Dentist and Haircut

A couple of cute Grace pictures from her recent dentist appointment and haircut...

Brave girl who sat in the chair by herself for the second half of the appointment!

Looking cool with shades

Just the length she ordered and oh so east to maintain

Happy Halloween

We had a pretty fun Halloween this year despite the rain.  We started our celebrations the day before by going to an Awana Carnival.  The kids had fun playing games and entering in a costume contest.  Caleb actually won his category.  We think it was because he called himself Superman in the microphone when telling everyone what he was dressed as.

On Halloween we were able to be in costume all day.  Grace had gymnastics in the morning so the kids wore their costumes to the YMCA.  Then after nap time we went to Matt's work to trick or treat at people's desks and eat pizza and treats.  We immediately returned home to have chili for dinner with my parents.  Then headed out to trick or treat.  The rain held off most of the time we were out.  And our friends' happened to trick or treat at our house right as we were leaving so it was fun to end up going around the neighborhood with them.

And just over a week later our candy is almost gone:(

Pumpkin Carving

This year the kids got to carve a pumpkin for the first time at my parents' house.  And by carve pumpkins I mean watch my mom and me because they were grossed out by it.  So the plan to carve several turned into carving one.  Grace did end up designing the face on the pumpkin and we enjoyed having it on our front porch for a couple of weeks.

Wedding in Wisconsin

The last weekend of September we got to visit Matt's Dad's side of the family and attend his cousin's wedding in Wisconsin.  On Friday, after a slightly grueling almost 6 hour drive we were happy to be there.  We were able to visit Matt's grandma and uncle for a bit.  Then we hit up the local Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart.  I had forgotten my swimming suit so I pieced together something weird off of the sale racks at Wal-Mart so I could swim with the kids in the fun very small water park at the hotel.  We also managed to spend $80 on Packer gear for the kids.  When in Wisconsin....

Saturday we got to swim all morning and have lunch with Matt's parents.  Then Matt and Grace went to the wedding while I stayed at the hotel so Caleb could nap.  After the wedding we all headed to the reception for some good food and fun dancing.  The kids were super cute out on the dance floor with their second cousins.

Chicken Dance

Caleb spent a lot of time rolling around

Sunday we spent some time with Matt's family and then hit the road around 11.  We stopped for a late lunch at a mall food court.  Then we happened upon a Build-A-Bear store so we stopped and got the kids teddy bears (Sleeping Beauty and Andrew) before completing the drive.  Caleb spent a large amount of the last 3 hours crying and telling us he was tired but never sleeping.  So, we were happy to be home!

Blast From the Past 5

I've been talking to my sister a lot lately since she's trying to figure out a nap schedule for my nephew.  I don't think I offered much help but maybe I offered a little distraction when she was frustrated that he wasn't sleeping.  Anyway, I found a couple of fun sister pictures...

The last time I was at Rocky Mountain National Park. Summer 2002. Need to go back.

Laura and Brett's wedding. Summer 2005.

Writing/Reading

Grace has been showing a lot of progress in her writing and reading skills lately.  She is definitely confident reading very simple words and sentences and she loves it.  She is also showing that she can/wants to write things she hears.  For example the other day she showed me this...

At first glance I wasn't that impressed but then she told me she wrote Strawberry Shortcake and I was super impressed.  I'm so proud of her!  This emergent reading stage might be my favorite stage yet.

3rd Quarter Book List

July - September produced a bunch of good books for me. I went on a long fiction reading kick and even knocked out one 800 page book and one 700 page book. But by the last couple of weeks of September I felt like I needed some non-fiction to change things up. I only gave two and three *'s this quarter because I thought everything I read was really good.

I continued to rate the books on an * system that is as follows...
* - Not great and don't read it unless you're bored or it looks really really interesting to you personally and even then you might want to think twice.
** - Pretty good and if it looks interesting to you I would recommend it.  I don't think it would be a waste of time.  I generally enjoyed these books.
*** - Great book!  Definitely read it (if it looks interesting) and you will like it.
F is for fiction and NF is for non-fiction.

27.  Divergent by Veronica Roth - (F)***

28. Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan - (NF)***

29. Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney - (NF)**

30. Inferno by Dan Brown - (F)***

31. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - (F)**

32. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice Book 1 by George R.R. Martin - (F)***

33. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck - (F)**

34. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - (F)***

35. Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple - (F)***

36. Tara Road by Maeve Binchy - (F)**

37. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung - (NF)***

38. Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You by Andy Stanley - (NF)**