Sunday, October 31, 2010

halloween.

Gretchie-bug decided not to nap for very long today... so she was less than thrilled about posing for pictures before trick-or-treating... 

She perked up when she saw her wagon... she loves her wagon! (Thanks for the cute ladybug costume, Meagan! It was perfect for our little bug and she stayed toasty warm!)

Marley was supposed to be part of Lawson's vet costume (jeans with a scrub top... just like Grandpa wears!) They almost made it next door. She was way too excited. So our vet continued without a patient. 

Sophie got lots of compliments on her super-cute Tinkerbell costume, Grandma! Thanks again for making it for her!

Our ladybug was a little happier for this picture...

 Most of the neighborhood kids...


Gretchen got lots of love from London and Annie...


And I thought I had a cute baby giraffe last year. But I'm thinking this little ladybug is even cuter.




Happy Halloween!! 

carving pumpkins.

This is pretty much my role every year... 

drawing faces or designs.

And I'm okay with that. (I did carve one with 19 first graders earlier that day, after all.)

I couldn't help but think back to last year. Gretchen was just a few days old. So tiny. She was wearing her little butterfly/ruffle butt outfit from Heather and Brian. It was one of two outfits that actually fit her. This year we could hardly get a picture of her, she was so busy.
Did you notice the pumpkin is upside down? The people at the pumpkin patch said it's easier to hollow them out from the bottom. Then it's easier to put a candle inside, too. You just lower it down over it. It seemed very strange to be doing it that way, but Corey said it was easier.


Lawson went outside first thing the next morning to go check on his cat. :)

fyi... I've heard so many people this year talking/blogging about how their jack-o-lanterns got yucky so fast. Corey read/heard somewhere that if you smear Vaseline along the cut surfaces that it will preserve them and help them last longer. He did it to ours last year and they seemed to last longer than others. 

Saturday, October 30, 2010

saturday.

47 things on my To-Do-List today. 5 things crossed off. 
1 load of laundry in. 6 more loads to do. 
Corey and Sophie are gone. 
Lawson, Gretchen and I are all still in our pajamas. 


Corey went to farm and I called my mom this morning to see if Sophie could spend the day with her.
We've had a rough week, Sophie and I.
Lots of sassiness, rude behavior and talking disrespectfully.
Like... mommy was about to lose her mind from all the rudeness and disrespect. Mommy was ready to post on Facebook that I had an 8 year old girl to give away.


Wednesday morning was awful. Ugly. I totally lost my temper. We picked up right where we left off when school was out. Ugh. I made her stay outside and play for awhile when we got home and when she came in, it was like she was a different child. Purely delightful. Sweet, helpful, pleasant to be around. Why can't I have this child all the time?!  


The rest of our week was pretty good (except for a minor freak out last night when I cleaned her earrings.) I'm working on planning something for her and I to do together. Just us. But something that doesn't involve buying her something or getting her something new. It's easy to be sweet when someone is buying you something, right?

So things ended good, but I still thought she could benefit from some one-on-one time and attention from Grandma. And I could benefit from some two-on-one time with Lawson and Gretchen. (We will get out of our pajamas at some point today.)

Gretchen is napping. Lawson is coloring. 
Time to throw in another load of laundry and cross a few more things off my list. 
Maybe I'll multi-task and try for two things at once. (Considering one of the things on my list is to watch/erase shows on the DVR. They need to replace our box, so I need to get all my shows watched!) 

We'll get dressed with Gretchie wakes up. 
Go to Wal-Mart and buy some Halloween candy. 
And I should probably try Gretchen's costume on her at some point today. 
You know, since Halloween is tomorrow and all. 

Thursday, October 28, 2010

october.

Soccer practices. 
Soccer games. 
Parent/Teacher conferences. 
All day kindergarten.
15 year class reunion.
Sophie's birthday party. 
Corey's birthday. 
Sophie's birthday. 
Birthday treats for school. (and work)
Nebraska trip. 
Family pictures. 
Cattle sale in Tulsa. 
Consignment sale. 
Gretchen's birthday. 
Flu shots. 
Gretchen's birthday party. 
Report cards due. 
Halloween. 

Surely November is going to be less stressful.
It has to be.
Right? 

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

wednesday nights.

We're not doing our church's Wednesday night Awana program this year. 


It's a great program. Great for the kids. Great leaders. Great way to encourage memorizing Bible verses.

But it was too much for our family this year. Too much rush. Too much last minute reading and memorizing as we were rushing through dinner on Wednesdays. Too much hurry. I feel like I'm always telling my kids to hurry. Ugh.


So we decided to make Wednesday nights a family night. The tv stays off... we play outside... we swing... we go for walks... we play games... we paint pumpkins...

Nothing fancy. Nothing too impressive. But we're together.

And it's nice.

Maybe next year I'll feel less stress. Maybe next year I'll feel less hurried. Maybe next year we'll try Awana's again.
But this year... a relaxing family night is nice.

tooth.

Exciting stuff here last week... 


It fell out during lunch at school. He was so excited! But... they couldn't find it. Anywhere!
One of the lunch ladies told me they looked all over. She was so worried he would be upset.
Lawson shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess the tooth fairy just flew down and grabbed it."


That's the story we went with.
Pretty big stuff for a kindergartener.

pumpkin patch.


One of my favorite members of the first grade team...

Fernando and Misael. Or Misael and Fernando. I really don't know.  :)

I only got two pictures of the jumping pillow this year. I was too busy jumping! (Last year I was a little too pregnant to be jumping!) I'm thinking we need one of these on our playground. Seriously.

I stayed off the underground slide last year, too. This year was much more fun!

The best part of any first grade field trip...