Happy Halloweeen

Super Girl got together with some of her other crime fighting friends (sort of)...



Megan and Super Chicken along with our neighborhood policeman and a bad guy, turned good for the night, "Bubba Fett" (as he called himself - If you don't know who he is - think Star Wars figure from the deep south) hung out for awhile. I know I felt safer knowing that Super Girl was on the job keeping our street safer for the real trick-or-treaters.

Megan got a lesson in how to raid a candy dish (of candy that she can't even eat).

Our little feathery friend taught Megan the wonders of "nerds."

Now the real treat of the night... The older boys next door got to catch a ride on a neighborhood wagon pulled by a lawn tractor.

Hopefully you can see it in the background - with Super Girl and Super Chicken in the double stroller alongside. The wagon was filled with about 20 kids. What a hoot. It was a great way to meet our neighbors. Maybe one year when the littlest tykes are older, they too will get to ride with the tractor.

But for tonight - I think they enjoyed just sitting back and enjoying the ride. Who am I kidding - Megan was in and out of that stroller more times than I could count. Let's say sitting still is not her strong suite. Or perhaps, she just anticipated danger and wanted to be unharnessed and ready to jump into action..... maybe???

The bizarre part... there are trucks and trucks of kids in our neighborhood. I always wondered why we had no trick or treaters. We are in a huge neighborhood and it just didn't make sense. I asked one of the other parents I met how many tricker-or-treaters they have normally and she said about 100.... Last year, we had our doorbell ring 4 times. I now know the reason... our specific location - they turn the corner before they get to us. Even the tractor that had our next door neighbors on it didn't come see us this year (they did last year). I'm sad on one hand because we miss the action - on the other hand... woohoo! This year we had NOBODY come by - I left out a bowl of candy while we were out socializing and it hadn't been touched. I'm thinking I've just saved myself a lot of money by not needing to buy Halloween candy in the future!

The invasion!

Mommy, mommy..... My playroom has been invaded!!!!!!!

A lion has taken over my sit and spin! Oh my!

A Monkey is in my playhouse! Oh no!

But.... never fear!!!!!

Super Girl is here!!!!!

A little help for a friend

Yesterday, I had to be at church to help decorate for a Women's Ministry event so Megan got some time in the nursery. She had fun - unfortunatly, the 3 kids she bit might not have had such a great time. :^( Anyone got any ideas on how to stop this little chomper. She's working on getting her 2nd molars. When she's teething seems to be when she reverts back to biting. UGH! It's not malicious biting... she's not biting because they have a toy she wants or she's mad - They'll be happily playing next "together" and she just picks up their hands and sticks them in her mouth... why they don't catch on to her game and just snatch their hands away is still beyond me. I know it's just a stage - but so far nothing we've tried has seemed to make a difference.

At any rate.... we left church late and I had to run to get Megan food before she either melted down, or fell asleep with food in her mouth. I called my friend who lives down the street from the church and fortunately she was just about to feed her little one. So Megan got another super treat and she got to eat lunch with Will.

What a little helper....



Thanks to everyone who came out to here Sherri speak- I hope you had a great time!

Eggrolls

Some food firsts are always worth noting...
First Eggroll ---- who knew she'd eat an eggroll?!?!?
So funny that it was worth capturing in a little video.

Fall Chores

What a beautiful weekend we had (a strange but welcome start to a cold week)! Megan was very interested in the riding lawnmower.
And although she wasn't really dressed for the occasion - she wanted to chip in and help out with the fall chores.

Watch out leaves... here she comes!

Scarecrows in the Garden

This past week we had a fun playdate excursion to the Botanical Gardens. They had a fun exhibit called "Scarecrows in the Garden". We had a great time. It was totally worth the visit and I can't wait to take Megan back. Megan and Will finding their favorite pumpkins

Sarah Michelle prefered the green ones.

Going down the slide in the Kids Garden area...

And of course, it wouldn't be Scarecrows in the Garden without some scarecrows!

The Kids Garden was super cute and even had Mr. MacGregors Garden Patch (for those non-classical readers - that would be from Peter Rabbit).

My little bunny rabbit!

Megan's favorite scarecrow was the "Jim Henson" scarecrow - She had a love/hate (or should I say a love/terror) relationship with those birds.

Hen ride anyone?

Megan even got a cow ride. Note the toothbrush the cow is holding... it was extremely fascinating for everyone!Megan thought for sure that she should brush her teeth with that enormous toothbrush.

At the end of the Children's Garden, the girls decided they would start a pumpkin drum band.

And all that was just in one section of the gardens - the Children's Garden. I highly recommend a visit if you live nearby! I can't wait to go in the spring/summer and let Megan romp in their spray fountains.

I pulled out all the tricks to keep a tired girl awake on the ride home - even though she loves eating apples, not even that could keep her awake.

Tanglewood

This past weekend, Tom and I had a fun outing with Megan for our anniversary. We went back to Tanglewood Farms so Megan could have fun with the animals and Tom could watch it first hand. The tail-less cats were her favorite - although she wasn't quite sure what to do without a tail to grab on-to.

Some of the bigger minatures were a bit "big" for her tastes, but the little guys were still favorites!

This rabbit is one of the only "non-minatures" they have. It's huge... and Megan loved it.

What to do if you get chased by a minature pig.... run!

One of my highlights was watching Megan on the bucking bronco! I'll try to post that video later.

She had a great pony ride with Daddy by her side.

We couldn't leave with a visit to the pumpkin patch.

Megan had this one all picked out - but she couldn't quite figure out how to pick it up. And trust me, she tried and tried.

Silly girl

Megan has an incredible fall fascination. She loves the trees and everything about them. On nice days we could spend hours outside while she hunts for little treasures.Acorn anyone? Acorns, sticks, leaves, asundry other articles of nature... I had to draw the line when she went for some dried rabbit poop... yeah, we have an enormous rabbit population in our neighborhood.

Silly Girl! (and grossed out mom)..

Oogles and Monkeys

Thanks Uncle Dan for the fabulous package! Megan got it and tore into it right away.She loves the farm book with the oogley eyes.But is torn, because she'd also like to make the monkey's chatter all day (thanks).I can say that Megan loves the additions to her library. I got the oogley eye farm book out yesterday and she went around saying "oog" for at least an hour because she think oogley is a funny word (as do I). And when she's not doing that, she's making monkey sounds (which I need to get a video of). We love them! And thanks for my gift too!!!!

When did she learn to do that?

That has been a question we've been asking ourselves a lot lately.

Megan is at that age when suddenly she can do something that she couldn't do yesterday. How did that happen? Tom's asked me a lot, "Did you teach her to do that?" and I wish I could take the credit, but most of the time she suddenly just starts doing something.

Something like this....

A week or so ago, she hauled her sit and spin into the kitchen (that was a task and a sight to behold because it's as big as she is), and sat down and just started spinning herself. She's always loved it. It was actually a gift that I gave one of my nephews several years back and now it's been handed down and back to our household (yipee for hand me downs!)

In the past, she would sit on it (with help) and I would spin her around and around and around.... but now she can do it on her own - and she'll tell you that too - so don't be thinking about lending a helping hand, she'll have none of that!!!

It's just so funny - I wonder, how did she figure out she could do it on her own? So if you are looking for a good Christmas gift for a little toddler you know... this is the one that Megan recommends.

This past week (before it got chilly) we started to carve our pumpkin. It got late and dark so we didn't get it done in one sitting (and it's still sitting on our table, un-faced). But here's how the project started.

First, Megan had to give the pumpkin a good once over to make sure it was truly to her liking.

When we cut the top off, she was very interested in the seeds stuck to the top (sort of goes with her acorn fascination).
She wasn't sure about what all was inside. But had to get a closer look.
For me, it was so fun. It was like having one of my fun teaching days again. Every year we would have a pumpkin day and would estimate how many seeds were in there, count them, do all sorts of fun pumpkin experiments and of course, eat the seeds. It makes me excited about the days when Megan is old enough to do some of those things. But even at her young age, we had a blast. OK - I did, she wasn't quite sure what to think of that orange stringy stuff.She did get brave and stick her hand in (once).Of course she got into it in other ways. Her job was to get the seeds (off my hand) and put them in our container. Just when I would think we were done, she would suddenly find a seed that was still inside the pumpkin. Good to have an eagle eye like Megan on the job.And of course, once we were done... it's time to start thinking about roasting some pumpkin seeds! YUM!
So our nameless, faceless pumpkin will hopefully get a face in the next day or so... That's actually my goal for tomorrow. We'll see if we get to it.

My Dearest Husband,

Happy Anniversary! It is so hard to believe we've been married for 5 amazing years. Truely the past 5 years have held a lot for us. We've encountered so many challenges and blessings on this journey. When we walked down that aisle 5 years ago, we had no idea where we would be at this point in our lives. Would we be in GA or ND? Would be have kids? Would each day still be as wonderful as that special day?

And here we are... 5 years into our journey with this beautiful blessing!

Each and every day with you is a dream come true. God has given us a wonderful life together and hearts that desire to savor each moment, knowing that is passes to quickly and that it will soon be a precious memory. Now not only do have the blessing of having you as my husband, but each day I get to see you with Megan and think, God gave you to her and her to you! Your hugs and bathtimes and giggle-fests just make me fall in love with you more and more each day.

This is a journey.... and we are only 5 years into it. I wonder where will we be in 5 more?Even though this first 5 has thrown us some curve balls and we've had stresses in our lives - bizarre illnesses, tumors, wondering if we'd be parents.... your faith, comfort and support has always reminded me that we are not in this alone. I love that we are a cord of 2 stands, united by Christ - our 3rd... and we will not break!

Thank you my sweetheart!

Happy Anniversary!

Resident Artist

What I am coming to realize is that Megan loves to be creative. Every day she begs to color and play with playdoh. Of course, every day she gets them taken away for trying to eat them. But it is so sweet that she wants to make something. So earlier this week I made up some watercolors and we went outside for a little Jackson Pollack action.

Of course, most of the watercolors ended up on her more than the paper...
But it was fun and cute and kept her occupied for awhile outside. I haven't been brave enough to break out the fingerpaints yet... I'm sure you'll know it when I do!