Thursday, October 26, 2006

Oh the things you find to play with...

Marissa's 1st dentist appointment

Marissa was a fabulous patient at her dentist's office. Her teeth were very healthy. The doctor very gently encouraged her to let mommy help her brush. She even got the woven fabric type dental floss which is really cool!

Stripes and flowers

Marissa picked out her clothes this morning. She was proud of herself for how much they matched!!!

Posing for the camara

Garett and Mommy's date project

Garett and I carved this pumpkin today for our Mommy & Garett date. Oh by the way, Garett told me today that he didn't want to hurt my feelings but Annie (from Little Einsteins) had a nicer singing voice than me. :)

Garett's head

Garett jumped from a counter onto a mat on Saturday night. Unfortunately, he missed. He landed on a thin carpet which lay over the hard concrete floor in the basement. Of course, Sunday was the Primary Program.

Monday night he jumps from the arm of the sofa onto the seat cushions on the sofa. Well, he missed again. He landed on the hardwood floor- face first. So, in the exact same spot he hit his head again. After much icing and heating and ibuprofin, he is a various assortment of yellow and purple. We are getting quite the looks when we go out. The bruise travelled down under his eyes and the sides of the bridge of his nose. It looks like he got caught on the wrong side of the range at the driving range.

Garett's bonk picture #2

Garett's bonk

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Can I play?

Garett, Tate and Marissa have fallen madly in love with our neighbor's children. They are Zack and Caroline, ages 11 and 10. Actually, it is more like hero worship at our house. Garett gets the bonk of the century on his head as he takes a head dive off furniture onto the carpet ( he missed the protective mat he was aiming for). This bonk swells up like a goose egg with major carpet burn running through it. He cries for the minimum amount required and asks, "Can I go play with Zack?"

Getting it.

Saturday, October 21st- There was a spider on the floor and I gave Garett a shoe to "get it". I meant squash it. I was surprised when he flipped the shoe on the side and tried to "get it" inside the shoe. He "got it".

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Downcomplimenting

Tate has been very into house size. Some houses he sees are bigger than ours. When he went into one house that was bigger than ours he said, "Wow, your house is way bigger than ours. How many bucks did it cost you?" Tonight we went to a home where he said, "You sure have a small house." I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. He really didn't mean it as an insult. To him, it was his way of observing. At any rate, we came home and talked about it. He said, "Mom, I didn't mean to downcompliment. I was just noticing it was smaller than our house." So, we talked about all the things you could say that would be nice when you are observing differences that wouldn't hurt other peoples feelings. We also talked about how important it is what goes on inside the home (love) no matter what the size. The home we were in certainly had lots of that.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Lollipop Sucker

Garett told me one day that he was the fastest lollipop sucker in Primary. Not in the big primary- because there were lots of kids in the big primary. But the little primary of his class- he was definately the fastest one.

Click, click, click...

I forgot this little thing Garett did as we left church in Milford for the last time:

We were driving out of the parking lot of church and I said something like, "Hey guys, this is our last time at church in Connecticut. Say goodbye to our nice church here." Garett started making this sound, "Click, click, click". I asked him what that sound was. He said, "This is clicking the pictures in our brains." He was taking pictures in his head and making the sounds a camera would make.

Our Backyard

This is the view from our back window.

Sugar Cookies

Garett and I have a date every Wednesday from 11 to noon. Marissa goes to a 1 hour preschool down the street and we try to do something fun like a picnic or read books or make cookies. Today we made his name out of sugar cookie dough.

Tate the Entrepreneur


This is Tate's shop he set up for Garett and Marissa to purchase his unwanted items for a few bucks.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Halloween 2005- Marissa as Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz".



Halloween 2005- Garett as a fire breathing dragon.


A very serious Dash from the movie "The Incredibles". Tate- Halloween 2005.

Batman and... Batman


Halloween 2004- Tate and Garett both decided to be Batmen.

Halloween Archives

Tate as an elephant for Halloween 2003.

Woodstock, Illinois

Saturday, October 14- We went to explore the area on Saturday and found this adorable town called Woodstock. It is very similar to a New England town with a town green at the heart of the village. It had an Opera House and lots of cute shops including a candy store that the kids got their own BubbleGum Tape. Marissa somehow ate her entrie BubbleGum tape Saturday afternoon.

Marissa

Marissa told me today that when she grows up she wants to be a horse. I told her that little girls grow up to be big girls. She said she was going to be a horse. A pink one.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Moments

Tate and I were talking about how we needed to talk to daddy about something. I said, "When we get home, let's talk to our family about this. I'll get you, me and dad in the room and we can talk about this." He said, "Mom, aren't you forgetting something? There are more contenders in our family than just you, me and dad."

Garett was eating his lunch the other day and staring out the window. I was so curious what he was thinking about as he stared out the window. I asked, "Garett, what are you thinking about?" He waited a moment to respond so my curiousity was even more peaked. He finally said, "Mommy, you should know that I don't think very much."

Strike a pose.


Marissa in quite the sweet pose. Wearing a dress and her favorite tennis shoes.

The Phantoms


The kids enjoy being phantoms every year and spooking neighbors houses with special treats. They, of course, cannot be seen because they are invisible in their white pillowcases.

Garett helping dad.


Garett is always a great help to Dad. Here he is helping load the wheelbarrow full of mulch to take to the playground. It was a lot of work- but the reward was great- a free ride back to the mulch pile in the wheelbarrow every time!

Being silly on the moving truck

Marissa in her princess slippers

Apple picking field trip

Garett's preschool took a trip to the apple orchard. We brought home 12 pounds of apples, pumpkins, mums, corn stalks, dried corn, etc. They loved taking the hay ride around the farm.

Hotel, hotel, hotel...


We stayed in a hotel quite a bit during the "move". Since we had some floors sanded and refinished and other hardwood floors installed, we stayed out of the way!



Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake and Marissa's 1st haircut (at age 3!).

Marissa's 3rd birthday


Marissa enjoys breakfast in bed for her birthday. Kids in our family get the donut of their choice served in bed (or air mattress in this case) on their birthdays.

Our Front Porch

1st Grader



Tate going to his first day of 1st grade.

Garett's 1st day of preschool



Garett is excited about his 1st day of preschool.

First day of school- September 18th

Underwear dancing

Marissa



Marissa washing her feet in the kitchen sink.

Picture of our new house

Here is a picture of our new house. It is not fancy but we really like it. The kids love being here. There is so much for them to do and explore at home that we don't think they will tire of it too soon. It is peaceful here. We are not on top of neighbors. My requirement for our new home was that I did not want to be able to see my neighbors refrigerator magnets and I can't! The kids think it is cool to have a "2nd" upstairs and we love having a playroom and a guest room.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

The playhouse.


Running across the yard of the new house to see the surprise in the backyard.








Finding the surprise.

Chicago O'Hare Airport, September 15, 2006

Have you ever read...


Have you ever read "No More Jumping on the Bed"? Well, I guess in all the books we've read- I must not have read that one to Marissa. The result? Knocking herself silly into the nightstand and a nice little gouge on the side of her eye. Yikes!

Brothers

The Marina in Milford