Good Times with Family AND Cousins

We've had some great times with family and cousins this last month. The first weekend of October, Beth, Max, and Mya came to visit (Chris was in Brazil on business), and we all (including Pat and Roger) headed out to Pinter's Pumpkin Patch - a new hot spot just a few minutes outside of Decorah. The kids had a great time as you can see from the pictures...

Ready to go!

Racing ducks and checking out the bunny houses.

Enjoying the slides (kids and adults alike)!

And just for fun - here's this year's "pumpkin patch" picture along with last year's. The kids have grown so much - and pretty soon (11-11-11) another cousin will be added to the mix! As you can see, we still have to master the skill of looking at the camera!

October 2011

October 2010

This last weekend, we (Pat and Roger, Hodens, and us) spent Saturday/Sunday morning in Des Moines for Brian's cousin's wedding. The kids enjoyed some extra-special time in the pool with Brian and Chris while Pat, Roger, Beth, and I went to the wedding. The kids held up great considering they barely napped and even got busy on the dance-floor as soon as dinner was over. "Well," of course, does include the 15 minute tantrum Livy threw because of not wanting to wear her "fancy clothes" which resulted in me forcing her into her clothing and dragging her through the entire complex screaming. Thankfully, Livy returned to her normal self quickly enough and enjoyed practicing her spin movies and her "chicken-flap" as I like to call it on the dance floor. We got some pretty cute pictures of the kiddos in the photo-booth too. This morning we hit up the pool again, but the kids were absolutely exhausted and had had enough after an hour. Our ride home was relatively peaceful, although neither Liv or Grace slept enough. I don't have any pictures of the weekend (although Beth does - check out http://hodenblog.blogspot.com), but I did snap this picture of Grace taken at 5:30pm (she never really did get up after this besides to put her jammies on and drink some milk).

Needless to say, the kids had a great time and were totally exhausted.

Time with Daddy

I am always reminding myself these days not to stress so much about the small things - the kitchen floor, the dust bunnies, the laundry, but...I'm not necessarily good at following my own advice. I'm always trying to play and clean at the same time, make a game out of folding laundry, and multi-task in other ways that often leave me in trouble, like a bed unmade at 10:0 at night and smelly, "clean" sheets that have been in the washer since noon when I initially got distracted. When will I ever learn to just relax, to just play, and to just enjoy? Soon, I hope...I consider myself a work in progress.


But, to get to the point: I'm so glad the girls have their daddy. Someone who lets them jump off the stairs onto piles of pillows, who lets Livy "pick-up" herself not caring if things go in the right box or not. Someone who takes them for rides on the lawn mover, plays hide and seek when it's really not that fun since Livy tells you where to hide, and endlessly "roars" while the girls run and hide in their tent or tunnel. Someone who knows how to start the Wii and allows Gracie to "play boxing" even if it doesn't exactly teach her to love her neighbor, and someone who's willing to be to recipient of body slams, stomach jumping, horse-back riding, or any other type of wrestling the girls can come up with.


I know I play too; I'm good at the crayons/paint/playdoh, the music, the park, and the "help Mommy" activities, but I'm not Brian. I'm structured, he's not. I worry about messes, he doesn't. The girls love their mommy, I know, but the giggles and shrieks of happiness I hear coming from the basement as I clean up the kitchen, make me know they treasure their time with daddy to no end.

A Conversation...

A conversation between Livy and myself....

Me: Livy, you need to wear your coat.

Livy: Why do I always have to wear my coat now?

Me: Because it's cold out.

Livy: Why is it so cold out?

Me: Because it's fall.

Livy: Why is it called fall?

Me: Because the leaves are falling.

Livy: Why are the leaves falling?

Me: Because it's cold out...and pretty soon it'll be snowing outside (internal - "yuck" being thought).

Livy: And we can build snowmen? Yea!