And you thought I was joking

Nope. Remember that post that I ended by saying that I had better go because Tony just told the kids it was time to go chop our pumpkins with the machete and they all cheered? Here's proof. That's what really happened. Really. And the kids were ecstatic. 

Don't worry after the first two or three swings, and us realizing that Fox may cut his own ear off, we intervened and helped him out. And now I have a small pumpkin graveyard buried out in my flower garden. It's actually quite disturbing with little hunks of pumpkin still peeking out of the dirt...

A few days later we decided to take a walk and explore one of the many parks we had yet to visit. This park was pretty cool and had a great path for the kids to ride their bikes on while Tony, Fox in the stroller, and I tried to keep up. A little ways in Emma decided she was tired so we stopped and Tony found some plant that he turned into a dart gun.  

 They actually worked quite well and we had a mini dart gun battle. In which I won, because I always win. Not really. I just said that to make me feel better. No, Tony won, as always. ;)

And to leave you off with a little joy here's a picture of Fox, fully clothed, in a cooler of water, in the bathtub.

We brined our Thanksgiving turkey in the cooler. So to wash it out I left it in the bathtub to soak. Bad idea when you have a three year old who loves to take baths. 

Tony and Kira's Christmas lists

Tony's list

axe or hatchet
chainsaw
windstopper gloves
Hoodie (size L)
Resident Evil 6
Playstation network gift card
Fleece jacket (size L)
beanie hat
scarf



Kira's list

elf on the shelf
clothes (size med mostly, unless it runs small then a large, size 6/8 bottoms)
light box
bike
Material for sewing and such
Other sewing/crafty things (buttons, elastic, velcro, ect.)
hoodie
dates with Tony (aka gift cards to go out to eat, or to do stuff like the movies)
shoes, cute ones (size 8ish)
Pyrex dishes with lids

Christmas lists

Okay really this post is really about Christmas lists and I will get to them I promise (they are on the bottom), but first I had to share with you these little gems. 

I went to Liam and Emmas parent teacher conferences on Monday. They went really well. Emma is practically perfect in every way. ;) As I was waiting for my turn with Emma's teacher they had some of the work they had done as a class out in the hall. Two large sheets of paper caught my attention. They where list of what every child's parent does for work. It had things like "Jessica's mom works at Hobby Lobby." "Ben's dad works at ISU as a professor." And other such ones followed by a dollar sign. I had to find Emmas. Flipping past the first page I finally found Emmas and laughed out loud when I read it. "Emma's dad works at helping older people." But I didn't have a dollar sign after it. When I came home I was telling Tony about it and Emma (who over heard me) came in and asked, "Yeah, but Dad, do you make money where you work?" Hehehe, that's why there was no dollar sign. 

Liam is doing well also. Except, his teacher told me, he is just a little too talkative in class discussions. "Really?!" I asked just a little too excitedly. Seriously, the boy has been so shy the last couple of years, I'm thrilled he's being a little too talkative. Although I did talk to him when he got home and told him he had to listen to his teacher and only talk when he was suppose to. :) His teacher also gave me this-

(translation: If I were President I would make old people that can't work, they can call and get food! For Free! In Iowa!!)

My kids and old people. hehehe.

Alright now for Christmas lists, for real--

 Emma's List

 (Translation: Jump rope, Hoola hoop, D.S., Puppy, Ball, Lego, Doll House, Bike, Legos, Stuffed Animal, Silly string, Reindeer, Pajamas, Teddybear)
Santa is taking care of the jump rope and pajamas, and hopefully legos :)

Liam's list

(translation: Racecar, chalk board or white board, Drawing book, how-to draw books, legos, D.S., Wii, K'nex, bike, sword, orange, silly string spiderman hand, dog, pants, math book. By the way, that is all! Merry Christmas)

Santa is taking care of the drawing book, orange, and hopefully legos :)

Fox's list

(translation: Thomas and Percy (trains), car, pj's, sword, ball, teddy bear, batman cape and eyes hat*, hot chocolate, dog, bicycle, reindeer, snake, santa clause, candy)

Santa is taking car of pj's, hot chocolate, bicycle, and candy. :)

*When I was helping Fox write his list I let him write anything he wanted (ei. Santa Clause?). But I was super confused when Fox told me, "A batman flag!" It took me a few minutes to realize he meant a batman cape, but after I did he added, "and batman eyes hat." So there you have it. I should have made these kids write out their list a while ago, because I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a batman costume for pretty dang cheap after Halloween. Dang it. 

So there you go. I realize that each child wrote some type of dog/puppy on their list. If anyone sends me a dog I will beat you. That is all. Merry Christmas. 

Today's post...for real

Honestly. I just did 7 blog posts. 8 counting this one. And I'm tired of sitting at the computer. Buuuut-I do believe I am all caught up! Including pictures off of phones! Which let's admit it, lately 90% of my pictures have been on my phone. That may have something to do with the fact that I can't find my camera battery charger (hmmm, where is that?), and the fact that our camera is old and has been dropped enough that it's on the fritz. Tony's phone takes better pictures than the camera anyways. Now if I can just talk Tony into switching me phones... Any who, if you want to see what our last 3 months where like in a mostly picture montage than scroll down. If you don't and you don't care about what's going on with us, then stop reading...right now. :)

I think my kids are a little too excited for Christmas. They have spent all day today (they don't have school today) making each other presents, or getting something they already own and wrapping them for someone else. I keep trying to tell them that Christmas is still a ways away but I guess my previous comments of "Christmas isn't too far away"/"Christmas is coming soon" has cancelled that out. Oops. So now I have a pile of crudely (but so dang cute) wrapped presents sitting on our printer with no Christmas tree to put them under yet. 

Fox got into the nutella: "I a chocolate ghost. OOOooooOOOoo!" Luckily I was in a good mood that morning, so I grabbed the camera and not...well something else.

Tony has been running like crazy lately. Last month he got a job as a CNA at "Bickford Assisted Living." We are very excited, but between work and school and homework and craziness, he is constantly going. But I guess we should have expected that.

I am doing...okay. I hate moving. I hate making new friends (haha, that sounds horrible, right?). I hate taking 9 months to a year to feel like you fit in. And I hate the depletion of money that moving takes. We really live in a very nice place, with fantastic people! And I love the friends that we have made. But I'm more home sick than I think I have been yet with living in Iowa. I'm even home sick for Davenport. But it'll get better. I know it will. And the kids love it here. I just need to buck up, I guess. So that's what I'm going to do. Let's start over-

 I'm doing great! The move has been hard, but we live in an excellent town with fantastic people! We have made great friends and although money is tight we are finding fun things to do!   

Sorry for that drama. I don't know where that came from. Oh, well. Looks like my blogging time is over. I just heard Tony say (to the kids), "We need to go and get our machete and chop our pumpkins." To which they all cheered. That's a normal occurrence/saying in every household, right? And hooray for being caught up on blogging. Maybe now you'll get posts that are not 3 months behind. Maybe.

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween!

From a witch, ninja, spiderman, and spooky empty toilet paper roll. (before trunk or treat)

 On Halloween night we gathered the kids up and went trick or treating with some friends. We only hit a few houses but after trunk or treat it was fantastic. One of the houses had built a whole pirate ship in their front yard! It was pretty sweet.

Fall and pumpkin carving

It's fall time! One Monday we decided to try and rake up the massive amount of leaves that were in our front yard. The result- a massive pile of leaves. And then the next day the wind blew and knocked the rest of the leaves of the tree so it looked like we hadn't touched it. Oh well.

 A few days before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins.

 (yes that is permanent marker between his eyebrows)

 scariest faces picture

 Tony's puking pumpkin

 Top: mine, Tonys    Middle step: Emma's, Fox's     Bottom: Liams

Sushi night and butterflies

I think these next pictures are on Tony's birthday...or at least close to Tony's birthday. So happy birthday Tony...

Any who- we went climbing for Tony's birthday. This is me and Sierra. I'm the one that looks much more athletic and awesome. Sierra is the one standing up. ;) (and yes, the ground is about 3 inches under us...but at least we look good) 

 We went to Remein Gardens also and Sierra has a butterfly on her head.

 Then we had a sushi night! Wahoo!! 

Nauvoo with Grandparents and Sierra! (October)

This October we were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa and Sierra come and visit us! While they were here we went to Nauvoo!! It was a blast!

 Carthage