Happy Halloween!

They are loving this holiday! We carved a skull, a silly fireman, and a happy person listening to headphones in our pumpkinds and used gourds from Grandma's garden to decorate.

Papa even got into character to hand out candy!

Annika couldn't even wait to get INSIDE the house to see her loot.

Tanner preferred the fireman over the chipper truck/construction option. He has worn it every day this week and been saving countless kitties. Apparently he is unconcerned about fires.

Here is the Perry the Platypus!

Wha' cha' doin' Isabella? She has been looking for Phineas all week. :P

And a fabulous action shot of all three! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for use of their camera and for lunch! Tanner always loves a good bucket of shicken. Anyone want some candy?

blogs, blogs, and more blogs

I started searching for the Perry Platypus costume Saturday and ended up bouncing from blog to blog to blog. There are a LOT of blogs out there. Some of them really cool or funny or informative. This is my new list of faves that I am following.


My artsy, crafty side is checking these for awesome, inspiring projects for me to do or with the kids:
http://www.wipkits.blogspot.com/ Been a fave for scrapping, recipes, & photography tips for a long time.
http://www.dabbled.org/ where I found ideas for Perry
http://www.endlesscrafting.blogspot.com/ just fun to look
http://www.filthwizardry.com/ amazing stuff for the kids, especially Annika. Cannot WAIT to try these.
http://www.deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com/ fabulous art lessons. I want to be this woman!!!!!

Our new business and my not working is pushing our budget and inspiring me to be more thrifty and at the same time more green. Several of these also are helping at the same time with my desire to be more stylish, on that skinny budget. So then they are pushing my creative side.
www.angelabarton.com/blog A Year Without Spending! Nuff said
http://www.kaylaksthriftyways.com/ Even more fun: turns out she is in Ames and a 4H junkie! and her mom does a fab learning site we love from Naomi! http://www.makinglearningfun.com/
http://www.livingonadime.com/
http://www.newdressaday.com/ This woman decided to raid thrift stores and retool $1 items into cool outfits. LOVE IT! I want to challenge myself to find a cute outfit for under $10 total at a thrifty store.

And then just for FUN and LAUGHS I found http://www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ This woman is hilarious and was one heck of a child. ****Note***** I just read more, and laughed a lot, but encountered bad language and maybe some posts that would not be funny to some, so beware. But if you have a somewhat demented sense of humor, like me, and can look past a couple naughty words, it's really really funny.

Muffins, a miff and a platypus

I made the absolute best muffins tonight. Got the basic recipe from www.cooks.com (same place we got the bean soup...really liking that site!). But I had seen another recipe that added apple chunks. The kids ate two each, Jeff stole two or three, and I was supposed to take them for my coffee mom group in the morning. Might have to run to Walmart in the morning quick so I can make more. So note: you might need to make a double batch. They are THAT good!
Ready, It's a hard one:
1 can of pumpkin, 1 box spice cake mix, about 1 cup of apples
Bake

There you go!!!! Amazingly yummy. I'd put a pic of them up, or us enjoying them. But heres the miff. I was taking a picture of Tanner being silly riding his trike in the living room wearing his footie jammies and hard hat. I went to move something, dropped the camera, it bounced off Jeff's ladder and landed on the floor; lens at a horrible cock-eyed position. UGH!

And a platypus. I HAVE to get pics of this. So I promise to find a camera before this weekend/Halloween. But I am so stinking proud of the Perry the Platypus costume I made for Annika. The character is from a kid show on Disney, Phineas and Ferb. I ended up finding a woman's size small turtleneck and an XL sweatshirt that I proceeded to cut up and sew back together to resemble what would fit Annika's skinny minny body. I am so glad Mom made me do 4H and that I learned so much! You were right, as usual, Mom!

Off to put giant foamcore presents together. Jeff is subcontracted to put these up in 20 different Sam's Clubs around the city this week. Pulling some late nights/early mornins to get them up without whacking any shoppers. :) So I get to help :) Actually not all bad, glad I can help him. Worth it to have him in this job and happy.

Confession Time

I NEVER in a million years thought I would confess this. My mom and dad will never believe it. I used to GROAN loudly when I had to do this chore. I judicously traded with Jeff to avoid this chore. I have purchased houses based on their ability to do this chore. And yet, here I am.

I like hand washing my dishes.

There it is out. It has been a month since I decided my dishwasher was only worthy of being a dryer rack, except for extreme moments when if I pre scrub enough I can break down and use it. But otherwise my dishes are cleaner. I enjoy that quiet, methodical time. It is calming somehow. And I enjoy that the girls sit at the table to do their homework while I wash and rinse chatting with me about their day. Or they all leave me alone in the somewhat silent kitchen to listen to the clinks of plates and silverware.

A good way to end the day.

Rolling Good Time

We had another family wedding on the Pickrell side this weekend in Omaha. I decided to hitchhike with my parents and leave the kids at home with Jeff. And then my sister Sarah made the same smart decision. I have to say the trip lived up to my expectations. I don't even remember the last time the four of us (parents and sisters) had been alone like that together, if ever. We had a BLAST! We didn't stop laughing until we fell into bed on Friday night at my Grandma Plymesser's house. All six hours to Iowa were spent giggling. And the rest of the weekend followed suit!
This side of the family is well known for having a good time and for talking up a storm, and this event did not disappoint. Even though our yummy excursion to Applebees made us some of the last to arrive to the wedding, we still got in some time quickly before it started to chat with relatives we hadn't seen in ages, and some we just saw this summer. Jessica and Josh's wedding was beautiful. Guess who I forgot to get pictures of? You'll just have to imagine/remember how fabulous they looked. And once the wedding was over? We started talking again and didn't stop all night. Well, I did. I fell asleep as soon as we started the car ride home. No surprise. And speaking of looking fabulous....Aunt Rochelle and Mom seem to have very similar taste. We all had a good chuckle when we realized they had the same outfit on (the jackets had different patterns but the same trim). I LOVE this photo more because it reminds me of photos of my grandma Picky and great aunt Doris laughing.

My amazing aunts and uncle: Fred, Brenda, Rochelle, Peggy, and Connie. This family unit has had a huge impact on me and how important family is to me. I wish I got to see them a lot more than I do.

My brother Cliff and my super cutie nephew Cole.

And then Naomi snuggling her sweet boy. He was such a trooper that night!

Me with my very special dad! A very rare photo opportunity. (This picture also makes me feel very very short and very Plymesser!)

Ha Sarah!!! Got you! This is for posting the picture of my big ole mouth on facebook. Heeeheee. I especially like her red tongue from the super delicious mints at the reception!

Me with my mom, one of my very best friends! Wait, maybe I do look more like her. Or maybe I am the mutt child of the fam. Hee hee

Ross and Johanna, half of the Hesseltines in purple.

John, who is more like an older brother than a cousin, and his sweet wife Sue--parents of the bride.

And the other half of the purple Hesseltines, Renee (Tanner's Godmother) and Rochelle (my very own Godmother).
Yes, a very good weekend indeed. Sunday was lovely spent at church in Fontanelle and then lunch with Grandma again. I actually enjoyed the old school traditional Lutheran liturgy. Felt good to realize I still had it memorized. Felt comfy.

Yes, a very good weekend indeed.

Proved My Point

Life definitely is everchanging and you can never know what to expect. Saturday definitely ended differently than I had planned...

Picture day is tomorrow. So yesterday I took Annika to get a haircut. I am obviously not getting the point across to these women, because it is again even shorter than I would like. Now I have to admit it is super cute and totally fits her. But I have been struggling with the boy comments and issues this summer.

This particular occasion sort of pushed me over the edge. Chalk it up to all the other stuff going on and I am somewhat emotionally unstable at this point. More than I even realized I think. So anyway Annika and I ended up having it out. I finally got out of her that she is afraid to be a girl because of my c-sections and doesn't want to have to be cut open. Which led to a very long talk about birth and menstruation, complete with illustrations via the internet. I did manage to skirt the fertilization issue. By then Mommy was somewhat drained.

But we still have the issue of making Annika look at least slightly more girly so people will let her in bathrooms and so she looks female in the class picture. So I struck up a deal. Both girls could get their ears pierced and Annika has to let me put goop in her hair and style it. Done. Everyone headed for the mall, including Daddy for moral support.

The girls were awesome! They weren't afraid and niether one cried! Phoebe chose pink sparkly crowns and Annika has in golden dolphins circling a rhinestone. We also checked out all the cool offerings at Claire's and they can't wait to get earrings that look like candy and animals. Super cute. Super brave. A little girly. Mommy is a little happier. Hopefully my plan works. But at least they like them and look fabulous!

Life Everchanging

I don't think it is possible for change not to occur. There is always the ebb and flow of the everyday. Sometimes the currents are stronger than others.
So changes during September:
1. Babysitting has come to an end. Like most endings it has been stressful. One child was my decision, and the other was the parents. Either way, it is over. I am not ready to watch another family's child for awhile. It will be interesting to see how Tanner and I do all by ourselves. It has been a long time since I only had one child at home!
2. School is in full swing. The girls are both doing well and enjoying it. Right now it is pretty easy for both of them, hopefully it will get more challenging. Dance and gymnastics are going very well.
3. Jeff's company slowed down for a couple weeks, but is picking up again. He knows that the two middle weeks of the month are going to have less jobs (another very natural ebb and flow). But he is not used to being at home that much without a huge pile of work in front of him. He is starting to realize why being a stay at home dad or early retirement may not be as wonderful as he would think. LOL!
4. Tanner is now to the pretending stage. He loves Diego and hears animals in trouble and sees them on our shoulders all the time. It is a lot of fun.

Some things never change. Tanner still spends most of his time digging in the dirt. Jeff is engrossed in football and baseball (Twins clinching was a big celebration in our house). The girls have had lots of playdates (although we are getting a bit overwhelmed with those). And me. I have been reading. The Hunger Games series has had me riveted. Excellent, well written books and lots to think about. My scrapping mojo is back--been getting kind of artsy on my pages.

Who knows what October may bring?