Halloween funnies!

thought these were cute!!

candy re-call

I just got this e-mail. I didn't personally check it out on snopes, but I thought I'd post it here anyway for all those of you that read my blog. Just in case. :)

Happy trick-or-treating! :)



Subject: HALLOWEEN CANDY RECALLED>(and even verified on snopes: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/coins.asp>>There is a new warning put out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency....>>Sherwood brand Pirate's Gold Milk Chocolate coins are being recalled due to>the fact that they contain Melamine, the ingredient in milk product that >has>caused many infant deaths in china. These candies are sold at Costco, as>well as many bulk and dollar stores.>>Please make sure to check your childrens Halloween candy and DO NOT LET >THEM>EAT THE PIRATE COINS (you know the ones wrapped in the shiny gold foil) and>please let other parents know about this!

Kinman Farms

L and I went on a field trip to Kinman Farms with his pre-school. It was SUPER cool and a GREAT place to let L explore and jump around. It was so nice to let him be his explorative self. :)

First we took pictures with his buddy Judd. cute ghost and pumpkin.

Now for some exploring in the chicken coop. I'm pretty sure the chickens want to eat straw!! :)

Now onto the sheep. How cool is this!!!! His little hands were so cold, but he didn't want to wear his gloves because then he couldn't feel the fur/wool, etc. on all the animals.

Oh, cute baby piglets!!!! So excited!

fun hay ride with my class. Doesn't his class mate look super enthused to be there????

After the hayride through the fields, we got to pick our favorite pumpkin!!! after about umm, 2 seconds of intense searching, he found his prize pumpkin. :)

Mom and L had a great day at Kinman Farms and the TWO treat bags at the end of the day weren't too bad either. :)

Since I grew up on a small farm, I frequently heard the tractor fire up and begin rumbling. I never realized how much that sound meant to me until today. When it was time for the hay ride, the tractor fired up and started rumbling. That oh so familiar sound that I had never really paid attention to all of the sudden brought stinging tears to my eyes. I tried to hold my breath and wipe the tears away fast (after all I was on a field trip with my 3 year old), but I couldn't help envision my daddy in his patched old work clothes riding on the tractor doing all sorts of things. All of the sudden I missed him so much it slightly hurt inside. I'm grateful to have him for my dad.. . even if I live far away and miss him lots. :) I love you, Dad. I miss you. I think our little L has a bit of farmer in him. :)

Chutes and Ladders; hands and knees

Sundays are great days. We have lots of time to play games, cook treats, and generally hang out together. This Sunday, we chose to play chutes and ladders. L won EVERY time and never hit a slide. I came in LAST every time because I hit EVERY slide. L was at the top and I was at the bottom. . seriously! oh well. I've never been very good at games, but we had a lot of fun together.

Z-man is up on his hands and knees. He's been doing it for a while now, but I thought I'd finally get a picture before he starts taking off. :) So far, he hasn't crawled, but it's not going to be too much longer. :)

digital scrapbooking

So, I've been playing around with my photoshop. (I love playing in photoshop by the way, incase you didn't know that about me yet.) I took some pictures for a friend a little while ago and so I thought I'd stick their picture in the scrapbook page I created. It's sort of simple, but that fits my personality also. :)

Here is another scrapbook page. I do a calendar each year. This is how I do my scrapbook. I do one page for each month. this is my Feb. 2008 page. If you are wondering why Z-man isn't in the picture, he wasn't born yet. :) But we definitely LOVE him and he's an amazing part of our family. :-)

pumpkins

We love carving pumpkins each year. J and L picked out what they wanted to do. L picked the cat, and J picked the traditional jack-o-lantern. :) They want to stay up late enough to see them glow, but so far we light them in the morning for them since they get up before the sun does. :)

z-man's hospital stay

For all of you wondering, Z-man is doing great. He went in for his surgery on Monday and is totally back to normal. He isn't showing any signs of pain or discomfort, so that is good.

He was pretty uncomfortable when he woke up, but once they let me feed him, he was fine. the meds they use to put him to sleep make his face itch, so he kept rubbing his eyes and face. He slept all the way home and once we were home, he was totally back to normal. I think he is healing well, but we will see. :)

Here is z-man in his cute hospital gown. I only had my phone camera, so it's not the best picture.

My Beautiful sister and her family!

I was able to take pictures of my sister and her family the other day. It was such a fun weekend. It is always fun to go stay with them. They have such a great home and it really does feel like home. My kids LOVE playing with their cousins and I love being with my sister. Since we live so far from all our other family, I thought I'd post some pictures for the rest of our fam. :)

voting day

o.k. so I know I may be opening a can of worms here, but I was wondering everyone's thoughts on the two politicians running for president. I'm still undecided. FIRST: I think they are both somewhat typical politicians, which certain things bug. with that said, I think Obama's personality is a bazillion times better than McCain's as far as working with people and having a positive look. I think he could probably implement more simply because of his attitude and people skills. He has been as gracious as he can with all the slams McCain has sent. However, I don't like his economic plan. I think that putting higher taxes on bigger companies will only make them go overseas (because if they are a big company, they have the ability to be wherever they want most likely), which will only raise unemployment rates--no job, no money, hurt economy. I don't like McCain's health care plan. I see it creating quite a few problems in the future. I like the idea of charter schools and creating competition, but I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to forsee any problems with that scenario.

Anyway, I waffle back and forth ALL the time. One day I think I'll vote one way and I totally change my mind the next. I wish I could take things from both campaigns and put them into one.

Anyway, let me know who you are voting for and why. Not only am I interested in what others think, but it might help me make a decision as well. :) thanks a heap!!!

A black cat laughs

On my way home today, a black cat darted in front of me. After crossing the road, it turned around, sat down and stared right at me. hmmm? I had two distinct scenarios in my head. Either this cat knows it's almost Halloween and is trying to run in front of everyone's path scaring those that are superstitious, OR it is related to those two squirrels in the geico commercial that try to see how many people they can make swerve on the road. hmmm? It's either a really smart cat or . .. well, the opposite. :)

Happy Holloween . . . soon!

Can I get my energy out

We have the most amazing conversations at our house. Tonight L and I discussed the energy crisis. :) The conversation went like this.

L: mom, is Z-man getting his 'egerny' out? (z was jumping in his johnny jump up)
Me: ya, he's probably getting all his energy out.
L: He will probably get it back. Can I get my 'egerny' out?
Me: Sure, go jump next to zander (this was after his attempt at jumping on the couch to get his 'egerny' out._
L: Is it getting out?
Me: I'm pretty sure.

L then lifts up his shirt, looks at his tummy and sais, "Where is it?

Apparently nobody knows where the energy is. . . It's a crisis. But at least it keeps coming back. (although for a few in my family, I'm not sure all the jumping in the world would take the 'egerny' out) Gotta love the 'egerny.'

L, I hope I have enough energy in life to keep up with your 'egerny.'

super great songs

These are some great songs by the kids. L was singing this song over and over yesterday. It's from veggitales if any of you are aware. It goes something like this, "What's the use in golden goose and big TV, for when I share I get my share of friends. . didee doot doot dit ditty doot doot dit."

J wanted to make up a song/poem, so her's is." I love to pick grass, I love to pick grass, the cars are vrooming by the grass " ( or something like that. anyway, I wanted to post their sweet voices. :)

FHE

Each Monday, we get together as a family and have family home evening. It consists of a song, prayer, short (VERY SHORT) lesson, closing song, closing prayer, activity and sometimes treats. I think our kids enjoy being in charge of FHE more than the actual FHE, but it's super fun. Tonight, L conducted and welcomed us to FHE and told everyone what they would be doing. he's getting pretty good at conducting. I gave the song (meaning I chose what song), D gave the prayer, J gave us a lesson on being kind and serving (it's amazing how much little kids know that you don't know they know. . did that make sense?) Then L picked the closing song and also said the closing prayer. For our activity today, we played with play dough together. We made big snakes and smiley faces. Z-man was quite entertained by a couple of cookie cutters and definitely felt a part of it. :) After FHE, D let me go lock myself in my room for time-out and he took care of the kids the rest of the night, got everyone ready for bed, and tucked them all in. Ahhh, I enjoyed vegging. :)


L's big snake


J's big snake. . or necklace. .. . or smile to her smiley. .not sure.


my smiley


Z-man with a sneaky face and his cookie cutters.

COSI

We had a great time at COSI the other day. The kids were so excited to explore. They were able to lift a car (thanks to leverage), and explore all sorts of great sciency things!! So here are the pics. ;)




J following her ball down the trail.


L stayed at this thing FOREVER--watching the balls go in a circle down the hole.


D and Z-man played with giant legos for quite a while. D built a tower around Z. I think another mom was annoyed at us there because we are a bit loud and wild.. . oops.


More giant legos


COSI sign.



The kids got to climb inside a real submarine that was partially submersed in water. Super cool.


This is J lifting the car! She is sooo strong.


L had his turn too. He's my super strong little man


This is my little family making an engine run. Each had to push down a "piston." D ended up having to push all of them since the kids weren't strong. I should have gotten video of him attempting all three. It was great. !!!


This is where sweet Z-man hung most of the time. He was a trooper, but by the end he was ready to get out and play. Super fun!!!


Another favorite was the rat basketball show we watched. The kids learned all about rats and how they are trained, etc. then they had a 3 minute game between two rats. Everyone cheered. . . and Z-man cried. I had to leave with Z, but the other two kids loved it. :)

Super fun times at COSI!!