checking out the chicken

 

running through the corn maze

 

feeding the animals

the best part of the day...dirt!

it's the great pumpkin!

playing hide & seek

elise, emmy & madi played hide & seek after the activities. they took turns counting and hiding behind the same four trees & had a blast!

cracker barrel

last night we met aunt verona, uncle blaine, janet, lee, shelia, & mitch at cracker barrel for supper. elise, as usual, was great...good manners, sat in her chair, all that good stuff. ian on the other hand thought he was at the park & acted accordingly. which is precisely why we don't eat out much! =) but we had a wonderful time. it was nice to visit & eat good food & catch up on everything. i think that is what is so great about family is that no matter how long it is between visits, we seem to pick right back up where we were. and that's how it felt this time. it was just relaxing (except for the ian part), easy and comfortable. aunt verona was sweet to get us souveniers...two halloween votive candle holders that are just cute as can be, and a couple of gumball treats for the kids. (it took ian a little bit to figure out that the gumballs were to eat...he mostly threw his around on the floor like regular balls.) sheila & janet were just fun to visit with & are so nice & sweet. mitch played with our kids outside for a long time. i'm sure he was worn out, but it was so nice. i can't wait for them to bring davin out sometime to play. i think he would have a blast with our kids. he is right in between them in age, so i think they would all have fun. oh and someone also payed for our meal...blaine & lee are likely suspects...but we never could get an affirmative. but it was so nice of them. anyway, the night was just great, even if we were all tired by the end. family is just the best!

that is so cool

okay, so it doesn't take much...but the other day i was complaining to cory that my digital camera was not being recognized when i tried to download pictures. i didn't know if it was the computer, the camera, or the cord, but i was frustrated and annoyed. i suggested that maybe we should get a card reader so i could download the pictures from my memory card that way (since i thought the cord was the problem). so cory goes, "oh, there's a card reader built in to the computer." well, i downloaded my pics today using the card reader ON THE FRONT OF MY COMPUTER. that is just too cool!

so happy together
i love that the kids play so well together. elise is so great to include ian & help him with things he is still learning how to do. and ian absolutely worships the ground elise walks on. when she is not around (in primary class or with a friend) he constantly asks, "ah see see?" meaning "where's elise?" they are a great pair and are so sweet. i hope they will always love each other and take care of each other the way they do now.

the bucket

ian got a mr. potato head for his birthday which was a big hit. an equally big hit was the mr. potato head bucket which he loves to wear on his head. he's so cute putting it on and sliding it around just right so that he can see out the front. maybe he's a budding astronaut....

mr. potato head

snack pack

one day recently i was really tired and was trying to rest. about mid afternoon elise decided she wanted a snack of "butter bread". knowing that was a task she could manage on her own, i let her take care of it herself. she did it very well...a little too well, actually. when she showed me what she had accomplished, i was quite surprised to find out she had made six whole sandwiches of butter bread. what a funny mess!

elise makes her own snack 

our foray into the world of sleepovers

one night this week we had most of the cousins over for a sleepover. what a wild, crazy night that was! none of the kids took naps that day, but all still managed to stay awake until 11:00pm. the night included cory's homemade popcorn & the movie "the incredibles". this party was kind of spur of the moment, meaning no one had pajamas or toothbrushes, so i found them some of my t-shirts that were similar & they all seemed okay with that. then they lined up for the potty & a round of toothbrushing with the same one or two toothbrushes. at "bedtime" everyone wanted to say a prayer, so of course we let them. katie prayed for "her daddy to get her five kitty cats" which i found out later meant "kit kats". each one prayed for their friends, and elise blessed that we wouldn't get hit by a hurricane or tornado. it was very cute and sweet. they were up at 8 the next morning raring to go again. i think they had a lot of fun just being little girls & we had a lot of fun watching them and seeing them be together. they are a sweet group.

popcorn & a movie

girls just wanna have fun...

sour

i love sour things...granny smith apples, tart lemonade, sour gummy things, sour candy...whatever. so i ventured out and tried the new-to-me sour cherry chewing gum by altoids. it is just possibly the sourest thing i have ever tasted. i'm not sure if my pregnancy taste buds are off, or if it really is that sour. either way, i can barely tolerate it.

ribbit ribbit

when i was somewhere between four & six years old, i was over at Grandma Delia's house and needed to got to the bathroom. when i looked in the toilet, there looking up at me was a frog! i was pretty scared, thinking of that thing jumping on me or something & so ran to tell the grownups about the problem. no one believed me, thinking either i had made it up, imagined it, or mistaken some poop for a frog, especially after they went to check out the situation and found no evidence of a frog. i was vindicated a few days later when grandma delia called up our house and informed my dad that, indeed, there was a frog in the toilet & would he please come get it out! he did just that, and scooped out our little froggy friend with a old cool whip bowl.

fast forward to about a month ago. i was taking a shower and elise cames in to use the bathroom. i heard her pee, flush, etc. and the the lid slam shut. she said, "oh that scared me to death!" i thougth the lid had scared her and said, "that was a loud noise, wasn't it?" she goes, "no mama! not the lid! the frog in the toiled scared me!" for one split second i thought, "there cannot possibly be a frog in the toilet!" but just as quickly remembered the disbelief i faced over the very same thing as a child. besides, never having told that story to elise before, i decided that the odds of it not being true weren't good....sort of the "truth is stranger than fiction" type thing. so i said, "elise, let me see it." she opened the toilet and i peeked in and sure enough, therewas a living, breathing frog staring up at us from the toilet bowl. cory, of course, came to the rescue and saved us from the amphibian.

and i was left wondering, "just what are the odds?"

cory's mississippi trip

cory went to mississippi last weekend with a group of 150 or so men from our stake, along with similar numbers of men from other nc stakes to help the people along the gulf coast affected by the recent hurricanes. they left friday morning & returned monday afternoon. throughout saturday & sunday he worked with a team of about 10 men from our ward to help clear trees from people's yards. he seemed to have a wonderful experience, albeit a tiring one. one house particularly touched him. the family consisted of a mother, father and 2 children aged closely to ours. these 10 men spent from apx. 7am to 3pm clearing trees from their yard, so you can imagine the enormity of the task if left to the father of this family. while not members of our church, they were kind, good people who were deeply grateful for the help they received. the mother had fixed egg & cheese biscuits for them for breakfast and then shrimp jambalaya for lunch. when cory's work crew worked on a neighboring house the next day, the family came over and again expressed their appreciation for the service & offered them a cool place to cool off and rest if they needed it. cory really enjoyed this trip & the service he and others were able to provide, along with the brotherhood he felt amonst those he served with.

tee ball adventures

elise has been taking "tee ball lessons" for the past month. she and two of her cousins, kyleigh & emmy have had several classes teaching them the basics of tee ball. they have learned how to hit, catch & the finer points of a game (i.e. running the bases, going for the ball...) last night i didn't get to see the whole class, but heard about what happened from kyleigh's mom. melissa said that when they were divided into teams, elise was on one team and kyleigh & emmy on the other. when elise was in the outfield, she was standing somewhere between first and second base. when emmy got her hit and subsequently was supposed to run from first base to second, she never quite made it to second. she started off running to second, but stopped about halfway....to talk to elise. i mean, who cares about the game when two girlfriends need to catch up on life! i thought that was hilarious. melissa said that the "coach" was going, "come on emmy! run! run!" and emmy and elise are just chatting along the baseline! =) melissa also said that elise did a great job of running after the ball when the other team hit the ball. that's my girl! =)

ian gets hurt

yesterday morning, cory & i & the kids were working in the garage. ian was playing right outside the garage in the driveway in elise's pink jeep (the one the you can drive). somehow he busted....none of us are exactly sure how, but it looks as if he caught himself with his face. poor little guy! he cried, but he was brave!

owies =( 

cheesin' it =) 

germs *sigh*

well, germs have once again invaded our house! elise has been coming down with a cold for several days. today she seems to have more of the full blown thing...runny/stuffy nose, cough, etc. then ian threw up about 3 or 4 times during the night. actually he hadn't eaten much lunch or supper & b/c we were out of juice he had only had water to drink. so what little he threw up was just clear liquid *whew*! still a long night, though. he seems better this morning, though. hopefully, anyway. and if we can just keep him from giving the tummy bug to elise & keep elise from giving her cold to him and keeping cory & i healthy, we should be perfect! oh well....

busy few days, etc.

thursday night was craft night for us girls again...at my house. we had a blast as we always do, but it was a late night...about 1:00 or 1:30 by the time everyone left. then the next night was a family temple trip, but b/c the session was full & we were getting ready for a yard sale, we stayed home. but we did baby-sit a couple of the kids in what turned out to be a LATE night....11:30 maybe. the kids sure had fun, though. the next morning was early with our yard sale preps and stuff. it turned out to be a success...we made about $80.00 or so. cory's parents had spent the night with us and went yard selling (it was a neighborhood affair). they came back with a double stroller for me to look at. it was in great condidtion and i liked that the front seat could either face forward or backward, depending on who needed entertainment or who needed not to be touched or looked at. they also got each of the kids a stuffed animal which has been desperately latched on to. why those were such a hit, i cannot figure. ian got a Barney (odd at first since he never watches barney) but since i've realized he liked it b/c it was a dinosaur. he runs around growling & roaring that barney at everyone. elise's was a teddy bear that she just adores. its like a teal color with blue tips (sort of like the teal was airbrushed with blue) that has a tag that says its name is blueberry. LOVES IT! anyway, after the yard sale, we at breakfast at golden corral with some of cory's family (which was delicious!) and fun. afterward we hit the road to cory's parents house for a birthday party for ericka. we had a great time visiting with everyone & of course the kids were having so much fun they had to be dragged out! yesterday we actually had a fairly relaxing day, no one to visit, no one to visit with us except our home teachers in the evening. it was a nice catch up after the weekend. now....on to this week!

patterns

cory is one of seven children, four boys, three girls. all the girls have seven letters in their names (like their dad) , all the boys have four (like their mom). so now, six of the seven are married with two children each. the four boys have all had a girl first, then a boy. the two married girls have had two girls. so that means that everyone had a girl first! if you want to get even deeper in to the similiarities, there were 5 of those "first girls" born within about 10 months of each other. the first two were born to cory's sisters and have names beginning with "k". the next three were born to the brothers and have names that start with "e". the "e" girls were also all born on a sunday. weird coincidence or lucky break or whatever, i just think the patterns are neat.

yum!

a couple of nights ago i made something delicious. it was these jumbo pasta shells stuffed with a ricotta cheese/spinach, etc. mixture & then placed in a pan with spaghetti sauce and drizzled in a little more of it, along with a little alfredo sauce. it was topped off with some cheddar cheese and baked until bubbly. eat that along with some crusty french bread and a salad and you have a wonderful meal....can't wait to eat leftovers for lunch!

what's in a name?

i think it is official....we have decided what our baby's name will be. drumroll, please......she will be Merry Grace & we will call her Gracie. Merry is after Cory's grandma who was named Mary, but we changed the spelling to be somewhat original. Grace is after me, and grandma jarrell, & gracie is from grandma delia's mother who was Gracie. so i think we jam packed all the family we could into this name, but we're immensely pleased with the result.

that should do the trick

while we were on vacation, elise and ian were eating goldfish & playing in one of the bedrooms. after a little bit, elise screams and then says, "mama, ian hit me!" this is a somewhat typical occurance, so i said, "ian, come in here." after a few seconds, he still hasn't appeared, so i said more firmly, "ian, come in here right now!" then i hear elise say softly & conspiratorially, "ian, go see mama. she wants to give you some more goldfish!"

odds and ends

okay...so i've been slack this week. here are two totally unrelated items that have been on my mind. first, i hate it when business don't put their flag at half staff like they're supposed to. i think if you're going to have a flag you need to be responsible enough to keep up with what to do with it. that includes the respect of having at at half staff when called upon. a pet peeve of mine.

second, do people say sir & ma'am other places except in the south? i get called ma'am a lot & i've noticed that i say it to others. i wondered if that is a southern thing or what. any ideas?

our vacation

we had a great vacation last week. we spent most of our time at the pool or just hanging out, but it was so nice, so refreshing, & so relaxing. i'll post some of our fun highlights later, but i wanted you to know we were back in action again! it's good (sort of) to be home!

elise in the pool 

elise getting ready to jump 

ian testing the water 

elise jumping into the pool... 

elise floating on her back all by herself! 

some goggles elise got from one of her new friends at the pool.... 

ian loved playing with these plastic frogs all week 

ian waving from the pool! 

our last morning 

elise wore her daddy's shirt every time after the pool. 

ian looking for airplanes 

ian's mad face...he can't see any planes right now!