HALLOWEEN EVE

Off to the Fall Festival at school. More pictures to come after the actual Trick or Treating has taken place....

DANCE TIME

Just another typical dance party before bath time.

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD

The kids love to sing and now that all 3 of them go to big church together, I have my very own choir!

Weekend with Dad

Since I was out of commission John did some extra parenting this weekend. Here are some photos he took of the kids.

Christopher reading the Saturday paper. Shopping for cars - can never start too young. Actually its a perfect time to buy if you want a good deal on a GM!

Sweet Jack loves to watch a show in Ella's pink chair.

The boys lounging around.

Ella and her completed 100 piece puzzle Grandma Rhondi brought her. Great job Ella.

PIRATES

John and I went to Erin's Halloween party. It was a last minute costume so we had to raid the kids dress up bin. I wish it had been a better night for me. I felt terrible. When we got home I had a 101 fever and crawled into bed very medicated and woke up to greet my mother in law and then back to bed. Today I am on the mend and feeling much better.

BOO

It's always fun getting BOO'd. Today we went bike riding and as we were pulling in the driveway I saw the boo basket at the door, so I said to the kids - Look someone Boo'd us, well they were so excited as you can see. They got candy, ghost marshmellows (very cool) parachute men, playdough, cookie mix, etc... So now we have to BOO 2 houses and Ella could hardly go to sleep at the thought of it. She is planning already! What a fun tradition.

Today when I picked Ella and the boys up from school Christopher was standing waiting pulling his jeans down around his ankles saying NO JEANS, TRACTORS, yes thats right he wore his tractor pjs to school again, so John and I have nicknamed sweet Christopher TRACTOR BOY!

Ella tells me "Mommy its such hard work at school, I work too hard, I need a break, good thing tomorrow is Friday. NO school.
Jack saw a girl who reminded him of Auntie Barbara, and he kept saying Auntie Baba Auntie Baba - Ella says "mommy I sure miss Auntie Barbara - she's one of my favorite girls. I agreed!!!

Christopher

Christopher has started at a very young age with a strong opinion in clothes. He has a very strong opinion on everything actually but these days what he wears is causing us the most problems. First off I should say keeping him in clothes is a challenge all in itself. If he doesn't like the pj's I choose - he will throw the biggest fit, eventually we get them on and then later at night when I am going to bed, there he is stripped down to a diaper and his clothes thrown outside his bedroom door. TAKE THAT MAMA!!!
He has been attached to his tractor pajama shorts, he wants to wear them all day and night. Today was no different other than it was a school morning so I had a time constraint and couldn't fool around. He is going red in the face, screaming, kicking while I am trying to pry his shorts off. I tell him - they are dirty I need to wash them. No such luck. I am getting Ella ready and Christopher comes back to me with his tractor shorts back on over his shorts. This is the picture. In the end we tied. He wore his tractor PJ's to school UNDERNEATH his shorts. You have to pick your battles I guess, this one was just not worth it to me.
FYI - I did manage to get him to wear car pj's tonight so I can wash those shorts for tomorrow!!!

ECI Carnival

Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) came to our house when the boys were little to assess them because they were premature. Today they had a carnival for all their past or present children and we took the kids and we are glad we did, they had so much fun. Here are some pictures.

The kids did a bean bag toss and surprised me how well they could get the bean bag in the little hole. Good job kiddos!
Face painting except for Ella and Christopher who wanted there creatures on their hands. Unfortunately by the time we had left, Ella's bug flew away too!
Cookie decorating - all I wanted to do was Say um excuse me Can Mom do this to? I saw John eating the kids cookies, I so wanted one! Oh well.Since this was sponsored by ECI they had a lot of educational/sensory/tactile things to do. Great hands on fun for the kids. I put toys in big bins of rice and they love to scoop and shovel, hide and dig for it. Jack especially loves to toss the rice, that always FUN.
It wouldn't be a carnival without a petting zoo. Interesting thing is that these were high school kids who take agriculture and animal courses. Pretty sure we didn't do that at Queensway. I can just see it, Ok kids bring your goat to school on the TTC.
The anticipation on their faces - Yep you guessed it there was a little train ride. Oh how fun!

A great afternoon with the kids

This afternoon the boys in the house - John included were napping whilst us girls cooked dinner and cleaned up! John actually cleans up better than me so he's not getting nagged at. I definitely married up. But the point is Ella and I were on our own. So she is coloring and I am flipping through the book The five Love Languages of Children. She inquires so I tell her what it is and that I am trying to see how I can show her how much I love her in a way she understands best. That was the end of the conversation - OR so I thought.
WELL,
Tonight at bed time after books, bath and snuggles, I am leaving her room and she says "Mommy?, I say Yes Ella, thinking she was stalling - she says "Mommy why do you need a book to love me?" I am amazed that she probably thought about that all day. I tell her of course I don't need a book and she is loved beyond words and the kids and John are the most important people in the world and all I was doing was getting help since Mommy doesn't know everything. To that she agreed!!! Funny girl. I look at her and can't believe she is ours, she's amazing...

OIL RANCH

On Friday we went with our friends to the Oil Ranch. I just have to say that these Texans are the nicest people. So on my way to the Ranch I got to see back woods Texas. As expected I got lost. I stopped and asked a man walking out of a gas station how to find Stagecoach road, and he said thats it, pointing straight ahead. I say - Ok but the sign on the road says Timberlodge (or something to that effect) he agrees and tells me it will change in a mile or so. NICE. I keep driving now looking for another road and either due to the hurricane or the fact that the only people back there no where they are going - THERE IS NOOOOOO SIGN. I happened to luck out again and there was a police car running radar and I pulled up beside him and asked for directions again, and then the LAST time (3rd times a charm) a lovely man was working in his yard - huge yard We are talking Texas Ranches here. I pull over and he gives me real directions. Such as Ma'am you are going to go to Mike Country Store in a tick and then go due West and about a quarter horse down you'll see your turn. Thanks FELLA. I am the worst with North, East, South West. The only reason I even remember they exist is from the simple school rhyme. Never Eat Shedded Wheat!

We'll we made it, and Shelley suggested I get a GPS. Not sure satelite works back there - so I followed Erin home since she said, no way was I going the back way. SMART GIRL.

A picture or some of the group, the great thing is when you have so many kids and theres more on the way, you get DISCOUNTS!!!

Lots of fun - pony rides and snow cones were the hit!

Ella thought milking a cow was fun, did it twice!

BOUNCE TIME

Jack says to Ella, "Ella, you're my pretty girl" We are starting him young to treat a woman right.

Ella has had 2 birthday parties this week and we are at an age where we are thrilled to go and give a present. She spends so much time making her card (she calls it the invitation).

Its bounce time. Jack and Christopher love when John gets in because its pure rough house smack down! Apparently mom is a little too gentle! Although when he's at work, I do make a lovely subsitute.

Comments

Nobody leaves comments anymore??? A little birdy told me that Lynnette enjoys getting comments. She knows that lots of people read the blog but has mentioned that nobody likes to comment anymore...except Grandma Hoy (anonymous blogger..given the technical difficulties with computer)

Dress up

Dress up at our house is always fun since Ella is the mastermind behind everyones costumes. Today she thought the boys should be pirates, and they both needed 2 earrings. The were growling at Sam and me trying to scare us.

A high heeled Pirate???

Ella told Jack to lie down and go to sleep - he obliged! Too bad he doesn't always listen to me so well at nap time...

Good thing we have a Dr. on the premises for all those boo boo's. Apparently tumble mats make a perfect operating table.

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving today since tomorrow (the official day) John is working. Ella and I prepared dinner and what a mess we had in the process but it all cleaned up.

I figured out that I have done 24 Thanksgivings since John and I have been married. 2 a year keeps me busy and very Thankful. Heres the turkey. This year no left overs. We ended up with 18 friends and family. Only 3 born and raised Canadians in the bunch and then some Canadian by lineage or marriage and of course theres always the Oklahoma wanna bes... (Brian, Alexia, Kim and Jade)

Christopher saying Cheese, he sat at the table before dinner was ready just waiting so patiently. He spread his napkin and just sat, Jennifer felt so sorry for him so he got dinner a little earlier than the rest.

Ella made the whip cream for the pumpkin pie in the Kitchenaid all by herself. she was such a big helper.

Heres some of us enjoying dinner. YUMMY. It was a lot of fun. I am so thankful for my friends, who celebrate with us every year...

LEMONADE

Ella had her first Lemonade Stand today. She had lots of customers (thanks neighbors and friends) and lots of helpers. I asked her how much she was going to charge and she said "2 dollars" I said "Oh Ella that's a lot of money for Lemonade, so she replied with "Well then lets make it a NICKEL A GLASS". Too cute. We had many generous tips. So in the end Ashley, Ella and Katrina split the 1 dollar tips and Ella kept all the coins. Some terrific Entrepreneurs...

GO OKLAHOMA STATE!!!