Art

Madison's art has become a little more refined, with shorter lines versus the toddler scribble and generally has a pretty good story. So, when she brought home these art pieces from school (they are called art pieces since she did them in art class) I was a bit curious of the story. Once heard, I knew it needed to be document.

She calls this one: Monster in the Hurricane

That is one crazy and disturbed monster.

This is story: I call it Bunny Turned Wolf

the parents were gone and the bunny rabbit came and hopped in the soup. it was burning him and then he didn't have anywhere to live. days and days he had to stay in the soup. he didn't like that so he had to live in a closet. he didn't like the closet and hopped away and was then lost in the woods. and then he didn't like the woods and ran away and became a wolf

the end

Several hours later she asked if I wanted to hear Part II

the letters were lost in the woods all by themselves and no one to take care of them because the wolves already ate them.

The Little Socialite

The weekend started out with a Friday night dinner at Ann Marie's. Saturday was ballet, Oak Forest fall festival, Emily's birthday bash at the Pink Polka dot followed by a gathering of friends at the family bar, the Petrol. Sunday was Greyson & Asher's birthday at Wonder Wild and the day concluded with dinner at the Schafer's where Jacob found his true love. To say the least, I am not for that many activities in a weekend, but Madison held up perfectly as any socialite would. There was a mild breakdown on Sunday night a she literally crawled into bed and clasped. For me personally, I couldn't wait for Monday.

Happy 4th Birthday Emily!

Happy 5th Birthday Greyson! Happy 2nd Birthday Asher!

Finally...the hold

It took Madison 10 weeks to finally get comfortable to hold Austin...and I think he liked it.

5 Fat Turkeys

Another Madison performance....

What do you say?

Halloween 2009

The one thing that I absolutely love about Halloween, besides my heart melting at our little ones going from door to door begging for candy, is miniature size candy. I am not sure why you can only get these (and candy corn) once a year, but am glad nevertheless. I knew that I would lose the battle of candy moderation this year when Madison opened a box of Nerds in the backseat on the way home from school and downed them in one gulp.

The annual potluck Halloween gathering started with the pumpkin decorating ritual.

(Courtney, Katleyn, Carl, Zane, Emily, Gwen, Madison)

I present their art. I might mention that Madison spent 2 hours decorating, but was then superseded by Gwen's 3 hour masterpiece. The girls decorated for so long that we kinda forgot that they were outside by themselves.

The trick-or-treat gang:

Dalmatian (Carl), Cat (Gwen), Witch (Emily), Ro-bot (Violet), Wonder Woman (Madison), Ladybug (Adele), Yoda (Sam), Superman (Austin), OSU Cheerleader (Eve)

Not a great picture, but the backstory for this scene is this:

The neighbor had balloons as yard decoration. A bunch of little ones decided they wanted balloons.

We all walked away with one.

This house is my favorite. Every year they leave the lights on and a bowl full of candy at the door. Not sure if it is the lazy way they do Halloween or if they are not at home, but either way, one little Dalmatian hooked it up.

Thanks friends for the good times and memories.

Fall Festival 2009

The fall festival at Durham Elementary School was filled with games, bouncy apparatuses (where we spent most of our time), face painting and friends. Here are some highlights.

When her friend Nia needed to take a break from bouncing, Wonder Woman was patience.

Here is a shameless plug of the most bad-to-the-bone cake I made for the cake walk. I call it "High Fructose Corn Syrup on Steroids."