The Final Product

Before you see our beautiful pumpkins, I had to share some of my favorite things from today.

First of all, Peder was very scared of a "shadow monster" in his bedroom.  I gave him my teddy bear, Butterscotch, that I had while growing up.  I explained that Butter had a lot of experience from protecting me when I was little and could him feel safe.  He snuggled in and went right to sleep.  It made me so happy.

Secondly, Mari all the sudden started screaming in her bedroom.  I walked in and she wrapped her arms and legs around me and snuggled her head into my shoulder.  I asked her what was wrong, what she needed and she looked at me and said, "I NEED DADDY!" and then went back to crying.  I thought it was so sweet, but also felt bad for her because Jake was at football tonight.

Here are our final products, the ghost was Emmy's, the monster was Peder's and the bat was Mari's.  I hope to get more Halloween pics up in the next few days.

Carving Pumpkins

I'll post the finished products later, I'm suddenly having issues with blogger and our picture program.

The kids with their pumpkins.

Emmy helping me get the top off her pumpkin.

Peder trying to carve out the top of his pumpkin.

Emmy was REALLY unsure about cleaning out the inside of her pumpkin.

Peder thought it was funny.

Mari was all business.

Emmy finally got into it when we showed her how fun it was to get messy with the guts.

Peder starting to carve his pumpkin.

Getting a little help from Daddy.

I poked all the pattern holes in all 3 pumpkins.

Getting some love from my Sweet P.

The reality of pumpkin carving in our household:  as soon as the pumpkins were emptied Jake and I were left to do the hard work.  I poked all the holes and carved the ghost pumpkin, Jake carved the other two.

Picking out Pumpkins

We picked out pumpkins on Tuesday afternoon.  We told Peder he could pick out any pumpking he could carry.  He did it and got a good sized pumpkin too!

Mari carrying her pumpkin....notice Jake's hand holding the pumpking up for her?

Emmy with her pumpkin.  Jake helped her too.

The following are some pictures from the place we got our pumpkins.  Definitely made me feel like it was fall....which I loved!

Peder's Birthday and Party

It's been awhile since I've posted and a lot has happened since then.  Jake and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary, Peder turned 4 and had his first preschool friends birthday party, and Halloween has come and gone.  I'm going to try to post a bunch of posts in the next couple of days with some of the high points of these events.

We'll start off with Peder's birthday and party.  We had his party at Pump It Up again this year and invited his preschool class.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and when I asked one of his friends if she had fun, she told me, "Yeah!  IT WAS AWESOME!"

This is what our backyard looked like on Peder's birthday.  Who expects snow that sticks on October 12th?  Our camper was still up and all our outdoor stuff was still out.

Peder opening his favorite present (from Emmy) on his birthday.  He got Woody, Buzz Lightyear and RC from Emmy, a craft box from Emmy and an art set from Jake and me.

Cupcakes on his actual birthday.

Daddy and Emmy going down the slide.

Grandpa Warren and Mari after going down the slide.  Grandpa didn't break his toe this year.

Grandma Cindi coming out of the obstacle course.  I love that I got this picture!  :)

Peder's cousin Jenna and Mari coming out of the obstacle course.

Grandpa Warren, Peder's cousin Marissa and Peder bouncing in the basketball court.  Grandpa and Grandma were busy making them FLY in there.  Peder and Marissa were pretty much inseparable the entire party.

Marissa, Peder and one of Peder's classmates holding hands and waiting to go into the party room for cake.

The cupcakes Jake made to make sure we had enough cake for everyone.

The fancy decorated cake that Jake made.  It was a hit!

Peder blowing out his candles.

Vacation Day 5 - August 26, 2009

The kids were starting to have a difficult time from lack of sleep, so we decided to head out to Badlands National Park to give them a chance to sleep.

*We were singing and dancing to "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz to stop the girls from screaming.

*Mari laughed at me when I messed up the words.

*After telling Peder we were going to the Badlands he said, "I don't want to go to the Trouble lands."

*Peder was doing typical silly kid behavior on the dirt roads.  "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" for the bumpy road.

*"Ah BABY!  BAAAAAAAA!" when the girls saw the bison.

The following pictures were taken at Prairie Dog Town at Badlands National Park.  We did not see an prairie dogs there, but we saw over a hundred bison either scratching on posts or waiting for their turn.  I loved this baby.

Some of the bigger guys stood right over the posts and scratched their bellies on them.  It was pretty funny.

Me being artsy, trying to give a perspective as to how close the bison were to our van.

Gorgeous.

Everyone at all Wall Drug, with Jake's new girlfriend.  :)

Peder's cowboy buddy.  Crack me up.

*Emmy was terrified of the T-Rex when it was "looking for food."

*The kids got new little signs for their bedrooms to distract them while I was picking out a new necklace.

*The local radio station in Rapid City had a fun songs on the radio.  Something like "Whatever Happened To? Wednesday."  Funny songs like "Bust A Move" and "Neverending Story."  We were dancing like idiots and having fun.

*Emmy was a dancing machine.

*We got lost in Rapid City trying to find a main drag with a variety of restaurants.  Peder asked Jake, "Where are you going?"  Jake responded, "I don't know."  It was pretty hilarious.

*Mari heard a police siren and started imitating it.  The other 2 joined in and we had 3 police sirens in the car.

*We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Rapid City.  The girls complained the whole time and we packed our dinner up and brought it back to the campground.

*Peder got a bag of Skittles at the end of the day for being so good at dinner.

Ladies of Grace - Sept. 30, 2009

My friend Beth does a weekly blog carnival called Ladies of Grace.  Here is her description:
Today is the day we share where we have experienced grace, given grace, or even just noticed our hearts softened and warmed - or hardened and cold - due to an experience... This is an experiment in noticing where our hearts are opened or closed in our daily lives - and learning from those moments as we move forward in our day-to-day lives.
 
So go check it out and give it a try yourself.  You may just learn a little about yourself along the way too.
 
I've had a lot of experiences since I last wrote this, but my experience happened today.  I went to get my hair cut and colored this afternoon while Jake was working from home and the kids were napping.  At one point when she was just about to start dying my hair a friend of hers came in.  This friend talked non-stop, looked rough and would interrupt at every chance she would get.  Finally my stylist "A" very graciously stopped what she was doing, gave her a hug and said she had to go.  I was a bit annoyed by the whole situation, until "A" filled me in, that is.  Apparently "A" knew this woman when they were younger and were acquaintances/friends.  They lost touch over the years until recently when "A" discovered that she lived down the street from her boyfriend.  "A" has been going to see her at least once a week because the woman is having a very difficult time.  Apparently she has chemical dependency issues and has a VERY difficult lot in life.  "A" was hoping to just be a friend for her and give her someone to rely on in her life...even though they had never really had a serious connection before.  Talk about Grace....

Vacation Day 4 - Tuesday August 25th, 2009

Another hour and a half and I finally got another blog posted. FINALLY, Day 4!

This is how we found Emmy and Peder sleeping when we got inside from playing our game. We tried to move Peder so he wasn't laying on Emmy, but neither of them would have any of that and they moved back every time we tried to put him on his pillow.


*I saw 5 deer walking through the campground at 6a on my way to the bathroom.

We did a lot of things today. Starting with Bear Country USA. What a blast! We unbuckled the kids while we drove through (don't worry, we were going less then 5 mph the whole time) and they got to look out the windows and see all the animals.

*Mari would say for every animal, "Look the sheep!" And then she would yell "BAAAAAA!"

*Peder would say, "I wanna see more animals" within a minute of seeing one animal.
*Emmy would see all the animals and say, "Ahhhh, Baby!" Every single animal.

*Emmy blew a kiss to a sleeping Mountain Lion.

*Mari saying, "Daddy, what are you doing?" while peeking over his shoulder while he was driving through the park.

I think I'm SO funny. I may have been more excited then the kids at some points.

One of my favorite bears at the park.

The kids looking at a caterpillar. Jake tried to show Mari one earlier and she stepped on it. Oops.

Emmy practicing her senior picture poses.

One of the many baby bears playing around. They were so cute.

I find this picture hilarious. He wasn't crabby, but he sure looks it in this picture.

*While at Bear Country a couple told us that we have a beautiful family. I agree 100%.

Next we went to the Reptile Gardens. This is Jake and the kids watching the alligator show.

I love this picture. Look at that guy. He's smiling at you. :)

The kids petting a baby alligator. Very exciting and really cute.

Everyone looking at the fish in the pond.

Petting the HUGE turtles. I love these guys, they're my favorite.

Pretty butterfly on a flower at the Reptile Gardens.

Another pretty butterfly.

We went to the Roo Ranch and the kids got to pet several kangaroos.

This one was REALLY soft!

*Peder fed one of the animals at the Roo Ranch and later told us, "Feeding the big black animal was fun."

*Emmy was having me clean the dirt out of her mouth that she had been eating and when I was done asked me, "Is that better?" It made me laugh out loud.

*Mari would push Emmy and me on the hammock and would say, "Ready? GO!" Once she pushed us she would jump on.

*Every night I sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to Peder. On our last walk to the bathroom that night we stopped to look at the stars and he asked me to sing to the stars, so I did.