whobody was spooked?

Halloween was a few weeks ago…and we had so much fun.

(We actually did.)

I will be honest. 

Halloween is my LEAST favorite 

holiday of the year. :) 

Probably because it is a busy time of year in our house AND because I tend to get a little stressed about making sure everyone has enough layers on and the right pieces to their costume and so on…. BUT, this year, it was much more enjoyable than normal. It may have something to do with the oldest 3 kids pretty much being able to manage their own costumes and stuff!

We had such a full and fun day on Halloween! The older 3 had school…so they wore their costumes to school and pretty much came home ready to rock and roll (ahem, I mean trick or treat).  We had a large snack/ early supper and I forced them into wearing more layers than they wanted to…and we headed out the door. 

It was COLD COLD COLD….and I wanted to get a picture of all 5 of them. 

Dirx wasn't extremely happy to be put outside in such cold and windy weather.

Yep…he only was not crying for about 20 seconds. :) Poor kiddo. Needless to say, I didn't make him trick or treat with us the whole night. 

He just joined us for our annual first stop: Grandma's house…and then he spent the rest of the evening inside of our cozy house with one of his favorite babysitters.

(I don't think he minded…since he is not the most tolerant baby ever…he would not have liked trick or treating in the cold and wind.) 

He couldn't even handle it for 2 pictures….

Here are the kids at grandma's house…she had a great costume this year.

 I love it that she dresses up. So much fun!

And now for the action shots…the kids had so much fun trick or treating.  

Cruz was always about a house behind, but the other 3 just had a blast! 

Nash had to be reminded about only taking one thing…but other than that they were great! He was pretty excited about getting all of this free candy!

And…the kids did a very good job of grabbing me a Twix whenever they could.

Oh Cruz...

Once it got dark, and we got cold, 
we went to the place we always "end" our night. 
"mindy and mindy's house".  

The older kids wanted to keep on going, but Cruz was done-zo. 

SO…they headed out with a few older kids that we trust…and hit a few more houses…and when Lola came back, she laid down on the floor and did this dramatic

"lay down on the floor because you are so exhausted from begging people for candy you won't even be allowed to eat all of anyway but it is just fun to be dramatic" 

She made sure to hold the pose long enough for me to get a good picture

…. it is tough to be a princess.  

Sometimes even the ice queen gets cold and tired.

A group picture. OH….so much fun.

Now, our night wasn't even OVER yet!

 We still had another halloween party to attend. 

The boosters put on a great party at the community center, and the kids were dying to go! So…after a little chill time at andy and mindy's…. we headed to the party.  

They had so much fun, they played games, ate popcorn, did crafts and watched a movie!

Oh…so cute!!! (They barely look tired!)

It really was our best Halloween ever. 

The kids are old enough to enjoy it themselves without me leading them through every step of the "fun". 

Now…the best part of Halloween is the day after for me…when I get to turn my calendar to 

NOVEMBER!!! 

That is when we can start to see the light at the end of the harvest tunnel! I think we are down to just a few more days…which is good because it already feels like winter!

whobody is finally five?

Let me tell you a little bit about my new favorite five year old!

Nash is a kid who can't wait to grow up! He loves to do big kid things with Keaton and Lola and is so excited to finally be FIVE YEARS OLD.

He is such a sweet, happy boy with a huge heart.

He is one of those kids who is "all or nothing".

Nash has a special relationships with each of his siblings.

*dirx and nash*

First of all…Dirx.

Nash is Dirx's biggest fan (and biggest threat).

He is IN LOVE with Dirx and is always in his face talking to him, singing to him, playing with him…and usually a little more wildly than Dirx can handle. I have to say the words "back away from his face" at least 5 times a day.  But, Nash is in Dirx's face in the name of LOVE.  

Nash grits his teeth and talks to "schnerkel" all of the time. 

(Yes, Schnerkel is one of Dirx's nicknames…and Nash is the one that gave it to him.)

He really does love and enjoy Dirx, and he is an excellent big brother to him.

*cruz and nash*

Cruz and Nash are best friends/worst enemies.

When Keaton and Lola are around, Nash sticks with them and fights with Cruzie…BUT when it is just the two of them, they play SOOOO good together. They love playing trucks and legos and pretend…they are always talking to each other about which "guy" they are…

"I'm the garbage truck guy" 

"I'm the tractor guy"

"Hey garbage truck guy, I've got some garbage over here for you!"

"okay, tractor guy…I'll be right there."

As you can imagine, it is hilarious.

They are always pretending that things are either boats or rocket ships too. 

Oh, the imaginations.

Since Nash's preschool doesn't start until noon most days, Cruz and Nash have the whole morning to play together. It has been great for both of them. They do tend to get into trouble…between the two of them there isn't a whole lot of "rule following"…but they do have a good time.

*lola and nash*

These 2 are actually BEST friends.

(and Keaton and Cruz are best friends…wonder how Dirx is going to fit in…)

They really are. It seems these 2 always pair up.

They play very nice together, usually getting into even MORE trouble then Cruz and Nash.

They love to climb trees together, draw together, and mostly, play pretend. 

They are always running around the yard pretending they are in some sort of crazy situation that only they could dream up.  

When these 2 are together, they are usually not following the rules. 

And if they aren't doing something extremely naughty, it is on the edge of naughty…

but not quite.

I blame it on them being the middle children.

Here…they both got some of those smelly markers…

and got their noses a little messy smelling them.

I think Lola and Nash will always be close.  They definitely have a special relationship.

*keaton and nash*

Nash looks up to Keaton SOO much and tries his best to be just like him.

Nash loves it when they dress alike…and does everything he can to impress his big brother.

Keaton and Nash like to play do active things together…usually playing either soccer or football, going for a walk in the field, riding bikes, or doing "workouts".

Nash and Keaton love to hang out…and I am sure as Nash gets better at catching and throwing, they will be playing catch non stop.  Keaton is so great at including Nash and teaching him.  He is always encouraging Nash to help him with chores, training him how to do them.  Nash also loves to help Keaton "cluck the chickens" and even helps him clean out the chicken coop. Keaton is helping Nash learn how to be a good worker…but Nash is a little bit easily distracted *usually distracted by a girl with long blonde hair who doesn't like to do chores….but at least Keaton tries.  

Keaton is a great role model for Nash.

A few things about Nash.

(just a few…I am trying to cram way too much into one post :) )

first of all…Nash loves his best friend Tate.

He wishes Tate was in his preschool class…but he loves him even though he doesn't get to see him as much as he wants to. 

Good thing Tate's parents are such good friends of ours….

…and because of Tate…Nash is a Hawkeye fan. 

He loves the hawks…and actually loves to cheer for any team that we aren't cheering for. 

Yes, he is one of "those" kids. 

Nash loves preschool…and loves writing and coloring.  

He cannot wait to go to school every day. 

He is a very social kid that really enjoys hanging out with his friends and his 2 awesome teachers.

 Nash has his own 'fashion'.

He likes to put these surprises into outfits…like wearing these halloween socks to a birthday party in August. 

He is cool like that.

He also loves to wear ties. 

Seriously. He dresses himself for church, and puts a tie on almost every time.  (I have learned that I need to lay out clothes with him the night before so they at least…kind of match.)

Nash had an excellent birthday. 

It started with our traditional birthday pancakes…

then we went to Sunday School and church…

Then we ended the day with a birthday party! 

Dad even quit picking corn to come to the party.  He had a blast! 

Nash loves being in the spotlight 

(and would have loved to have about 5 more parties…)

Finally, he got to celebrate his birthday at school on Monday! 

He had a great birthday and we love him SO much!!! 

Five is SUCH a fun age!

whobody has an attitude problem?

Whobody has an attitude problem?

I do. I throw a tantrum when things don't go as planned.

It is sad, but true.

(but that really isn't what this is about…)

So…this was a few weeks ago (big surprise, huh?).  BUT, the weekend before Jason started "harvest" we made a family trip to the pumpkin patch in Decorah. It is awesome…if you haven't been there, you should go. We went last year without Jason…but this year I wanted to make sure he got to go too.

It was a Saturday morning..there was a high chance of rain here…but Decorah only had a 3% chance for the morning.  

So, we loaded the kids up for a surprise family fun day… and took off.  The kids kind of hate this…in all honesty.  

They say they just want to know where they are going…I say…too bad. Figure it out!  And, they actually do! Keaton gets out a map and follows along with which turns we take, and which towns we are heading towards and then they make guesses based on that.  We DO tell them when they guess correctly.  Nash's guess is usually Disney World.  

I love to surprise them.  But, as I said, they hate it, I shouldn't say they all hate it, just Lola.  She is just a loud complainer so it makes me feel like they all do. :)  For the record, she would complain if she knew where we were going too. We are working on this little girl though…. 

side note: if you offer her once scoop of ice cream, she will ask if she can have 2 with sprinkles on top…and a brownie. 

Always trying to get more.  If we would have told her at the house that we were going to the pumpkin patch…she would have said "can we go to Jumpin' Janes instead?" which would have just irritated me… SO, we keep it a surprise. 

(Aha…it seems I am in a rambling mood today…)

Anyway…as I said, 3% chance of rain. Well, we ALMOST got to Decorah, and we could see dark clouds…of course…rain chance was quickly changed to 80%.  We went to Pinter's anyway…mostly because we were already there. 

We got out of the car, and it was freezing, and windy, and damp, and we were all underdressed.  We unloaded everyone and headed in.  There were only 3 other people there (other than the workers).  We started in on the "fun"…but, please note…it wasn't fun. 

 A character flaw of MINE is that if things aren't going as planned, I get frustrated, disappointed and grumpy.  

Then, I somehow manage to completely ruin an event.  

Nice, huh? I swear, sometimes I feel like a toddler throwing a fit.  That was me that morning. I had pictured a wonderful last "family day" together before harvest began…and here we were shivering in the rain, trying to enjoy things without getting completely soaked. 

And then, it started to rain.

Keep in mind folks…the plan was to spend the morning at the pumpkin patch, and then go eat lunch, and drive home during the beginning of nap time.  

Not. so. much.

It started raining enough that the pumpkin patch couldn't be enjoyed. 

 It didn't help that my attitude STUNK either.

So…we headed into the snack area to regroup.  We all had a cookie, and some hot chocolate (and coffee)…and watched it rain.  Jason decided we needed a restart… so we hopped into our car, and slowly drove back into town to go out for lunch 

(right after we finished our cookies and huge drinks).  

Mabes (my fav.) opened at 11…so we drove around until then and went to Mabe's for an early lunch. 

Nothing helps my bad attitude like a 

Pepsi and some pizza.

For real.

Oh, and sunshine.  

We finished lunch quickly, and by the time we got back to Pinter's, the sun was out, and things were drying off. Yay! Our trip wasn't wasted. I had a much better attitude…and we restarted our family fun day. 

(I seriously hate it about myself that I flip out when things don't go as planned…augh.)

SOOOO….here are the pictures.

It really was a WONDERFUL afternoon.  Instead of getting home at 1…we got home at 4….but other than that, it really worked out great.  Dirx was a trooper in the stroller…. 

The kids love the tires.  

Wow…a decent picture of all 5 of them. They are so cute!

Cruz tries to break the world record for how fast someone can go through 

$0.25 of goat feed.

They spent SO much time in these "Roly Poly" things.  

Here are some pictures of the races that they did. 

Nash pushing Lola and Cruz pushing Keaton. 

This is usually how they all pair up.  

Keaton and Cruz always stick together, and Lola and Nash. 

It will be interesting to see what happens when Dirx is thrown into the mix.

Keaton really is SUCH a great big brother to Cruzie.  He raced him here…

…and let him win.  My heart melts thinking about it….

Below is a picture of Dirx in the carrier…riding on me. 

Story…Jason hung out with Cruz because the older 3 wanted to go in the corn maze SOOOOOOO bad. Seriously. So, I thought…how bad could it be? 

Bad.

Really Bad.

Make no mistake, I am sure that a corn maze can be fun… probably.

As I said, it rained in the morning. 

We were all wearing flip flops.

The maze was mud. mud. mud.

So much mud, that we could barely lift our feet up to take steps. 

We would stop every so often and use a corn stalk to try to scrape the 70 pounds of mud off of our shoes.

Did I mention I was 'wearing' a 30 pound sleeping baby.

It had also warmed up, and there was no breeze in the maze.

And….Dirx puts off a lot of heat.

My grumpies came back for a bit…but I held them in.

The maze was huge. I mean, huge.

I don't even know if it would have worked well if it wasn't muddy.

Maybe just me and Keaton. Maybe.

It was huge.

We were in there wandering around for almost an hour.

The kids finally decided they were "done"

SO…I did as any good mom would do…I figured out which direction we needed to head to get OUT…and then I held the corn stalks apart…and we fought our way out.

Not through the exit. 

Just through the edge of the field.

Yes. I was THAT person. 

(With a baby carrier on, 

and a 4, 7, and 9 year old following me.)

I was NEVER so happy to see grass.  My legs seriously hurt from walking in the mud. I truly should have taken a picture of our feet.  Literally… there was probably at least 3 inches of mud caked on the bottom of each of our flip flops. 

I got a little grumpy…but hopefully the kids remember the mom that was willing to take them through the corn maze…not the mom who got ticked because it wasn't all what she imagined.

Hopefully.  

Phew…I am anxious just WRITING about it.

Luckily Dirx slept the whole time…and then woke up happy…Cutie Patootie.

So, we chilled in the corn the rest of the time… I had to share this picture, because Cruzie makes THIS face all. of. the. time. 

And…Mr. Blue Eyes.

There were some older kids burying themselves…

so Cruz decided to give it a try. He is hilarious.

He got corn EVERYWHERE.

Then he kept posing saying 

"mommy the wommy….take a picture of me."

(yes, his nickname for me is Mommy the Wommy. And he is Cruzie the Woozie.  Nash is Nashie the Washie.  Daddy is Daddy the Waddy. Keaton is Keato.  And Lola…well, she is just Lola. In case you were wondering.)

I think here he actually envisioned that he was completely submerged in the corn…

like a pool. 

Mr. Proud.

Lola joined us for a while..and filled her shirt with corn. 

Nice.

All in all, our day was great. 

I wish I hadn't ruined the morning with my bad attitude.

Jason is going to read this and just laugh, 

because I do it all of the time. I am trying to stop.

  I can't expect things to always go as planned…especially with 5 kiddos.  

We live and learn.  

And…of all the things I learned that day, 

the most important is this:

Never go into a muddy corn maze…in flip flops.

And…check your attitude Mommy the Wommy.