Corn Maze Pictures! Thanks Becky!

Becky, Jodi, Stacey, & Amy...Aren't we cute!
I love this picture!

Every woman wants to be "Cinderella"...Right?

In the Corn Maze, (Amy, Becky, Stacey, Jodi)

Corn Maze -

I have been waiting all week for Becky to send pictures from this weekend. But it’s almost 5 p.m. on Thursday and I still don’t have any, so I am going to talk about visiting the Corn Maze this weekend and add pictures later. Monday Becky turned 32 years old, so on Sunday Amy, Jodi, Becky, and Myself meet at our house for lunch and headed over to the Corn Maze down the road. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time several of them had been to a Corn Maze. I had been to this one last year with Trent, Cheryl, and the kids. It was a lot less muddy last year! We made it through the maze. We didn’t even have to unfold/unstaple the complete map. We were able to find the mailboxes with the next section of the map and wonder our way through. We then decided to try and find the “hole punchers” that are hidden off the beaten path. There are eight of them total, and after a decent amount of searching and getting separated from everyone else we only found two punches! So we gave up on that! Everyone had a good time following and leading the hunt...We definitely got better as the day progressed. We took some fun pictures, and looked around the farm a bit. We decided that we will have to make it an annual activity and make sure next time that Jen can make it! We missed her! Happy Birthday Beck!

Seperation Anxiety?

Trent and I haven't quite figured out what makes Elijah sleep in strange places. But it's not uncommon to find him on the floor sleeping in our room, at the top of the stairs, or his recent additions...The rug in the entrance to the house. Yes, that is tile floor! At least he is smart enough to lay on the rug for a little cushion. Trent says he thinks it's seperation anxiety. He wants to close to us. I am not sure that is it, but have no idea what it could be. Every morning between 3 and 5 a.m. he wakes up and sneaks into our bed too. Most the time we don't realize it until Trent gets up for work. He is either sleeping on the floor, on the bed, but at the foot of the bed, or between us in bed. I am hoping it's a stage that he out grows...Until then we are never sure where we will find him sleeping...It's always an adventure!

Monster Hands

Last night Rylee and I made "Monster Hands". She has to take in a treat this week for school, and since it's close to Halloween we decided to ge creative. I found the idea on the internet for "Monster hands". You insert one peice of candy corn into each figure of a clear rubber glove, and then you fill it the rest with popcorn or cheesy corn. Then tie the bottom shut with ribbon. They turned out great! We also had a great time filling them. Rylee was so cute...She said, "Mom, Everyone is going to love these!!" I hope so! They were fun to make and fairly easy! We will see how things go when we take them to school!

Rylee's First Soccer Goal!

Rylee going for the ball.

Pass me the ball Brandon...I'm open!

Rylee - Kindergarten Soccer

Last night Rylee and I had a soccer game. It was a wonderful night out. Last week the kids were wearing 3 layers, mittens, hats, and winter coats. This week they are wearing shorts! What a difference! Rylee played really well last night. She had a couple nice defensive plays and also scored her first goal! She was very very excited about it! She is usually concerned about technique and moves slower with the ball to do a good job. But when you have 5 other kindergartner's going for the ball, you don't have time to be slow and accurate. We have been working with her on getting more aggressive and quicker with the ball! She did a great job last night. I loved the smile she had on her face after she scored her first ever goal! It was ear to ear! I was so proud of her. I was also proud cause she played great on defense too! I can really see an improvement from the start of the year! Trent and the boys came to watch too! It was fun! We have another game on Thursday and then on more "make-up game". Go Lodi Blue Lightning!

Pear Cider

We had a good weekend....But aren’t they all. Anytime I don’t have to come to work for 2 days is usually a good time! Ha ha! Anyway, Saturday we headed to Steve and Katy’s for my God-daughter Phoebe’s birthday party! I can’t believe she is 3 yrs old already! It was nice to hang out, and the kids played great. We headed home and had a fairly relaxing evening at home. Then Sunday, Trent had to work in the morning, so I did some stuff around the house. Cleaning...Cleaning...Cleaning...In the afternoon the kids and I headed up to Mom and Dad’s house to make pear cider. My parent’s have an old cider press, and tons of pears...You do the math! We ended up making almost 10 gallons of pear cider! Amazing how much juice you can get out of those pears! Then we headed home. By the time we got home kids were sleeping, so we put them in bed.

Kale is apparently a big fan of Pears. When we first got to Mom and Dad’s he ate an entire pear...Stem, seeds, and all. Then he wanted another on. So about a ½ hour later I gave him another small one. Then a bit later again, he just took one. Between the pear he ate, and the cider he drank...Let’s just say I warned Kara this morning that he might be a bit “explosive” today! He has been eating so much lately. I am starting to wonder if he has a hollow leg! The other night for supper he ate 2 pork chops, some potatoes and some broccoli! The bad thing about a one year old eating like that is you have to deal with it on the way out too!

Dirty Minds...

So last night Trent is in the toy room with the kids. Eli asked him to read him a book. Well, before too long all three kids were sitting on the coach with Daddy and they were reading books. We had bought the “Dick & Jane” books for Rylee to use and start reading on. She has been doing a pretty good job with those books. Anyway, One of those books was one of the books that Trent was reading. I was in the kitchen making supper. After a couple minutes I started laughing, and Trent asked me what I was laughing at. Obviously those books were for early reading and have lots of repetition. He was reading, “Go down Dick, Dick goes Down. Go down Jane, Jane goes down.” Obviously my mind was in the gutter, I couldn’t help it. It just made me laugh.

The night before I had been reading to Rylee and Eli in the living room. Eli had selected the Dr. Seuss book, “The Sneetches”. I was reading, I have read it a million times (or so it seems). I think I know most of it by heart. So I was only half paying attention and I read a line, but instead of saying “Sneetches” I accidentally said “Snatches”. Trent caught my mistake right away, as did I. It took me a minute to compose myself and continue to read.

I am not sure what it is with these children’s books, but apparently we have dirty minds! I am starting to wonder if we need to censor the kids reading materials! :)

Helping Mom...

Today I was the “helping” Mom at Preschool. It’s so much fun to see the kids at school. It makes you realize how much they are growing up already. Eli didn’t seem to care that I was there. He played trains and with this airplane, and completely ignored me! I got to cut out pumpkins and bee hives for projects the kids will be working on. Today was also the first day that the 3 year old cut at preschool. I was fairly impressed with how well they did. The kids played, sang songs, read stories. The letter of the week is “F”, so they talked about Fire Safety today too. They made a couple projects and had a good time on scooters. It was a lot of fun. Eli is such a goofy boy. He seemed to behave, but would interject one liners here and there and than laugh. Mrs. Pearson had to tell him to listen a couple times. He did a really good job with his days of the week, and months. That surprised me. It was fun.

Tonight we have a soccer game. Get out the long underwear! Ha ha! I guess we will see how well we do in the cold. We have another game on Thursday and then two more next week. Then the season is over. I guess the next thing will be swimming lessons again...There is always something!

Pumpkin Craving...Thanks Pete!

Rylee and Eli scooping out the guts!

Rylee isn't a big fan of the Pumpkin guts!

This is the first year she actually did it herself!

The guts don't bother Eli!

All Done. Aren't they cute...Opps, I mean Scary!

Pete grew Pumpkins this year at his house and gave 3 of them to the kids! We carved them up this weekend! The kids had fun! Kale didn't get to dig in this year, but next year I am sure he will. I was very proud of Rylee...She actually cleaned her's out this year! Normally she won't touch the guts, but I think Eli convinced her it was okay! It was a little chilly out for the last picture, but we had to take the group shot! Did I mention that right after I took this one, I fell off the landscaping! Graceful I know!

Preschool Train Ride...

The Three and Four year old Preschool Classes in front of the Train.

Eli with his Ticket...The guy came around and punched them!

Grandma Sharron and Kale.

I knew I was behind on my pictures, but I didn't know I was this bad! Here are some pictures from our trip on the North Freedom Train for Preschool. Mom and Sharon came along too!

Homecoming...

October or Fall is the time when many schools, and colleges celebrate Homecoming! Parades, Football, and fun. Today, Jodi and Kris had a homecoming, but not the typical on that is celebrated every fall. Kris came home from the hospital today! He is doing really well! It's amazing how the human body can heal, and endure! He still has a slow road of recovery, but he is well on his way. He will be able to relax, and heal in the comfort of his own home now.

We are going to take Susie back down to their house tomorrow. She has been here since Kris's accident. I think she will be thrilled to get home. She might be more happy than Kris! I think she is tired of the kdis and the other dogs! Plus I know she missed Jodi!

Until tomorrow...

Where does time go?

Mikki, Kale, Taylor, Cash, Rylee, & Eli after Taylor's JV Football Game.

This picture is from Monday night, at Taylor's Game. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was in Highschool and Taylor was Kale's age, but here we are years later. I love the way Eli is looking at Taylor in this picture. He was so upset after the game on Monday when he thought we were not going to be able to see Taylor. And this picture is so cute, with Eli actually looking up to him! Too cute.

We don't have a lot going on this week. The big project is going to be switching the kids clothes. Kale is moving into 18 months clothes, Eli into 4t, it's changing seasons. We have to pack up the short and pull out the long johns! I also have to get the next size of girl's clothes up to Becky sometime soon! It is nice that I can just give Kale's clothes to friends that have boys instead of saving them for the next kid! Besides that, We will probably head to the hospital at somepoint, and do other fall things around the house, but nothing too exciting. Rylee has been working on reading, so we need to practice up this weekend too.

The Funk...

Well, It’s happened...For the first time this Cold and Flu season. We have the “funk” in the house. Eli puked one time on Tuesday night, but then seemed to be feeling fine. Last night he was fine. Today when we got to Kara’s house she said Alex has been sick and had puked several times during the night. It was about 1:45 p.m. when Kara called me and said Eli wasn’t doing good. He had been on the toilet several times and was complaining that his tummy hurt. She was anticipating the puking might be starting. By the time I got there to pick him up he was not doing good at all. He was crying, and he came running over to me. He said, “Mommy, I am sick...You need to take me to the hospital!” I told him that I didn’t think he was that sick...He could probably just go home and rest, and that would help him. He replied with, “No Mom, I need to go to the hospital...I do not feel good!” The whole way home he was crying that his tummy hurt, but then he fell asleep. He is now napping on the couch. Like Kara said...Let’s hope the adults don’t get it!

We will see how the rest of the night goes. I am hoping that he starts to feel better, but who knows. I am heading to the store to get Gatorade, and crackers! YUMMY!

Baseball banquet & Football Game

Sunday night Trent received his award for winning the batting title of the northern section. He got an engraved watch with his name, the year, and his batting average. He has been playing Home Talent Baseball for 18 years and this is the first time he has won it. He was very excited about it! We are very proud of him too! Next year he would like to do something else he has never done playing Home Talent...Make it to the Final Four! GO MUSTANGS!

Last night we headed to Deerfield to watch Taylor play JV football. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, they got their first lose of the season! Taylor played well. Eli got upset after the game, cause he was worried he wasn’t going to see Taylor, so we made sure to walk over and say hi. The kids got their picture taken with Taylor in part of his uniform, and let me tell you! He didn’t smell very good at all. The cutest part of the game was that Mikki and Cash had made a sign to cheer on the Phoenix. Rylee, Eli, Mikki, and Cash would hold it up and cheer...”Let’s go Phoenix, Let’s go!” “Let’s go Taylor, Let’s go!” It was cute. Unfortunately, they didn’t cheer them to a win, but we all had a good time!

It make you think...

Thursday morning, Kris Eastwood (Jodi’s husband) was in a pretty serious car accident. He is still in the hospital in serious condition. He had emergency surgery on his heart, and has some other injuries including broken ribs, and some lung trauma. He is a lucky man! He is lucky to be alive! It’s funny how when someone you are close with has a brush with death it makes you think. Re-evaluate your life, and your priorities! I don’t know what I would do if it was Trent in that hospital bed! I give Jodi credit for being as strong as she has been through all of this! Kris is doing better everyday, and with any luck will be getting out of the hospital sooner than later! He still has a long road of recovery, but he knows that he has lots of friends and family there for him every step of the way! Please give you spouses, friends, brothers, sisters, significant others, family, etc hugs! Life is too short!