Miss Maddi

Just a photo of a typical afternoon of being home with Maddi. Skirt/dress of some sort, preferably also sporting a form of dance gear *note the footless tights*, Hannah Montana purse, long lost playdough found in said Hannah Montana purse, and some of mom's cooking utensils to use while playing with said playdough. Ahhh, a day in the life...

There's a Hole in My Rug

I can't possibly imagine what crumb/morsel/smell my dog was obsessing over when she felt the need to dig through my rug and create this big hole under my table. She was totally consumed by this *spot* and for days we would find her digging and licking away at this part of the rug. I hope whatever it was she was looking for was found. It has now been there for weeks (okay, months) and we have yet to replace the rug. (aka-I am too cheap) and see no rug purchase in the near future. I thought maybe writing about it would make me feel better, but, it doesn't. It still looks like a hole, it still looks sad, and I'm still not going to replace it anytime soon. Maybe it's growing on me. It is certainly a conversation starter. And I'm sure my dog didn't mean to actually make a hole, right?

cornbread in a can

Maddi got off her bus from preschool yesterday and ran in the house so excited she could hardly contain herself. She threw open her backpack and pulled out a baggie full of cornmeal and an old soup can that had been de-labeled and cleaned. What she showed me was a little recipe on how to make cornbread in a can. Now, the whole purpose was to make this can of cornbread and share it on Thanksgiving with your family, but Maddi wanted no part of that whole *waiting* thing. She insisted on making the cornbread NOW!

So, we followed the attached instructions and 25 minutes later, voila! we had cornbread. In a can. Weird. But it actually tasted pretty good. Not Jiffy good, but still good. She was thrilled. Does it really matter what it tasted like since she was so proud? Naaa...

That's What Friends Are For

So, the other night, we had our friends the Cupps over for dinner. Nothing unusual about that. The boys were off playing the Wii and the little girls were playing a various assortment of all things *girly* up in Maddi's bedroom. Dinner had came and went, and Vicki was trying to find Abby to let her know it was about time to go home. She found her alright, sitting on a stepstool in our bathroom, just hanging out with Maddi as she was doin' her business. Yep, that's right, they were talkin' the whole time. We were cracking up of course (no pun intended) and Vicki said that this was certainly blog worthy and we needed a photo. This photo is actually a re-creation of the *original* as Maddi was already done by the time I grabbed my camera, and this way we keep it G-rated.

As for the shirt on her head, you ask? That is Maddi's attempt at having long hair. Someday girlfriend, someday...

Squire Point

Just some pics taken out at Squire Point when we were taking a hike one Saturday afternoon. Dad had to work so the kids and I loaded up Dakota and headed for the trails. We had a great time and everyone did pretty good on the hike. Due to the gorgeous weather we were having there were tons of people out so Dakota had to stay on leash, but still managed to burn off a little excess energy. (Always a good thing in her case!) Maddi's legs got a little tired so big brother Drew came to the rescue and carried her for part of the way. (AWWW...)

Drew has found a new passion--photo taking! and wants my camera whenever he thinks of it. He actually took most of the pics posted here because holding on to Dakota with one hand and trying to take pics with the other is not the most convenient method, nor does it lend to many great photos, unless of course you are going for that *blurry/hazy/my-hand-must-have-jerked because it hurts my eyes to look at it* kind of photo. You know the ones I mean...

Anyway, enjoy!

Just Goofin'

The other day grandma Connie came in to town for a quick visit and we jumped at the opportunity to grab a few pics of the kids! The raindrops proved courteous enough to hold off from becoming a major downpour and it wasn't too freezing out there...

Oh, and BTW--I realize there is a picture turned sideways but I didn't KNOW it would turn sideways until I published this post. You must also realize that I am too stupid to figure out how to delete just that picture without deleting the whole post. It was easier to leave the picture in. Just turn your head and it will be fine.

Happy Halloween

Here are some pics from our Trick-or-Treating adventure......

Maddi is an Iowa Hawkeye cheerleader and we did our best to get one of those pony tail holders with Iowa Hawkeye ribbons in her hair. Pretty it wasn't, but she was thrilled and kept whipping her head around to make sure everyone could see it.

Lars' story is not so simple. Lars originally wanted to be Jango Fett. For all of you *non* Star Wars people (me included) I was told he was part of the dark side who helped with the rise of the "Empire". That certainly clears things up, right? Anyway, by the time we went to go buy costumes, all of the Jango Fett ones in Lars' size were gone. There were Boba Fett costumes (Jango Fett's son) but that would simply not do. Being the good mom (or sucker) that I am, I ordered a Jango Fett costume online, paid $20 more for it than Target sold it for, and all was good, right? Wrong. The costume was too small! Bummer. After a long discussion of our options, we decided to box it up, send Jango Fett back, and go to Target and buy Boba Fett. Yes, the same costume that he refused to get just a few weeks earlier was now good enough for our beloved costume wearing extravaganza. Whew. Perfect, right? Wrong again.

Enter the Clone Trooper. A few weeks earlier before all of the costume ordering/returning even began, a good friend of ours bought Lars a Clone Trooper outfit for his birthday. Even then I tried to convince him he should be that for Halloween, but no, that was not Lars' plan so the above mentioned story was put into play. What a surprise I was in for when Lars came downstairs for trick-or-treating wearing his Clone Trooper outfit! He did wear Boba Fett that day for his school "festivities", but apparently he was bored with Boba Fett by this time and decided to change costumes. So, to make a long story short, Lars was a Clone Trooper for Halloween night.

Drew was a gladiator and he was very happy that we had such beautiful weather as his costume did not have a lot of warm clothing pieces in it. Not that we couldn't have improvised, but how many gladiators have you seen wearing a black turtleneck and long underwear??

Overall we had a great night and ended it with a fire pit at a neighbors house. The kids actually were exhausted by 9:30 so off to bed they went, perfect for mom to *sort through* their candy!! Only a few pieces were missing the next morning....

Wild Eyes

Just a silly pic of Drew and Maddi with some cookies that look like eyeballs. Go figure, eh?