Halloween Fun

Jen threw a great party for the kids yesterday!!

We went back over there tonight for pumpkin shaped pizza and trick or treating.

(little) man vs food

In attempt to get Eli to try new foods, we've nagged, threatened, bribed, and force fed. None of this works. Constantly, I am going back to the place where you can find the answer to all of your problems... the internet. This is where I have learned that you should not do any of these aforementioned verbs. Instead, you should make sure that there is at least one thing on your child's plate that they like and act like you don't care if they eat or not. Here's the problem. My kids always think they need a "treat" after supper. I thought I was being really smart by telling them that all they had to do was TRY everything on their plate and they could have a small piece of candy. Unfortunately, Noah was eating his food very quickly in order to get to the treat part, and then he'd complain about being hungry at bed time. Eli was basically eating three bites of food. However, he was TRYING NEW FOODS, and I was happy. 3 nights ago, I only made 2 things. One was peas which he doesn't like and the other was alfredo potatoes with ham that he had never tried before. I was certain that he'd like it, but after one bite, he declared that he didn't. Then he took one bite of peas and was ready for his treat. That is when it stopped; no more treats after supper. Two nights ago, Eli tried something new, and he liked it (and he ate it all). Last night, he was willing to try my newest version of roasted broccoli. He ate 3 bites in addition to his other food. Maybe I'm not supposed to bribe my children, but I do believe Eli learned that it won't hurt to "take one bite". Hopefully, this continues, and we can actually laugh instead of cry during family meals.

MEA in Iowa

trick or treating with Grandmapumpkin patch with Jake and Chase

making our way through the corn maze

rootbeer floats and a sleepover with our buddies

How bored is he???

We had Eli's parent-teacher conference tonight. This was one of my favorite papers. You have to click and enlarge the picture to appreciate his creativeness (#'s 58, 59, 63, 69)!His teacher said that he is a great student. He is very bright but very shy. His parents are very proud!

mile run day

Last week, on a very rare non-windy 85 degree October day, Eli came home from school not feeling so great after running a mile for gym. Today, they got to do it again (last week was practice), and parents were invited to cheer them on. I'm not sure if it was the 25 fewer degrees or if it was the audience, but his time improved by 4 minutes!

ready for reading?

I've got Noah all set up for "naptime". A couple of books on CD and a fire truck tent on his bed should keep him in his room for a little while. He really likes books. He knows the letter sounds and a few sight words. Unfortunately, when I try to get him to sound out words he doesn't have any desire. I bribed him with a dollar last week, but he refused to do more than 2 words.

cousin weekend

Joel took the boys over to his sister's for the weekend. Aunt Jennifer took some cute pictures at the zoo and the pumpkin patch.