Halloween!

Last night, we carved our pumpkin. Daddy was the carving master. Payton helped. I sorted through the pumpkin guts for the seeds so that I could roast them. And Ian, played with his trains. He was not too excited about carving up the pumpkin. In fact, he was downright upset about the whole thing, so he was better off in the play room.

This morning, we went to the YMCA for their Halloween festival. Payton trick or treated and played on their bounce house/slide. Ian was a little distraught over all the excitement, so he just stayed in the playroom where he always stays at the Y. Then we went over to our friends' house to bake and decorate Halloween sugar cookies. The kids had a great morning.

The kids were so excited about trick-or-treating. Payton almost couldn't contain herself. She talked and chatted the entire time about something or another. Ian didn't know what was going on at first, but he caught on pretty quick when he saw candy being given out. For most of our outing he held tightly to a lolipop and tried eating through the paper. After we got home each child got to have one piece of candy. After baths, Payton helped hand out candy to other trick-or-treators. I think she almost enjoyed that more than actually getting the candy. It took a long time for her to settle down to go to sleep.

Payton's Halloween Party

Payton's preschool had a Halloween Party today and I was one of the mom organizers. Somehow, it actually turned into a Fall Festival that included the preschool and Pre-K classes. Ian and I got to stay all morning to help out. The kids had mummies (pigs in blankets) and orange punch for snack time. Then Payton went around to 4 different stations and went on a wagon ride. She made spiders, a witch hand, and decorated Halloween sugar cookies. Then my station was the creepy feeling mystery box station. I had three boxes, each with something for them to feel that they couldn't see. Then I had the kids tell me what they thought was in each box. They also colored a Fall/Halloween picture. Fun, huh? So my mystery boxes were eyeballs (peeled grapes), worms (wet spaghetti), and a black cat (one of Payton's stuffed toys). The girls liked the black cat the best, whereas I think the boys liked the spaghetti.

Ian played in the preschool room all morning while I manned my station. He was super-good (thank God!).

Vote!

After I dropped Payton off at Preschool, Ian and I voted! OK, Ian didn't vote, but he wanted to. Ian behaved very well while waiting in line with me for 45 minutes, but when we came to the actual voting area, he didn't want to sit in his stroller. He wanted to keep running around or be held. The early voting location that we went to had touch screens, so I had to hold him (far enough away, so he couldn't touch the screen) while I voted. But it's done, and Ian wore my 'I voted early' sticker proudly the rest of the day.

After voting, I met my friend Jill at Salem Lake where we attempted to run. It had warmed up by this time to about 40. Ian was still not in the mood to ride in the stroller. He screamed and tried to kick his way out of the stroller. After about half a mile of this, I picked him up and carried him. He fell in and out of sleep. Jill was a good sport about all of this. She pushed the jogging stroller, and we walked a total of about 4 miles. I have a feeling my back might be a little sore tomorrow. At least the scenery this morning was beautiful. Some of the leaves are past their peak, but it's still very pretty around here.

These pics are from several days ago. We don't have too many leaves in our backyard yet, but it's still fun to jump into what we do have.

Weekend Stuff

I don't think I expected it to be this cold. I guess I knew in the back of my mind that it would be colder here in North Carolina - the state does have the word North in it even though everyone here considers themselves 'the South'. I understand the history behind this, but I still find it ironic. So I knew it was going to be colder than Phoenix. That's a given; most places are colder than Phoenix. BUT, this coming week the highs are going to be in the 50s and the lows are in the lower 30s. It's the last week in October. What is it going to be like in December and January? Anyway, I don't think I'm ready for this winter, especially mentally. Scott keeps reminding me to pick up some ice scrapers :(

So this weekend... It was rainy Saturday morning, so Payton and I made bread rolls. She loves helping me cook. And since, she says she's going to be a chef someday, cooking is always a good idea with her. Then we all went to the Winston-Salem Children's Museum to see the new Fairyland exhibit. It was ok. It had a slide which helped the kids run off some excess energy before we came home for lunch. Daddy was at a members' golf tournament with his boss. In the evening we had some friends over. The evening turned out to be cool and beautiful, so we all went outside to play after supper.

Sunday, we became members of Augsburg Lutheran Church. It was founded in 1891 and is a beautiful old building with stained glass everywhere. The first time Scott and I went to church there, we just knew that's where we would worship while we lived here. Payton goes to Sunday school and Ian goes to the nursery, so I'm free to go to a Bible study if I want. Anyway, as part of our welcoming package, we received a book of the history of Augsburg. I perused it a little and found something quite interesting considering the state of our economy right now. An exerpt from the book: In 1893 when the church was building it's first church building, 'there was a wave of transportion strikes accross the country which caused a sudden and severe financial panic. The stock market collapsed, most securities declined precipitously in value, and people lost fortunes even more quickly than they had acquired them. Everywhere business activity declined as a result of a loss of confidence in the government and its ability to control the strikes. In Winston, property values sank to a quarter of their previous value.' Of course, eventually everything go back on track again. Augsburg finished it's church, grew, and prospered despite its shakey beginnings.

Ian Firsts

Friday, Ian received his first haircut. We just went to a Great Clips. There were 3 stylists there and no other customers. It was nice having the whole place to ourselves. We tried to get Ian to sit in a chair by himself, but he would have none of it. So, I had to hold him while he got his mullet cut off. He wasn't too happy about the whole experience. Payton was a champ. She sat all by herself and didn't even whimper during her cut. She sat and talked to the other stylist like a pro. To celebrate, we went to a Chik-fil-a with a play place.

Ian is also now in a big boy bed. He has taken over the queen bed in his room and he loves it! We put a side rail on the bed and he was ready to go (to sleep). The first night he had no troubles; no falling, no waking up in the middle of the night. He actually fared better than Payton did her first night. She fell off the end of the bed - poor girl.

Playing Catch Up

It's been over a week since I've posted! I've got lots of catching up to do, so it'll take a little time. I'll have pics of Grandma and Grandpa's visit up soon.

Yesterday, Payton's preschool class led chapel at her school. The school has preschool - 8th grade, plus most of the preschool kids' parents were there. They were in the the front of the church singing and saying bible versus. It was typical, some singing, praising God and some gnashing of teeth and crying. It was all very cute.

Also yesterday, Payton wanted to make some cookies after her quiet time. I don't need to eat any more cookies, but she saw her Alphabake cook book - which has recipes and ideas of things to do with her alphabet cookie cutters. She wanted to play with her letters, so we made Jello jigglers using the cookie cutters. Actually first you have to make the jello. The recipe calls for two packages of jello for 1 1/4 cups of water! It took me 10 minutes to stir in all that gelatin because of course Payton got tired of stirring. I couldn't believe how concentrated it was. So we stuck the Jello in the ice box and made her and Ian's name out of Jello after supper.

Scott got home early, so we took a trip to the driving range with him. It was a beautiful evening - a little chilly (60 degrees) but nice in the sun. Daddy likes to get his swing recorded so he can study and improve it. So, Payton wanted hers recorded too.


Ian had a rough night last night. I was up with him for almost two hours. I think he got cold and then his teeth have been bothering him. I ended up sleeping with him in our guest bed (which is in his room). He loves that big bed. So I think we're going to move him into it tonight.

Mommy, Can I?

We were outside playing. Well, the kids were playing and I was looking at the garden. And Payton yells out, 'Mommy, can I pee next to the tree?' I feel I must explain where this came from. When we were on the Blue Ridge Parkway, there were two times, when Payton said she needed to go pee when there was no place to go. The first time, we were on a trail, in the woods, 1/4 mile from a restroom. I know that doesn't sound far, but for a 19 month and 3 year old, it can be. The second time, we were in the car on a windy road with no civilization in sight. The options were, hold it, pee in her car seat, or stop and pee on the side of the road (next to a tree). We (Grandma, Daddy, and I) tried to get her to go by a tree on the trail and on the side of the road. We even got her pants down, but when she tried to squat and go, she couldn't. I really don't blame her. The temperatures were in the 40s and 50s at the time. The chilly wind on a cold behind might stop me as well. At least, we had no accidents on the trip :)

Back to Payton in the backyard saying, 'Mommy, can I?' I said, 'Uh, why don't you just go inside the house?' Of course, that would take too long and she wanted to get back to playing. So I gave in and Payton picked out a tree and went. Unfortunately, her socks still got wet, but she had thown off the rest of her clothes, so they were dry. We have to work on the squatting thing a bit.

She went back to her playing and everyone was having a great time, until the sand throwing incident. Neither Payton or Ian was innocent in this one, but poor Ian got the short end of the deal.

Blue Ridge Parkway

On Saturday, we rented an Chrysler Aspen (so everyone could ride together) and took off for the Parkway. We headed north to Mt. Airy and got on around MP 200. There are many pull-offs along the way to see the mountains and valleys full of trees of all colors. The rental car had a DVD player, so the kids were pretty well entertained. When they weren't, they would get out with us to look at all the trees. Payton understood what was going on. I don't think Ian knew what to think about it all. He was just along for the ride.

We took one little hike to Cascades Waterfall. It was about 1/2 mile one way. The kids managed it pretty well and it was a beautiful hike. We traveled to Spuce Pine (MP 331) where we stayed the night in a little old hotel. It wasn't much, but at least it was clean.

On Sunday, we only went about another 10 miles down the Parkway, before we headed back to Winston-Salem. It was cloudy on Saturday, but the sun came out Sunday which showed more brilliance and depth in all the leaves' colors. The pictures don't show the whole story, but it's the best we have to tangibly remember the trip.

Pilot Mountain, Revisted

On, Thursday, we took Grandma and Grandpa to Pilot Mountain and had a picnic there. It was a beautiful fall day - sunny and cool. The leaves were changing a little bit, but definitely hadn't peaked yet. We all climbed up Little Pinnacle to see Pilot Mountain. Ian was having the greatest time running through leaves and climbing. He's great at climbing up, but he likes to jump down. He took a little tumble, but it didn't stop him for long. He was trying to jump down steps that came up to his knees. And of course, when I wanted to help him so he wouldn't go rolling down the hill, he would get very mad at me, give me a scowl and try to jump by himself anyway. I don't know where he gets his stubbornness from.

On Friday, the weather turned cold and rainy. We decided to stay home and bake and process some apples. Mom helped freeze about 6 quarts of sliced apples. I made apple and brie stuffed chicken for supper. And we made apple dumplings for dessert. The kitchen was a mess by the end of the day, but the dumplings were scrumptious.

Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa flew in yesterday. It was quite a day. Payton woke up and was not awake 10 minutes and threw up. She had a stomach bug and basically just wanted to lay on the couch. So that's what we did all morning. Grandma and Grandpa's flight got in Raleigh-Durham at 2:30 pm, so I packed the kids up and we drove the hour and a half to the airport. Payton was feeling better and once she saw Grandma and Grandpa, she couldn't stop talking. She talked almost the whole way home, telling us all about the pumpkin patch and how she didn't feel so well. It was so cute.

Today we went to Salem Lake. I went for a run with my friend Jill. Grandma took a walk with Ian, and Grandpa played with Payton. Payton had to feed her animals. She also took some pictures. I don't know what else she and Grandpa did, but they filled about 45 minutes with things to do - no problem. Payton didn't want to leave.

This afternoon, we played outside. It was pretty hot, so I broke out a sprinkler. We had a very nice day and everyone didn't complain about going to bed tonight :)

Scott has a big presentation on Friday, and some chapters he's writing with one of the attendings, so he's been MIA and will be till he's done. So it's nice that my parent are here.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch today. At first I thought it was going to be a genuine pumpkin patch, where you pull pumpkins off the vine, but, no. It was just a bunch of pumpkins laid out in a field. Payton had fun running up and down the rows and rows of pumpkins. Ian woke up grumpy from his nap, so he wasn't having as much fun until he found a step to jump off of. In the end, the kids each got to pick out a little pumpkin and we took home a white pumpkin, as well.

Payton's Pics II

The Apple Orchard Collection

Sorting apples at home