Halloween

This year's Halloween pictures and overall success was a little under par. We tried to get pictures taken at Target, and Grayson would not have it. I tried to take pictures at home, and no one would hold still...I give up :)

Lets just say my little justice league was super cute! Just wiggly!

 Dynamic Duo super hugs

 My little batman

 and his wiggly sidekick Robin

 Super tough

 Never a serious moment...they get that from me

 Told them to make silly faces

 We had our typical block party - mario, luigi and toadstool showed up

so did ninjas and a killer whale!

Grayson didn't last long, as usual. Chelsey came with us, probably because she was locked out of her house LOL! But the kids did a few streets of trick or treating, and we have enough candy to last till easter! Next year will be super fun, because Grayson will get it and all three will be able to stay up a bit later. Great fun as always though!

New Friends

Its funny, when I went on Ragbrai this year, I never thought McKenna would become such great friends with the daughter of the person I went with! Olivia lives down the street from us and they have really become great friends. The hardest part is making sure that McKenna is being kind when it is her, Olivia and her older sister Sammy...three girls is a recipe for disaster. But they did have a fun afternoon of "dance off" the other day. Way CUTE!

Wow, no sassy in this house!...Not sure how girls come pre-programmed with the bootie thrust!

Orchard and Mom's Visit

I just realized it has been almost a month since I have been on here....sigh. I have been so busy with work and traveling that I have barely had time to talk to my kids, let alone write about what it is that they are up to!

Right after my last post my mom came to visit!  It was half to hang out with us, and half to get an endless list of tasks done on her house. They are moving right along and it should be finished by Christmas!

I was in St. Louis when she arrived, but got home late Friday night. On Saturday we all went to the orchard and did our typical corn pool, monster slide, caramel apples, jumping on the giant balloon, checking out the animals, etc. This year they had some additional fun attractions!

Spencer's first dip in the corn pool...it was cold!

Grayson was his typical grumpy self...he has been going through a bit of a tantrum phase, but seemed to enjoy checking out the goats

AHHH Scary Chelsey

 

So Spencer won, but presumably cheated...you'll have to talk to Chelsey...

These were new this year...how fun!!

Pretty sure we wore them out!

The rest of the visit was mostly around house stuff and naps! But was fun sharing one of our favorite family traditions with Chels, Spence and my mom! :)

Some Cute Movies

Here is one of Zachey making Grayson laugh with a silly birthday toy



And maybe a less cute one....tried to capture what have become epic fits that Grayson throws for no reason. I believe in this case he couldn't fit a car in his bucket ;)



Night and day huh? 

Nolan's Birthday

Grandpa Bob was at a surprise party in Omaha last weekend. He got a chance to drive up here and spend a few days with us too. It happened to coincide with Nolan's 5th birthday party which had a curious george theme. The weather was really nice so the kids got to play outside in the backyard. The event ended with a curious george pinata (which was sort of awful as they tried to break curious george :)

Grayson LOVED this little slide

 Big swing Zachey

Kenna winding up

Harvest

Last weekend Josh was rounding out his week of bronchitis...it was awful, probably the worst sickness I've ever seen him have. Luckily he went to the doctor so it didn't progress into pneumonia. On Saturday I loaded the kids up and went to Perry to visit Grandma Great and let the kids drive the tractor :) Zachey was SUPER excited and aside from it being really cold, they had a great time! They were definitely ready for a nap when they got home!

Last Day of Summer

We have had just an AMAZING fall. It has been so pretty, with all the trees changing. Josh and I got to do a 15 mile bike ride and really take it all in. Riding along the river with all the pretty trees, was just awesome!

Below are a few pictures - the view from our deck.

We also had one last visit from the ice cream truck to end the summer weather :)

Waukee YMCA

We have a new tradition. Josh met some guys that love to play racquetball at the Wakuee Y on Saturdays. So, we pack up the kids, take them to the free and amazing kid center, and Josh plays racquetball while I do cardio. The Wakuee Y is amazing! They also have this awesome kid's pool, so the kids play in there when we are done. Great way to spend saturday mornings! I bet even more so once it gets cold outside!!!

Mom's House

Pretty excited at the progress on mom's house! She is coming at the end of October and will probably be nearly finished on the outside then!!

Orange Belt

We are SOOO proud of our little Kenna. She is really excelling in karate. She sometimes practices at home, and is really working on her intensity! A few weeks ago she was tested and earned her orange belt. They always make it a big deal and have a meeting with all the advancing orange belt students. Even more importantly, she was so proud of herself!

Frozen Dinner Party

I went to a frozen dinner party a few weekends ago at Andreas. You make 5 meals that you can freeze, then you go and exchange for 5 different meals that others have made. I made quesadilla casserole. This is what 5 lbs of ground beef, 10 cans of black beans, endless amounts of corn, tomato sauce, etc looks like :) Its layered with flour tortillas and cheese. Was quite tasty...and I made six so we could eat one sometime :) Nice to go to the freezer and pull these out when you are in a hurry!!

Theme Week

Daddy was gone for a week in San Francisco...and I forget how hard single parenting is...working, getting kids to karate, kindermusik, gymnastics, to and from daycare, etc....long week. Luckily Gona and Baca came down to help as Kenna had her karate belt exam. She is now an orange belt! So proud of her!!

Also, it was homecoming week here in Ankeny. With that came theme week. It was dress up like a teacher day, wacky wednesday, crocker pride day, jammies day and athletic day. I didn't get a picture of everyday (wacky wednesday was fun.) But I did get "teacher day" as that was the day that Kenna did the most prep for. 

She wanted her hair "curly like Mrs. Dunne's" so we put curlers in the night before. Then she wore jeans and a shirt like Mrs. Dunne would wear. She was so happy (after we fought the battle of sleeping with curlers in her hair.) She even got to teach the class for a few minutes because Mrs. Dunne said she looked so much like her. Ah elementary school! :)

Bathroom Remodel

Josh had a fun filled weekend a few weeks ago in Denver. His good friend Chad was turning 35 and his wife Tara surprised him with Broncos tickets, in Denver, with all of his family and friends. So, Josh got to go to an NFL game and celebrate with his buddy.

I thought I would surprise him with a bathroom makeover. We have always hated the tan color in our  bathroom, and have talked about changing some of the molding in our house to white. So I killed two birds with one stone! I got up early, worked during the boys naps, let the kids help, and stayed up late to get it all done before he got home! It was a little more work than I thought...3 coats of white paint on trim, sanding and staining tub surround, and just painting around all the bathroom fixtures, but it turned out great! Sort of a grayish purple..I love the color!

I do want to do something either around the mirror, or take it down and replace with two nice mirrors, maybe even tile behind the mirrors...but not bad for a weekend of work!

Feeding Rylee

On weekends all rules are broken. We turn the TV on, no TV on weeknights, and we eat breakfast on the floor. Why not? Grayson was having some kix while watching Saturday morning cartoons and his "sister" Rylee was happy to help him with the ones he didn't want. Lazy fall Saturday mornings, nothing better really!

Toothpaste battle

Josh bought Zachey some new toothpaste. Great intentions...it was bubble gum flavored, dora on the outside, how can you go wrong? Well he hates it, like everytime I put the toothpaste on his toothbrush he says "Ewww yucky!!" Today I said, "How can it be yucky, it tastes like bubble gum?" Zachey's retort: "No mom, it tastes like green beans!!" Funny.

Cute Pix

Don't need a special occasion to take cute pictures of your kiddos...here they are about to leave for school and looked so cute had to snap one :)

Hairspray

McKenna and Megan have spent many a weekend with their new love - the movie hairspray....I have to limit the amount we watch it...and I know all the songs by heart.

At least it gave me a good opportunity to talk to Kenna about segregation and treating everyone with kindness...but man....a little tired of this movie :)

Bad Blogger - Busy Momma

Man - I have been an awful blogger lately..I do have pictures and fun things that have happened just literally haven't had even 5 minutes to jump on here! I am going to do a quick "stuff that has been going on" blog, and then hopefully will get caught up soon!

Work for me has been crazy...my supposed 3 day work weeks are trickling more and more into 4 or 5 day weeks. Frequent trips to omaha, kansas city and in a few weeks saint louis. It isn't a typical day either - its not as if I get to a store at 8 and am in my hotel room by 5...more like leaving around 6am, driving forever, hitting a few stores and hopefully in my hotel by 10pm...just exhausting.

That being said I am ECSTATIC about an opportunity that has come my way! During the school transition at Ankeny they have 3 separate buildings for the high school right now. One of them is the 10th grade building. Because they are so separate, they only have two counselors for 650 kids. One of them is going on maternity leave and has asked me to sub for her! The timing couldn't be better as I can start covering for her the week before Christmas break, work at BBY during Christmas, and then take a full leave starting the first of the year. This will be a great way to get something like this on my resume and try it out before I fully commit! What a great opportunity!!

We went to McKenna's back to school night at the end of August. Got a chance to tour her classroom and learn all about the rhythms and cool things they are doing this year. I am so happy that there are only 20 kids in McKenna's class! Lots of individual attention, and I can already tell that the behaviors have improved for all the students because of it. They have won multiple awards for good behavior and structured learning time...proud momma!!

We started Kindermusik for both older kids. Zachey is in a big boy class now where he goes in by himself (where did my baby go!?!) He walked right in on the first day, saying "See ya mom!" He just loves it and is constantly singing at home. He really has wonderful pitch, I hope he explores singing as he gets older! McKenna gets to play the dulcimer this year. It is a stringed instrument. Last year the learned the glockenspiel so she got a chance to play that form of instrument as well. She LOVES the dulcimer...so we may have a string girl ;)

Mom came for a brief visit and we got to attend Chelsey's White Coat Ceremony. It was a big deal held at the civic center where I LOVED the messaging around compassionate medicine. I think that this school really has it figured out and am so proud and honored that Chelsey gets to attend. She has been working her fanny off, but getting great grades and really acclimating well to having zero free time and 10 classes (with like 3 tests a week!!) We had a lot of fun looking at all of the finishes mom is choosing for her house and it has walls and a foundation now...so fun!

We had the best labor day weekend, just did a whole lot of nothing! Got stuff done around the house, had Gentry's over one night for a BBQ and one last water day before fall, and went to Andersen's another night to hang out with Cyndi and let the kids ruin their house! :)

Aside from that it is the never ending shuffle between karate (of which McKenna is excelling in!!) Kindermusik, parties, gymnastics (starting next week), while trying to fit in time to make dinner and get to the gym!! It is a crazy life, but wouldn't trade it for anything!! Unless we won the lottery and didn't have to work...may trade it for that LOL!