Just to let you know

Hi everyone, and Happy Halloween, AND a special Happy Birthday to Noah who turns 1 today!

After buying 3-4 bags of candy we had a total of 3 trick-or-treaters. Luckily I got candy that we all like so we can eat it too - which we will happily do. Katie got a bucket full after being out with Dad for a total of 20 minutes. I will post costume pictures tomorrow.

I wanted to let everyone know that John is having surgery tomorrow. (He'll probably hate that I am posting it, but I think everyone should know so they can be thinking of him and send him well wishes. ) He is having his ACL replaced in his knee. It is a problem that need to be fixed for a while now and he has decided to get it over and done with. He will be in and out the same day, which will be nice. My mom has come up for a few days to help with laundry, cleaning, and the kids, etc. So I will keep everyone posted on how that goes as well.

Pumpkin Fest

I thought I would share some pictures from Katie's preschool Pumpkin Fest yesterday. She got to decorate a pumpkin, play games, eat ice cream, and sing songs. Katie was VERY excited to have Dad come to her school, unfortunately he couldn't see her classroom though.

We also got Will's exersaucer out this week. He has really gotten better at grabbing things now and can actually do a lot of things on it. Here, Katie is reading him a story, and he looks very interested. :)

The Ants go Marching

Today at preschool, Katie had to wear all black because they were going to pretend to be ants and march through the hallways. Do you know how odd it is to go into a building where every child is dressed in black? Room after room of kids in black. Those of you who have kids know that black is not an easy color to find for a child either. Pink, Blue, purple, now THOSE are everywhere. They had a good time marching though - played drums and shook tambourines

Katie got to bring home a special bag again. This time, instead of a teddy bear inside, there are games and stories about camping; all kinds of activities to do as a family.

This weekend Katie has a party at school where she gets to decorate her little pumpkin. We'll try to get some pictures of that.

Hotel stay

Our long weekend is over, and now it's back to the grind. Katie and Will had fun at the hotel in Rochester. We stayed 2 nights so Katie could get some more swimming in. The sleeping could have been better, but it was fun. (Katie decided to stay up past midnight both nights!) But we did have some fun with the shower caps, as you can see.

The kids also had fun in Waukon visiting family. Will is finally getting used to laying on the floor again instead of being held all the time. :) Katie had school pictures today - I am told they went well.

We also made it out of Waukon before the big fire broke out Sunday night/Monday morning. Wild Willy's pretty much burned down, and it sounds like they will demolish the building. This is where Mom and Dad had their 45th wedding anniversary party about a month ago. Sorry to hear about the loss, but glad no one was hurt. I also want to send a GET WELL SOON out to our nephew Joey who was admitted to the hospital last night. The smoke and ash from the fire irritated his asthma enough that it made it hard for him to breathe. It's scary to be in the hospital, especially when you're only 4.

Long weekend

Hi everyone! Katie does not have school on Thursday, so we are heading back to Waukon earlier. John has work to do in Rochester on Thursday, so we will head to Rochester tomorrow, stay in a hotel for the night and go swimming. (We'll see how Will enjoys that!) Then Thursday afternoon we will head to Waukon.
I picked up Katie from school today and one her classmate's mom stopped to ask me if Katie would like to have a play date with her son in a week or so. They share a locker at school so Katie was the first person he met in class and I guess he talks about her quite a bit at home. :)
Still having some drop off issues in the morning, but it will get better. Her teacher said that as long as she is excited to get ready to GO to school it will be fine.
Well, have a good weekend and we'll pick up the posts on next Monday!

Pumpkin Day

Katie and Dad (and technically) Will all carved the Pladsen family pumpkin today. We got a big enough pumpkin that we could put 2 faces on it - one on each side. Of course, I haven't gotten a picture of the finished product yet, but I have to say I think it is our best...ok, JOHN'S best carving job to date.

We also went the extra step to save the seeds, and I roasted the seeds while John finished the carving. They are pretty darn good too.

I am TOO cool for pumpkin carving.

This is Katie on her pony from yesterday.

Busy day...

Hi everyone! Today since it was SOOO beautiful outside we went to Sever's corn maze in Shakopee. They have a HUGE maze created inside a corn field. Katie got her face painted, rode on a pony and we all pigged out on yummy food like roasted corn on the cob, cheese curds, corn dogs, and carmel apple slices.




Will spent the entire day in the baby carrier and liked it quite well. He even got a nap in. Here are some pictures of our day.

Katie got a butterfly painted on her face.

Dad and Katie hand in hand.

I have another picture of her on the pony that doesn't seem to want to go on, so I will try to add that later. Tomorrow we are planning on carving our pumpkin!

P.B. Bear

I picked up Katie from preschool yesterday and she was VERY excited because it was her turn to bring P.B. Bear home. P.B. is this teddy bear that each child gets to bring home in a big bookbag filled with a couple outfits, and a big book to read. We bring him back next week and she gets to stand up and tell everyone what she did with P.B. over the weekend. So far he has gone swinging in Will's swing, they have had a picnic, she has read him books, and she made him supper last night. :)

We found that P.B.'s night time hat was a little big for the bear, but fit Will very nicely. :) Will thought so too.

Coming to Waukon...

Just wanted to let you all know that we decided to come back to Waukon NEXT weekend. I had thought we'd be back this weekend (as in tomorrow), but turns out next weekend works best. So I hope that will work with everyone's schedules and plans. I'll let you know more next week.

Katie's Field Trip

Katie rode the school bus with her preschool class to the apple orchard in Jordan, MN today. She sat with one of the teachers, Ms. Pam and peeked out the windows as Will and I waved good bye to her. It was VERY windy today so all the kids were decked out in their winter coats, hats and mittens. She got to ride on a wagon and tour the orchard, she got to pick 2 apples off the trees, and she ate donuts for a snack. So far, that's about all I've gotten out of her. Her favorite part was riding on the school bus, of course. Ms. Pam said that she got some good pictures of her on the bus and picking apples.
The next big day is in 2 weeks when they have their school pictures taken. :)

What a klutz

Someone fell down the stairs this morning. Before you ask how Katie is doing, it wasn't her. Yes, I fell down the stairs this morning. Our stairs are split - you go down about 6 steps, there's a landing, you turn and go down the other 8 steps. Luckily I hit the wall on the landing and didn't go any further. Otherwise, I think I would have just kept going. :) I was carrying some clothes down to wash, was in a hurry and slipped on the carpeted steps. Nothing hurt, except the pride and maybe a bruise on my upper arm. :) Hopefully it teaches Katie to be careful at least. :) Although this is the 2nd time I've slipped on the stairs in like the past 6 months....



Here is Katie showing off doing a somersault...proving she is more graceful than me.

The Katie Show

Katie wanted to make a movie this morning, so she is showing off her spelling and comedy skills. Not much new going on up here - the leaves are falling, had some thunder and lightening last night. And we MAY be going to the circus tomorrow!

Growing up...

I dropped off Katie this morning for preschool and we had some pretty big separation issues. She absolutely did NOT want Will and I to leave. Her teacher, Ms. Laurie (who is wonderful), finally had to pick her up and take her away to the other side of the room to do an activity while I left. Talk about hard to keep a smile on your face! I so just wanted to pick her up and take her home and say - "You don't have to go!" But it is VERY good for her to learn to trust some other adults and get some time on her own. When I picked her up, I talked with her teacher for a while and of course about 30 seconds after I had left - Katie was as happy as could be.

Next Tuesday is a VERY big day because it is their first field trip. They get to ride a school bus to an apple orchard in Jordan, MN. Then they got to go on a wagon ride, pick apples off the trees, watch an apple press squeeze juice out, and finally have donuts, apples and cider for a snack. Of course the BIGGEST highlight is the bus ride. :) I can't go along on the bus because Will is not allowed to go, but there are some parents helping out that day. Of course - I'll be a nervous wreck til she gets home...

New skills

Ok so this morning Katie happened to be in a good mood. She suddenly wanted to work at writing letters. She knew how to do 'I' and 'T' basically. She wanted to learn to write her name. So I would write a letter first and then she would write the letter by herself. Well, she caught on pretty fast and now we have "KATIE" written all over the place. :)

When I picked her up from school we also got a sheet on everything they had covered last month. Turns out she knows about 6-7 words in sign language. Please, thank you, snack, hello, goodbye, and bumble bee. :) Of course she had forgotten to tell us about this!

Brother and Sister

So far, Katie and Will are very fond of each other. Will is getting more and more excited each time he sees Katie and she stops to talk to him or give him kisses. Katie thinks it's very funny whenever he laughs or burps. Little does she know the days of being the only "boss" in the house are numbered...