Follow the Yellow Brick Road.... to the Miller House!

I am a sucker for themed costumes.  I probably don't even need to tell you that since my kids have had themed costumes pretty much every single Halloween since I have had two children.  I also really like to let them chose though so I wasn't planning on having a theme this year.  When we started talking about costumes, Justin wanted to be spiderman and Katelynn was going to just be a generic princess........

 

Then Katelynn got the idea to be Dorothy because we already had a Dorothy dress in our dress-up collection.  The kids haven't seen the movie, but she had a friend that was Dorothy a few years ago so she at least knew the name.  As soon as she started picking different costume ideas, Justin started changing his mind about spiderman and was altering between an M&M and a fireman.. among several others.  Since Katelynn was set on Dorothy, the wheels started turning for me and I just had to show Justin the Wizard of Oz costume choices.  He immediately loved the tin man.  Since Jonathan and I had been Wizard of Oz characters for Halloween in maybe 2005?, I knew we had to do the entire family theme for Halloween.  How fun would that be, right? 

 

Sadly for me (and probably happily for Jonathan), my hubby ended up getting a job scheduled that wouldn't allow him to be home for Halloween this year.  He thought he was off the hook, but before he was allowed to fly out tomorrow, I made him put on the costume so we could get family pictures at least!  Bummer that they turned out a bit blurry but you at least get the idea! 

 

 

I wanted to find the picture of Jonathan and I from years back, but I'm too lazy and trying desperately to keep this blog up to date so maybe one day this week I'll post it just so you can see how much older we are since then.  Ha,ha.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Pumpkin Carving- Chili Eating- Fall Fun Day!

It has become a little bit of a tradition to have Jonathan's family come over to carve pumpkins.  I think we have done it the last two years with them.  Last year I stepped it up one step and decided to add chili dinner to the tradition as dinner while we carved.  This year I decided the more, the merrier and invited our cul-de-sac neighbors to join in on the fun! 

The menu included both beef chili and a pumpkin turkey chili and hot apple cider with pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes for desert.  We had a great time with friends and family and as an added bonus our pumpkins are now rocking for Halloween night!

An Afternoon Bike at the Park

It is hard to believe October is almost over when we are still getting almost 80 degree days, but you won't hear me complaining!  We love being outdoors!
Today I picked Justin up from preschool with the boy's bikes in my van and we headed over to the park to bike with one of Justin's classmates.  It was the perfect afternoon activity... The only thing that could have made it better is if Katelynn could have joined us!  What a perfect afternoon activity!

 

Who needs toys?

Some days I don't know why we own any children's toys at all.  Ryan almost never plays with any toys and lately even Katelynn and Justin have been enjoying the couch cushions more than their toys.  It's been quite the game around here lately.  Whatever makes them happy, right?

 

A Fun Day with Uncle Dan!

We see way too little of Uncle Dan!  He stays busy up there in Michigan so we typically only get to visit once a year.  In fact, the last time we seen him Ryan was only six weeks old!  So it was nice to get a few days with his this week.  Since today was his last full day in Charlotte, we put our regular weekly routine on hold to enjoy the day with Uncle Dan.  Justin played hookie from preschool (Katelynn did go to kindergarten.. missing elementary school is a little tougher than it used to be and she didn't want to miss a day seeing her friends) and Katelynn skipped her evening dance class.  We had fun in uptown charlotte at discovery place and walking to lunch at Brixx pizza followed by dinner at Mcalisters.  It was a fun day!

Never a Dull Day!

Many people ask me how Ryan compares to our other two children.  In a way, that's hard to tell just yet.  I feel like I forget some of the things Katelynn and Justin did at this age, and of course Ryan doesn't talk a ton yet to know what his true personality is going to be.  However, I would guess he is going to be the biggest handful out of all three of them.  Unless we have just totally forgotten about it, it seems as though at only 15 months old, Ryan has exceeded his brother and sister in so many ways.  He climbs everything, and I mean everything.  He does things that I never remember Katelynn and Justin doing (and that they still don't do so it's not like he is learning them from his older siblings).  Take for instance the stove.  We have always told all our kids that the stove is hot.  We repeat that every time they are near it.  The big kids never even attempted to mess with it.  Ryan will say, "Hot!  Hot!".... as he is pulling open the oven door.  (And no, this does not ever happen when it is really hot as we keep a close eye on him specifically because we know he is michevious.)

So with all that being said, what happened tonight should not have surprised me.  It really shouldn't have...

Yes, he made it all the way under that fence.  We eat at McAlisters pretty regularly for their kids eat free night, and it's become a routine to play in the courtyard area after we eat.  Tonight we had the patio fenced in with chairs where the gates open and close to keep the kids from going all over the place.  Being able to run freely in an enclosed space just wasn't good enough for Ryan.  He wanted total freedom, and he was determined to get it.  So determined that he actually attempted to crawl under the fence.  He made it once and then got stuck a second time.  How do they even think of these things at such a young age?

Overnight Adventure

It amazes me but sometimes we manage to be spontaneous even with three kids.  We just decided on a whim to jump in the car and take an overnight trip to Raleigh.  Jonathan booked us a hotel, I packed bags, and off we went just a few short hours later.  The kids are always game for an adventure. 

 

If you really know me, you know I'm a sucker for Demolition Derbys.  Yes, that's so redneck but I LOVE them.  I was a faithful fan in Michigan and went every year to the Davisburg (or was it Davidson?) 4H.  I have yet to find a demolition that can rock the socks off that one I went to every August.  We heard they had one at the North Carolina State Fair and gave it a try.  It was better than the others we have seen in NC, but it still didn't compare to my good old Michigan Demolition boys.  Justin of course was a huge fan, but I'm going to have to take the kids back one year to see a real Demolition in Michigan I think.

 

 

 A last minute trip and a late night at the state fair made for three very sleepy kids!

The next morning we took full advantage of the hotel pool before saying goodbye to Raleigh.  The heater was broken in the pool so it was a bit cold, but Katelynn didn't mind.  Justin stole Ryan's raft because he thought it was too cold to be completely submerged.

This is as far as Daddy went into the pool.  I call CHICKEN!