Thanksgiving

G-ma and I ran in the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning. We finished fast enough to get two pies and whipped cream. That combined with the Dutch apple pie we bought at an Amish Bakery made for yummy dessert. Mom was amazing. She finished in just under 50 minutes for the 5 miles and it was a course filled with hills. She did great!Dinner was super yummy and it was fun to cook with Mom. Thanksgiving didn't last long around here. We weren't even half way through dinner and Kate started asking to put the tree up. We held her off for a few more hours then turned up the Christmas tunes and pulled out the decorations. Friday we went to the zoo, dinner and then dropped them off at the airport. We couldn't have asked for better company, weather or fun. Lots to be thankful for. It was a great week! I had to include this last picture. Kate was cleaning the Tiger's teeth with a piece of grass. Then handed me the grass to keep for her "collection". She has quite a collection of many different things. Something funny she said in the aquarium - G-ma told her that when there are a lot of fish together that it's called a school. She sat for a minute watching the fish and when she saw a group of them together she said "G-ma, I think they're having a lesson".

Grandma and Grandpa!

The long awaited arrival of G-ma and G-pa finally came on Monday night. We had such a fun time with them here. They left last night and both kids were crying as we drove away from the airport. It really was quite sad, I can't figure out if Jack knew why he was crying but he was pretty upset. The first morning they had G-ma playing "Don't Eat Pete" with chocolate chips by 8:00am, at that point Jack knew this was going to be a good visit! On Tuesday we drove up through Amish country. It was the first time I had been up there and I was glad for the chance to go. I didn't get any great pictures but here is one of the kids outside a cheese place and dinner at Der Dutchmans - very yummy (mashed pot and gravy were worth the drive up there). It was a 2 hour drive up there and a bit more back because of my wrong turn but the kids didn't whine or cry once - it was great. On our way home it was dark and I missed a turn and ended up going down a very rural road. We stopped to ask an Amish couple on the side of the road for directions. It was a pretty chilly night. They were walking with one head lamp and carrying lumber. We wondered how far they had to walk. It was so interesting to see how they live. We can't have Thanksgiving without Kate doing some kind of project. She and G-ma made place settings, I thought they turned out so cute. And no visit to Ohio is complete without a trip to Graeters Ice Cream!

Snow

We woke up to a little white covering on Monday. This was the extent of it and of course didn't stick around. Kate was very excited, slipped on her flip flops and headed out at 7:00am. We're looking forward to more but are enjoying our nice weather in the meantime.

Buckeye Game

Last week we had fun watching the buckeye game. It was a good game and fun to watch with friends. I don't think there are fans anywhere like OSU fans and that makes it so much more fun.

COSI

I love the bright colors at COSI. There are a few areas in our Science center where there are really large windows. All that light combined with the bright colors can make for some great photographs. Here are a few from last week that I really liked. I like this one becasue of the look on Jack's face. Put him in front of a steering wheel and he's a happy boy.

Independence

Jack is entering a new phase of independence and I thought I would share one of his moments. He has always preferred to feed himself but he is getting a little stubborn about it lately. After whining for the spoon and yogurt I just let him have it because there was water boiling, phone ringing, food to be cooked, a 3 year old to help and his mouth to feed. So he got his way and this is what it turned into.

Corduroy Bag

Here is this week's creation. It was fun because it was so simple. I didn't use a pattern this time so I could just cut whatever size worked. It's pretty small, no pockets on the inside and only the two on the front with the snaps. Inside and out is corduroy. I like the way the chubby handles turned out. And I have a before and after this time. I was eyeing this shirt for a couple of weeks because of it's great paisley pattern, seemed brand new, and I had red corduroy sitting around that would go perfectly. But I couldn't bring myself to spend $4 on it so I waited until half off day (last tues of the month for anyone local - at the thrift on broad) and this is what it turned into.

Science Time

Ray came home early from work yesterday which is always a welcomed surprise since his days usually vary from 12 to 14 hour days with all the driving he is doing this quarter. He entertained all of us with fun science tricks. He showed Kate how string can stick to ice when you sprinkle salt on it - I remember doing that at the Seattle Science Center when I was little. And we now have crystals growing in jars (Kate thinks they are going to grow into jewels for her to put in her jewelry box, I hope she's not disappointed). And of course he had to show her how to make a volcanoe. This morning she asked me if I had any tricks to show her like Dad did. I'm glad she had fun. I'll have to come up with more fun things to show her. Any ideas out there? I was thinking she would like that goop that looks wet but feels dry. I don't remember how to make it, maybe with cornstarch???

Pretty Princess & Spooky Skeleton

Jack was excited with just one piece of candy from our own bowl. He was a hoot, it only took him a few houses to figure out what was going on. He would giggle every time he was given another piece of candy and then turn and run down the driveway and on to the next one. Pretty Princess. She really wanted to be Belle but since we already had this dress she thought it would be ok if Belle wore a blue dress. Great that his work clothes work as a costume too! By the end he wasn't happy unless he was carrying both pumpkins. Kate was fine with that since she had already given up carrying hers saying it was too heavy. The Loot!

Bags, Bags and more Bags

I'm putting these up to show a few who have asked. Anyone that has comments on what kind of bag they would like to have, suggestions on design - anything is welcomed! Here are the latest two creations. I really like the blue and green one, it was made out of a thrifted skirt. The fun part is I get to see it put to good use, as a girl at church brings it each week. The green and white was made out of 2 thrifted shirts. It is smaller -I put more pockets on the inside this time, a place for pens, another for a cell phone, and two larger ones for whatever, plus two outside pockets. It has many mistakes but I learned a lot about what to do on the next one, so I guess that is the point.

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is fast approaching and we had some fun carving our pumpkins today. Can you guess who carved each one? This is the first year Kate wanted to carve instead of paint. Took her a minute to want to touch the insides but she quickly became a pro cleaner. I really think this next picture is the kind of picture they'll love when they are older, ya know the ones that end up in the video played at their wedding. Sweet siblings. It was a good day. We attempted a Halloween craft this week. Kate likes to do anything if you call it a project so lately we try to do something fun during Jack's nap. I like it because she has fun, I don't have to worry about Jack getting into it all and I usually do my own project/sew at the same time - fun for all. This one was really easy, just a pot turned upside down, it is sopposed to have a wiggly smile drawn with a silver pen but we didn't have a pen that would show up.

Go Bucks!

Ray took his Dad to the OSU game on Saturday. They had a good time, the weather turned out nice except that they were in the shade which was quite a bit cooler. Here are some pictures that Ray took. Grandpa's camera has a much better zoom and got an impressive picture of the band guy that bends back and touches the feather to the ground - I'm not sure if he has an official name or not. They said the whole band was pretty impressive and of course the football too - Go Bucks!

Airplanes and Pumpkins!

On Tuesday we went to the National Air Force Museum. It is so fun to see how aircraft has devoloped over the years. It is a huge museum, 3 large hangers full of aircraft. Then on Wed we went toe 100th Circleville Pumpkin Show. We have been looking forward to this show since last year and were so excited to find out it was the same weekend Gma and Gpa would be here. You can get so many different kinds of food flavored pumpkin. We only tried the pumpkin fudge and pumpkin blossoms (the pumpkin flower dipped in batter and deep fried). The fudge was pretty tasty- similar to candy corn with spice and the blossom was....interesting but worth trying. Here are the kids and I in front of the Stealth Fighter. I took this picture because I liked the cute little strollers they had - the kids liked them too! What Grandpa would look like as an astronaut!

Here are some of the interesting pumpkins at the festival. These are grown in a mold - obviously. If you can't tell from the picture, they are shaped like a head. Here is the winning pumpkin.


On our way out after tasting and looking at everything pumpkin.