Happy Halloween! (In January?)

Late as usual...but, here are our Halloween highlights!

I LOVE this picture...it is SO hard to get a good picture of both of them!

The kids at their pre-school's trunk or treat...the first snowfall made for a cold Halloween.

My little Tinkerbell

Dawson as Bumblebee

And, their official Halloween portrait! How perfect was the fall scenery across the street from our house!

Granna, Gramps & Hettie's first visit

It is January now, and Granna, Gramps & Hettie have already visited for a SECOND time, but I am just now blogging about their first visit. I hope to get caught up on the blog in the next few days...how many times have I said that! But, here are a few highlights from thier first trip up in October.

Playing at the park one cold fall day

swing!

carving pumpkins...Dawson LOVES to do this! Luckily, this year there was no gagging while taking the 'guts' out!

Hettie, Dawson & Granna with the finished pumpkin

Kissin' on my boy!

Andi's Birthday Party

Well, I am slowly catching up on my blogging...back on Oct 3rd, we celebrated baby girl's 3rd birthday. This is a picture of her 3 petite cakes. Everytime I asked her what type of cake she wanted for her birthday, she told me either Tinkerbell, Aerial or Dora...the problem was that she constantly changed her mind! So, when I saw these petite cakes that serve 2-4 people each, I knew I should get her all three, since she turned three...PERFECT! She was totally amazed by the cakes & adamantly refused to share them with anyone! So, we just waited until she went down for her nap that day before we all dug into them.

The munchkins snatching nibbles of iciing before we opened presents.

She was totally AMAZED by her singing Aerial card.

Her new Barbie mask & new 'magna glass'

Dawson with his new Transformer toy (we got him a present too so he would not get too jealous), and Andi with her new pink binoculars. She LOVES binoculars, magnifying glasses & telescopes!

Blowing out the candles!

And...the highlight of the evening...giving Andi her new Dora dvd where Andi was the star of the show! The best part was actually Dawson's reaction...he laughed so hard at Andi's cartoon character he was crying!

Watching herself on the Dora video!

I will try to post some cute videos soon...my video camera is not the easiest camera to upload videos from. Hopefully Santa will bring me a new one...and hopefully he will bring it BEFORE Christmas so I can use it ON Christmas. Hint Hint, Babe.

Sibling Love

Since Dawson started talking, at 10 months old, I don't think a single day has gone by without him saying something that causes me to crack up laughing OR causes me to just stare at him in amazement. Today was no exception. I constantly have to remind myself...he is ONLY FOUR!

The kiddos were playing wonderfully together this morning which always puts me in a great mood, because I always get soooo much more done when I am not constantly having to referee & kiss sibling-induced boo-boos. For about four hours straight, and that is a HUGE record for them, they played together without my interference at all. Well, I heard Dawson tell Andi to hold on for a minute because he needed to go to the bathroom. While he was gone, I heard Andi talking to one of her stuffed animals & I heard her use the word 'stupid.' I was in the laundry room ironing, and I raised my voice at her a little bit & told her "NO Ma'm....We DO NOT say that word. It is NOT a nice word." She immediately fell apart & began crying hysterically...she is my drama queen. Meanwhile, Dawson comes back into the room to find Andi in this state.

Dawson: "Baby girl...why are you crying? What happened?"

(Andi was too hysterical to answer, so Dawson stomped angrily over to me.)

"WHY is Andi crying????"

Me: "Dawson, it isn't a big deal. She just got in a little bit of trouble for saying 'stupid.'

Dawson: "Did you YELL at her?"

Me: "Bud, I just yelled at her a little bit..." (He interupted me & rolled his eyes.)

Dawson: "Hmph. I thought so."

(Then he walked back to Andi, sat beside her on the couch & put his arm around her.)

"It's okay Baby girl."

About 10 minutes later, they were chasing each other around the living room & I saw him shove her in the back & knock her down. She of course, began wailing. Over the screams I look at Dawson disapprovingly...

Me: "Dawson, 10 minutes ago, you were mad at me because I had yelled at her...but you just shoved her down!"

(He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly)

Dawson: "That's the way it goes Mom."

Mississippi Headwaters

The part I was the most excited about when my Mom stayed an extra week, was having 'girl time' when the kiddos were in Pre-School on Tuesday & Thursday. On Tuesday of that week, we had a wonderful adventure. We drove about an hour south to Itasca State Park to see where the Mississippi River starts. Itasca State Park is HUGE, and unbelieveably beautiful. We walked across the Mississippi River headwaters, hiked along a beautiful hiking trail, and drove the 17 mile scenic road around the entire park. (Stopping to take many pics along the way of course.)



Me & my Mama

The sign at the headwaters

My Mom crossing the Mississippi headwaters: Lake Itasca is to the left of the rocks, Mississippi river to the right.

Me sitting on a log over the Mississippi right where it starts. Just to be silly, I spat into the water. One of the other signs by the information center said that a drop of water will take approximately 90 days to reach the Gulf of Mexico. So, if all goes well, my little drop of spit will reach the Gulf around New Years!

Another pic of what the Mississippi River looks like where it begins...so small!

Here is a picture of the trail we hiked.

One of the views from the tour around the State Park: Mary Lake.

Another beautiful view around the park.

Then, after we left Itasca State Park, we headed to LaPorte, Minnesota to treat ourselves to a wine tasting at Forestedge Winery. My Mom, from LaPorte, Texas, had to take a picture with the LaPorte, MN sign!

And, a shot of the cute little winery.

What a wonderful day! It doesn't get much better than having 'girl time' with your Mama!

My Mom & Mark visit

The last weekend of September, my Mom & Mark came up for a visit. Before they came up, I convinced my Mom to stay longer than just her original weekend...so Mark flew back home after the weekend ended, and I got to have my Mom here for an additional week! I will post about her extended week with us next, but first here are some highlights while Mark was here.

Mark, Dawson & Mamaw posing in front of the Bemidji sign.
Mark & Mamaw enjoying the view at Buena Vista.

Then, we did something TOTALLY crazy while they were here...we rented a boat. Now, the reason why that was crazy was because the weather we less than favorable for taking a boat out. It was crazy windy which made the water crazy choppy & the sky was about to 'fall out' any second because a cold front was pushing through! Which also meant it was crazy cold. But, we had already paid for the boat for the day & thought 'What the heck? It will be an adventure."

This was Dawson's idea of fishing...just catch them out of the bait box! He just dove right in there...and everytime he stood up, water would just POUR out of his sleeves!


Andi & Mamaw on the pontoon boat.

Mark & Dawson

Andi helping Dada fish...the only thing we caught was a little seaweed!

And, here is a cool shot I got while on the water of the storm blowing in. The sunrays were streaking through the clouds & it looked like they were spotlights on the trees...it was a super cool sight. This was about when we realized we had pushed our luck to the limit & that is was time to head back before we got severly rained on. We raced back to the pier...we only got rained on the last minute before we docked & then immediately after we got off the boat it started hailing! We took cover in a storage shed down by the lake until Derek could bring the car around to come get us. Normally, these types of crazy situations, when the kiddos are with me, make me very stressed out. Not this time...I could not stop laughing! It was super hysterical to me for some reason...we were drenched & freezing & only got 2 hours worth of our daily boat rental...but I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure!

My Dad & Ann visit Minnesota

So, I am REALLY behind on my blogging...mainly because I am wanting to blog about the visitors we have had over the last two months, but have not found the time to do so because...there have been visitors at my house! But, we have had lots of fun with all of our guests. For this post, I am taking you guys back to mid September when my Dad & Ann came to visit. Here are some photo highlights:

Dad & Ann with the sunset at Turtle Lake

Kiddos snuggling with Papaw after putting flowers all in his hair

Here are the boys catching frogs on their hike. This was hike attempt #2...the day before, they left the house for hike attempt #1 & within 5 minutes I heard Dawson screaming outside. Apparently, a bee had flown up his shirt & stung him 3 times! (What is it with this poor kid & things that sting you? Jelly fish & mosquitos love him too!) Anyways, he was too scared of bees to try the hike again on the first day. Papaw convinced him to try the hike again the following day. Here was the funny part: Dawson only agreed to go the second time, after he had Papaw promise to BE VERY QUIET so that the bees would not hear them coming. Then, when they left, Dawson talked my Dad's ear off...in fact, I sat out on my porch after they left & I could hear Dawson just chatting away in the distance long after I couldn't see them anymore! So much for being quiet. Maybe all the chatting scared the bees away because the second hike was a success & the bees kept their distance.

Andi going for a walk with Papaw & Ann

The weekend they were visiting, was the weekend they were running the 'fall colors wagon tours.' Unfortunately, the fall colors were not really out yet because of the crazy weather. Usually the fall colors peak here around the 3rd week of September, but because their summer weather hit so late this year, the colors did not peak until mid-October. But, we all had a good time enjoying the ride & scenery anyway.

Ann & kiddos on our wagon before we took off.

And, how sweet is this? They were enjoying the sunset the night before they left to go home.

Our FIRST snow!

I have several other posts that I need to blog about, that occured chronilogically BEFORE this one, but I am just too excited about our little bit of snow over the last couple of days. So, here are some cute pics of the kiddos in the snow. We really have gotten very little, but it was enough to make a small snowman. I am sure that in the near future, I will have ample amounts of snow to make BIG snowmen!

Andi throwing snow

Dawson throwing a snowball at me!

Andi watching the snow fly at her off the lake.

Andi trying to eat the snow!

Dawson trying to make snow angels...cutie!

The kids making their first snowman.

Andi was pouting by the door because she wanted to go back inside before Dawson had finished his snowman.

Dawson & his first 'Rosty the Snowman'

Andelynn turns THREE!

This last Saturday, my baby girl turned three years old! However, if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you she is 5. She is such a captivating little person; people tell me all the time that they can't seem to take their eyes off her.

I thought I would take a moment to share a little bit about Miss Andi-Pandi's personality.

She has the biggest imagination & spends a lot of her day pretending to be someone or something else, or acting out her favorite movies & shows. And, when she is in this mode, that we call Andi-land, she is very hard to distract or deter. So, if she is pretending to be a kitty cat & Dawson comes up & irritates her, she remains in character and just squalls at him with an annoyed squall. We think she is destined to be an actress, or some 'right-brained' profession.

She is VERY high maintenance & her middle name should have been Drama!

She has the greatest laugh, that deep down giggly laugh, that I have ever heard.

She is the pickiest eater anyone has EVER seen & she is known to fast for days at a time. She is a vegetarian who gags at the sight of meat, but she also doesn't eat vegetables...some vegetarian hu? She doesn't eat fruit either. What does she eat? Very little. Thank God for pediasure!

She HATES strangers & up until recently, she used to hit anyone who tried to talk to her or touch her that she didn't know. I have been apologizing to everyone for two years now for this behavior. Hopefully, we are finally past this phase.

(SIDE NOTE for those who don't know this: According to her pediatrician, she falls into the category of 'Sensory Disorder' which explains a lot of her quirkiness...the trouble eating, dealing with strangers & strange environments...etc. It isn't severe enough to require intervention, but Andi still has to learn how to overcome these obsticles. Her pediatrician thinks that by the time she starts kindergarten, she will have out grown the disorder/ be able to function normally.)

She LOVES anything girly. If it sparkles, she loves it. She loves all the princesses, Aerial, Tinkerbell, Dora & Mickey Mouse. She declares everything to be 'BEAUTIFUL' or 'SO PWETTY' or 'SO SPARKLE.'

She loves her 'Bubba', when he is being nice to her of course, and follows him around the house copying his every move. It is so cute to watch her mimicking him. Of course, it isn't very cute to watch her mimick his bad behavior. I love the sound of the two of them gigling together!

She makes goofy silly faces all the time...she constantly has us cracking up.

She has the sweetest little voice you have ever heard. No matter what she is saying, she adds a dramatic high pitched crescendo...like everything is so exciting to talk about. It is so cute! She has so many cute sayings, but my favorite is when she introduces herself...she says "Hola, My Andewynn."

I took her 3 year old pictures at the camp across the street from our house. Here are a few more pics of our beautiful 'baby' girl! Happy Birthday Andelynn!