Mmm, Mmm Good

A friend of ours invited us to go strawberry picking at a new farm that we had never been to. The smell of the strawberries in the field was intoxicating!! The air smelled so good. The kids love to pick fruit at the farm and they had a great time filling their buckets with yummy strawberries.

Maya picked some, but mostly ate what she picked. She especially loved to eat them right off the vine. Jacob tried one, but said it tasted like dirt! I guess that means Maya likes the taste of dirt!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!

We have entered birthday season here at our house, with 2 in June and 2 in July! And the first birthday we celebrate is Jacob! I love to look back at the pics of him when he was younger because he was such a fun little boy. But he is not little anymore- he turned 6 this year and will be headed to 1st grade in the fall.


Jacob's birthday happened to fall on a day he had school, so we brought cup cakes for his class and his teacher gave him special birthday crown to wear. For his birthday dinner, he chose to go to The Boneyard, where he had mini corndogs and fries for dinner.



Then we headed home and went to the pool. Jacob loves to swim and has always been a little fish.

After swimming we did cake and presents. He chose to decorate his cake like a soccer ball!

Happy Birthday Jacob!! We are sure glad that you are in our family. We love you.

Death in the Family

On December 6, Katelyn's fish Pinky Purple passed away. She became a member of the family on Katelyn's 5th birthday. After dinner that evening, David pointed out that she was on the bottom of the tank gasping for air. We told Katelyn and she was very upset (surprising, given that she never paid attention to the fish anymore). It was rather funny too, because Maya kept going over to the fish tank and telling the fish to swim. Then she would come and ask us why the "sish" wouldn't swim. So we explained to her that the fish was dying and she thought we meant asleep. Because then she would go yell at the fish, "wake up sishie, wake up." Then she would come tell us that the sishie won't wake up!! And Jacob just kept telling Katelyn it was her fault because she always forgot to feed the fish!! Which just made Katelyn mad.


Later that evening, Pinky Purple finally died. I thought it was terrible just letting her sit on the bottom of the tank suffering like that, but David didn't think we should just flush her. Katelyn cried and asked me to take a picture of her. The next morning, Katelyn was still grieveing her fish and was a rather sad little girl. She drew a picture as a remembrance. And being the good dad that David is, he got a match box out for a coffin and we buried her in the flower bed. We will always remember Pinky Purple as our first pet and hopefully the last.

Simply Adorable

I have been wanting to get new pictures taken of the kids lately. And since I wanted them outside, I was running out of good weather days. I asked a friend of mine if she would be willing to do it, since she is learning to use her camera. Plus I had seen some she posted on her own blog and I love them. She was gracious enough to agree ( thank you , thank you, thank you a million times over Amy!!) So, I checked the weather to see if there would be a good day and there was only one that week. We met her at the Metroparks and I threatened and bribed the kids to be good and smile!! Getting 3 kids to all smile at the same time and look at the camera is A LOT of work:) She did an awesome job and I LOVE them. In fact, there are so many good ones it was hard to pick only a few. So if you want to see more of them, let me know and I will put up some more!!!

Trick or Treat Smell My Feet

Katelyn decided she wanted to be a witch for Halloween, so then I decided it would be cute for Maya to be a witch too. And they could be cute witch sisters. Then I decided that I would make their costumes because I wanted them to be cute witches, not scary witches like you find at the costume store. I went in search of fabric and patterns and some ideas and above is what I came up with (and also some help from some crafty, creative friends!!) I think they turned out pretty cute. Not exactly like the vision I had in my head, but I think my vision was a little unrealistic given my skills!! And Jacob wanted to be a Storm Trooper from Star Wars, which we already had for dress up, so that was super easy.

Here is Katelyn hamming it up for the camera. Her favorite part of her costume was the cape. She picked out this see-through fabric that had spider webs on it. And I'm glad she picked it because it looked good, if I say so myself.

And I just think Maya looked so adorable in her costume. She didn't really like the hat and cape at first, but she got used to them and left them on for trick or treating. It was actually really windy that night, so attached ties to the hats so they wouldn't blow off.

When we carved the pumpkins we let Katelyn and Jacob do their own, with supervision, so they wouldn't cut off any appendages. Katelyn's is the one with the moon, stars and broomstick- she wanted to be creative this year. And Jacob's if the face with the extra holes in it. He said the holes were where the blood comes out-he is such a boy nowadays (obsessed with blood and fighting and killing). And then I just carved the "M" for Maya because I was too tired from sewing to be creative!!

The kids had a great time trick or treating. Maya even lasted a lot longer than I thought she would. But then again, getting pushed around in a stroller isn't that physically difficult. Maya finished eating her candy first and Katelyn still had a lot left. I think it may somehow start disappearing (into the garbage).

Halloween Totes

I have been meaning to make Halloween Totes for my kids for the past 3 years or so. I even have fabric that I bought 3 years ago to make them with, but I just never got around to it. Until this year!!! I saw this post on my friends blog and decided to get the totes made. I think they turned out really cute and am glad to have them crossed off my to-do list!! The tutorial was great and super easy.

The post for the tutorial that I used can be found here. I did make some changes (I made mine bigger), so if you want to know what changes I made, email me and I will tell you the details.


This bag is for Katelyn.


And this bag is for Jacob.

Signing Time

Maya's new favorite show is a DVD called "Signing Time"(it teaches kids American Sign Language) and she asks to watch it everyday. It is the only show she will actually sit down and watch, all the way through. The funny thing is that she will only watch it laying on the pillow on the floor, about 3 feet from the TV. It makes my neck hurt to watch her, because she is so close she has to look almost straight up to see the TV. But everytime she watches Signing Time she always has to lay like this. It cracks me up everytime. And she is so cute because she does the signing along with the show.

Mmmm Good

David decided to make apple pie for dessert today. I love fall and apple pie. I especially love the way it makes the house smell when it is cooking. My mouth just waters thinking about it. We invited some neighbors over to share the pie with us. David makes a great apple pie. And he made 2 pies, since I like my pie with Golden Delicious apples and he like his pie with Granny Smith apples. I am glad I married such a great cook!!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

On September 26 we participated in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes in Canton, Ohio. And we had some friends walk with us this. The Horstmann's, who are our friends from church, came and walked with us. It was so fun to have people walk with us. David designed a t-shirt for our team and it turned out great. We also had a bake sale at American Greetings, where David works, to raise money for our team. Our team name this year was Jacob's Carb Counters.


The only downer of the day was that it was kind of chilly and started drizzling half wasy through the walk. But we all finished the 4K and got some free lunch at the finish.


Here is our team. Thanks to everyone who donated and supported us!!

Yummy Raspberries

On Labor Day we went to Rosby's Farm to pick raspberries. I found out about this farm last year and I am so happy about it. I have been wishing for a cheaper way to get raspberries and when you pick your own, they are so much cheaper. I love raspberry jam and and now I can make some, yeah!!!

We met some friends at the farm and spent a couple of hours picking berries. The kids actually really enjoy picking them too. This time we picked 9 quarts!! That is a lot of berries. And we made lots of jam and froze some, made a salad and made some Raspberry Crisp that was super yummy.

First Days of School

Katelyn started 3rd grade on August 26 and Jacob started Kindergarten on September 3. Katelyn is an old pro at the first day of school thing. She loves school and was excited to start 3rd grade. We hope she has a great year!

Sending Jacob off to Kindergarten was harder than I thought it would be. But with his diabetes, there is an extra thing to worry and obssess over for me. He didn't seem to sure about getting on the bus, but he climbed on anyway.

Maya Finally Gets Her 1st Haircut

At the age of 2 years and 9 days old, Maya finally had enough hair to get her 1st haircut. It was looking a little too mullet-ish, so I finally had it cut. And since I wanted it to look decent, we took her to the salon.

Here she is BEFORE:

During the Haircut:

And here she is AFTER:

Maya Papaya Turns Two!!

On July 31, our Maya papaya turned 2 years old. I call her my baby, but she really isn't a baby anymore. Although she still loves for me to hold her, so I am still going to think of her as my baby.


After watching both her brother and sister's birthdays earlier in the summer, she was excited about her birthday. She and I went to the party store and picked out her birthday balloons. If anyone touched her balloons, she would yell at them, "Mine." And she loved getting presents and having cake... well, she actually only ate the frosting. She loves frosting and will only eat the frosting portion on a cupcake too. Silly girl. After she opened all of her presents, she was still very possessive of them. Katelyn and Jacob kept trying to play with her new toys and she would get so mad and yell "mine" at them again. It really was funny. She got some bubbles, bottles for her babies, a shopping cart, some clothes from G&G Blaisdell, a new ball, and a Doodler (the kind with a magnetic pen that erases).

Blowing out her birthday candles.

Opening presents.

Here she is getting mad at one of the kids because they are playing with her presents!!

Baptism

On July 11 Katelyn was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both sets of grandparents came out for the occasion, along with Brent, Emily and Matt and Julie with kids. She was super excited and I was super stressed out. But everything came together and went really well. The only thing that slightly marred the day was the torrential rain that started coming down. We had a barbecue afterwards at our house with friends. It was a great day for Katelyn and we are so proud of her decision to be baptized.

This is the whole family that came for the baptism.

Katelyn with G&G Blaisdell, Brent and Emily.

Katelyn with G&G Bertasso.