Rain and Mallows

Four days of non-stop rain can make you go a little crazy (or creative). I let the kids roast marshmallows over candle flames (with very close supervision) to kill some of the rainy day blues.

Here comes the sun. After the rain we were gifted with four days of sunny mid-70's weather. We celebrated with play dates and lots of outdoor play. Here the girls and their playmates took turns singing gospel and church songs at the top of their lungs - mostly "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and "Jesus Loves Me".

Addie's (temporary) pet lizard she found in the back yard.
She took the photo herself.

Future South Park Artist

So, I've never watched the show myself, but you know the animated comedy series "South Park"? I think Maycie has an excellent future ahead of her as one of their artists.

"Fil Bedr" and "Dir Dad"

Addie is such a sweet heart. She has combined her love for her family and her love of writing to create many cards of love and encouragement. My favorite part is her interpretation of words and spelling. Her teacher assures me her spelling is normal and even advanced for her age. But just in case you are not at her level, let me provide a translation...

This card was created after an Alex head injury. "Alex, I hope that your head feels better by tomorrow. Alex I hope that you can sleep good tonight."

"Dear Dad, you are the best dad ever because you are good to me and you are very fun too..." not sure about the next couple words. "...and you are very lucky to have so many money to have and very lucky to have and very lucky to have very lucky to have very very fun."

Little House and Alky-wall

I love introducing my childhood favorites to my children. Recently I've relived "Little House on the Prairie" with my family. It's one show I have complete faith will deliver entertainment and wholesome values that everyone will enjoy. The kids have actually learned some good lessons from the show.

In a recent episode they learned how alcohol - or as Alex calls it, "alky-wall" - can make someone hurt the people they love. I still get a kick out of Alex saying, "Mom, is he drinking alky-wall?"

Evil Step-mother

While scrubbing down the kitchen chair for her Saturday morning chores (which are rather sporadic) Maycie says, "Mom, you're just like the step-mother. If you tell me to do one more thing I'm going to run away."

Apparently I'm too nice during the rest of the week. Time to step up the work load.

September and October

Catch up time. After more than a month with a faulty computer I am finally able to catch up on the blog thanks to a generous gift from my sister Liesl and her husband, Scott. They shipped me Scott's old (but really quite new and nice) lap top from school. Thanks so much you guys. I'm so happy to be back on line.

September

It's my favorite time of year!!!

Macyie, the artist.

All my children love to draw and spend hours coloring and creating, but most of all, Maycie. I love the pictures, but more than that I love the stories she tells to go along with the pictures. I had a friend say that my kitchen table always looks like an art studio. I don't mind - most of the time - although I do feel a bit conflicted throwing some of the creations away. I probably save half and still don't know what I'm going to do with them all.

Here are some of Maycie's picture stories...

We recently had a Family Home Evening lesson on stranger danger. We had the kids act out what to do if someone they didn't know approached them and tried to get them to go somewhere. In the picture above Maycie drew a girl who is "sad" because a stranger in the blue car tried to take her. She has her pink butterfly friend to help her feel better. (Maycie's words).

Occasionally I would let the girls "do" my hair (before I cut it). I got a couple of cute pigtail creations. Maycie drew a picture of me with pigtails.

" Mermaid and dolphin" by Maycie. I love the little purple seashell bra.

Well, Tiger is officially ours. After having him neutered he was allowed in the house for a few days of recovery. Tiger was fully enjoying his time as an indoor cat. Maycie and Addie didn't mind having him as a sleeping companion, either.

Addie starts piano lessons with Ms. Carolyn Walker. I love it because she comes to our house to teach. Addie only whines sometimes when I ask her practice.

At the "Mom Salon". Just for fun, Addie with a head full of ringlets.

I think they call this "dad pile"!

Crafting.

I'm 31! and still loving.

Birthday loves from my favorite little guy.

Make a wish.

The best part of baking with mom - licking the bowl clean.....

every last bit!

Pumpkin feet.

Addie's first day of school craft project.

October
my favorite time of year continued...

Not so itsy bitsy spider. I thought it was beautiful as well as very appropriate for the Halloween season. Thanks for gracing our house with your presence.

Rub-a-dub-dub, too much in the tub.
That's what I get for leaving the kids unattended. Maycie and Alex decided to see how many random things they could put in the tub with them.

After they got out this is what I found. Shoes, boots, diapers, wipes, clothes, a pillow, toys (other than bath toys), and a Halloween bucket. It was hard to get upset at these two little imps.

Maycie's "killer snail". "Dah-dum, dah-dum, dah- dum". Can you hear the ominous music?

Making Halloween spiders and bats.

Dad giving a Family Home Evening lesson on "The Good Samaritan".

Here they are acting it out. Maycie is the good Samaritan picking up the hurt man (kitty in this case) and bring him on her horse. Addie was upset that she had to play the unkind priest who didn't stop to help.

Fun at our neighborhood fall festival.

In an attempt to take more control over the appearance of our subdivision, Rob and I have gotten more involved in our HOA. Rob was responsible for having 100 trees planted in the common areas to beautify the neighborhood. I got involved with the social committee and helped to plan a little festival for the little kids. Besides being unseasonably cold for even October, the kids had a good time.

The fire department and police came to visit the festival. Alex loved sitting in the fire truck.

Grandma Marilyn comes to visit and we make our annual "spider cookies".

That's right. Just suck off the good stuff.

We decided to take our annual trip to Myrtle Beach while Grandma Marilyn was here visiting. On the way we stopped at a roadside farm. The kids had a great time playing on the antique truck, tractors and merry-go-round. Grandma bought the yummy ice cream and cookies.

At the beach.

Maycie and Addie are fearless when it comes to riding the waves. Alex was still a little apprehensive.

We stayed in our usual location called The Dunes Village. It's a very nice condo style hotel with a full kitchen, separate bedrooms and living room and an outdoor patio that overlooks the ocean, but the best part are the 2 indoor water parks complete with lazy river and water slides. We always stay off season when the prices are great the beach uncrowded.

Burring dad's leg then Addie's body in the sand.

Addie's favorite tradition at Myrtle beach is feeding the Seagulls.

Mom and Son.

Can you see Alex making the "vrrrroommm" sound effects?


Happy Halloween!

The 3rd annual pumpkin carv with our neighbors the Sixts and Metcalfs at the Macdonald house.

BAT GIRL!

Maycie wanted to be "Bat Dog", a character of her own invention, for the second year in a row. She had out grown her other bat dog costume and I knew I could never live up to her expectations by sewing a new bat dog costume, so she settled for Bat Girl.

The Witch, the Frog, and Bat Girl.

Alex was actually my trickiest this year as far as costumes go. He really wanted to be Batman but wasn't satisfied with the costume I bought him. I think he really wanted to wear Maycie's costume. After a couple more attempts at different costumes, including no costume for our ward turnk-or-treat, he finally settled for a very simple frog top.

Our neighbors had a fun little Halloween party for the kids on our block. The girls loved squishing their toes in the bucket of "snakes" (spaghetti).

Someone forgot to tell Alex that Halloween is time you can get away with eating junk. Way to get your apple a day in.

Our ward trunk-or-treat fell on Halloween day. So we invited a couple neighbors to come to the church for a pot-luck dinner and break in our candy buckets before the real trick-or-treating began.

Trick-or-treat!!!!

I started out Halloween morning with a 10K fun run with some friends from church. We trained every Saturday morning and even ran with our double strollers during the week. Our team was called "Mom's on the run". Right after the run I headed to the Dr's office where I found out I had strep throat. Despite being ill, I felt great during the run, thanks to ibuprofin. Can't wait to do it again and beat my time.