Halloween 2012.

Halloween is always such a fun day for the kids.  I understand there is a ridiculous amount of candy involved, but really that is not what it is all about.  The kids love dressing up and pretending to be something fun as well as participating in a neighborhood outing.  Our kids are always excited to get candy and we usually let them have a couple pieces once we are home.  The beauty is that we then put the candy away and they usually ask for a piece the next day and then forget all about it.  The bad part is that Ryan and I are the ones who indulge in the sugar.  Better us than our little ones I suppose!  This year we had a Vikings football player, dragon, and a lady bug.  They were all costumes we had at our house which was awesome!

The kids couldn't dress up for school but Landon had crazy hair day.  We spray dyed his hair orange.

 So of course this one wanted PINK hair!

 AND this one, too!  Kadence had fun spraying her little sister's hair and Kenzie loved being just like her!

 It was 5:30 and time to head out before it got too cold and too dark!  I love trick-or-treating with little ones!

 Our tough little football player.

 Our mean little dragon in her football stance...

 Little lady bug Kenzie.  I had planned on her wearing a bumblebee outfit that we had but she screamed bloody murder when I put it on her!  Luckily, I had this lady bug costume that she loved!

 She was having so much fun walking on her own and carrying her bucket!  She didn't want to ride in the stroller or have me carry her pumpkin.

We all had a fun time and it was great to see Kenzie enjoy her Halloween so much!  Ryan was in Sioux Falls for Gary's shoulder surgery so we did Halloween without him this year and managed just fine!

A little lady bug story...
Kenzie was pretty good about not eating the candy (amazingly).  I found out the next day that she actually snuck a tootsie roll that I didn't know about at the time.  The only reason I knew was that she had a purple tootsie roll wrapper stuck half in her bum and half out when I changed her dirty diaper.  I pulled it out (obviously) not knowing what it was to find out it was a perfectly intact purple tootsie roll wrapper.  I will never see a tootsie roll the same again...good thing I didn't really like them in the first place!

Dance Dance!

Kadence loves to dance.  She looks forward to dance class every Thursday night.  She also spends a ton of time dancing around the house.  Kadence has already influenced her little sister with her love of dance.  They both spend a lot of time dancing and wearing ballet/tap shoes around the house.  Dance is the one part of Kadence's life outside our home that she has never been unsure of.  She is never reluctant to leave me and go with her class and she talks about her teacher Miss Hayley all the time.

Kadence had observation day this week and I was so excited to watch her!  Grandma Sue and Papa Gary happened to be in town and were able to watch, too!  I shot a couple videos of class.  After watching her I was even more proud of her.  She was listening so well to her teacher and did very well in class.  She recently said to me out of the blue, "Mama, I love coming to dance class!  Its way more better than soccer!"  What a sweetie pie!

Kadence practicing her ballet.  She is in the back corner with the black leo and purple skirt on.

Some tap dancing.

Star Student of the Week.

Landon was chosen to be the student of the week!  It was a pretty big deal at our house and he was very excited.  We filled out a poster all about him and he shared it with his class.  He received a special certificate at school and got to lead The Pledge of Allegiance and sit with Dr. Sheldon (the principal) at lunch.  We were so proud of our little guy.  

Here is Landon with the other Student of the Week students.  His teacher sent the picture and when Landon saw it at home he was so excited to tell me that his friend Caleb was also the student of the week!  Proud Mama and Dad moment:) 

Landon also had his first Kindergarten conferences just a couple weeks ago.  His teacher Mrs. Spanier started out the conferences by telling me that Landon was just a "good boy."  She could have stopped there and I would have been beyond pleased.  She said he is exactly where he should be academically and doing very well socially.  We are so proud of our boy and just astounded by how much he has learned already.  

Quick Stop in SF.

On our way back from Omaha we made a quick stop at the O'Connors to see everyone and new baby Joseph.  Even though the kids were maxed and we knew it would be a late night home it was totally worth the couple hour stop.  It always amazes me how a quick stop turns into hours in what seems like the blink of an eye.  In just minutes after we had arrived Landon and Hayley were off running around playing, Kadence was in search of all the fun girly toys with Lily nearby, and Will and Kenzie were playing (or fighting-love that age!) over trains.  It is crazy how we don't get to see the O'Connors very often but when we get together the kids are so comfortable right away and pick up right where they left off at the last visit, even if it's been months.  It was fun to see their new addition.  Joseph is another beautiful baby who I thought looked a lot like big sister Lily.  I can't imagine adding another baby to our family right now and although I have longed for a newborn this was a great reminder that having a newborn is a little different when you have 3 children 6 and under in tow as well!  I miss the O'Connor family dearly and wish they were still apart of our weekly routine!  Hopefully, we will get a visit in with them before too long!  Thanks Ryan and Katie for letting us bombard your home at a bad time!  We love you guys.

Omaha!

We headed to Omaha to visit Aunty on Friday morning.  Ryan had been on call Thursday and had Friday off as well as both Landon and Kadence.  We left early in the morning and arrived after a 6 hour  car trip ready to play!  We went to a restaurant/arcade and the kids had almost as much fun as Ryan.  Saturday we decided to head to Vala's Pumpkin Patch.  A little to our surprise this was more like a fair than a pumpkin patch but was very fun!  We really could have spent several more hours there exploring! They had some great food and fun for everyone.  Although Kadence was a bit reluctant at times I think the kids really enjoyed it!

Sunday we went for a yummy breakfast and just hung out and did some shopping.  I definitely could have stayed  a few more days but it was time to get back for school and work!  Thanks to Aunty for a fun weekend away!  We always have so much fun in Omaha with all of the fun things to do.  The kids had a blast and enjoyed the extra snuggles with Aunty and playing with Roxy and Leonard!

Halloween Baking.

The kids and I decided to make some yummy halloween cut out cookies to take to Omaha with us.  Landon, Kadence, and I used to do things like this all the time and I realized I hadn't been as good about letting them help since Kenzie has been old enough to want to help.  Landon had the day off school and I figured this would be a perfect project while daddy was at work.  I thought I had a sugar cookie mix in my cupboard which would have made life a bit easier, but I didn't so we did everything all home made.  This is quite the task with 3 little ones.  It was so hard to keep Kenzie from eating the cookie dough.  She tasted it once and then just wanted to eat it all!  I mean, can you blame her?  

After I frosted the cookies I let the kids decorate them.  I gave Kenzie 2 of her own to decorate. She was so excited I don't think she stopped smiling the entire time...

 until I had to take them away from her.  I knew this was going to happen.  Eating and endless amount of sprinkles while playing in frosting.  Who would ever want to stop?

Once I had snapped a few pictures it only took a quick distraction to be on to the next thing.  We had fun making cookies but after we were done I did not want to look at another cookie.  Unfortunately, I quickly got over that feeling and ate way too many over the weekend.  Yum!

Diapers and Taps

 This little toddler loves music, shoes, and the iPad.  She is always finding some sort of shoes to put on and her favorite are big sister's taps.  She will wear them around the house for hours.  She loves dancing and listening to music and has a new found love for the iPad.  For a couple days she kept saying, "ipah ipah ipah."  It took me awhile to realize she was actually asking for the iPad.  I was misinterpreting the word for "apple."  She had more apples in those couple days than she probably wanted.  Sort of ironic if you think about it: Apple iPad.  At any rate I now know that I have to hide the iPad so she forgets about it unless I want her playing with it for hours.  She mostly likes the iPod and music apps which makes me feel less guilty about allowing her to play with it.  Especially since I can not get her to watch even 5 minutes of the television.

I grabbed a little video of Kenzie playing her favorite game on the iPad.  She gets kind of frustrated when it's not doing exactly what she wants to.  This is a definite indication of her personality.  She has always known exactly what she wants.  

Family Time.

We had a great weekend at home with our little family.  Landon had his last flag football game on Saturday morning and it was absolutely gorgeous outside.  We had a fun filled weekend with a TON of family time.  Just the way I like it.  On Sunday we spent a good chunk of time at Lindenwood Park for our third leaf walk of the fall.  This time Kadence needed to find leaves to bring to school with her for their art projects.  The kids had a blast running and playing and we all enjoyed the fresh air.

 Big blues and big browns.  Love it.  The kids love dressing in their Vikings garb for Sunday games!  Pretty cute!

 Some snuggle time watching cartoons.

 Playing on the iPad.

And of course some wrestling!!
Love the family time.

Pajama Time!

 It was pajama day at kindergarten readiness for Kadence today!  How fun to wake up and change from one pair of pajamas into another!  She was comfortable, cozy, and excited as ever!  I put her hair in pigtails and she loved it!  Pajama day is not my favorite for the simple fact that most of the kids' pajamas do not look pretty and are not meant to be worn outside of our home, ha!  The pants are usually too short and the material is warn from being washed millions of times and used by multiple children.  So even though it is a tad early for holiday pajamas, I was thrilled when Kadence chose these because I am pretty sure they are one of the only pairs I would have allowed her to be seen in public with!

Pumpkin Painting.

I love Fall.  I love pumpkins.  I don't love carving pumpkins.  A couple years ago when we were in Sioux Falls Landon and Kadence painted pumpkins instead of carving them and they had an absolute blast.  Our neighbors were kind enough to give us 3 of their pumpkins out of their garden.  The kids had been watching them grow all summer and were so excited when they turned orange and grew bigger each day!  I have a slight obsession with pumpkins so I was just as ecstatic!

 I think this little munchkin had the most fun of everyone.  I was a little reluctant to give her the paint since it wasn't washable, but she did awesome.  She stayed on task and hardly made a mess.  She was concentrating so hard and I had so much fun watching her!  She was too busy to look at me for a picture though!

 Kadence used up all of the pink paint on her pumpkin but did branch out to some different colors.  She's so pretty and could have painted all night long.

This little stud had a plan and his pumpkin was much more of a creation than the last time he pumpkin painted.  It was pretty adorable.  He only used a couple colors and was really proud of his pumpkin.  Less is more, in his mind.  

Pumpkin painting a giant success once again!  We probably will have to carve one pumpkin before Halloween, but this sure was fun!