Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for Uptown Trick-or-Treat. It is such a great event! Getting an extra wear out of the costumes is nice but this year it was especially fun because my sisters and their families were all there too! We had fun hanging in my dad's office before, after and in between.

I'm thankful for good, nay, great teachers for the kids this year.

I'm thankful for all the things Kent does around here.  We make a good team in this whole kid-raising, house-owning thing. 

I am thankful to be able to go along on Kylee's class field trip. And very thankful the weather turned out better than anticipated!

I'm thankful that Kase took a long nap a couple days ago and I actually had/made time to read a few camera tutorials after I promised myself to stop shooting on auto.  I snapped a few pictures of Kylee and one of her BFF's at the field trip and sent them to the friend's mom and she said, "Wow! Those were really good pictures you got of the girls!" Imagine that.  Turns out when you know how to use your camera properly it actually takes better pictures.  :) Like, noticeably better.

I'm thankful for rainy days to snuggle my babe.

I'm thankful Cindy came to spend the night last night and hang out with us today! Having three adults and one Kase is a lot easier than one adult with one Kase. Kent and I really appreciated her being here especially since none of the kids slept well and Cindy got up with them. And the donuts she got us for breakfast were a great start to the day!

I'm thankful Kael was ok at school yesterday when it rained so hard.  He really has not cared for thunderstorms ever since the last day of school last year when they had to stay after school to let the storm pass.

I'm thankful for the beautiful fall colors.

I'm thankful the weather stayed nice for trick-or-treat last night!

Truths

Health food costs more than I'd like it to. For example, the whole wheat flour I bought to use in homemade pancake mix cost nearly three times that of regular flour.

I care far more about this year's World Series than I ever have before. Since our family took a trip to St. Louis this summer and saw the Cardinals play, we all have been really into watching the games together in the evenings. The kids love pointing out, "We were there!!!" when the game is at Busch Staduim.

I have owned a nice camera for long enough to get the dial off Auto mode. For real. Step it up, Laura.

Kylee just told Kael her favorite color is "Indigo Green".  Um...what?? When I showed her some images that came up when I googled "indigo" she said, "I don't think that's right. It's less purple-y and more like green." 

Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. Christmas is first favorite, which I think goes without saying. Another fave is the Fourth of July and another not fave is St. Patrick's Day. Is that even a countable holiday? As far as not-countable holidays go, Cinco de Mayo has to top the list. 

 We have lived in this for house nearly a year and a half and yesterday I dusted our blinds for the first time ever.

Kase laughs really hard when someone burps or farts. He is such a boy. (I, on the other hand, hate even typing the word fart. Gross.)

It matteres not what time I turn out my reading light in the evenings but at that exact moment, Kase wakes up.

Kase calls all fruits and vegetables a banana no matter how much I correct him.

Kylee's birthday party invitations are taking over our calendar. I feel fairly confident in saying that nearly all the Ashland Ridge kindergarten girls must have fall birthdays. 

Kase is 18 months old!

How did my baby turn one and a half already?!

We had his check up last week and all was good.  Plus, no shots! Woo hoo!

He did have some, ahem, noticeable weight gain that my pediatrician mentioned we "keep an eye on".  He's a big guy, what can I say?

Here's what else is going on with Kaser.

If you ask him what his name is, he replies, "Me!"

He spends more time jumping off couches than I'd like to admit.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? So I've completely given up on trying to get him to stop jumping off couches and instead have helped him make massive pillow and blanket piles so he can at least land safely.

He calls candy, "no" because I have a candy jar on the counter that he tries to get into all.day.long and I have to tell him "no" all.day.long.  So now when he wants a piece of candy, he just walks up to it and asks, "No?" as in, "Can I have a piece of candy?"

His sleeping habits are far from predictable but are manageable.

He continues to be in about the 60% for weight and the size of his head is in the 95%.

His favorite books are Little Blue Truck and Goodnight, Moon.

His favorite things to do are mow with his toy mower, play ball and eat.

I am lucky to get to spend so much time hanging out with my little buddy. He is growing and changing every single day and I often wish I could freeze time.  He's so fun right now.  I love you, Kase!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful the snow has held off so far.  There have been flurries in the forecast, but the longer it stays away, the better, in my opinion.  Really I just need snow for Christmas, then it could jump right back up to seventy degrees please and thank you.

I'm thankful that I've gotten a jump on Christmas presents! Not many, but a few of the project-y ones have been started, at least.

I'm thankful that it isn't Daylight Savings Time yet.  Kase is already waking up at 5:00 so when DST hits, he will be up at 4:00, essentially.  I need a nap just thinking about that.

I'm thankful Kent is home at 5:15 every night.  By that time of the day I have pulled Kase off the top of our table approximately five hundred times, caught him digging his fingers in my chapstick approximately three hundred times and dragged him out of our craft cupboard approximately a thousand times (he loves to find all the pencils and bite the erasers off- ugh!).

As the holidays near, I find myself being thankful for things that are often overlooked: a husband who loves me, children who are (mostly) well-behaved, friends who care, a warm house to call our home, and good food on our table and family who would do anything for us.

What are you thankful for today?

Weekend Wrap-Up

My weekend fun started a little early this weekend as I was able to attend both big kids class parties.  Thanks to Mom and Grandma for hanging with Kaser so I could go! 

The Hot Pumpkin (Potato) game was a hit!

Kael added so many toppings to his apple sundae. I had fun getting to know some of the kids in his class. 

Friday night Kylee was a Junior Jaguar Cheerleader before the football game against Ottumwa!

My cheerleader had a pretty good cheering section of her own. :) Thanks to all our family for coming out!

Grandpa and his mini-me.

She did awesome! And what a cool sky, no?

Jaguar roar!

Saturday, we had breakfast at Dunkin, painted and carved some pumpkins, made a cemetery (see below) made some EZ Bake Whoopie pies, had neighbors and family join us at Kael's last soccer game and I made pumpkin bread (a recipe from a neighbor that is seriously to.die.for) and chili.  Totally fall. Kylee said it best when she told me, "I bet no family is having as much fun this morning as we are."

Partners in crime.

Watch out! Pattersons with spray paint!

This was before Kase started painting the table.  And his face.  And the garage floor.  

Kael completely carved his own pumpkin this year! He was so proud! 

Pumpkin nose.

Thanks to Pinterest and an inspiring Instagram from a crafty cousin, Kylee really wanted to drill her pumpkin this year. It turned out so cute! And she loved using a power tool.  Raise your hand if you're surprised about that. ;)

We made a cemetery for our front yard to get in the Halloween spirit a bit.

Kase cannot keep his hands out of the pumpkins.  

Kent did such an awesome job! I love his idea of adding our dying pumpkin vines to make it look even more spooky. 

Sunday we got to spend some time with my family for Huston's baptism.

It was a fun, productive weekend! My mom even snapped a pretty good picture of the five of us (meaning, no crying, no eyes closed) so I started working on Christmas cards.  How happy am I?!

Below are a few phone photos from breakfast at Dunkin'. :)

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for an awesome idea by Kent for Kael's last football practice- he had the parents come for an adult/kid scrimmage. You should have seen how much fun everyone was having.

I'm thankful that Kael enjoyed Books and a Bite after school at the library the other day. 

I'm thankful he was finally able to fall asleep (at 11:00!) the night of Books and a Bite because he had a Mountain Dew there! 

I'm thankful that Christmas music has been playing around here lately! And it wasn't me that started it!

Happy almost weekend!