The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Summerfield's Super Carnival

Last night we attended a carnival hosted by Summerfield Retirement Home (where Grandma Wily lives).  It was so much fun!  The kids enjoyed fishing, sack races, coloring, Halloween twister, limbo, and a balloon maker.  After the activities, the kids went trick or treating to the residents.  

Kyle and Emma were so cute doing the sack race!

Twin pumpkins!

The WINNER of the door decorating contest was Grandma!  Kudos to Kamille for her creative genius!

Lemonade Stand/I'm not a terrible Mom

All summer long, Jacob BEGGED to have a lemonade stand.  He always seemed to ask when I was in the middle of something or getting ready to leave the house.  So, when he asked yesterday, I actually heard myself say "yes."  (His Grandma Arnold even bought him lemonade and cups when she was here in July).  He got everything set up and sold lemonade to his neighborhood friends.  He made 54 cents (don't ask how he made 54 cents when he charged 5 cents a glass).  He's quite our little entrepreneur!

 

Pumpkinland Puppy Love

Yesterday, Jacob got to go on his first Preschool Field Trip.  He and his friend Sienna decided to be "buddies" and were inseparable.  They held hands almost the whole time.

Each child got to choose a pumpkin.

Jacob & Sienna seem to have the same sense of humor!

Holding hands through the corn maze...

2 cute kids!

Lunch is Served

Today, while I was feeding the baby, Jacob took it upon himself to make lunch.  I thought it was so cute how he arranged everything.  He couldn't imagine why I wouldn't let him eat crackers, goldfish and chips for lunch (hey- at least he got an apple!)

Swimming

Since we just got a pass to the AF rec center, I decided to take the kids swimming tonight.  My Mom came to help (thank goodness!).  It was Bethany's first time swimming and I had to take some pictures of her adorable swimming suit (Girl's swimming suits are SO much more exciting than boys!).  She mostly just stuck her feet in the water, but she was a really good sport about getting splashed.  The best part about going swimming is that the boys were really tired and didn't fight me about going to bed!  

The only bad thing that happened tonight was that the rec center employee gave my Mom the "senior citizen" discount- which means they thought she was over 60.  C'mon- have you seen my Mom.  She's so cute- I only hope I look as good as her when I'm her age (and no, she's NOT 60!).

Stair "MASTER"

I've always been afraid of this particular piece of equipment at the gym. I can just imagine myself getting distracted, missing a step and getting sucked under the machine. Since the machine I wanted was occupied, I decided to give it a try this morning. I literally didn't take my eyes off of my feet for the first 15 minutes. Eventually I was able to take a drink and even change songs on my iPod without falling. It ended up being a good workout and I'm glad to have conquered my fear!

Halloween Party

The Halloween festivities got started a little early this year with a fun-filled Halloween bash at my Mom's house. "Three Little Kittens..."

The Arnold clan (Yes, that's Kyle in the Spiderman suit).


The group pictures of all the grandkids were next to impossible. Here are the best shots!

Activities included: cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, Halloween stories, Don't Eat Pete game and showing off their costumes. Thanks for the fun party Mom!

10 Year Reunion

I went to my 10 year high school reunion last week. It was pretty fun seeing some old friends, but as that song says, "High School Never Ends." The cheerleaders and football players all hung out by the bar (hey- at least it's legal now!) and everyone else mingled with each other. The night before the reunion, I had a get together with some close friends from high school and that was really fun. Although I do miss some of my high school friends, it is nice to be past that stage in life!
Some of the "old gang" that braved the reunion.


Friday night's group of friends.

One of my ditzier moments.

While we were in Virginia, I stuck my cell phone in the cup holder of the car so it wouldn't slide around and get lost. Well, what I didn't realize was that there was a full cup of water already in the cup holder. Here's the damage. The screen is still full of water so I think it's time for a new phone.

So Cute

Jermie took this picture on his i-Phone yesterday.  This is a common expression lately.  So cute!!

Hee-Haw!

Last week, Kyle went on a field trip with his Preschool class to Hee-Haws. It was kind of strange being at a pumpkin patch/farm/corn maze when the temperature outside was hot, but Kyle had a great time. He got to pick a pumpkin from the patch. Of course, he decided as soon as we hiked through all the dirt and leaves that he had to go to the bathroom, so we pretty much picked the first pumpkin we saw (hence the green pumpkin). He got to take a hay ride and see some cool animals.

Bethany & Grandma

When I grow up...

Earlier today, I asked the boys what they wanted to be when they grow up. Jacob quickly responded "an astronaut" (his standard answer). Kyle, however thought for a moment, then responded in a serious tone "I want to be a Jack-O-Lantern."

Update on "Bob"

Since we told him about it, Jacob has been so excited about "Bob."  He's been bragging to all of his friends that he has a robot.  But, this morning, Jacob said to me, "Mom, I wish we hadn't ordered Bob"   I guess he's caught on to the fact that Bob severely limits his time in front of the tube.  I'm loving it though!  I've never gotten him to do so many chores, homework, etc without any major meltdowns!

Another funny thing is that when their time gets blocked out, Bob says "Sorry, your time is blocked.  Have fun playing!"  Love it!

For those of you wanting to know where to purchase it, here's a link.  We ordered it from familysafe and it shipped in 2 days from Salt Lake.

A New Addition to Our Family

No, I'm NOT pregnant, but we do have a new member of our family.  His name is "Bob" and he's a a TV timer.  Our children (especially Jacob) are "TV-aholics" and will watch TV all day if we let them!  Here's how Bob helps:  Each child gets their own pin number (you can program up to 6).  With the master pin number, Jermie and I can program how much TV time each person gets per day.  So when Jacob wants to watch TV, he has to punch in his PIN number and Bob displays how much time he has remaining for that day.  When the time is up, Bob shuts off power to the TV and it cannot be turned back on.  Bob also allows us to block out certain times for each user, such as Sunday morning or the hour after school (for homework time). 

The kids can earn extra time (for doing chores, homework, etc) or they can have time taken away for misbehaving.  So far, it's working really well.  Jacob asks me if he can watch a show and I respond, "It's up to you- If you use all your time now, you won't have any TV time later today and you might be sad."  Jacob also did all of his chores this morning without any complaining- It was fabulous!

Bob can also help control video game time because the kids can't turn on the TV without using their PIN.  So, while they can turn the video game console on, they can't see anything on the TV without logging in and using their time.  You can also connect Bob to a computer.

The thing I love most about Bob is that it's no longer me telling the kids to turn the TV off- That's Bob's job.  He's a welcome addition to our home!