Owl Hat

Sometime in the fall we were at Target and Autumn picked up an owl hat that she wouldn't put down. She was way too excited about it for us not to buy it. So far it's been a sound investment because she wears it all the time.

The night we brought it home:

9/10

The next day after church:

9/11

Later in the week when we went for a walk:

9/16

Every girl needs her own cute little owl hat.

The Gummy Bear

This one's for you, Hannah.

I'm currently taking a creative writing class from a famous author. Like, New York Times Bestseller famous. He doesn't write the kind of fiction that I read, but my good friend Hannah and my husband both really like him, and he only teaches one class once a year at the university, so I figured I would give it a shot. He's actually pretty awesome and I love the class.

I guess he has a thing for gummy bears because some guy who's trying to suck up to the teacher always brings a bag of them to class for famous author to chew on while he teaches. Tonight famous author was recovering from a cold, so the entire two hours he was talking looked like this:

Cough into his hands

do that little pinch the nose and flick at the nostrils thing you do when you feel like you have crusty boogers

roll gummy bears between his fingers

pop them in his mouth

It was disgusting, but hey, they were his germs he was eating, right?

So then halfway through class he gets this brilliant idea to start rewarding students who ask questions by tossing them a gummy bear. So then the scenario goes:

cough into his hands repeatedly while talking

wipe his nose with his fingers

roll gummy bears between his fingers for like two minutes each while listening to and answering question

toss them to the student who asked the question

More often than not the gummy bear landed on the floor or someone else caught it and handed it to the person who it was intended for. The question asking student would then excitedly gobble up the gummy bear. They were probably hoping some of Author's literary genius would be transmitted to them.

I was horrified. It was like the movie Contagion coming to life.

But then I had a brilliant idea.

So I raised my hand, asked a question, and jumped like an eager seal when he tossed a gummy bear my way. The kid behind me caught it and politely passed it up.

I wrapped it up and put it in my backpack to give it to my good friend Hannah who loves famous author. I will put it in the mail and she can be closer to him than she ever imagined.

Because that's the kind of friend I am.

Because I love you, Hannah.

You're welcome.

Calvin's first day of school

Calvin was thrilled to start school again after the long summer break. He couldn't wait to see Miss Nicole and Miss Meghan.
9/6

Autumn's 2nd Birthday

Autumn loves playing in the dryer and since it was her special day, we let her spin in it for a while. We like cheap thrills at our house.

Her small celebration was a random mix of
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse balloons
Toy Story and Minnie Mouse pez dispensers

Pizza
and princess cupcakes.
They're all things she loves, so I didn't feel too bad that it was a mishmash of stuff that I put together at the last minute.

Calvin helped her open presents

And her favorite one was the Little People horse trailer.

It wasn't a fancy birthday, but she's always sweet and excited about every little thing.

We love you, Autumn! You have a sunny personality and are sweet to everyone around you. You are quick to laugh and almost always have a smile to share. We are grateful to have you in our family. 12/2

Decorating for Christmas

This year we put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun this time around because the kids really got into it and loved putting ornaments on the tree. They would take them off and put them back on over and over again. We played Christmas music, ate candy canes, and we all got really excited for Christmas.

11/25

Andy's New Truck

He's saved up for it for two years. I'm glad he finally got what he wanted.

Andy's Birthday

None of us can remember what we did for Andy's big day in October. All I know is that the kids and I bought him an ice cream cake from Coldstone. We ate a piece and then went somewhere. When we came home the cake was sitting on the counter melted. Andy was sad that I'd forgotten to put it away and ruined it. But here are some cute shots of before the cake became a gooey pile of mush.

Relighting the candles so Calvin can have a turn:

It can't have been too awesome if he and I don''t remember it, but hopefully it was a good birthday. We love you Andy/Daddy! 10/17

Jump on it

The other day I was putting Autumn down for a nap and had to leave the room for a second. This is what I came back to:


Calvin was jumping and singing:

Tonto, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it...
Kemosabi, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it...

He learned it from Just Dance

Autumn was jumping like her life depended on it. It was if she was thrilled that Calvin was finally playing with her and she was doing her best not to mess it up. 11/29

4th Birthday Party

For Calvin's 4th birthday he decided that he wanted a Rio party. Of course there are very few resources available for a Rio party, so we had to wing it. Calvin wore his p.j.s, 24 kids under the age of five showed up, and all things considered, it turned out well.

Since it was a random theme, we just went with bright colors and movie posters:

Carrie putting out juice boxes:


The cake. I found the Blu and Jewel online, and then I built the trees out of jute and edible leaves. The cupcakes have Rio rings on them. I was pretty proud of how it turned out.


We played a few different games, but the parachute was the biggest hit. Carrie, my mom, and Andy's mom ran all of the games. I was so glad that they were there to help!


Getting the food ready. We felt like lunch ladies putting it all together.


Eating. The menu was a hit.


Opening presents was a big crazy pit of piranhas:


The party favors:

The art project:

We all had fun. Especially Calvin who smiled a lot and was thrilled to be in his pajamas. It was a lot of work. I'm glad it's over. The end. 11/5.