Fall Exchange

My aunt Teresa had a favorite fall exchange on her website and I thought it would be a lot of fun to do this. My Aunt Kristeen had me. I got this enormous box in the mail full of so many yummy and great surprises! She even put a puzzle and a squiggle pen in for the kids.

A blanket, puzzle, 2 books, Orange hot chocolate with mug, picture frame, Josh Groban CD, awesome bag, Potato Bread mix, Potato soup mix complete with bowl, and bulbs to plant for next year!

LOVE IT! SO MUCH FUN!

Suprise in the Mail

How cute is this! We signed up for the Target book club for kids, they send out book suggestions for Madison and Garrett's age groups. It is FREE! Anyway a few weeks after signing up for the book club we received this book bag in the mail, inside the book bag were stickers, bookmarks, and a book. Madison loves this book bag!

Leaves, Leaves Everywhere

The past few weeks we have had so many leaves! They are still falling from the trees. We have raked a few times, and it is Madison and Garrett's favorite thing to do is go out there and rake and then throw them in the air or jump in them. Madison even made leaf angel. There are many more pictures of Madison and that is because Garrett won't sit still worth anything, he was having too much fun with the leaves! We still have plenty of leaves twirling around when the wind blows but we love it! Sometimes when you open the front door a few leaves come fluttering in!

Sometimes it just happens

We are not really sure what he ate or got into but this was the scene before Church on Sunday. Dave started to notice Garretts face looking funny around his eye, took him up to take a bath and get ready for church and this is what I found when I went to get him to get him dressed. We ran downstairs for a dose of benadryl, he looked like this for about a half hour and then the medicine started to work, his eyes were still red ad swollen some when we went to church. I am thankful it wasn't more and it makes us a little nervous that we are not sure what he ate. Scary!

Roller Skating

On Saturday we went Roller Skating with the kids for the first time. Madison did better then we ever thought she would, we expected her to cling onto one of us and she didn't she just get out on her own, skating around the wall and would venture out and skate, although slow she did great for her first time.

Garrett even put on some skates, I was so amazed they had some small enough, his skates were size 7 in toddlers, they were so cute. He did better on the carpet then on the skating floor.

Decorations!

Just giving you a glimpse into some of our Halloween/Fall Decorations

The Skeleton that Madison and I made with foam cutouts(we really like the foam cutout stuff)

The pumpkins we colored and taped in the window, props to playhouse Disney for the pattern.

The pumpkins we have carved and get this they are fake! So much fun, no mess and Madison designed hers(the one on the right when looking at it)

A ghost Madison brought home from Grandma Mary's she convinced Grandma Mary that it was needed at our house.

The pumpkin leaf bags, had a blast filling them up but didn't even make a dent in the leaves and there are still plenty on the trees. We will be getting our workout this fall.

As for Halloween, Madison hasn't decided yet, we saw a cute costume that you make it was an ice cream cone, sometimes she wants to be a princess, sometimes a dog. It depends on her mood.

Help out there

Okay so I have a problem and this problem is 4 years old. She has the attitude of a 16 year old. We have tried time out and it isn't working we need something else, I am guessing something that involves her taking part more in earning the rewards or punishments. Also help on getting her to stay in bed all week long she has thought that she can stay up as late as she wants, talking and playing in her room and then getting in and out of bed a hundred times for this and that!
I want to nip this right now! Any suggestions would be great! It is like she hit almost 4 and half and turned on us.
I know you guys can come up with some great stuff or great websites etc.

Trying all the time

You might have to turn the volume up but this was so cute and couldn't resist putting it on the blog. I love how his voice raises up as if to get his point across. He tries so hard and right now his favorite thing to do is bring you a book and have you read it and the books always have to do with cars, trucks, planes or trains.

Hard to believe

It seems we were just blowing out the candles for birthday #1. Our little man is 18 months old. He got to go to nursery at church and I can't say it has been a complete success but we keep trying. Although not talking much he can do what you tell him, so he understands directions really well.

He is holding his own against his sister and a few times has given her a run for her money. Although this has given me a lot more work keeping tabs on him.

We have his allergies figured out for now, everyday we learn something new so tomorrow something else will be added to our list of do's and dont's. He has made amazing leaps and bounds, so much more once we figured out what the problem was, an amazing turn around.

So enough of talking about him his stats are:

Weight 25 lbs 1 oz

Height 33 inches

Head 48 1/2 cm

*On a funny note we did the new shoes thing Garrett wears a 7 in toddlers and Madison wears a 9 in toddlers. I am thinking her feet should grow or her brother is going to pass on by. *

Something New

I am so excited! After much research and hard earned money, I GOT A NEW CAMERA! It is a early Christmas and Birthday present but I don't care. It is wonderful and I love the camera. I am still learning but I have been taking tons of pictures. The idea is to get really good and no the camera really well. Thanks to the willing subjects especially the kids. The 2 post prior to this one are some samples of my learning. NOTE - Remember I am still learning!

So if anyone has tips that would be great. I am still working on getting photos inside to looks great, with the cold weather coming, HOPEFULLY. I am going to take Garrett's 18 month pictures here soon.

Pink Sunglasses?

Garrett got Madison's sunglasses at their cousin Bryce's football game. He was so excited to wear them, put them on and he couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. I loved it!


He is becoming more and more grown up day by day and so much more independent, at least he tries to be. At the football game he had so much fun running on the grass and smiling at complete strangers.

Maybe it's about time

I know it has been a long time since I have been blogging on here. I am a slacker and there is no other excuse. The weather here has been unseasonably warm. Take for example today we had a high of 88 and as I sit here at 11:45pm it is still in the 70's. We thought fall was coming but summer decided to stick around a little longer.

Some of the fun things we have been doing......

Chalk! Chalk! Chalk! and more Chalk! Madison is really into this again. We have weeks were we go without and then all she wants to do is draw with chalk.

Another interesting thing Madison has started doing is getting herself dressed in the morning usually not a problem(she has been doing this for months) but lately she will come barreling down the stairs all dressed and shout, "Look different colors!" And sure enough she is sporting two completely different colors....YIKES!

Garrett, well he is such a little rascal. He is into absolutely everything. He can open the fridge all by himself now. He can open his bedroom door. He loves to take showers instead of baths now. He is learning to fight back and stand up for himself against his usually overpowering big sister, she better watch out! He is usually so happy all the time but I did sneak a picture of the whine, "I am upset you did that, face." The second picture was when a play flew overhead, and looking at the picture I realized how dirty he really gets everyday. Thank goodness for warm clean water!