Hmmmm.....

Something tells me I'm going to have trouble keeping plastic on our windows this year.  I have a feeling this will be the first year I have holes.

Happy Halloween Week!

It's Halloween week - and yes, it seems that Halloween is a week long celebration anymore.

 - Today is Trick-or-Treating at the grocery store.  It's usually crazy, but they give great treats. :)  Usually no candy.  Instead - granola bars, bags of chips, bags of crackers, juice boxes, cartons of milk, fruit snacks, fruit, decorated cookies, etc. 

- Thursday is Katie's Fall Party at school.  She gets to wear her costume and play games and have snacks at the party - which starts at 8:45!!!  (Thank you to John for taking Will to school so I can help out!)

-  Friday (I think) Trick-or-Treating at the nursing home.  We've done this the last 3 years and I REALLY enjoy it.  The patients there get so happy to see the little kids all dressed up, and Katie and Will like making the rounds more than once.  We'll have to see how Katie's cough is....if she still has a cough I'm hesitant to do this because I don't want to bring in any unwanted bugs.

- Saturday morning, Fall party at church.  No costumes, but games, crafts and cookie decorating.

- Saturday night, Halloween party at friend's house.

- Sunday morning - Birthday party for an awesome 4 year old!  It's going to be a "Buzz Lightyear Yoga Party" - I'm SOO excited to see what THAT is like. ;)

- Sunday night - Trick-or-Treating....as if you needed more. 

Stay tuned for pictures!

Firehouse Visit

On Wednesday, Will and I took a tour of a local firehouse. The community center was offering a bus ride and tour for 3-5 year olds and it seemed right up our alley. Will got to climb onto of the ladder truck, which he said was his favorite part.

The fire house also came equipped with an authentic fire pole, which our fireman tour guide tested for the kids numerous times. He said the younger guys still use it. No one sleeps at the fire house and it's all volunteer as well.

October is Fire Safety months so check your fire detectors and plan your routes out of your home. I told the kids we'd try to have 2 fire drills at home next week. We'll see....

We have TWO 3 year olds.

Surprisingly, Will and Molly are pretty good friends. They both like to run and jump....at each other. Here's proof.

(Note Katie reading quietly to herself! Oh, and be prepared...Will turns into a monster out of nowhere!)

Pumpkin Carving

I wanted to get our pumpkin carved last weekend, but we didn't get to it. It was nicer to lay around and not do anything. Well, we were busy with yard work too - had our last fire of the season to burn up brush and sticks that had been cut down. This time, no mosquitoes!!

On Wednesday afternoon, the kids and I gutted the poor pumpkin and cleaned it out so that it would be ready for John to carve when he got home. Again, Will would NOT stick his hand in, but Katie dove right in. John carved a happy face and a scary face into the pumpkin. Then the lights were shut off, pumpkin was lit, music turned on and the kids danced and danced. (I guess Katie remembers last year we turned the lights off and her and Will danced and sang in the dark. It's a tradition she was bent on keeping.)

The only way Will would help was with his LOOONG spoon.

Molly seemed to like the pumpkin as she managed to get hersolf into every picture taken.

Hula Hoop Hoopla

Katie is getting pretty good at the hula hoop....she's trying to teach John a thing to two. She wanted to do a video of her "skills". I could post one of her just hula hooping with one, but it's seriously over 3 minutes long....so here's one of her hooping with 3 hoops and Will trying his best with one.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

"When a child loses his parents he is called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child, there isn't a word to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and around the world. It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirth, SIDS, and so many other causes."

Founders of www.october15.com chose a day in the middle of the month to honor and remember lost children. They ask everyone to light a candle tonight at 7:00 pm to reflect on the loss shared by so many parents and embrace the love and support of family and friends around them.

I have two sisters who have each lost a child, as well as many, many friends who have lost their own. Please take a moment to remember them in your thoughts today.

Fire Station

On Sunday, the fire station had their annual open house. It turned out to be a really nice day, so while John painted the back porch, the kids and I went to check it out. We got to ride around town on a fire truck, pet a police horse, spray fire hoses, and eat hot dogs and ice cream.

Oh, did I mention that we also got to meet Sparky, the Fire Dog? Will literally RAN up to him and gave him a big hug. I think this would be the first time he wasn't scared of a costumed character!

Our own caped crusader

Here is our trusty Caped Crusader being chased by the Evil Feline.

Can you tell that we just picked up Will's Halloween costume?

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary today to my sister and brother-in-law! Let me see....I was 6 when I was the flower girl at their wedding...so that means they have been married for 26 years? Oh hell, 26, 27 - at this point does it make a difference? :)


Just kidding. It's a wonderful example of a happy marriage and a pretty cool couple.

Congratulations Denise and Wally!

We all look pretty pure in our outfits-O-white.

Thursday Reading Groups

Today was my first morning volunteering with Katie's class. Every Tuesday - Friday morning a parent volunteer comes in to help with reading groups. I am on every other Thursday, since Will has preschool those days. There are 5 levels and each group has 4 kids in it.

I worked with Level 2 and Level 4 today, and I think it'll pretty much stay that way. I was a bit surprised by how vast the reading levels differ. Before we got to the books I went through some flash cards with the kids. All in Level 2 were having trouble with words like "in", "is", "we", "can", etc. And 2 had trouble just identifying the letters that the words started with. For example, I'd show them the word "DO" and they wounldn't be able to tell me what the first letter was. I am really excited to keep working with them because I just know we can make progress this year and they'll show a lot of improvement by springtime.

Then there were the kids in Level 4 - that's a whole other situation. They did some different flashcards and got totally bored with words like "look", "that", "this", "with", etc. Their book had 2 paragraphs on each page! The teacher and I talked about how difficult it is to find books for them that aren't too hard, yet aren't too easy. The key here will be keeping them interested in reading.

Katie was in the Level 4 reading group. She was a rockstar, and not too embarrassed that Mom was helping kids in her class. Her teacher said that next month she'll probably be ready for the accelerated reader program they have in 1st grade. (Whatever that means!)

Rochester Running

A couple weekends ago there was a 5k in Rochester, MN for pancreatic cancer research. My friend, Shelley was volunteering with it, so I joined her team. Her dad and mother-in-law also joined in. Too keep it a family affair, my mother-in-law, Mary, also took part. It was a great day - sunny, cool, and a very flat course. :)