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.

leaf days

My plan was to spend Saturday at Maplewood State Park, but after several days of rain and even more on Saturday morning, we opted for a driving adventure instead. We picked up my parents and drove part of the Ottertail Scenic Byway. We even learned a few things along the way! Thankfully, it turned in to a gorgeous afternoon, so we were able to do a little exploring in Maplewood after all. The leaves aren't quite at peak, but it was still beautiful.

glasses debut

Eli got his glasses on Monday, but he didn't want to wear them at school. I told him he could just wear them at home for a few days, but I wanted him to wear them for picture day. Luckily, he agreed, and today was the day. After hiding behind me and a folder as he walked into his classroom, it sounds like his day went really well. Noah has been begging me everday for over a week to get a Wolverine costume, so we finally made a trip to Target today. Is there any chance he'll still want to be the same thing in a month?

Summer Snow in North Dakota

And yes...it is still officially summer. Stole these pics from my sister's blog, who lives in Bismarck...and yes...that really is a deck covered in actual snow. And it is still summer...did I mention that? Seriously. Bad news.

Fargo Ole

sneak peek

This might be the only time you see them because the soon to be owner of these glasses is not planning to wear them. After a trip to the eye doctor on Monday afternoon, we found out that Eli is far-sided, and his left eye is MUCH stronger than his right. I thought getting a two year old to wear glasses would be hard, but I think this is going to be worse! Yep, I should have had his eyes checked over the summer. It would have been a lot easier to START school with them. Any suggestions???

Today was the first day of preschool

which resulted in a two and a half hour break for me . We all had a fabulous day!

1st grader

too cold for outdoor picturesHis desk is in the back of the room. When we went to back to school night last week, I asked him if he could read the names on the white board, and he said they were too far away. His eye doctor appointment is scheduled for Monday.

Grandpa Jim's

We had a great weekend in Joel's paradise!

The cousins

new specs

We picked up Noah's bifocals on Wednesday. Whenever he looks in the mirror, he claims he doesn't like them. Today he said "these are teacher glasses".

Austin

This kid cracks me up! He can be so ornery, and since I am his aunt and not his mom, I find it hysterical. Today he was ramming a car into my leg.

Me: "Why are you hitting me with that car?"

Austin: "Because I love you".

What we did

We each got to pick something to do today.
Eli decided on Dinoland and Pretzelmaker at the mall.
I chose to grab a few groceries to take to the Food Bank and find a new park.
Noah couldn't think of anything to do besides go to Grandma Cathy's and Adventureland. When we got home from our morning outing, there was a package at our house FROM GRANDMA CATHY. She had to put her dog, Duke (who Noah absolutely loved), to sleep last week, so she thought that we could pick out some items to donate to an animal shelter in his honor. What a great idea!!!!
Joel wanted to go to the Redhawks game tonight, so he and Eli went to the baseball game with Craig and Austin. I took Noah to pick out our animal shelter donation. He was so stinkin cute about it! This is what he came up with.

hmmm....

What to do on our last day of summer vacation???

quotes

I sure wish I had a journal of the funny things my kids have said over the years. Here are two that would've made the book.

A couple of weeks ago we were at my parents' lake. I'm not sure what Eli did, but he ended up with a bunch of scratches on one of his legs. He went in the house, patched himself up with 4 band aids and then came back outside to swim. Just as he was about to get in the water, he turned and started walking back to the house.
Mom: "Where are you going?"
Eli: "Um, Mom, I just remembered that I read that sharks can smell blood from 150 feet away."

Just now I was reading with Noah in his bed. I noticed some bites on his leg.
Mom: "Wow bud, it looks like you got a couple new mosquito bites."
Noah: "How do I stop from getting mosquitoes on me?..... Ah ha; My snowsuit.

This week

I finally did something with the back wall in our downstairs. We said good-bye to our blue couch, and got a new couch and chair upstairs. Joel is already talking about the new TV and TV stand that he thinks we need.

We found out that Noah needs bifocals. He's insisting that he wants to keep his current glasses, but I'm not sure I trust WalMart with 4 year old bifocals (he needs the bifocal line to split his pupil because right now he is only using one eye to focus on things up really close which means his glasses are going to need to stay put). Thoughts??? Tell me quickly because I'm planning to take him back to his eye doctor to get them tomorrow, and they'll probably cost twice as much.