Big smiles from Hope!

Hope usually smiles with her eyes squeezed shut and a big cheesy grin on her face. Kind of like the smile in the picture above . . . but even more extreme!

This afternoon I told her to open her eyes wide and give me a pretty smile. The picture below is what I got . . . .

Hmmm. Okay. Good try, Hope!! :)

Gene The Pumpkin Man!

Today was the day that we finally made it to Gene the Pumpkin Man! Last year when we went to Gene to buy pumpkins he was so expensive that we vowed never to buy from him again. That didn't last long, did it? I had good intentions of finding a new place this year - a cheaper place. I asked around but didn't really get any good recommendations . . . unless you consider Aldi or Walmart good recommendations. Gene apparently has quite the monopoly around these parts! Then, my friend told me that she got 5 pumpkins there for $7! Last year we paid $6 per pumpkin! So, for lack of a better place to go and hope that Gene finally decided to cut his prices, we headed for the traditional Gene the Pumpkin Man to find some pumpkins. I went to Gene as a kid too . . . and since we have been going to Gene ever since Samuel was a baby (we took him when he was just a few weeks old!) I decided that it was a tradition that I just wasn't quite ready to break! It was a beautiful Monday - sunny and in the 50s. So off we went!

Hope was getting a little frustrated because the pumpkins were difficult for her to pick up. She kept dropping them. Now I know why over 1/2 of the pumpkins there have soft spots and bruises on them! Hope must not be the only 2 year old that drops every pumpkin she picks up!

Seriously, why does Samuel look so grown up in this picture? He is such a big boy. On the way to get pumpkins this morning, he kept saying we were going to a pumpkin patch. I had no idea where he had heard "pumpkin patch" before, so I asked him. He said, "Dora went to a pumpkin patch!" (Oh great. Dora. I am not on good terms with Dora. But, as you have probably figured out, I do let my kids watch it) I asked him what Dora did at the pumpkin patch and he said, "She just walked through it." I asked him where Dora was going and he said, "To the monster house." Hmmm . . . I guess that's the price I pay for turning Dora on this morning so that I could race around the house and get a couple of things done.

My little pumpkin. This is my girl who is not going to let the world pass her by.

Point for Mommy! A happy, smiling picture of all 3 kids!

I told them to stand up and clap! Love this!

"Cheese!!"

Samuel thought it was fun to walk around and through the pumpkins. He called it a maze. Aliyah on the other hand would just scream at me to come and get her when she would find herself surrounded by pumpkins with (what it seemed like to her) no way to get out.

Watching the cows eat some pumpkins. Hope would not go any closer. My youngest child (and usually my bravest) was, as you can see, the closest to the fence.

Thank you for a great time, Gene!! And thanks for lowering your prices! We scored 3 big pumpkins and 3 little pumpkins for $6!

These pictures don't really show how hectic and crazy our experience was. Daryl came home for lunch today and he asked the kids what they did at the pumpkin patch. I said, "They fought, they screamed, they cried, they ran each other with wagons, they (Samuel) fell into mushed pumpkins (his jeans were covered in pumpkin goo), they tripped over pumpkins, and they all had a great time! They really did!! And we have pumpkins (and cute picture!) to prove it!

Aliyah: 15 months

• You are 29lbs
• You have 9 teeth with 3 very close
• You are in 2T clothes but you can pretty much wear 3T clothes without a problem - except for 3T pants
• You love to play with Little People. You are so cute with them - putting them in chairs, putting them in their car and making car noises while driving it around, laying them in their beds and blowing them kisses and saying shhhhh! with your finger in front of your lips, and putting them through the windows or doors (you do this with the farm and animals too) of the house. This is probably your favorite toy right now, besides your baby dolls of course!

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• You always hold your favorite toy in your right hand (the circle from the shape sorter, the black boy from the little people, the dog puzzle piece, etc) and then play with the rest of the toy with your left hand.




• You love bringing blankets and baby dolls to us and having us wrap them up. You get so excited!! Then we hand you your baby (all wrapped up!) back to you and you rock it, kiss it, feed it a bottle, etc. You will hold your baby and rock back and forth of your feet while we sing "Jesus Loves Me" - sometimes we'll sing it a couple of times in a row!
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• You love anything related to babies. Recently we were at the library and you found a book about a new baby. You carried that book all over the library and would give kisses to all the pictures of the baby.
• You nod your head "yes" (in the cutest way ever) when we ask you questions - usually the questions are related to food - if you want to eat, if you want more of a certain food, etc.
• Speaking of food, you love to eat! Whenever you hear it is time to eat or we ask you if you are hungry, you will run to find your high chair, pull your bib down, and wait (very impatiently!) for us to lift you into your chair. When we put your bib on, you get all crazy excited! You want to eat all by yourself and
  you don't like Mommy or Daddy to help you. You do a pretty good job with a spoon and a fork but sometimes you give up and decide it is easier to use your fingers. There aren't many foods that you won't eat - the only thing I can think of right now is sweet potatoes.
• Books are another favorite thing. You will often sit on the floor and page through books all by yourself. You also love having books (that are short!) read to you.
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• You are trying to say words but nothing is very clear yet. You say: "Ma!" (Grandma or Mommy), "Cuh" (cup), "Pea" (please), "Kee" (thank you), "Dah-dee" (Daddy), "ha" (hat or hot), "Bee" (baby, blanket), "Bah" (ball, book)
• You have a strange obsession with penguins. You call them "waddle" and you point them out whenever you see one (stuffed animal, picture, beanie baby, etc). You love to carry around the beanie baby penguin.
• You dance to music and it is so darn cute

We love you, Aliyah Rose. You are a blessing to us and a dream come true!!

Samuel: 3 years old

• You are 44lbs
• You are in size 4T pants and size 4 or 5 shirts.
• You rarely nap (you quit napping over a year ago!) and you sleep from 8:30/9pm to 8am.
• You love to look at books and have books read to you. Every night before you go to sleep you lay in your bed and look at books. Lately you love to look at books and "read" them by making up a song and singing it out-loud as you turn the pages.
• You still have a difficult time playing by yourself and entertaining yourself. You want either Mommy or Daddy to play with you all of the time. We love to play with you and it's hard to make you understand that sometimes we just don't have time and sometimes we have to play what your sisters want to play!
• You love your sisters and call them "Hopey-Lou" and "Lia Rose"
• You want to pray all by yourself and you do a great job! You are starting to say more things in your prayers besides just "Thank you for this day and thank you for this food." The other day you prayed "Thank you that it is not night time yet." Love that! You always end your prayers with "Thank you for Daddy, Mommy, Hope and Lia. Dear Jesus, Amen!"
• You have really been into looking at and learning about clocks lately. You know that when the short hand is at the 3 and the long hand is at the 12, that it is time for Curious George on TV. You look at the clock a lot and tell me what numbers the hands are at. It's great for learning your numbers!
• You love Aunt Anna and talk about her and pretend to be her all of the time.
• You love to do simple mazes and you are pretty good at them too!

Favorite Foods: mac and cheese (you and your sister ask for this every day for lunch!), rice (with brown sugar), waffles, fruit snacks, applesauce (home made, of course!)

Least Favorite Food: meat

Favorite TV shows: Curious George, Caillou, Dora the Explorer

Favorite Books: construction truck books, Curious George, Thomas the Train books and other train books, Danny and the Dinosaur, Maisy books, Go Dog Go

Favorite Toys: soccer ball and net, duplos, trains, trampoline, books, running (I know it isn't a toy but it sure is one of your favorite things to do!)

Favorite Words (Mommy's favorite words that you say): "El-fa-nent" (elephant), "Ka-ploring, Ka-prize, and Ka-ment" (Exploring, Surprise, and Cement), "Hanger-bur" (hamburger), "Balinna" (Vanilla)

Favorite Songs: My God is So Big, Alive Alive, This is the Day, This Little Light of Mine, God is so Good, Count Your Blessings

We love you, Samuel Jack!! You are such a fun little boy. Mommy and Daddy love you SO SO much!

A Tiger In Samuel's Room

This morning at 5am Samuel was calling for Daddy. When Daryl went in there, Samuel was wide awake. Samuel asked for a book so Daryl blindly handed him a book and stumbled back to bed. This morning, mid-morning, Samuel randomly says to me "Mommy, I don't want a tiger in my room again." I asked him a couple more questions about it and figured he had a bad dream and that's what woke him up at 5 this morning. When Daryl came home from lunch I told him about it and he asked Samuel a few more questions . . . just because it was too cute to let it go!!

Daryl: "Was the tiger real or pretend?"

Samuel: (thinking for a few seconds first) "I think he was pretend"

Daryl: "Did you ask him if he was pretend?"
Samuel: "I asked him but he didn't talk to me (holding his hands up like he had no idea why the tiger wouldn't talk to him) so I think he was pretend."

Daryl: "What color was he?"

Samuel: (looking at Daryl like he was dumb) "He was striped, Daddy!"

Daryl: "Where was the tiger in your room?"

Samuel: "He stand at a little spot by my train table"

Daryl: "Was he a big tiger or a little tiger?"
Samuel: "Just kind of a little bit small but a little bit big too!"

Samuel: "But Daddy, I don't want a tiger in my room again!"

I guess that was enough adventure for Samuel for awhile!!

Girls and Overalls

Girls in overalls are just plain cute.

That's all.

:)

Hope's First Prayer

Tonight we were at my parent's house for supper because Daryl was at his internship. We were sitting down ready to eat when I said, "okay, let's pray before we eat!" Hope spoke up and said, "I want to talk to God!" I made her repeat it a second time because I wasn't sure that I heard her correctly. She and Samuel would both repeat after us when we prayed but neither of them had prayed by themselves yet. I told her to go ahead. She prayed a prayer something like this (I wrote it down as soon as I could after she prayed so that I wouldn't forget it!): "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this nice day. Thank you for milk. Thank you for Grandpa. Thank you for Grandma. Thank you for Samuel, Mommy, Hopey, and Lia. Thank you for the pool . . ." and then she went off and started saying totally random things that I didn't understand. So I quietly prompted her by saying, "In Jesus Name" and then she followed with a big "AMEN!" She was so so proud of herself and so was her Mommy!

Then, of course, not to be outdone by his little sister, Samuel decided he wanted to pray as well. His prayer was, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this food. Thank you for this meal. Thank you for this yummy supper. Thank you for Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, Samuel, Hopey, and Lia. Dear Jesus, Amen!!" Again, a very proud Mommy. And a very proud little boy. I hope they are this excited and passionate about prayer for their whole lives!!