Happy or Mad?

Tonight is the night that the girls chose between happy or mad. The story is that every time in the past two weeks we have seen a jack-o-lantern face they yell out whether or not the pumpkin looks happy or mad. Both girls were very involved in the pumpkin guts removal and were thrilled to make a collection of pumpkin seeds. Check out the following photos and the "happy" or "mad" end result.

Stage 1: The Blueprint

Stage 2 : Guts Removal
(Amelia prefers the spoon technique)

Stage 2 continued
(Natalie prefers to dig right in)

Stage 3: The Gross Out
(Can't you just hear what Nat is saying?)

Stage 4: The Final Swipe
(Amelia prefers her pumpkin really clean)

Stage 5: The Last Seed Search


Behind the scenes work by Mom and Dad
while the girls watched their nightly cartoon....
Stage 6: The Dissection
Stage 7: The Clean-up

Stage 8: The Finished Product

(The consensus is "Happy" pumpkins this year!)

Home Sweet Home

Mike and I just returned from an anniversary trip (more appropriately titled "the last childless trip for a while before #3 comes along"). Care to guess where we were?


The next one is a dead give away...

We had a wonderful time. The girls had fun spending time with both sets of grandparents. I hope to be updating with some fall pictures soon. First I have to recover from my vacation and shin splints. (If you have ever walked in this town you know what I am talking about.) Then I will be back to blogging. Talk to you all soon!

What do good Mamas give?

Setting: 7:00 a.m. car ride to daycare

Me: "Girls, who is my Mama?"

Girls: "Nana!"

Me: "Yes, she loves me so much. Just like I love Natalie and I love Amelia. Mamas always love their girls."

Girls: "Yes, they do!"

Me: "Mamas show their love by giving hugs and kisses and..."

Amelia: "....and raisins!"


Little did I know that a small box of dried fruit means so much to her.

Happy Anniversary!

Our four year anniversary is not until this Thursday the 16th. But I couldn't wait to show the world what I got Mike in honor of this event*. Am I not the best wife in the world? By this act alone you would think men would be begging to marry me? Sorry guys...I am a one man woman.

He of course knows about this gift, since he picked it out...all 46 inches of it. He knows so much about it he could tell you the 10 digit product code from memory. Honestly I am not sure this is a good thing...it may be a sign of an obsession of some sorts.

The only sad thing is since we do not have the wall mount yet it will sit in the box for days possibly weeks to come. I am not sure Mike can handle the anticipation. And believe me when I say..................I can't wait to see what he get's me for our anniversary!



* ok...so I have to come clean. I didn't really get Mike this for our anniversary. It is "our" money we spent and buying this t.v. has been in the works for a while. But don't you think that I should at least get half the credit for agreeing to it??? Trust me....half is still alot!

Orange, orange everywhere

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the pumpkin patch. Much better than the day we were considering last weekend. We met some friends at the patch and had a great time walking through the pumpkins looking for what would make the perfect jack-o-lantern.

searching...searching...

"Hey sis, these are not as bouncy as I thought they would be."

Our best result after many attempts at a posed sister shot.

Festive Amelia

Natalie discovering that pumpkins do in fact roll.

Natalie sharing this newly discovered information with her sister.

They did in fact roll a few pumpkins directly
into the walking path of other patch patrons.

A family photo while waiting for our tractor pulled wagon ride to begin!

Finally.....

I have been a bit remiss in publishing the photos of our newly remodeled kitchen. It has been done for quite a while but with the busy start of the school year I keep forgetting to take new photos. So here they are....

kitchen before

notice the 1957 cabinets painted white many times over

kitchen after

new cabinets, granite counter tops and a tile floor

and additional counter space by the stove

Our new kitchen was well worth the 5 weeks of doing dishes in the tub. I love it and what matters more is Mike loves it. I am willing to do whatever makes the grocery shopper, meal planner and cook in my house happy!

Rain Rain Go Away

Last Sunday our family was desperately hoping to get to the pumpkin patch. When we went last year we went so late in October that there were not any pumpkins left. So this year we decided to be on top of things and hit the patch early. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we were rained out. We spent the day instead playing inside in our sweat pants and messy hair.

Quiet puzzle time

Not so quiet "let's kick our sister time"

Two two-year olds and all day rain do not go that well together. Needless to say we all survived and are looking forward to the pumpkin patch on a later date.

Trick-or-Treat Lesson #1

This weekend I took out our Halloween decorations. The girls were very excited about new things to look at and play with. One of their favorite things to now carry around are their plastic jack-o-lantern buckets for collecting goodies on Halloween night. They like to call them their "pumpkin purses".

I was trying to teach them that on Halloween night they will wear their special costumes and go to houses. When we get to the door they will have to say "trick or treat".

I was role playing this with the girls and I said..."and do you know what they will put in your pumpkin purses when you say trick or treat?"

Amelia answers, "yes.....apple crisp."


If anyone in our area is planning on passing out apple crisp for Halloween please let me know so we can be sure to stop by your door.

Grass Chips

Amelia at lunch time: "Look Mama, these chips have grass on them."

a pause as she chews....

then with her mouth full "it's yummy grass...mmmmm!"

Want to take a guess as to what she was eating?