hand me down toys & walking the dog

we went to papaw's sunday & i went down to the basement... ohh, the basement where we cousins would put on haunted houses every holiday. kristen, will you be brave enough over thanksgiving to go down the stairs??? there is an assortment of goodies from all generations down there. i found some toys to take home & clean up for the kids. luke's castle grey skull is still down in the basement begging to be played with! i wasn't planning to give them just yet, but beano discovered them & begged for me to clean them. when they were cleaned, he said he was "so xited" & "thank you mama for being the best mama in the world"
can't get much better than that!
here are the kids playing with their "new" sesame street playhouse & some old little people. too bad those are choking hazards! man did they have a fun time playing & discovering all the features of the toy!




the poor kiddos are turning into their mama. to go to papaw's for a few hours, they each had to pack up suitcases. we are always prepared & overpacked!


i love cecee's coat. i bought it at a yard sale before we even had a little girl. it's a bit gnomy don't ya think?


she just loves to walk the doggies.
sometimes they make her a bit mad though.a>

way to go daddio!!

daddio has completed the dale carnegie classes & we are so very proud of him! it's been a long 12 weeks of class on top of work. i don't know how he does it, getting up at 4 & working such long hours. good job hun! we are so thankful for all you do. we are glad you will be home thursday nights for the office now!
we made a cookie for daddio a few weeks ago. it was a #1 because daddio is #1!

a neat grape trick & some art

i am a bit obsessive when it comes to my kiddos & food choking hazards. this weekend, namaw showed me a quick & easy way for slicing grapes (she saw it on rachel ray). all you need is 2 lids (preferably the same size, i found the lids from the spin & store set work great) & a knife.
place a layer of grapes on the bottom lid.

then, cover them with the second lid & slice through the grapes.

ala peanut butter sandwiches, your grapes are cut in half! & the kiddos are happy!

tonight, we got out the paint.
beano kept pretty clean. cecee on the other hand, dove right in and sat in the middle of the painting.

they worked hard on their masterpieces.


don't they look cute in their funky sunglasses?


here is the finished art, i think it will be worth a lot someday.

scrub the floors cinderella!

the house was a mess today after the weekend. so i could get some cleaning done, i popped in a signing times dvd for the kiddos & gave them each 1/2 a popsicle. bad idea.

cecee loves to leave a trail wherever she goes; be it popcorn, cereal, cheese or popsicle. well, there was a trail of red popsicle juice all over our living room. nothing a little la's awesome cleaner couldn't take care of. i love that stuff, $1 at the dollar tree & it cleans anything!

as i was scrubbing the stains, cecee took it upon herself to get a wipe & start cleaning. what a sweetie.
you can see the popsicle stains all over her pants.


by the time daddio got home, beano was ready to drink some gatoregg (gatorade) & play chase on his motorsickle (motorcycle). he wants a motorsickle birthday cake that plays music just like his ride. how am i gonna do that?
. he is so goofy, he cracks up taking pictures of peoples' (especially daddio's) booties. tonight, he wanted me to take one of his on his bike.

after bath, cecee was giving her favorite doll a ride in the shopping cart.


all in all, a pretty good monday here.

no camera this weekend, oh no!

we had a busy weekend & i forgot the memory stick to my camera. it was such a fun weekend too. we are turning into party animals- 2 birthday parties in 1 day!

we went to mitchell art academy for janet's surprise 40th birthday. we all painted bowls & plates for her & family to use at home. how cool it will be to eat on plates designed & decorated by those that love you!

after the fun there, we headed east to another wonderful woman's birthday party. there's always great food at monica's & lots of family fun. since we had the kiddos, we had to leave the real party early. i hope everyone is feeling ok today!

saturday, we stayed all night at namaw & poppy's. today we had a yummy brunch of fruit, fillets, biscuits & gravy (mine with jelly), potatoes & eggs. we played outside, throwing rocks into the creek & running around the yard. beano is a pro at throwing the hoverdiscs around!
as always, beano didn't want to leave. goodbyes are so hard for him.
i hope over thanksgiving we will be able to spend more time & visit with friends too!

to top off a wonderful weekend, we watched cars & ate popsicles in bed.

do a little dance!

ugh, today mama has had a headache. one of those days where i wish i could have stayed in bed. the toy of choice has been a very loud skeleton that plays a song. beano loves to rock out to it. take a look!

leaves, leaves & more leaves

neighbor j keeps his yard looking so nice. ours, not so much. i felt guilty about our leaves blowing into his yard, so i put the kiddos to work.

i forgot how much fun jumping in a pile of leaves can be!

beano was even "swimming" in the leaves. cecee was cracking up at him!

we were soaking up the nice weather today. we went for a trike ride/wagon ride down the street. i love these pictures of the kiddos from today, so i must share.





this one is when beano was upset because i wouldn't go up the big hill. it's just a bit too hard by myself to chase him down with cecee in the wagon. i was proud of him for not throwing a tantrum, as we have had quite a few lately. we try to take deep breaths & release to calm down & i think that it starting to help some of us!being a mon has made me realized i needed to change into a better person, one my children & husband could be proud of. so, i am working on being a better momma & hopefully the tantrums will sllloooow down a little (i hope!)

on the way home, he was tired of pedaling (as always) & wanted to pull up little sis.


i want to thank karen for beings such an awesome friend, inviting me into your circle of friends. and for talking me into writing a blog. I'm not a writer, but i'm glad i've started "blogging" about our day to day activities. i think it is making me appreciate more all the memories we are making. & now i know i won't "get about for" (forget about in beanglish) it. i think it also reaffirms my love for our children & for my love of my life and for my love & respect for or family and friends, thanks karen for talking me into doing this!

what i love about sundays

i looove the country song by craig morgan "that's what i love about sundays." i can't listen to it without crying. it makes me think of my childhood & hopefully the memories my children will have too. we haven't been good about making it to church, but i have set a goal to make it a priority.

our weekends have been pretty busy lately. by sunday night, we are all pooped. i should be sleeping now, but of course am here on the computer.

daddio had to work saturday, so the kiddos & i went yard saling. we hit the jackpot at one yard sale. a wonderful family with great stuff for really cheap! a ton of books & workbook/homeschooling materials (we aren't planning to homeschool, but i think we will get use out of them) for the kids, crafting supplies, educational toys, & some cool things for cecee's room. i just love this picture, it's above her closet now.
i didn't think the day could get much better, we had such fun at the yard sale. but, cousin janet called & invited us for family fun hours at mitchell art academy. that place is awesome!! during the family fun hours; you can paint, draw and create with clay. they also have paint your own pottery pieces. beano painted a race car (of course) and made a clay sculpture all by himself. cecee was asleep when we arrived, so we tried to make a plate with her foot & hand prints on it. her foot is the body of an angel & her hands are the wings. i can't wait to see the finished projects! i think we will add this to our fun things to do list. after creating the masterpieces, we went with janet, darby & allie to lic's for some ice cream. yummy!

today, we went out to papaw's & celebrated the phillies winning the world series. have i mentioned how excited he is about this? here everyone is getting ready to chow down on their hot dogs, baked beans & chips.
we had a good time at papaw's today. papaw always has projects for daddio to do on the sundays we go there. usually it involves chopping firewood, fixing the chimney or some other manly job. today, it was to fix the leaking kitchen sink. the drip is now a slow stream. the kids danced and played outside with damaw & peggy while i cleaned up the back room where all the misc stuff ends up. i love looking through all the memories at papaw's house. lots of good times.

beano was looking for clues today at papaw's he kept looking at the dog's rear ends more than anything. what a goofball!
he is already planning his birthday. he told damaw to "don't get about for" (what he says instead of don't forget about) "white balloons" for his party. i can't believe he will be 3 soon! we found him an indianapolis colts bike at kmart for $6. how i love bargain shopping!

as you can tell, i added music to the blog. the songs make me smile, i hope they make you too.

rock lobster, batben, bellabutterfly & an old hannah montana

oh me, oh my we have soo much candy! for breakfast, instead of his typical yogurt with cheerios & sprinkles, beano was requesting CANDY!! i was able to talk him into eating a healthy breakfast so his friends could come over & play. we had a great playdate. i really enjoyed catching up with karen & the kids are getting much better about taking turns & sharing (it's tough!).
we were busy all day today, excited about halloween festivities. i dressed cecee up as a clown to go to the store & beano wore his batman suit (his pjs).
when we were done with errands, we had to be super fast to get ready for the party. i whipped up a yummy fruit pizza (one of the few things i can make) & beano and i made daddio's lobster costume. we used a red tablecloth, some red paper plates, some red cups & LOTS of tape! it was supposed to look like this from here. it didn't quite turn out right. daddy was a good sport & wore it long enough for a picture. i think it made beano's night to see daddio in a lobster suit he helped make.
we went over to lori & randy's for their annual halloween party - yea! here are all of us that were dressed up. daddio's costume looks a bit more like a red cow or who knows what!
it was a great time. their neighborhood is full of trick or treaters, it is very cool to see all the kids.
here's a family portrait of us dressed up. cecee is a beautiful butterfly, i'm an old hannah montana, daddio is a lobster/cow/monster, beano is batben. beano was running away because mama was embarrasing him. just wait kiddo, how embasrrasing i will be when you are 13, ahhhahaha!

we missed janet, brad (Happy birthday to you Brad!)& darby((ben has been talking about getting inside a whale belly with you sometime soon!) and deedee & paul though. we hope to see you all soon!
trick or treating in their neighborhood could take all night. we just went down one street & had plenty of goodies. here's beano walking down the road.


cecee fell asleep right away in the van, but beano was too excited. at home, he started sorting his candy out right away; what he would share, what he would eat, etc. he's such a sweetie.

i hope everyone had a spooktasticular halloween! i can't believe tomorrow is november 1!