master carving skills!

Bryson pretend feeding

Bryson loves to play in the toy kitchen. He also loves to pretend to feed himself. He will go through the kitchen to find a good bowl and spoon and then walk around feeding himself or Ellery's babies. He prefers to feed himself, but after he stirs up whatever he has prepared for himself!

Reality Bites

Wow, I may not be able to live on island time forever, but coming back to reality really bites!!! While we were on the island and going down town for shopping we choose to ride public transportation for $1.25 rather than paying a cab $20. We met a police officer on board who was on his lunch break and was drinking a beer and socializing with friends. He gave us tips and tricks on our shopping, but as we were talking the bus stopped in the middle of the road. We looked around to find a man that had flagged down the bus to stop for him and the bus did. He also wasn't hurrying as fast as he could to get up to us and no one seemed to mind. That is when Rob looked at me and said you would never survive here on island time. He is correct, but now that I am back into the busy shuffle of life, I just might welcome island time back! Another thought could be that my body is in shock from lack of alcohol?

Brit-ten-ey

While we were out playing in the Bahamas, Brit-ten-ney was here playing with our kids! Ellery is the only one who actually pronounces her name correctly. They had a great time with her, she was adventurous and took them to the pumpkin patch, church, and burger king playplace. Rumor has it that she was ready for kids even though she just got married, but after her 5 days with our kids she has decided to wait a bit. She did a good job, I don't think she realized how exhausting kids could be!

Bryson 15 Months

We have a hand full in this one. Mainly because our hands are full with the other two and this one adds to the mix. He is up and moving and into everything! He loves anything and everything that is small enough to be held in his hand. His favorites are barbie shoes and legos. He never eats them, just loves to carry them around. He also loves anything and everything the other two are doing. He has no idea the meaning of age appropriate. He still is our happy go lucky man as long as he is involved. He is also our best belly laughter. We can get him to laugh anytime or anywhere. It is so sweet it fills the room and makes everyone else giggle and happy. He has a fascination with any ball as well. Depends upon the day if he is a good eater, and he loves to throw food. Errrrr. Doesn't say mama or dada, but says. I want that or who's this or whats this. He also says cat and dog, but he adores the cat. He continues to be a good sleeper during the night and is close to losing his two naps a day.

Bahamas-Lunch Views

Bahama Recreation

Bahama life is grand. You can eat and drink all day so that is a bonus, but you can also do all sorts of water recreation. We did some snorkeling as usual. We really enjoy seeing the marine life! We also took out the gigantic tricycle. Not pictured is us doing the standing paddle boats. You go alone on a long surf board looking floatie and maneuver yourself around with one oar. The man giving me instructions told me that I was 99.9% sure going to fall into the water at least once. I only fell once and then was a maneuvering fool out in the ocean. Rob had more falls and finally took to his knees to keep up with me! I have a better center of gravity than he does! It was a lot of fun, but hard to turn and steer.
The Queen's Staircase
This was a fun adventure. We went into town because Rob loves to buy sim cards in foreign places so he can use his phone. We had to go into a boring store to get it so I started reading a book about the Bahamas and it talked about the Queen's Staircase. Most people would have taken a cab and played it safe. Not us! After we were off the main path for a bit and passing the hospital and not seeing anymore tourists, I could sense Rob getting nervous about my impromptu adventure, because I was getting nervous as well. It was worth the nervousness because it was beautiful and we learned a lot of history. I enjoy it, but Rob loved it. At the top of the staircase was a fort and more vendor shopping. Hello bonus, it was like I planed this excursion just for Rob. He is rubbing off on me, in my old days I wouldn't have been so open to unplanned events and off the main path excursions!

Lastly, the SHOPPING was fun! I have a lot of Coach bags and I even bought Rob a Breitling watch. Oooo la la!

Happy Anniversary to US! The resort kept wishing us happy 4th Anniversary, so we went with it!

Private Island

Sandals had a private island that you had to take a boat ride to. The boat came every hour. It was a very relaxing romantic place. A vacation from the vacation. We went frequently due to the grouper wrap they served for lunch only on the island!

Bahama Mama

Happy 10 years to us! Rob took me to the Bahamas. I am a true Bahama Mama!

Bryson's Eating Habits

Bryson has found a new way to nourish himself! His mind amazes us and how he gets tickled over things!

Trunk or Treat

Ellery's school had trunk or treat tonight. We got everyone dressed and out for some goodies.

We had hand me down costumes for Bryson, but who can resist this cute sock monkey costume? Obviously, not me!

Superman had to wear a mask part of the night, even though he knows Superman doesn't really wear one.

Batgirl was super exited to have a cape.

Mason Parent Teacher Conference

Mason Student Progress is: Making Expected Progress. Not a surprise to us. He is doing great at school and loves every minute of it! His favorite thing about school is now recess, but lunch still comes to a close 2nd. He also enjoys "free choice centers." He did mention that he also likes the days that I come and volunteer in his class!

He is reading like a champ, but lacks confidence. We are working on it, and if you peek into his room while he is having quiet time, before bed, or early in the morning you will find him reading his books and trying to sound out words. I think he likes to be perfect when he reads them to us! A whole new world has opened up to him and he is enjoying reading everything.

We also spend a lot of time rhyming. He loves to rhyme. He also is great at math, but doesn't realize it. He does math all the time when we are playing etc, but if you ask him if he wants to work on his math skills he says he doesn't have any. Funny funny kid!

Face Painting

We hit the Omaha home show for the first time and we thought it would be fantastic home show like the Milwaukee one. We wouldn't call it fantastic, but we still had a good time. The kids really enjoyed getting their faced painted! They also had a spectacular dog show that kept everyone's attention that they really enjoyed watching!

On a side note: Mason has finally progressed from always requesting his face to be painted as Spiderman to Batman.

The Bathroom's Play Pin

This is my new play pin and it works for all parties involved unless someone turns on the water. Which then it only works for the contained parties and not so much for the mommy who was trying to get ready!

Screams from the bathroom

Screams from the bathroom isn't that uncommon, but it usually is the words "I'm Done" Which really means I am done pooping and need to checked or wiped! Ellery kept repeating "Mason don't" and "Mason stop that" in her sassy voice. I went to investigate to find Ellery sitting on the toilet while Mason was peeing in the back end of the toilet! Ewwwwwww Maybe I should think about revisiting my potty training ways!

Do you think I have my hands full?

I don't think I have to say much here. It puts my parenting skills to the test. Thank goodness my older two are good kids because this one is really on the move!

Wedge

Another Driver

We have our final driver! He loves to be pushed around, the only problem is that he has more pushers who don't stand taller than the handle. Let's just say Bryson doesn't mind doing a wheelie!

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Another year another visit to Vala's. This is our pumpkin patch on steroids.

Bryson loved the corn pit. We found corn in his diaper after we got home and of course he carried pieces in his hand during our visit! Doesn't eat them, but loves to hold them.

Mason won the pig races again this year. If your pig wins the pig races you get a pig nose! I don't think he realizes how lucky that is! Two years in a row his pig has won!

We also rented a fire pit and roasted hot dogs and smores. Bryson sacked out before he could finish his graham. Precious!

Mr. Fix It

I do have a wonderful Mr. Fix it when he finds the time. We have had such a nice fall that it gave my time management challenged husband more time to fix some of my honey do's! I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work and dedication. I want them done yesterday and he wants them done within the next decade. You can imagine how our thoughts and views clash sometimes, but he tries hard and I really do appreciate it!

Monkey-ing Around

Ellery wanted to wear a monkey costume today and wore it most of the day! What you don't see in the picture is that it is a capri monkey costume this year!

Mail Suprise

We got a nice mail surprise from Nana. Mason is not pictured because he snagged the legos she sent and is putting them together. Ellery had to put on the headband, glasses. bracelet, and comb barbies hair-Immediately! I am not sure what Bryson was doing during this process! Poor guy! Thanks Nana for thinking of us!

Lotion Up

I will let Rob claim this child, while I blame eating lotion on him? I need to ask our parents if we ate lotion as a kid. Bryon can't get enough of it. Doesn't matter the brand or type. Lotion vs vaseline he eats it all! We lube him up after a bath and he puts his hand out for some lotion, rubs it in like a good little boy, and then he eats it! Ewwwww. This is the kid who loves to carry the tiniest things around in his hands, but he does not eat them or put them close to his mouth. We are talking legos, barbie shoes, tiny game pieces, and left over food particles that he finds on the floor. Maybe we should do an experiment and put a pile of lotion on the floor and see what he does with it? Nobody panic, I am not going to do it!

Listening Ears

We made some listening ears!
If only these worked!!!

Nebraska vs Ohio

I am sad to report that my brother and his wife missed our yearly tradition to go to a Nebraska football game. If it was up to me I would have skipped the event without them, but then my husband reminded me that he would like to go. So we kept the tickets we got for all of us and invited our friends to go with us to the Big 10 home opener game against Ohio. Hello, these are my brother's two favorite teams and I could careless who won! I refused to wear red, so I went with white! We did enjoy some yummy tail gate food provided by the Keith family and then headed out to explore. We thought we were cute taking a picture on the "r" for Rob!
It did rain during the game and I amazed at the fans. I would have preferred to go back to the car and enjoy some adult beverages rather than sit in the cold rain, but the atmosphere was good. Rob was prepared and bought us disposable ponchos so all was taken care of! We did have a great time, but I did miss my brother. Thank goodness for cell phones and texting!
I was talked into kicking a field goal by my loving husband and strangers. I didn't realize he recorded it. The funny thing is my friend Corey recorded it from a different angle. Rob kept the camera on me and my reaction for actually getting it through the goal, while Corey proved that it went through the goal! Enjoy making fun of me, but I did have a good time in case my reaction didn't give it away!

Gigantic Bug Mom

Ellery came and got me to show me a "gigantic bug". "Hurry mom come quick so you can see it." I hurried only to find a nat flying on the inside window. I squished it with my finger and took care of our "giaganitc bug" problem. Ellery only let out an ewwww mom and off she went! How I ended up with a kid that hates bugs is beyond me? I am blaming this one on her dad!

Pooley's Kitty Cats

Oh I am one lucky mom! We resisted these sweet little creatures! I won't make you read to the end to find out that we DID NOT come home with a new kitty cat. I do know seeds were planted and sweet kittens are wanted. Not by one, but all three kids. I think I am screwed because Rob is a cat person. Yikes! I do have to admit they were sweet and I would think about getting a kitten, but not while we have DC. She is a great cat to us, but not so friendly to other animals. We spent a good 20-30 min holding and playing with the kittens. I tempted them with pony rides and face painting and they were willing to hold kittens instead. We did go do the pony ride, but once we were done we went straight back to the kittens. Once we got away from them we had a good time, but I could have brought them to hold kittens and left the pumpkin patch and my kids would have thought it was the greatest trip to the patch! Maybe I will let them open a box some year with a kitten inside?!

Pooley's Pumpkin Patch

We headed out to a smaller pumpkin patch for some fun!Despite the wind blowing we managed to have that fun! I have fond memories riding and playing on a tire swing as a kid. I thought our tiny tire was great, but I just learned my parents cheated us, because this giant tire swing brought a lot of fun. No surprise it was Ellery who wanted to swing and swing and swing and did I mention swing? The girl loves to swing!
Bryson was thrilled to attempt the bigger toys! As long as he is a part and can see the action, he is content with watching or playing in his own space.
Ponies are always a hit, but only for one go round. Maybe my kids just think you only get to go one time around on a pony ride?
I absolutely love sticking my head, the kids heads, and even Rob's big head in cutouts! This brings me joy!
We roasted some smores and called it a day at the patch, almost like a day at the farm. We ran through the corn maze, played on barrels of big hay bales, pretended to drive old tractors, petted the bunnies and baby chicks. Oh and the cats. The cats were so precious they get their own post!