Little Joys

These Clorox wipes and my hardwood floors have made my life so much easier these past few days! Jared, Caleb, Grace and I have had a horrible, horrible stomach flu. Did I mention that it was horrible? At first we thought it was food poisoning. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with a new block of cheese on Wednesday, and four hours later, everyone got sick...except for Lily who wouldn't eat her lunch because she's teething. Jared had a good day yesterday, but he "got sick" again this morning. I can just blot up any messes with a towel and then wipe the area clean with one of these wipes! No carpet to worry about.


Another thing I've been enjoying lately is the view of this beautiful walnut tree from my kitchen window. Caleb is especially enjoying all of the yellow leaves!

Sweet Caleb

Caleb was playing downstairs in the playroom, and he didn't quite make it upstairs to use the restroom in time, poor thing! He was practically in tears, and said to me, "I'm so sorry that I broke the potty rules. Will you please forgive me?" I guess I didn't know that we had potty rules, but he's determined to follow them next time. What a sweet boy!

Special Delivery!

Gramma sent these flowers to us this afternoon! If you click on the picture, you can see that the vase is full of what the kids call "mommy candy."

Thank you, Gramma!

Dr. Phil

Phil doesn't enjoy posing for pictures (who does?), so I took this candid shot as he was leaving this morning. I'm so proud of him!


And here's a funny picture of my girls. I had to run and get my camera! Notice what each girl is doing. Gracie is browsing my Norton Anthologies, which I left out last night, and I think Lily's a little less academically inclined. Might she be a good candidate for Cliff Notes? Maybe! I am baffled as to why the remote control isn't on her side, though.

Yummy Pumpkin Muffins

I made pumpkin bread this morning and saved some of the batter to make mini muffins for the kids. All 36 muffins were gone in 10 minutes!

Here's the recipe if you want to enjoy this, too!

Beat by hand:
1 cup veg. oil
4 cups sugar
1 big can pumpkin
5 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
3 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 min. Makes 3 large or 5 small loaves.

Today I halved the recipe and made 1 loaf and 36 mini muffins.

The Pumpkin Patch

We took Gramma to the airport this afternoon and spent the rest of the day at the pumpkin patch. The boys enjoyed going through a corn maze with Phil while I walked around with the girls. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon since we are all a little sad about having to take Gramma to the airport.

Out with My Girls

While the boys were on their little pirate adventure, the girls and I walked around the pumpkin patch, bought pretties for their hair, ate a giant pretzel and listened to a fiddler play. The girls love live music! Gracie clapped and sang along, and Lily signed, "more, more!" after each song.

A Corn Maze and a Pirate Adventure!

Phil took the boys through a corn maze this afternoon at the pumpkin patch.


They found their way to a castle, and then to a pirate ship!





All who entered the maze were given a key to open a treasure chest hidden inside the maze. Caleb's key opened the treasure chest! He won a pirate bandanna. Phil and Jared were given chocolate gold coins as consolation prizes.

The "Big Red Wagon Park"

We spent a wonderful evening downtown. We stopped by Sonic for slushies, we went to the "big red wagon park," and then we had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory...YUM! Gramma's going home tomorrow. Our plan is to visit an apple orchard and pumpkin patch in the morning before heading to the airport.

Bathing Beauty

This one was just too cute not to post! My sister gave this robe to Jared when he was born. Phil put it on Lily after her bath last night...a little too small, but oh so cute!

Little Garbage Man

Jared wants this to be his new chore. He wants to roll the empty garbage can back into the carport on garbage day. Fine with me!

Applesauce

Jared wanted to make applesauce today. However, he told me he was bored after slicing only 2 apples! I made him stick with it, though. We'll enjoy the "fruit" of his labor tonight at dinner, then he'll be glad he finished!

Gramma's Here!!!

I was going to title this post "Ha! Ha! Nana and Aunt Corinne" but that would be cruel, wouldn't it? Gramma came to visit this week! The kids love having her here. Her plane flew right over our car as we turned into the airport! Jared wanted to stop by Sonic on the way home so he could show Gramma that the waitresses roller skate out to the cars and bring slushies. He made her stare at the door so she wouldn't miss it.

Yesterday we went to the mall to play in the squishy playground and then Gramma treated us to ice cream at Dairy Queen. Today we're going to show her our new library and if it doesn't rain, we'll play at the park for awhile.

Monk-ism

Have you ever watched Monk? He's an extremely bright detective who suffers from Obsessive Compulsion Disorder. I think I do, too. In our new house, we have a light switch at the top of our stairs leading down to the basement, and another switch at the bottom of the stairs for the same light. It really bothers me if both light switches are in the "on" position when the light is off. This morning I actually walked down to the basement to turn the switch to "off," and then walked back upstairs again. Ahhh...much better! Am I weird? Do any of you do things like this?

Help!

I need parenting advice! I really have no idea what I'm doing...I just pretend to know.

My boys dropped their morning nap when they were about 15 months old. Then they took 3 hour naps in the afternoon, and still settled in at their normal bedtime. Are girls different? My girls will be 2 next month, and I think they still need their morning nap. I tried to drop it this summer, but they just couldn't make it to lunch time. Maybe things seem worse than they really are, because I'm dealing with 2 babies at one time. I really don't remember my boys being this fussy all morning before they turned 2.

I'm letting my girls nap in the morning again. When I let them do this, one of two things will happen: either they won't nap in the afternoon, or they do nap in the afternoon and then they're up until almost 10:00 at night. This causes them to be tired in the morning, requiring a nap by 9:00 a.m., and thus the vicious cycle is repeated!

This picture was taken last night about 5 minutes after I put the girls down. They were SO tired! It was nice to have them fall asleep so quickly, but the long day with fussy girls almost wasn't worth having a longer, quieter evening.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!