Halloween fun!

In the Des Moines area, trick-or-treating is done on "begger's night" - the night before Halloween. This weekend it works out great for the parents, because there are many Halloween parties for grown ups. Our invite was across the metro, so we declined, since our sitters have only watched the kids while I was in my home-office. We are "breaking them in" in early December though, but we will be going to a neighbors party, so I feel pretty comfortable.......I digress....

BTW We don't have many beggers on the cul-de-sac. I can see people on the main street, but the only person we have had is the little friend of Carolyn who is trick-or-treating with our crew. Glad I bought the Wonka candy and not yummy chocolate bars.....Wonka has a LONG shelf life and just doesn't tempt me the way a Snickers might. Also I have sworn off eating my kid's candy and I can really do it. (I know what you are thinking.....they haven't even collected any yet, but there was "trunk or treat" at the kid's school last Friday, so they have plenty of candy I have avoided all week.) Don't get me wrong, I bought my own candy, that I am less likely to over-eat, which is only helping me a bit, since I have eaten way more than normal.....I digress.......

Here is our crew. Let me tell you - getting 4 kids in costume to look OK at the same time is a challenge, especially when one is a bit tired and cranky from full day kindergarten (but I won't name any names - but this child can be glad I deleted the photo w/ crossed eyes - it was a beaut!).
Here are Trixette and Trixie the Halloween Fairies. After reading every "Rainbow Fairy" book ever published this summer, Carolyn was destined to be a fairy this Halloween. Luckily we decided early on that Anna would be a fairy too, because once she saw Carolyn's wings she HAD to have some too.

Joel is an American Flag. His Aunt Debbie sewed this costume for his cousin Ben (who is now a freshman in college). His eyes are on Ken, who got the job of making him smile for the picture.

If you know anything about Matthew, you are not surprised that he is an inventor! Note the K-Nex invention that walks and carries a small pumpkin.

Anna "I two half"

Anna has been saying that she is "two half" since she was two and 1/12. I think Carolyn taught her it, since Joel always says "no you're not" when she says it. So here are Anna's almost "two half" picutres.
Peek-a-boo is a favorite.

Since she wouldn't sit still, we tried to have me hold her in my lap to get a close-up picture of her face. We did get a few cute pictures - here is one giving me love.

One of my favorite things is watching Anna run. Sometimes even when she is running away from me......which is crazy. She just looks so earnest.

Probably my favorite.

I love the finger action!

Trouble with the conservation of liquid

Do you remember learning in school that the amount of liquid in a small fat jar is the same as a tall thin jar and that the amount of liquid stays the same regardless of its container???? It is referred to as the conservation of liquid in math studies.

Well, Joel learned about this yesterday. He asked, "how tall is 5 cups?" and we proceeded to find a container that held 5 cups. Later he busied himself with filling the trick or treat pumpkin with water, a little water on the floor - no big deal.

Not sure what happened between the pumpkin (which was left downstairs) and bedtime, but when I looked in Joel's toothbrush drawer it was full of water. I am guessing he poured 5 cups in there. Then he went to bed. We didn't really talk about what he was doing after I found the water, but I am pretty sure Joel understood that his experiment was NOT A GOOD ONE! (yes I did yell - sue me)

More from the photo shoot - Joel

After about the 1st picture Joel said "are we almost done". Despite that attitude...we have some really nice pictures.
This picture was actually taken at the 2nd photo shoot - we were trying to get Anna to sit still and we hoped that she would want to copy Joel. Usually yes - that day....not so much

Not a great picture of Matthew, but really cute of Joel.

comparing ourselves to others

I often compare myself to other people....I think it is kinda innate, but I was doing it this morning, thinking about how my house is always messy, yet other people seem to get it under control.

Anyway, I get an email daily from the Catholic Exchange that is supposed to inspire and teach and it usually does. I will admit, I often read other email first and put this one off if I am in a rush, but today I felt called to read it. What a good message for me!

click the link below and perhaps you will be inspired too.

http://catholicexchange.com/2009/10/21/122137/

More from the photo shoot- Carolyn

Nanuck of the North!

Here is Anna all bundled up for a walk. I think she must be pretty comfortable. One morning she didn't want to end the walk (or get out of the stroller) and the next day she fell asleep! We are going to buy an elliptical or treadmill for the winter, since Ken will be gone a bunch and it will be too cold to take Anna out! I have been really "working out" (more like "walking out") this fall and I don't want to lose all the cardiovascular benefits....plus I will do my best to get Ken to jump on too!

Quilt update

This is the last update before the quilt tops will be complete!

Quilt update

Here are the first 2 block for my friend's K. and J.'s baby. Simple, but I think they will come together nicely. I have started on the 3rd block and have the 4th mapped out in my head.
After going back into the quilt making "business", I felt very glad that my first baby quilt was for a 4th baby, since sometimes later babies get less "home-made" items. This isn't true for Anna, who got an elaborate TWIN size quilt for her first birthday from her Auntie D. (more on that later).

It got me thinking about another friend H.K., who will be having her 4th baby in early 2010. I decided to make a quilt for this baby too! (I guess I have been biten by the bug and need some creative outlets now that Ken's new job (same company, slightly different responsibilities, larger territory) is causing him to be gone more.).....anyway I digress.....

There is a long story to the quilt I am making for baby K. When I was preganant with Joel I decided to make a quilt top for the St. John summer social. I knew if I didn't do it then it would never happen. At that time I would go each Monday night to quilt with the ladies at the church preschool. Here is what I produced (hand quilting done by all the members)....
It was queen sized and I had never done anything of that magnitude before or since. My big challenge is the quilting and not the piecing, so it was a good time to make this size of quilt....since I wouldn't be doing all the quilting.

The style was "square in a square" - see the "diamonds"???? they are created by bordering the square with fabric and then turning it on its side and cutting the border, which gives you trianges around your square......anyway this isn't the thriftiest way to quilt because when you cut the borders you are left with extra fabric (see below). Anyway I noticed if you put 2 pieces of the extra fabric together, it made a beautiful square. I really loved it when you put 4 of these squares together (see below). I decided someday I would make a quilt with these fabrics, but it would have to be a very special baby. Originally I thought, "maybe a grandchild", but this weekend I thought - "what are you crazy? enjoy working with the squares and give the quilt to baby K.!"

I spoke to H. to confirm that if baby K. is a girl, that she would still like a blue and yellow quilt, given the fact that there are lots of flowers in the fabric and I will use yellow borders to mellow out the blue. H. agreed that any baby K. would enjoy the quilt. I will keep you posted on the end product.

Happy 11th Birthday!

Matthew celebrated his birthday today - and Sunday when we had a pizza party with our friends visiting from South Dakota. Here are some recent pictures of Matthew to capture him at this time of his life.

The photographer took this photo while we wrangled Anna to the bridge! Matthew and Carolyn get along very well and Matthew often thinks of Carolyn when he gets something special.
Joel and Matthew are typical brothers and due to their age differences don't have many things in common. This would be true except for the fact that Joel wants to do everything Matthew does, so he loves Pokemon, hand held games, pretends to read Harry Potter and tries to beat Matthew at anything he can (which works to my advantage when he races to get ready in the morning to be the first one done). I remind Matthew frequently that he needs to be a good role model, with a little brother mimicking everything he does. Oh yeah and the look at bit alike too, especially when you match up ages in the photo albums.

I think the photographer must have picked this good shot out of a bigger picture of the family, because I don't remember posing for this one by ourselves. I will treasure it though!

Here is Matthew with his soccer birthday cake. Yes, this is the best McCleary birthday cake ever (even topping the famous turtle birthday tradition). Unfortunately I can't take credit for the decorating, but more on that later when we talk about our visitors this weekend. (I did pour the batter into the pan...do I get partial credit?)

Matthew mostly got money for his birthday......at eleven, I would rather he think about what he wants rather than get him something he doesn't......he wasn't really too sure about what he wanted when his birthday arrived, so the cash will wait until he saves for something bigger or comes up with something he wants......We did get the Harry Potter "Scene It" game, which I for one will enjoy playing with him. He will do really well, not because he saw the films repeatedly, but because the books have been read again and again and again. (He also requested the most recent books in the 39 clues series and Diary of a Wimpy kid.....luckily for him, I kinda forgot those when I gave him the money to spend later.......)

Matthew's favorite sport is soccer. When we moved to town our real estate agent gave us contact information. We didn't realize that we were signing up for club soccer, rather than leisure/rec. services, so were are at a more serious level than we need. But Matthew gets to stay with his team in spring and fall, and we won't take that stability away from him. (To be honest I think he enjoys being on a team that is REALLY good (undefeated this season and last).....but for whatever reason, we will keep signing him up if he keeps enjoying himself.)

Like a Good Neighbor.......

Our neighbor across the cul de sac has occasionally blasted off a Fight Song for the Iowa State Cyclones on his trumpet on the way to a game and even showed his flexibility by playing the University of Iowa fight song one weekend......so we discovered his fantasic trumpeting ability. Matthew started the trumpet this fall and we hope he can develop a hobby he loves and get to know some new friends. Matthew's valve was sticking so I called our neighbor for some good advice. He has been playing for 36 years! He brought some special brass cleaner and got the valve working again. He also gave Matthew some great advice..."play THROUGH the trumpet, don't blow INTO the trumpet". I also gave him a great opening to let Matthew know that practice is the way to make trumpeting fun! He also played a great song, which I think will inspire Matthew to persevere through the learning curve. Matthew said her really likes playing....so knock on wood, or in this case brass!

(BTW he was delaying his jog to help Matthew....just thought I would explain the running attire.)

DON'T let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Saturday morning we awoke to snow covering our roof and falling on our lawn! We actually set a record for the earliest 1 inch snow fall in Iowa since 1884! Whew....not the kind of record I like to set. I was pretty sure I had never seen snow this early in all my years!

It didn't bother the kids! Before you think I buy Matthew $59 sweat-shirts, let me just tell you that this was bought from a neighbor's garage sale. Not sure why I bought it since I think it is a pretentious brand...I guess because it was a warm, clean sweatshirt for a few bucks.....I hope I am not teaching my kids to want pretentious clothes, maybe I should go hide the sweatshirt (but I digress from the snow issue)

The "mystery girl" is M. my college room-mate's youngest....she and Carolyn are 2 peas in a pod.

Carolyn is gathering snow off the car to make the snow ball you see above. If you click on the picture you can see it snowing.....

and no Anna didn't get to play in the snow. If she is playing in the snow, then Ken or I have to play in the snow! I have bought her snow-pants and boots for this year though, knowing she will not be stopped for long.

Do you want your friends regular or extra crazy?

Saturday was Iowa's Homecoming (night game). Although I didn't attend the game, I enjoyed the pre-game fun with the rest of the gang. Since they got home at 2 in the morning, I am glad I took kid-patrol. We had a 15+ minute discussion about when we started this fine tradition and we are guessing 1996 or 1997. Not bragging, but they win most of the games we attend :)
This actually was taken AFTER the traditional photo below - but I guess I like "extra crazy" at least one day a year!

Funny Friday Photo

After many serious photos - Susan let us take a goofy photo - clearly the boys are a bit more goofy than the girls in our family! (ok - Anna was so crazy throughout the shoot, she thought she would lay back a bit on this one!)
susanedgington.com - photographer

Fabulous Friday Photos

susanedgington.com - photographer

We hired my friend Susan Edgington to take family photos this fall. She did a great job. If you live in the Ankeny or Des Moines area and are looking for someone with the patience of a saint and an eye for color - look her up.

susanedgington.com - Echo Photography - 515-669-1537

FYI she released these photographs for me to post on my blog (all 99 photos!) I won't make you look through all of them....in fact I am keeping out the family photo to keep you in suspense for your Christmas card!

Be prepared for more "fabulous photos" since I have so many I want to share......Susan also had a special session with Anna - sort of a late "2 year photo shoot" later in the week. Those need a post all of their own! Even though Anna didn't stop moving - Susan got some great photos that captured Anna as she really is!

A new baby is coming!

Now that I have your attention.....I didn't say the new baby was coming to MY house. Here is my friend K. and her son M. (with Anna in a bunny suit, provided by K's family - along with many cute outfits for Miss Anna.....M. has 2 older sisters :). It is K. that is expecting the baby.

Now that I have been inspired by the Virtual Quilting Bee (VQB)....I have decided to return to making baby quilts. If you didn't get one....it wasn't that I didn't love you.....it was that I stopped making them for about 8 years! Since I have been able to get my VQB projects done, I figure I can make a baby quilt again. I am going to make 4, 12 inch blocks....just like the blocks we make for VQB, then I will add nice borders and be set! I have 4 months before the baby is due, so I will just make one block at a time - no sweat. Plus I have gotten many neat ideas from the VQB!

Miss. K. indicated that she loves the new brown and green colors. If you click on the fabric, you will see that there are little chicks on the green and beige fabrics!

Back by Popular Demand :) - Love Hope and Trust - The Monday Edition

We were out of town this weekend, thus the delay......

I LOVE that we live close to both Grandmas and Grandpas.

This weekend was Ken's 25th class reunion and I LOVE that we were able to have a "date night" while Ken's folks watched the kids. Since Anna was up until after 10:30 the night before, they were quite brave. (I think she fell asleep closer to 9:00 for them.)

Anna LOVES saying "I go see Bapa." "I go Bapa house" again and again and again (on Friday afternoon during the entire drive). I guess she loves living closer too!
I HOPE that my kids will always love their cousins this much. They were thrilled when they learned that we were going to get to see N, M and L on Friday. (It was a last minute spontaneous decision, since they live only 30 minutes south of Ken's folks.)
I hope my kids will someday (soon) be as mature as their big cousin N.
Here is a big double dip....I LOVE that our friends came to visit from Omaha. (so no Matthew hasn't shrunk)...this is a different M! I also TRUST that we will continue to enjoy the fruits of our summer labor this fall and winter as we enjoy the squash we harvested and the other produce we froze. Here is K., my friend from Omaha, posing next to our garden....this isn't quite the "AFTER shot" that I discussed early in the summer, but it shows what happens to a garden that becomes neglected when the school schedule kicks in. We definitely will still have tomatoes and peppers until a freeze.....both are still budding!