Costumes Unveiled

Happy Halloween!

In Memory

Yesterday we received the news that my grandpa had passed away. Even at the ripe old age of 92, it still came as quite a shock. He was my biggest blog follower, and for that I thought I'd write a little bit about him.

I have so many sweet memories of my grandpa, and the love he showed to his grandkids. As a little girl one of my favorite things about him was his old bank collection. He had several shelfs full of antique banks, that all did cool tricks. He would take us into his office and give us all pennies and let us chose which bank we wanted to put it in. We later found that he was keeping track of which ones were our favorites, and gave them to us when we were old enough to take care of them.

At Christmas my grandparents would give my parents money to buy gifts for the kids. We would open our Grandma and Grandpa presents the same night we'd decorate the Christmas tree. There were always SO many gifts from them - but the most exciting part of the night was when all the gifts were opened, Grandpa would say that he had forgotten something in his car. He would then return with a big box of unwrapped toys. They were ALWAYS the best presents. To this day my Grandpa still gets credit for giving the best gift ever. It was a black sled that had a steering wheel, brakes, and looked a bit like a snow mobile. I know that ALL of my siblings know what I am referring to...it was everyone's favorite.

My grandpa was the one that so generously paid for my tuition for Culver Summer Camps - a place that still holds some of my best memories.

When I graduated high school - my grandpa gave me a very generous gift, and pulled me aside to say, "Your dad is going to try to take this check from you, and tell you what to do with it - but this is YOUR money, and you can do whatever you want with it." I gave him a big hug, turned the corner, and found my dad - with his hand out in a "give it to me" fashion. He then said, "I know what your Grandpa said - now give me the check." I cowered and handed it over. I still love my grandpa for trying!

There are so many things I am going to miss about him: his smell, his e-cards, his RIDICULOUS amount of republican email forwards, his laugh, his love for ANYTHING sweet, the way he'd say "Mele Kalikimaka" instead of Merry Christmas - the list goes on and on. I love you so much Grandpa, and will be forever grateful for the example that you set for me and my family.

Our Attempt at Autumn

Madelyn had been begging me to rake the leaves so she could jump in them. After MANY excuses and several, "Your dad is much better at that" tries, I finally gave in. I got out the old rake and reached from every corner of the yard. You'd think that the end of October would be the perfect time for such an activity, but apparently it hasn't been cold enough for the leaves to fall. This was the extent of our leaf pile. So pathetic.

At least the pumpkins were fun!


L to R: Rob's, Maddie's, mine, and the kids' pumpkin, designed by Maddie and carved by Rob. I was fairly happy with mine, until Rob mentioned that it had braces. I woke up a few minutes later - in the fetal position.

As I have mentioned before, I try to some degree to be green. I also try very hard to use toxin free products in my home and in my personal care products. So, when Rob showed me this website - I knew I would be out of commission for quite some time. I can't stop looking up products to see how bad they are. I just discovered that Maddie's make up, which she applies a MILLION times a day (aka Bonnie Bell Lip-Smackers)is pretty bad for her. Guess I'll casually drop that one in the trash. Also - Johnson's Baby Lotion? AWFUL. That smell that we all love is most toxic ingredient in the product itself. It has a ranking of 8 on a scale of one 1-10. Point being - if you're interested in checking out what you're using on yourself - go to THIS website. Very informative...very addicting.

For those of you who can't tell, spending time with Rob is my absolute favorite thing to do. But because of his crazy schedule - we haven't had a lot of time together. So being the wonderful husband that he is, he took three days off work last week to spend with the fam. We didn't do anything huge - but it was sooooo nice just to be together. Thanks, Rob - we already miss you.

On another note, can you believe I'm about to do THIS again???

Happy Birthday Dad

Yesterday was my dad's birthday - but I was gone all day - so I have to do a make-up post. For all those siblings that forgot to call...feel free to blame it on me, it still makes me look like the better child. I DID call.

My dad is awesome. He has always (and by always I obviously mean after I started behaving myself) been one of my greatest friends. We have been all over the world together. One of my favorite memories of my dad is the time he and I drove down to Moab for a camping trip. He was annoyed by a truck full of young mountain bikers that were a wee-bit obnoxious, so he paid for our camp-site, AND the one next to us, just so those guys couldn't camp near us. Good thing he did - they ended up coming by in the middle of the night anyway.

This was the same trip that was going to be "great weather for camping" so we ended up sleeping in the Grand Tetons in 13 degree weather. Still the coldest I've ever been. We spent the next morning talking with some sort of roaming-hippie that literally had frozen boogers hanging from his nose. My dad was the better person and didn't laugh out loud. I on the other hand had to keep finding this hippie's stories HILARIOUS, so I could just laugh at the ice-boogie.

My dad NEVER says anything bad about anyone, and always has a positive attitude. This is one of his traits that I admire more than anything. He constantly lets me know how much he loves me, and has always been proud of me - even if he shouldn't have been!

My dad is one of my best friends, and I absolutely adore him. Thanks for everything, Dad - and Happy Birthday! Oh, and Dad, it's okay if you get a grey hair this year. I'll feel better if you go grey before I do.

**DISCLAIMER**I should add (after Rob pointed out) that I DO know that the Grand Tetons are not in Moab. We did a LOT of camping that week...not all in the same place.

Madelyn has really grown leaps and bounds this past year - and her ability to communicate and interact with others is constantly amazing me. She picks up words everywhere..which has REALLY helped me to sensor my generally dirty mouth. But all this being said, she's also entered this REALLY odd phase, that I just can't understand. It revolves around stating the obvious, and the BASIC-obvious at that. She loves to run up to Rob and give him huge hugs and say, "You're my dad." When asked about her friends, she generally responds with, "Yeah, she's got hair." She loves to point out that Jude talks, and that the house doesn't have a nose. There's one boy in her class and every sentence about him with has to end with, "Yeah...he's got a big face." Every day I am informed that our car is white, and that dogs don't eat people. I'm sure it's passing - but for now, I've really run out of responses. All I can say now is, "Yep! You're so smart," and "You're right - people don't eat poop."

I realize I may not be as cute as Brandon, but come on...I'm carrying his child. Not to mention how devastated Greg is going to be.

Inkblots

I'm sure you'll all see what you want to see in these vague pictures of baby #3. We had a really hard time getting any good pictures due to the placement of my placenta - but here's her blog debut.



These ultrasounds GENERALLY turn out pretty cool...remember Jude's?

Just Because

Maddie's in the "I want to be a princess every minute of every day" phase, so every morning, her pajamas come off, and a princess costume comes on. Today Jude wanted to dress up too, but all we really had was a hat. So they got all dolled up, and posed for the camera...well, Jude posed - Maddie is more into avoiding the camera these days.