Fall Festival!

Our neighborhood had a fall festival, complete with clowns, catering from "Off the Grill" games, and lots of candy! The kids all came dressed up, and we were able to meet new neighbors! We had a great time, here are some pictures.

The Costumes!


Eliot's face paintings


The Gorilla!


This is the parachute game.


The local fire trucks came and gave the kids hats and stickers, and they were able to go up onto the trucks.

After a few hours of fun, lots of junk food, and candy, the kids and I came home and they crashed into bed and were asleep by 8pm!

Hibernating ladybugs?

I love lady bugs, as a kid that was one of my nick names, and I love seeing them in the garden. I was delighted when the other night there were literally hundreds of lady bugs flying around our house and on every one of our windows, it creeped Brody out a little, but I think a mass amout of anything does that to him! I called my dad, (the landscaping expert) and he told me that lady bugs hibernate, and they were looking for somewhere warm to group together and sleep through the winter. I was even more excited when I saw that they had chosen my bathroom corner to group together! I thought that they would be a much better bug to have live with you than some spiders in the corner.
I decided to do more research, and this is what I found, and now I am not so thrilled about the ladybugs being in my house....

"Tis the season! Ladybugs are looking for a place to hibernate.
They are attracted to light colored homes, usually older homes and they are attracted to heat that the homes reflect. Once ladybugs have penetrated the home though, they are hard to get rid of.
Ladybugs release pheromones. This helps ladybugs find each other and it lets future generations know of a good place to "camp out" for the winter. The pheromones don't go away easily. The chemical "scent" can remain year after year, and not only on the outside of a structure, but also within the walls, where ladybugs tend to hide before emerging into your home. So, scrubbing pheromones off a house is a BIG task, if not impossible."

Goody

The "Home Stretch" Place your bets!

The doctor said it at my last appointment- I am in the home stretch of this pregnancy. (4 more weeks!) It has gone by SO FAST. It must just be this way the more kids you have. Less time to focus on your own changing body, because you have other little bodies to care for! I have bragged somewhat throughout this pregnancy that I have felt great, and that its been so easy, well now I am definitley reaching the point of being uncomfortable. By the end of the day, I can not wait to lay down.
So now is the time to start betting. What day, time, weight, hour do you think he'll be? What/ who will he look like? Anything you want to bet on, go for it....

Chaos = Fun! (for a four year old)

I went to the "Country ham festival" today with my boys. I know, it sounds kind of gross, but it was fun. There wasn't any ham there that I could see either, I don't know why they call it that. Anyways, it was a festival made up of booths of homemade things, and a kids area, where you could plant some corn seeds, and feed a (puppet) cow some food. We petted animals, got a picture taken with "wilbur" the pig, and Eliot went on a cart ride. Then we made it over to the 5 bounce houses where hundreds of children were gathered. I removed Eliot's shoes, and told him the rules. "Wait in line for your turn, come back and check in with mama if you go to a diffent bounce thing." Simple, and it worked, as I watched him from the bale of hay where I sat.
All was fine, until the generator went out and all the bounce houses lost air. One by one they deflated and chaos began, as adults frantically tried to hold up the bounce houses so the screaming kids could find their way out. I too tried to help hold one up, until it dawned on me that I had NO idea where Eliot was. I started to look around and it seemed that every child had his blond hair, but none were him. Everything slowed way down in my brain, like it does when you are in a car accident. I suddenly felt very very frightened. I went as fast as I could, while pushing Aiden in his stroller, all around each of the deflated bounce houses, and called for Eliot over all the other screaming. I prayed nothing more than, "oh God..." and spun a circle scanning the crowds. I did not know what to do. After what seemed like an hour (probobally only minutes), the bounce houses rose up all around me, and he came bounding around the corner, with a huge smile on his face, saying, " Mommy, the big alligator ate me! And then I was stuck inside his stomach, it was awesome!"
He was fine, and had actually really enjoyed the experience of being stuck inside the stomach of a deflated aligator.

We got an SUV today...

Veggietales The SUV Song Lyrics

I like your car
I like Yours too
I like your tires
You've got nice chrome
A trailer Hitch ?
Left Mine at Home
Oh your suspension it suspends me over heights I've never known
And your roll bar is to die for by the way I like your chrome
Oh you and me in our sport utility vehicles crusin to 7-11 for a bag of frito lays Oh you and me in our sport Utility Vehicles we'll slam into 4 wheel and pick up a dozen eggs and if there ever was a snow
A really really deep snow
And if everyone was stuck but us
We'd be the ones not stuck
then we could be the heroes
We could be the heroes
we could be the herooooooos
We would push them and pull them
push them and pull them
Push them and pull them right out of the snow
o you and me in out sport utility vehicles crusin to Dunkin Donuts for a cup of steaming Joe oh you and me in our sport utility vehicles we'll slam into 4-wheel drive for a scoop of rocky road
and if we ever go campin,.. you know
haven't been but one day.. I'll go
And we find a ranger stuck in a ditch
a nice ranger in a deep ditch
we could be the heroes
we could be the heros
we could be the heroes
we would push him and pull him
push him and pull him
Push him and pull him right out of that ditch
I like your car
I like yours too
Its my sport Utility Vehicle

The chef

Tonight I wondered once again at the tastebuds of my son. He is so picky about what he eats, yet sometimes he shocks me at what he will try. For instance, tonight he decided to "cook something." He got out some measuring cups, some cups of water, and a spoon. He began to create a concotion of dried macaroni, mushed brown bannana, left over from breakfast, water, ice, mushy cereal, and cat food. He stirred and stirred until he felt it was just right. He then got out a straw, and took a sip, "MMmm that's good!!" he told me. I just looked at him and laughed.
I remember as a kid, when I'd do the same sort of things, and my dad would actually eat the stuff. I wasn't so brave tonight.