HAPPY HALLOWEEN and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me something Good to Eat!

Happy Belated Halloween, everyone! Here are the kids in their costumes on beggars night. Jacob is a Blue Crayon, Ella is a Pink Crayon, and Sammy is a "Little Devil". My mom made both of the crayon costumes.

We were lucky and had the most beautiful fall night for trick or treating! The sun was out, is was warm enough to not wear coats, it was fabulous! The kids even lasted almost a whole hour! (I won't tell you how many houses we went to in one hour, but I will tell you that I can count them on 2 hands....SOOO SLOOOOWWWW!). The kids had so much fun and still got a lot of candy. Jacob didn't realize that when someone gives him the whole candy bowl to choose one candy from, he is NOT supposed to grab as much as possible in 3 seconds. Oh well...

Ella really enjoyed trick or treating, but it was really hard for her to walk in her costume. It kept falling down and it looked more like she was a pink burrito. She was very polite and said thank you to everyone in her super sweet little girl voice.

And Sammy, the "little devil", just enjoyed being outside with his brother and sister. He was not very sure about all the weird people walking around in costumes. He had a perplexed look on his face the whole time! But, I did get an great picture before we walked around. Doesn't it look like he wants to get in some trouble!

Well, sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I need to get back on track. September and October were kinda crazy for us!

Today is Ella's 3rd Birthday! I can't even believe it! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Ella, Happy Birthday to you! I love you!

Thanks for stopping by!
TD

A Weekend In Michigan

Last weekend we visited my Grandparents at their camper in Michigan. It is in Coldwater on a series of lakes strung together.

The kids had a ton of fun, even though it rained and was cold for half of the time we were there. They just liked being in the camper! Everything was their size. I think Great Grandma and Great Grandpa were kind of worried about the sleeping arrangement, but it worked out fine! The kids are small enough now, they don't take up a lot of space - especially because they sleep with their knees tucked in and their butts up in the air!

Great Grandpa and Daddy tried multiple times to catch a fish, even getting up early on Saturday before the kids knew they were gone. The only luck they had was a rock bass on their second trip out. The fishing was just not as good as the last time we visited and they caught a few monster pikes!

Jacob and Ella and I had turns fishing too, but we couldn't even catch a blue gill. Sammy stayed on the shore and snuggled with Great Grandma. Here are pictures of Jacob and Ella fishing.

Jacob was just beside himself with excitement, he even got his own tackle box to go with his own fishing pole Pa Pa Stanley got him for Christmas. Great Grandpa bought him a Jitterbug lure to attract some big fish! Jacob actually cast the fishing pole really well... and left handed for some reason! We thought Ella was our only south paw so far!

Ella was really good at "driving the boat". She held the fishing pole with daddy for a few minutes, but her true love was sitting there and pretending she was driving the boat while we were anchored. Both Jacob and Ella only lasted about 7 or 8 minutes before they were done fishing and wanted to play with the rope on the anchor. They did that for about 45 minutes. But oh well, they had fun.

Sammy's favorite time at the Camper was taking a bath in the sink. His little rolls almost filled the whole thing up! I had a better picture, but it showed his parts. So here is the one I will publish.

The kids had plenty of fun entertaining Great Grandma and Great Grandpa all weekend. Jacob taught them both how to play Crazy Eights, Ella laid her blanket out and had pretend picnics with Great Grandpa, and Sammy was just smiley and cooing the whole time (except 4:00 am on Sunday morning when he was really, really, really hungry:) I think Great Grandma and Great Grandpa went home to Ohio and slept for 2 days to recover from all the excitement!

We can't wait to do it again next year. Maybe it will be a little warmer and Daddy and Jacob can sleep in a tent outside while Mommy, Sammy and Ella sleep in the air conditioned camper again!

That's all for now!
TD

Farm Days at COSI

Every John Deere Tractor lover must go see the Farm Days exhibit at COSI (next summer - it is already over this summer - one week only!). Daddy took all of us there on a beautiful day last week.

To say the least, Jacob was SOOOOOOO excited! He was pulling us in every direction. The kids got to climb all over the equipment, meet lots of cool farmers, and learn about how to run a farm.

Here's Jacob inside the cab of a big combine. I love how he is looking down over all the tractors!
He was in awe of everything.

Sammy even got in on the action. He doesn't seem too excited in the picture, but he would have loved it if he knew what was going on!

Ella loved everything, too. She was not scared at all to climb up in the big machines. She got a pink John Deere hat to take home. She loved going through COSI, also. She had her hands into everything! Here is my fave picture of her and Daddy...












And last, but not least, this picture has some of the cousins under a GIANT TRACTOR - not the official name, but it was big! I love how they lined up for this one. But, Jacob can't keep his eyes off the other tractors! Enjoy!
-td

Weird Kid

The kids and I went to Boston Market yesterday for lunch. I asked Jacob what he wanted to eat (thinking Mac N Cheese - every kid loves their Mac N Cheese)!

Do you know what he said? Well, actually he screamed it while jumping up and down - "I Want Greeeeeen Beeeeans!".

So of course, if a 4 year old asks for green beans, I was happy to order him some. I got a lid to take home what he didn't eat and I also planned on eating some myself - since they gave us a huge pile!

Well, after about ten minutes of him scarfing down green beans, I realized that not only was I not going to get any, I didn't need the lid either. I also realized that this is a weird 4 year old. Who doesn't want Mac N Cheese?



Please excuse the quality of the pictures, I took them with my phone. Here is the big boy after eating all his green beans (pretty much).

I am still in shock.
-TD

Life's Blessings

Sammy, our newest little bundle of joy is already almost 3 months old! We feel so lucky and blessed to have him and Jacob and Ella in our lives.

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on how fast children grow up. I know that time will fly by and soon he will be going to school, playing sports, getting his drivers license, flirting with girls, and then (gulp) going away to college!

I just want to squeeze him and hold him all day and all night. (I am convinced that he will not learn how to roll over, sit, or walk, because I never want to put him down!). Three months is my favorite "baby" age...their personalities are starting to show, they start smiling and really reacting to everyone, they start learning to roll over, and they sleep a little more at night;)

Here are my absolute favorite pictures of the other two kids at about 3 months old...



Here's Jacob....the cheeks, the outfit, the white hair, and of course the expression. My favorite!

Tim took this picture in his parent's front yard. He did such a great job, he even set it up like a professional! What a great daddy!

This picture makes him look huge, but he is still a lot smaller than most kids his age. It's the cheeks - I don't know where my kids get them, but they all have had round faces and big cheeks as babies. It seems like just yesterday that we had him and now he just turned 4 YEARS OLD!


And of course, here's Ella...
This picture was taken in Florida. She has her swimsuit coverup on and a matching bikini on underneath. I love her expression, she is so happy! And it even looks like she is posing because she is holding the corner of her dress. What a little lady...

This is also when her hair started turning blonder and her eyes were getting more and more blue. I still just want to squeeze those cheeks!

Well, I better get going....Jacob is going to his zoo class and Sammy and Ella and I are going to explore the zoo while he is there. It is a beautiful day to spend with my children...

Love,
TD