NEW URL...we've moved

We're moving to a new URL. I'm going to leave this old blog up for a few days, just so that you have a chance to update your links. Seeing as how this has evolved into our Marshy Corner, rather than just Katelis-corner, I saw it fitting to change the URL address. We will now reside at

http://marshy-corner.blogspot.com

Thanks for keeping up with our family...

Day 4 of Daddy's Ski trip away with the guys

I've made it through day 4 of solo parenting. Today was super low key compared to the last couple of days. The kids and I took it easy, making it to church this morning and spending most of the day at home. We ate a quick lunch, before a short video and then 2hr nap for Kateli, and 2.5 hrs for Joshua. After Kateli woke up she let me do a short photo shoot in her room, I'll post some when I go through those. Then this afternoon, we headed out to our friends house to just hang out and let the kids roam around. We did have an open invite to another friend's Super Bowl party, but I'm so worn out I didn't feel I had the energy to socialize too much tonight; I just wanted to take it easy. It's amazing how fast the 5 days have gone by (okay, I know I still have all of tomorrow, but really...it's been fast) The kids have behaved very well, and in the moments when they haven't, I've really tried to control my temper and have a little bit of patience, and show them grace. I think Kateli probably thinks I'm a little crazy, as this morning when they were testing me, instead of losing it, I would just pause, close my eyes and say "Lord, help me through this...I'm not going to lose it..." when I'd open my eyes, I'd see Kateli staring at me with a confused look on her face, and then her demeanor would change and she would obey :).

Day 3 of daddy's ski trip away

Daddy called early this morning to say hi, and let us know what their plans were for today. He also called me tonight to let me know that they were done with and that he was safe. He and the guys went out and skiied in Vail, which he said was a bit easier than their courses yesterday. He was sore but had fun!

As far as our day...Day 3 is over and we had lots of fun. This morning we woke up to kids that were ready to go back out and swim. So, after breakfast and a video we suited up and headed down to the pool. It was so much fun. My kids were not apprehensive at all. Kateli walked right in, towing same toys as yesterday in hand, and ready to play. Joshua was cold in the beginning, but quickly warmed up and by the time we were ready to go, I think he would have preferred a life jacket and to be left alone. That little guy has NO fear, at one point he walked over to the steps at the deeper side and looked as though he could have jumped. Of course, freaked me out, but I managed to get to him before he made any crazy move. He loved sitting in the hot tub as well, we just put his legs in, but I think he would have been okay if we had done more than just his legs. Yesterday, he wasn't too sure about the frog slide, today it was a different story. He walked over, climbed the steps by himself and went down the slide into mommy's arms. He absolutely loved it, and did a few more times!!! Kateli was going back and forth on her own, between the pool and the hot tub; she wasn't too clingy today and was swimming great! We swam about 1.5 hours before having to head out, with kids that DIDN'T want to leave. The hotel stay and pool were a huge hit with the kiddos. They were worn out and had great afternoon naps!! After nap, we took it easy. Just hung out at home and enjoyed a bike ride around the block, a quiet dinner and cookies and milk during our evening movie "Charlotte's Web" before calling it a night. Joshua went down like a champ. Kateli, must have been exhausted. Today she only tossed for about 30mins before falling asleep. Let's hope they sleep well and I can get some rest! Tomorrow is another day, and we pray it will be blessed with happy hearts and sunshine! Good night!

Day 2 of Daddy's Ski trip away

Well, we got through day 2 without much of a glitch. The kids are behaving well, for the most part, unless I tire them out too much in which case meltdowns are expected. I had a really hard time sleeping last night, and I'm not sure why exactly--it could have been the strong coffee I had in the morning, I suppose. The kids slept great, for most of the night, although Kateli still woke up in my bed this morning. Our morning was non-eventful. We managed to get Sesame Street before heading out to renew the tags on the van. Did you know that they are changing ALL OK license plates?? I had no idea, but I walked away with a new license plate and tag to put on my car--which I very diligently did soon after getting home. The kids went down for a nap earlier than usual, and I didn't hear much complaining from Kateli after I told her that after nap we would go swimming and have a lot of fun. And we did just that! I made reservations at the Radisson in town for one night, and we shared a room with our friends. You can imagine how much fun it was to have 2 adults and 5 little kids (all under the age of 5) in one room, with two queens, two pak n plays, and a roll away bed. We did get in about 1.5 hours of swimming before dinner, and another 45mins after dinner before bedtime. The kids were super worn out, but somehow didn't manage to get Kateli to zonk out immediately. She rolled around in bed for about 3 hours before falling into a deep slumber. The inside pool area at the Radisson is a kids pool paradise. It's got a huge frog slide for the really little kids on the shallowest end, fountains at the "shoreline", a huge palm tree that sprinkles water on you, a huge tube slide for the bigger kids on the "deeper side", which is about 2ft deep, and then there lilypads, and a rope type deal on the deepest side (which is about 3 ft deep). They have a sauna, which we didn't visit, and a hot tub. It was good that there was a hot tub, because when we got cold we'd go sit in the hot tub to warm up. Joshua was not too sure at first, he was shivering and not too thrilled, but by the end of the night he was enjoying every bit of it. Kateli managed to go down the frog slide a few times this afternoon, but wasn't too excited to do it much in the evening. She loved to play with the water toys that Beth brought, especially a cute little watering can and the blue and red cups. She pretended to serve you cofee or tea, whichever you'd like. Anyway, we had fun...pics tomorrow, if I get through them. Good night!

Update on daddy's ski trip: we did talk to him and heard about his fun skiing experience today. His first words to me were "I'm feeling really old"...He is the only one of the four guys that is snowboarding, everyone else is on skis. He said they were out on the slopes from 9 to about 5pm!! YIKES!! They did some really hard courses, and one fun one that he wouldn't tell me much over the phone about--apparently I have to hear from him in person about his run through the "enchanted woods" course. Anyway, he was exhausted but had a lot of fun!

Day 1 of Daddy's ski trip with the guys...

Yes, you read right...daddy is away on a ski trip with just the guys. The kids and I are here, and so far having a great time. What was I thinking, right?? to say "yes" to him going away for a few days--that's right, not 1, 2 or 3 days, but 5!!! I'm a good wife, huh?? well, I'd like to think so, but I have to be honest that I was a little...okay, honestly A LOT, jealous of his little adventure, until we dropped him off at the airport this morning, and then I was fine. After all, I do think that he deserves a break. AND I realized that it's not so bad to stay home with the kids, I do it everyday, and I know that this is going to be a good time for us.

So, today after the airport the kids and I headed to lunch to meet my friend and her kids. I should add that she and her kids had also just dropped off daddy/hubby at the airport, as it just so happens he's on the same ski trip as my dear husband. Anyway, being home with the kiddos we have FUN plans for the kiddos this weekend. After lunch we did naps, and then headed out to the grocery store. I thought I was safe and had plenty of time doing this before Kateli's ballet lesson tonight, and boy was I wrong. It took a little longer than normal to shop; I busted my gallon of milk while transferring it from the bagging area to my cart, but didn't realize it was busted until the kids were strapped in the car and I was putting the groceries in the trunk...of course I wasn't going to unload and head back in for another gallon of milk, so what did I do?? You have to know that ballet is at 6:30, it's about a 10 min drive (in not so inclement weather, and we still have ice on the roads here) from the house, and it was 6:06pm when we left the grocery store parking lot. Anyway, I decided to rush home and pour the milk out into some type of container so that it didn't leak out in the car--that's was all the groceries that I got out of the car at the time. And I rushed back out, got Kateli dressed in the car for her lesson and off we went again, (same direction as the grocery store)...did we make it? yeah, 6:31pm, only to find out that the place was closed. They had cancelled class due to the icy roads--which are now nothing but slush. Of course Kateli was crushed that her class was cancelled, and she cried for a bit. But we made it back home for a late dinner and a movie. Kateli was excited when I mentioned to her that we would have a sleepover with our friends, and she was eager to let Becca sleep in her room. It was so cute. Well, all kids went to bed just fine and us, moms, got to enjoy a chick flick, "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2", have you seen it?? CHICK FLICK!! But a good one at that! And it's off to bed.

Wintery January

So we didn't have a white Christmas this year, but that didn't mean we weren't going to see the "white stuff" before winter was gone. Nope, in fact, this morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow (okay, ice) outside. It was sleeting already at 6am, when Joshua called out, and I don't think it subsided until late this evening. It didn't accumulate too fast outside, but just enough that after daddy was "home from work" today (I put that in " ", because even though daddy worked from home today, we really didn't get to see him until about 4:45pm or so) the kids go to enjoy some sledding on our home made sled (see pictures). Both kids really enjoyed being outside, although they didn't last very long as they weren't fond of sleet hitting their little faces as daddy ran up and down the street pulling them behind. Kateli bundled up happily and without complain that she had to wear a her heavy coat, mittens, boots, a hat, as well as pull her coat hat on top of that. She was just happy to go outside and play for a little bit. Joshua on the other hand, I don't think was too fond of getting layered in clothing, but he did enjoy the sled ride. Anyway, here are just some pictures of our fun 10mins outside in the freezing cold!!

all bundled up and ready to go out

having fun on the sled

I love the expression on my little man, it's like he's not sure what to think of it all

okay, this is where they really didn't like the sleet falling on their faces....who could blame them?

This was Kateli when we told her it was time to go inside.

She was really cold, but hesitant to go inside, until I mentioned HOT chocolate and cookies :)

"what have mommy? daddy? Joshua?"

She's so funny...she actually pretends to take our order and jots it down on her notepad. It's really cute. She asks us, endlessly, I might add, "what have mommy?" "what you have daddy?" "and Joshua?" She's been doing it for a while now, but I hadn't been successful in getting some pictures--this afternoon was different, here she is....:)

and just for fun some recent pictures of the kids that I've gotten...

She very rarely lets me take her picture, so I think I'll have to settle for this one as her 3 year old photo :). I really like it! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Our best wishes to you and your family this holiday season. May the blessings pour upon you as you await to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior on--Christmas Day!! Or in our case, we start our celebration on Christmas Eve.

It was tradition for me, growing up, to have a big to-do on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day we just got to sleep in late. My mom would start cooking early in the day, so that we could enjoy yummy "panes con pavo" for dinner. I remember it smelled so good in the house, and I wouldn't eat much of anything all day waiting for our meal, so that I could truly indulge and savor every bite. After dinner, we would either stay in and be together as a family, or we would head out to friend's homes who were having a Christmas party. I've always enjoyed being in the company of friends, but there was always, and still is a certain feeling of intimacy and closeness to being alone, as a family, on Christmas Eve. My favorite Christmases growing up, were the ones when we didn't have to be anywhere, we could just stay in and enjoy the evening, before heading to bed. I remember my parents would wake us up at midnight, so that we could see what "el niño Dios" or baby Jesus had brought for us. That was always so much fun--I don't remember ever having trouble getting up after being in deep slumber--or maybe I never did fall asleep and lay awake waiting for mom and dad to come in my room. As we got older, we got to actually stay up late and wait for midnight. The rule was that we couldn't open any gifts before midnight, we had "technically" wait for Christmas Day to begin!!! That's what I remember doing growing up...

Now that I'm older, and have a family of my own, I get excited around the holidays, because it's time for OUR family traditions. We don't live close to family, so that makes it more important for us to make our own Christmas traditions. I'll share with you just a few :

• We go see Christmas lights at Rhema, a local church that puts out an unbelievable display of lights every year
• This year we went to the Christmas Train. It's in Dry Gulch OK, and it was pretty neat. You ride on the train, listening to the narrated story of Jesus' birth, and watching the amazing paintings that are set out on the train route.
• This year we also got dressed up to get a christmas family portrait done. With a photographer in house, it's much more convenient to get this task accomplished, although by NO means easier :).
• We don't travel for Christmas, but rather stay home and enjoy being together.
• We eat a home cooked meal, before heading out to the candle light service at church.
• We bake a chocolate on chocolate birthday cake for Jesus. This year, Kateli has really gotten into the excitement of baking and celebrating Jesus' birthday.
• We put the kids down for bed at their normal bedtime (maybe a bit later than usual sometimes)
• In the past, Dan and I stay up, and we each get to open a gift on Christmas Eve, at MIDNIGHT (to follow in MY tradition) before heading to bed--we'll see how it works out this year :)
• On Christmas morning, it's all about the kids opening their gifts after sitting down around the tree listening to daddy read the story of Jesus's birth from the bible
• The rest of Christmas day is just enjoying our gifts and rejoicing in the good news!!

May this Christmas be filled with joy for you and your loved ones!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Thou hast a wondrous message.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou hast a wondrous message.
Thou dost proclaim the Saviour's birth.
Good will to men and peace on earth.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou hast a wondrous message

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree in all its splendor. Each year, I realize how much I love Christmastime. I love christmas music, I love to give and see smiles on faces. I love that it's a celebration of our Savior's birth!! I love to see Kateli's face light up with cheer as she announces that "Jesus birthday is coming up, mommy!" I am looking forward to baking a birthday cake for Jesus' birthday this year. I'm looking forward to it, because I'll have my best chef side kick with me. I know that Kateli is going to enjoy baking the cake!! I could go on and on...and on and on but I'll save you from my rambles and quit now!!

I pray that you are getting into the spirit of Christmas and enjoying each day with family and friends. As you can KIND of see in the picture above, we have lots of gifts under our tree already. That's because for the first time ever, I've done all my christmas shopping and wrapping well before the last minute. They are not all for us, mind you. No, we have to ship a few and pass out another few around town.

15 month check

well, he was 15 months on November 12, but we had to postpone his 15month well child check up because...well, he was just not WELL!!! So, we went in to see the doctor this week to get Joshua's 15month check up done. Turns out the little guy is doing very well, he is growing, eating, running around and talking a whole lot. I was happy to hear that he is once again back up in the weight percentile curve--he had dropped to the 25% ile at 12 months, so the doctor made it a point to tell me that he was once again up on the curve (I don't know exactly his percentile now, but I know it has to be higher than 25%). Joshua is now weighing 22lbs 4ozs and measuring 31 inches in height. Hard to believe that he is only about an inch away from hitting his head on the corner of our dining room table--so we need to start emphasizing "cuidado/careful" to him when he's crawling or walking under the table!!

I mentioned that the little guy is talking--he truly is, he is picking up the words...amazing!! Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking when the doctor asked me how many words Joshua spoke. I quickly answered, "oh, probably about 4" and then I proceeded to say the words out loud--I was impressed to know that he has more than FOUR words in his vocabulary, he speaks 8 words now!!! He says "ma-ma, da-da, cho (chucho/dog), push, luz, ball, pancake and baby"

What a blessing that little guy is to our family. Just looking at his little face makes my heart smile. I love him to pieces. His sister and daddy love him to pieces too. And you know what else?? While he can't say "I love you" quite yet, his actions and his demeanor shows each one of us how much he loves us, especially his big sister. There is a special connection between the two that is so hard to put into words. Kateli adores her little brother, takes such good care of him, and watches out for him like a hawk--and Joshua responds to her. Sure, they don't always agree on who has what toy at what time of day, and they tend to argue (or scream at each other) a lot during the day, but they also play well together. Just to give you a little glimpse into how these two operate, let me share with you what happened this morning. I loaded the kids in the van, because we were heading out to one of my bible studies. I actually was heading out with 3 kiddos--Kateli, Joshua and baby Max who is 2 1/2 mos old (we watched Max today, as his mommy had to finish up some work stuff) Anyway, so on the drive to church I wondered how I was going to manage unloading 3 kiddos 3 years and under, and get my two kids to their respective class at church. When I got to church, I decided to unload Katherine and baby Max first. I asked Katherine to stand with Max inside the church while I got Joshua out of the car--and she did. When I came back in carrying Joshua, Kateli was standing in the same spot I had left her, watching Max intently. I put Joshua down to walk, and picked up the carrier. Immediately Kateli approached Joshua and grabbed his hand. She lead him by the hand all the way down to his classroom. She walked at his pace, and said "let's go Joshua" as they walked--they giggle all the way!! What a sweet and tender memory; just thinking about it makes me smile.

I have to also share with you what Joshua thought about our Christmas tree when we put it up. I was a bit nervous about putting it up, as he is just at that age where I knew the ornaments would be coming off the tree incessantly. But I braved it, and put it up anyway. The tree went up a few days ago, and Joshua was intrigued the most when the lights went up. As I was in the process of checking the light strings before putting them on the tree, Joshua came and sat next to me. He said "luz" and pointed at the strings of light, and then did the funniest thing. He blew on them, he blew on the lights as if to blow them out!! It was so so so cute!!! The next morning, when the kids got up they got up to see the Christmas tree completely lit and decorated--guess what Joshua did?? He went straight for the ball, shiny ornaments. He'd pull them off, say "ball" and then chuck it across the room. For a day or so, I was constantly saying, "no, no sir, these don't come off the tree" and now he hardly comes close to the tree. He did shatter two ornaments though...but that may have been my fault, I think I set him up for failure. I was trying to capture images of the kids in front of the christmas tree and put him down with a few ornaments in front of him. I was able to capture one cute picture of him before he smashed two together and shattered them. You've seen the picture, it's on the blog.

Anway, I think this tells you just a little bit more about our little man who is growing up much to fast for my liking. Each day is more fun than the last. Our house is full of laughter, and the pitter patter of little feet.

Practicing for our xmas tree pic

Fun shoot with the cousins!!

Just a sneak peek!

Birthday month...

November is a busy, but fun month for us. Not only does it indicate that the holidays are upon us, with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner from each other, but there are lots of birthday celebrations in our family...So, let me just start this out by sending out birthday wishes, hugs and kisses!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to
Tio Walter, Cousin Jack, Tio Dave, Cousin Jim, daddy and of course we cannot forget our little princess who turns 3 at the end of the month!! (If I've left anyone out, I'm sorry....birthday wishes and kisses to you as well :) )

Last night we went out to eat with friends to celebrate Daddy's birthday. Dan didn't know it, but the staff from the restaurant came out and sang Feliz Cumpleanos to him, and made him wear a sombrero!! You probably guessed it, but we ate Mexican. We had lots of fun!! It's amazing how our group of friends has grown over the years. It was just our small group, except 2 couples who couldn't make it. When Dan and I started in a small group about 5 years ago, we were all either newly married or engaged and there were no kids. Over the years, that's changed. Some couples have moved away or left the group, and others have joined our "family" but now we all have kids. A few years ago it would have only been 8 adults out to dinner; last night the kids outnumbered us--we were 8 adults and 9 kids under the age of 5!!! Needless to say the kids have a blast when we get together. They enjoy playing together, and getting into trouble together!! :) So anyway, after dinner we all came back to the house for some cake, some adult time and more play time for the kiddos. Joshua went to bed on time, while Kateli enjoyed staying up late and playing with her friends. Here are some pics from last night.

Happy Birthday daddy!!

Kateli "helping" to frost the cake :)

The end is in sight...

Hard to believe that this morning was our last weekend training run before the big day. It's been quite the journey, training for this marathon, and incredible to believe that next Sunday is THE day. The thought of participating in a marathon was one that had merely crossed my mind, without much contemplation a few years ago--when my dear sister trained and completed hers (she did the Hawaii marathon with the Arthritis Foundation). Anyway, while I admired her dedication and determination to complete such a feat, I honestly thought she, and the rest of the runners were out of their mind. I was a runner in school, on the long distance team at that, but 26.2miles?? that was more distance than I could wrap my mind around. I was that person that just watches, and while admiring the runners' accomplishment, I would say "Oh, I would never do that..." Yes, that was me, still on Feb 13th this year. And then the life wrenching twist in our lives--finding out about Katherine's illness. It was like we were picked up and thrust into a whirlwind--still kinda feels that way somedays, but we've adjusted to this fight. Feb 14th still seems unreal--I think back and still can't figure out how we managed to get through it. The emotional turmoil we were thrust into is like nothing else I had ever experienced. With the news came the fears. Cancer? Cancer, in my mind, was terminal--I knew nothing else. Horrible thoughts filled my mind, unthinkable feelings filled my heart and as the days went by I seemed to numb up to what was going on in our family. And then, that first dose of chemo that I saw Katherine receive in the hospital brought me to my knees all over again. I cried, and I cried, and I hurt again. It was so real, this was really happening. The nurse came in wearing a special gown and special gloves to protect her hands from this drug that she so calmly injected into our baby girl. And I knew that was only the beginning. We had a long road ahead of us. Katherine would have to endure over 2 years of this treatment, and our attitude had to change. We had to come to grips with this and we had to be strong for each other, but most importantly for Katherine. We prayed for strength. We prayed for endurance. We prayed for wisdom. We prayed for understanding, and peace. We prayed and prayed and prayed. And we continue to pray ceaselessly, because we can't do this alone. To you, our regular blog readers, THANK YOU for YOUR prayers. Thank you for your continued support through this. For caring enough to come back time after time to read our blog, to stay up to date with Katherine's progress and to find out any specific prayer requests that we may have.

So, in the midst of our own education about Katherine's illness, I kept coming back to the LLS and the fundraising opportunities. I found myself pondering the thought of training for a marathon. Suddenly, 26.2 miles didn't seem impossible. In fact, it seemed insignificant compared to the journey ahead. Dan and I both committed to doing this. I signed up with the LLS to raise the funds for the foundation and we've been training for the last 16 weeks or so. We've certainly logged in the miles, each one of us has a couple hundred miles under our belts--or is that shoes? :) and while it's been fun training, we are both anxiously waiting to finally cross that finish line. Neither one of us could have done this and be where we are at without you. So, THANK YOU!! Thank you for your prayerful support and for your financial support towards my fundraiser.

So, next Sunday we will be two people in the middle of a mass of runners--specifically 30K runners. Yep, you read right. The race was closed at 30,000 people. It will begin at 7:25 with wheelchair participants taking off. Five minutes later, at 7:30 they will begin the wave start for the runners. There will be 30 "corral" groups, with 1000 participants each that will be released every 15 seconds or so. Our corral grouping was determined by the estimated elapse running time we put on our form. We estimated about 4:30 hours, which happens to be average time for this event, so we're in Corral 16, smack in the middle of the sea of people. There will be 14,000 people in front and 14,000 people behind our group. I don't think I've ever been in the middle of such a large group, so I'm a bit nervous about it.

• Please pray for us, as we are getting nervous and anxious.
• Please pray that we all stay healthy, through this next week especially.
• Please pray for our travels. We will be driving to my parents, and then on to San Antonio.
• Please pray for the kids. The plan is to leave Joshua with my parents overnight, and take Kateli with us. We couldn't NOT have kateli at the finish line so she will be hanging out with Tia Marta during the event and hopefully be at the finish to greet us.
• Please pray for our bodies to stay strong, and in one piece before, during and after the event.
• Please pray for quick recoveries from the run.

Falling leaves, Changing colors

Like I said, this I think has to be my favorite time of the year. I marvel at the beautiful fall colors that surround us, and all the leaves that have fallen and continue to fall. The weather is just beautiful, even better when the temps are mild as we have seen over the last few weeks. We are in November, it's INCREDIBLE!! The holidays are around the corner. Time to spend with family is near, and a few birthdays are on the way in our family!!! Last weekend we went out to take some fall pictures of the kids. While it was quite a challenge to get them to sit still for long, they turned out pretty cute. You can check them out on the photography webpage

Enjoy!!

Oh, just a side note. Our MARATHON is less than 2 weeks away. Our training has been fun, yet challenging some weekends. It doesn't help when you are sick either, and so far I've had TWO colds during this training, in the last month!! The fundraising goal has been reached. We are tapering down on our training runs and just getting excited about the 16th! Please continue to pray for us as we approach the date, and especially the weekend of the 16th, as we will be travelling, leaving Joshua with grandparents overnight, and of course running the longest distance of our life...Kateli will be with us; and I look forward to crossing that finish line and running over to her and just lifting her up in our arms and loving on her!! She's my inspiration!!

Happy Halloween

Yes, it's late posting, seeing as how we are already in NOVEMBER...and the clocks have been set back an hour!! I love this time of year. Seasons change, colors get vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and some brown. Leaves begin to fall off the trees, and the masses of leaves on the dead grass invite you to run, jump and kick leaves around, or just to toss them up in the air and watch them fall around you! The temps are dropping, and the air is crisp!! Oh, I just love it. I wish it would stay like this year round--you have to remember, we are having MILD temps in Tulsa, so that's not to say that I'm asking for 40's and 50's as my year round temps, but I would not mind 60's to 70's!! So, I wanted to post just a couple of pics of the kids in their halloween attire this year. As most years our plan is not real concrete when it comes to halloween, and we are not sure how really to treat the holiday--hm...is that the right word?? is Halloween a holiday? Anyway, in the beginning we were leaning more adamantly towards not dressing up our kids and doing the whole "trick or treating" deal, but THEN it became a fun way to get out of the house and visit daddy at work. Each year, since kateli was born they have hosted a "bring your child in costume" to work on Oct 31st...so we participated the first year...and then the second....and now the third...and well, you know where this is going. This year was a bit different though. In the past, we had not taken the kids trick or treating to homes in the evenings; this year, we joined some friends to do just that. It was actually fun, and Kateli seemed to REALLY enjoy it. She really had fun this year, both in wearing her costume, and taking part in the whole trick or treating ordeal. How timely that the day before Halloween, The Barney show was all about trick or treating and wearing costume...so guess what Kateli did?? She asked for "dulce like in Barney mami..." "twick or tweat" she'd say in a sweet voice....So, costume wise, I'm sure that you are wondering what the kids were this year. Thanks to my very kind friends, we had plenty to choose from as I didn't have much time to go out and find something once we decided we were going to partake in the festivities. So, Kateli had several to choose from--a lion, a flower, a bee, and a spider--she chose to be a BUMBLEBEE!!! a CUTE bumblebee at that!! Joshua was dressed up as FLASH the superhero....and boy was he the superhero of the night. That little guy wore his costume like a champ. I think it got up to about 80 that day, and he was wearing fleece...and a mask!! the mask stayed on his face from the time I put it on to the time we'd take it off...he walked around with no problem!! Joshua didn't quite understand the trick or treat part of the deal, but we quickly learned that he grasped that "candy is GOOD"...oh yeah, on the drive home from daddy's office he managed to get a snack size twix open and devour it before we got home. No way he could have hidden that from momma, seeing how his entire face and hands were covered in melted chocolate! Here are a couple of pics from the day....

kids at the pumpkin patch

Yes, we have made our yearly trip to the pumpkin patch this year!! I was a bit fearful we weren't going to make it this year, as it seems the days just fly by. However, last weekend, after finding out that our small group was not meeting, we decided to make it a trip to the pumpkin patch. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we decided to take advantage of that. We went with friends, and had a great time. Katherine loved climbing on the pumpkins, riding the pony, and feeding the animals. Not so much taking pictures...but what was I expecting, right?? This was Joshua's second year to the pumpkin patch, and he seemed to enjoy it a whole lot more than last year (he was only 2 1/2 months last year when we went). Joshua enjoyed the pumpkins, but I think he had more fun just hanging out by the white fence that encompassed the entire patch. He also was entranced by the animals, and was not fearful of petting the animals. I have so many pictures, it's not even funny...but I have not finished going through all of them, so I will leave you with just these....enjoy!

At the park...

lil' sluggers...lil' goofballs :)

Some pumpkin carvin...

We joined some friends last Saturday for a fun evening of pumpkin carving and great fellowship. We were a bit late, but late enough that everyone was mostly completed with their pumpkin carving....so I didn't think we were going to have a pumpkin by the end of the evening. HOWEVER, dear hubby was diligent in getting our "Charlotte's web" pumpkin completed, and boy did he do a wonderful job. Here are some pictures of the fun evening...check out all the fun pumpkins (minus some) that the group ended up with by the end of the night....