More Halloween Advenutures

Thursday night we attended Night Eyes at the zoo in Des Moines. Marie got to trick-or-treat around the zoo in the dark as we followed a path lit by all kinds of spooky lighting and figurines. The best part of the night was being right by the lion as he roared at all the trick-or-treaters walking by.
We continued celebrating Halloween this weekend with a trip to NW Iowa to visit our families. First we stopped in Spencer to spend some time with Grammy and Papa. Marie loved helping Grammy make pumpkin cookies for Daddy and Papa while they were gone hunting. It was a welcomed warm treat for them when they returned.
On Saturday night we headed to Granville to attend the annual Halloween Party. Chris & Mindy were in charge this year so we were there to help run the games and contests. Marie absolutely loved running around with her cousins Abby, Alissa, Whitnee, and Brandon. They were all helping her do the fish pond and bean bag toss games over and over again.
Marie even won a prize for her costume!
In other news....poor Charlie had a rough weekend. While enjoying his first weekend of hunting this fall, he injured his ACL in his back right leg which will require surgery. This will be his 3rd surgery: 2 on his back left leg and now this one on his back right leg. He is in quite a bit of pain right now so he in on meds and we will be consulting with a specialist this week to find out which type of surgery is necessary and how soon...keep our bud in your thoughts this week please.

Pumpkin Time

This is one of those weeks where we can barely get through one day's activities before we are thinking of the next day's to-do list.

Andy started an ER rotation with alternating weeks of working days and nights, I am prepping for conferences and holding several meetings, Marie has decided to amp up her independence and toddler-isms this week with some tense mornings, the daycare had to unexpectedly close for the day due to a gas leak of some sort, and Charlie is soooo ready to go hunting on Saturday he can hardly sit still anymore.

That being said, we did find some time to enjoy our pumpkins.


Marie insisted on putting on her cat costume to do this. Like I said, she is VERY into expressing her independence this week. She will get to wear her costume 2 more times, too. On Thursday night we are planning to attend Des Moines Blank Park Zoo for Night Eyes. She can hardly wait. Plus, we are going back to NW IA this weekend to visit family so she will get to wear her cat costume again at the Granville Halloween party with Alissa & Abby.

A small discovery

A few nights ago I was getting Marie's bed put together when I noticed something lying under the covers. I picked it up and realized it was one of her ear tubes!

We had been expecting them to fall out for quite some time but never found one...figuring we had vacuumed it up or something.

I couldn't believe how small it was. Something that small provided such great relief to her for a long time.

We just had an appointment with her ENT in September and he said that her ears were looking great and we had no reason to expect another tube surgery in the future - great news!

Grandma Nel + Sadie

This past weekend we were lucky to have Grandma Nel and Sadie come down from Sheldon to spend the weekend with us. Andy was in Philli taking a test so it was a girls weekend (plus Charlie).

We got to enjoy beautiful weather while playing at the park, shopping, and attending the Children's Garden Annual Halloween Party. Marie really enjoyed it this year with her friends. Her favorite part was dancing to the DJ in the dark with the smoke machine.

Andy got back on Saturday night just in time to play with play-doh. This was also the final weekend for my volleyball team. We won our first game, but lost the next two. It was a good season, a lot of fun, but I am glad it is over with now and I will get to have some nights free again.
Thanks for coming to visit Grandma Nel and Sadie!

Marie says...volume 3

Lately Marie has been saying some very cute and funny quotes.
Here are just a few we can remember:

"My mommy has a baby brother in her tummy" --Marie said this to her daycare teacher...let me just say VERY clearly --NOT TRUE

***

"Oh no Finn, I broke my eyebrow!" --Said to her friend at school when she hit her head on the door.

***

"Oh, what's her name again is sad." --Said to Andy while watching Jasmine cry on "Aladdin."

***

Mom: "How was your day?"
Marie: "I got sand in my eye."
Mom:"How did that happen."
Marie:"I said, No (insert naught daycare boy name here), I don't like that when you throw sand in my eyes ok? We need to be nice to our friends."
Mom:"That was good you used your words with him."
Marie: "Yeah, then he pushed me down. Silly (insert naught boy name again)" --Said in the car on the way home from daycare.

***

"Ahh, there's an alligator in my coffee!" --Said while she was in the bathtub 'making coffee' out of her bath water.

***

"Because my butt was too far away." -- Answering the question, "why didn't you put your pee in the potty chair?"

***

"Because I just telled you." -- Answering the question, "why don't you want to go to bed."

***

"Aww Charzo Barzo, does your tummy hurt? Here, let me kiss it." --In response to seeing an unpleasant sight on the carpet when we got home from school...and yes, she kissed his tummy.

Marie: "Mommy I went potty in the toilet! Are you happy Mommy?"
Mom: "Yes I am so happy, Marie."
Kristina (Teacher at Daycare): "She's so cute."
Marie: "Mom, am I so cute?"

***

"Now listen, it's time to take a deep breath and calm your body, and go to sleep now." --Said while putting her stuffed panda to bed. Obviously she is listening when we tell her the same thing at night!

***

"Mom can you open the door for me? Thanks, you are so wonderful."

***

Marie: "Oh, I hear a big giant airplane in the sky. Wait, is it big or little?"
Mom: "Big."
Marie: "Right, big! Good job, Mom." --Said this morning when putting her into the car.

***

Marie:"Something hurts."
Dad:"what hurts?"
Marie:"My armpit, neck, and my knee." --Getting out of bed for the 4th time at night and requesting special medicine on them...vaseline works wonders on this procrastinating girl at bedtime!

Fabulous Fall Weekend

We are finally out of the crazy fall heat wave of 80 degrees and into my favorite time of year - 60 degrees and below.

Which meant that this was the perfect weekend to go to the pumpkin patch/petting zoo/crazy slide/jumping pillow/apple orchard/corn pool/ I could go on and on...

Marie has been asking to go to the "punkin patch" all week so she was thrilled when Saturday rolled around. We started out with the animals. Marie has no fear with animals and loved feeding the many goats, ducks, chickens, pigs, and turkeys.

She also found the nursery rhyme area with the 3 Little Pig homes. She decided to be a little piggy, too.

We tried the corn pool again, but she decided it still wasn't for her. So, we settled on a cider slush and caramel apple instead.

Next we went on the jumping pillow. I didn't know how she would react to the craziness, but she loved it. We were laughing so hard we could hardly stand up. After 3 turns on the pillow, our legs were tired...but not too tired to climb the hill to the super slide. We all went down the slide together with our arms in the air. A few high schoolers backed away because they were nervous, but not Marie!

What a great evening at the patch!

High Achiever

Wouldn't you know that after that lengthy and dramatic potty post a few days ago, our Marie has decided that this potty thing is not so bad after all. She is always out to prove us wrong...
She has only had 1 accident all week!

Plus, she is proving to be adventurous...putting her #2 in the potty, too.

(Maybe more information that any of you wanted to know, but I definitely thought it was worth sharing. That is a HUGE accomplishment!)

Her teachers are so proud of her at school, and we are so proud of her at home. She is even stopping while playing and telling us she has to use the potty.

I guess that "potty treat bag" was the way to go!