Pumpkin Patch

We always plan a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and have a little fall fun. This year we went to a patch near Fargo as we were there visiting during the MEA break. The weather was near perfect and grandma was along so it was a great day!!
Pumpkin picking is starting to get a little bit harder as they have to find the right one. It has to have the perfect stem and stand up just right and have smooth flesh and on and on. This year Eli wanted a tall and skinny pumpkin. This is not the pumpkin he got:

Sadie searched and searched and searched (to the end of mom's patience) to find a perfect pumpkin. Her criteria for the perfect pumpkin: one she could carry. After what seemed like an hour of searching we finally spied a cart full of little pumpkins and that is exactly what she wanted.
The rest of the pumpkin patch had the usual fall fun stuff: plenty of opportunity for photo opps, haybale mazes, haybale lassoing, wagon rides, and barrels pulled by a lawn mower. Good times.

Happy 4th Birthday, Sadie!!!

Happy birthday to one of the happiest little girls in the world!

Brokenhearted

Our little kitty, Jewel, went missing on Friday. The kids and I were out of town. Dennis was here but was working and on-call so he wasnt' really around. She went out Friday morning and didn't come back home. We checked with neighbors, roamed the back woods, called every possible place someone could have possibly taken her if they found her and did lots of finger crossing hoping that she'd find her way home. Well, today I got a call from our neighbor across the street telling me that she found Jewel's body. The crazy thing is that it appeared that nothing was wrong with her. She didn't have any broken bones or blood or signs of rough play. We can only assume that she got into something that she wasn't supposed to get into. My neighbor, who I didn't really get to know before today, was such a sweet man. He cried with me and offered to get her ready for a burial. We're all so sad at our house and trying to answer all of those hard questions that kids ask and that parents pretend to know the answers to: where do you go when you die?, what's a soul? what happens to the body? why do we bury her? Is she with Trouble (my parent's cat who recently passed away) now? And then there are the lighter questions: can we get a dog now? and when can we get another cat?
It rained all day today. Hopefully, the weather will be drier tomorrow so we can say our final good-byes. Jewel was a great cat. I've never met a cat so gentle and cuddly and patient with the kids. We're really going to miss her.

It's a Niece!

Eli and Sadie have another cousin, but this one lives in Bemidji so we got to rush over and cuddle her. Welcome to the world Anissa Elizabeth!! Born on October 23 at 4:49pm. Weighing in at 7 pounds 14.5 ounces and is 19" long. She is a beautiful baby!! And I couldn't be happier for Talia, Darren and Reid.

School: An Update

Eli's K1 picture. He selected the outfit.

I can't believe that Eli has been in school for almost 2 months now. His life has changed so much. You all know how much I hemmed and hawed about sending Eli to K1 instead of Kindergarten, well, I can say now that it was the best decision ever. He has matured so much and he is taking risks in ways that he never has before. He has found some independence and he likes it. And the good thing is that he can make all of these emotional milestones without having to worry about academics. Next year, he's going to rock kindergarten because emotionally and socially he'll be ready.

So, here's some of his huge HUGE milestones. First, he told me that he wanted to ride the bus. We arranged it so I drop Eli off at school and that he would ride the bus home (with Zoe whom I watch until her mom gets her after work). Second, he decided that he was too big to have his mom walk him to his classroom. I drop him off in front of the school and he walks to his classroom by himself! He has also decided that he can go to the restroom in public by himself. (I really monitor this though, because I still don't like him going into the men's bathroom without Dennis. Way too many weirdos.) I could go on and on and on. Truly, he's like a different kid. Not that all of the changes have been good. He has had lots of breakdowns at home. The whining is pretty amazing. Tattling and saying "I'm not going to be your friend" are all new. So, there have been ups and downs but mostly ups. And luckily, none of the downs have been at school, only at home in the safety of his mom's watch! I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store.

A Hike in the Woods

Sunday was a beautiful day for a hike. In fact, this whole week is going to be in the upper 60s. This, my friends, is my favorite time of year. Oh how I love a good Indian Summer.

We've just started getting a little bit into geocaching. It's a good family event--mom and dad love the hike in the woods, Eli and Sadie like the mission and holding the gps... Here was our find!

It wasn't even cold out, but I love my hat.

Artsy Fartsy

Here are some more artsy things that the kids have been up to.
Eli took this picture earlier this summer and I forgot to put it on. Doesn't it look spectacular? I love how the cars are all lined up in the light.
Eli is going through a landscape phase. This is" pyramids in the moonlight". Right before this he painted a desert scene with saguaro's that was also awesome and had cool purple birds, but he gave it to Zoe and I didn't get a picture of it.
This isn't the best shot, but Sadie and I did this little art project the other day. I thought it turned out so cool I framed it and put it up in the kids' art center.

Fun With Whipped Cream

The Family Pictures That Didn't Happen

I can't believe I'm posting this picture as everyones eyes are closed, but it's the only picture I got and it's actually a kind of funny story. We went to a fundraiser for a local pre-school at Buena Vista Ski Area. There is a dinner and horse rides. The best part is that you get to walk up the hill and check out all the fall colors. We brought our own picnic since it was a gloriously bright and warm day (and I didn't know that they were serving dinner). There were lots and lots of people coming up the hill to check out the view. We ran into a family that we know and she volunteered to take some pictures of us. And she "took" a lot. She had us move around, and she "took" pictures from all sorts of angles. Well, tonight I was downloading pictures for this post, and wouldn't you know that there weren't any pictures on the camera except this one. This has happened to us before (on vacation in Burlington, VT), I'm going to blame Nikon. I guess it's not a fool-proof camera. Anyways, I'll try to get some more pictures of fall since it's almost over. Our trees are dropping leaves like crazy. We're past the orange, red, yellow, and green phase of fall and have moved into the "shades of brown" time of fall. The leaves do sound spectacular under our feet. And the mushrooms! Oh, you should see the mushrooms. They are so awesome right now and they look so darn tasty. I'm working on identifying them, but so far all of the possibilities are telling me not to ingest!

Sadie At School

Here are some highlights of Sadie's first three days of school. She missed one day because of her ear infection, but she is now feeling just fine. This year there are three boys. I think that makes for a fun gang.
From the back, left to right: Veritas, Luis, Leanna, Hawken, Aaron, Sadie, Scout Elizabeth, Elena

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but every Tuesday is soup day. They all participate in contributing a vegetable to the soup and they all help prepare to make the soup.
I love this picture of the kids shaking. I'm guessing they each have shaker eggs and they're listening to music.

Photos the Kids Take, Part 2

Here are some pictures that Sadie took. Sadie takes different pictures than Eli. She tends to take a series of pictures and usually she takes pictures of people instead of things. Her hand is still a bit shaky, but she's getting better at centering the photos. It seems that I am her favorite subject. She's always demanding that I stop and say cheese.
Here is her latest series: Mom in the kitchen.

A Date

I've been having mommy/daughter dates with Sadie for two years now, every time Eli has school. Well, for the first time ever Eli and I got to have some alone time together. With Eli having school every-other day and Sadie having school Tuesdays and Thursdays, that means that every-other week I'll get to have some time with Eli. When Sadie had school on Tuesday, Eli had me all to himself. When I gave him the list of possibilities, he chose to go home and do crafts. Apparently he thinks that that's what you do when you have alone time with mom considering all of the little crafts projects that Sadie and I do during the week. Eli received one of these car kits for his birthday, so we painted and assembled it. And Voila! an old-fashioned limo. and some very special time for both of us!Thursday, Eli was supposed to have his second date with me. Well, Sadie was up all Wednesday night with an earache. So instead of going to school, we went to the walk-in clinic, the pharmacy and took a long nap.

Sadie's First Day of School

Yes, Sadie did go to school this summer, but this is different. This is school without Eli, which means that Sadie is a big girl and can now go to school by herself. She's been ready for this forever now, it seems. Sadie is my independent child. She must do everything by herself. She likes to choose her own clothes (even if they don't match), put on her own shoes (even if they're on the wrong feet), button her coat (even if the buttons are crooked), comb her own hair (even if the back of her head gets missed), buckle her carseat (even if it seems to take forever), and a thousand other things that often make getting out of the door on time a little bit challenging. But, alas, it's all signs that I indeed have another pre-schooler. Oh how I love her independent spirit.

Photos the Kids take Part 1

Every time I download photos there are at least 50 or so that the kids took. It's interesting to see what they deem as photo worthy. Eli is getting really good at centering his photos at least and making sure his fingers are out of the way. He's figuring out that he needs to turn the flash on when the pictures are blurry and he deletes the ones that aren't good.

I mentioned that Eli took some photos on our train trip in Duluth. While the other side of the train had wonderful views of Lake Superior, we sat on the side that had much more interesting things like cars and road construction and apartment buildings!

Eli laughs every time he sees this photo:
He thought is was funny that there was a lady taking pictures of the train from her apartment. Self portrait #1: Oops, zoom is on...Self portrait #2: Serious.
Self portrait #3: Cheese!

Eli's First Day at K1

I know that I mentioned in the summer that we were going to send Eli to Kindergarten at Schoolcraft. Well, we changed our minds and decided instead to send Eli to what's called K1, it is Bemidji Public Schools Pre-k program. K1 is a program for children who are old enough to go to school, but whose parents don't think that they are ready for whatever reason. We decided that since Eli has a late August birthday, that it would be good for him to wait another year before kindergarten. K1 is housed at J.W. Smith Elementary School, but students are in a class according to their "homeschool" (ours is Northern). Eli will go to school all day every-other day.
I must admit that I was a bit more anxious than Eli was. He did complain about not feeling well this morning and said that he "has butterflies". He refused to wear any of his new school clothes, but that is minor considering that he went to school like a champ. He proudly entered the classroom, found his cubby and put his things away. He posed for pictures and said good-bye all with a smile on his face. When I picked him up after school, he was still smiling and he said that he really liked school and that he had a good day. He likes gym and Mr. W., the gym teacher. He said he danced in art class, but was kind of shy. He didn't eat his broccoli at lunch, but drank all of his chocolate milk. And apparently there are two naughty boys in his class who don't know how to follow the rules. He can't remember if he slept at nap time and they had graham crackers for snack.


Did I mention that his BFF, Zoe, is in his class? Here they are posing with their teacher, Mrs. Vaughn.

Water Weekend

We went camping along the North Shore of Lake Superior north of Duluth, MN for one last hurrah before school starts and fall sets in. We arrived at Gooseberry Falls State Park on Thursday night and set up our tent in the rain. It continued to rain all Friday, but it mostly drizzled. We were lucky to get a camp site as the campground was full and Dennis and I are notorious for not making reservations, but somehow there were 2 sites available and we got one (after waiting an hour just to get our name on a waiting list and then having to come back later to claim our spot...). We spent our rainy Friday doing some short hikes and going to Grand Marais. We visited one of our favorite author's studio and bought a print for the kids' room. We ate pie and admired the grandness of Lake Superior from a distance as it was cold and windy. On Saturday and Sunday, the sun was shining and we had plenty of time for hiking, agate finding, and s'more eating.
I can't even remember the names of all of the waterfalls we saw, but this one is Gooseberry:

Being silly on a hike. I must say that this weekend is the first time that the kids hiked all of the trails like champs. Barely a complaint out of them and they loved the waterfalls and throwing rocks. It is also the greatest distance that they've ever hiked. We might just make hikers out of them yet. It made the trip so much more enjoyable.

I think this is Cascade River Falls:

They light up the Split Rock Lighthouse once a month. We were there for it. It was pretty uninspiring up-close. It looked so much cooler from a distance.
I think this is Cascade Falls at Tettegouche:

We finished our trip by riding the rails on a train tour. I'll have to post pictures of what Eli took pictures of. It's pretty funny.

So long summer, see you next year!

Nose News

Earlier this week, Eli fell on his new Razor Scooter and hit his nose on the handle bars. He had a couple of scratches on his nose and a pretty bad bloody nose. He wouldn't really let me touch it to stop the blood, but it eventually stopped on it's own. He took a nap following the accident and he was snoring like an old man, which he never does. Skip to this weekend, I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but his nose from the bridge of his nose to in-between his eyes is black and blue and he still won't let us touch it. We think he broke it. So, this kid who was pretty much guaranteed to have a big nose thanks to genetics, just got a bigger one thanks to being a kid! He's still cute anyways.

Echo

At Eli's 5 yr. appt. his dr. detected a heart murmur. Now, Eli has never had a heart murmur before so she wasn't too concerned she just wanted to have it checked out "just in case". So, we scheduled an Echo, which is basically an ultra-sound of his heart. He went in, laid down, and laid perfectly still so the tech. could check his heart. He's been talking about it non-stop and has been telling everyone he sees that he got to see his heart. Here is a picture he drew of the event: The circle with the heart is the computer screen. Eli is on the red table, the three red dots are the electrode stickers (or whatever you call them). Under the table are the stickers and the red jar on the green table is the jar of suckers!

The tests came back showing that his heart is perfectly healthy. He has no restrictions and we don't even need to go back in for a follow up.