Take me away

Carter's all time favorite song right now is Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine. He will watch the video on YouTube over and over. He has seen it so many times that he can narrate what is happening on the video while just listening to the song - "this is where they are doing the cool moves...now she is on a flower...". Samantha can now say "I wanna dance. Away." The other day in the car, Samantha was crying and Carter was almost asleep. It came on the radio and within seconds they were both smiling and dancing in their car seats. The point is, they love it. Where this is all going is the other day Carter was in time out and I hear him start to sing as he is crying..."take me away, to a better place, I want to take you away...". I wish I had caught it on tape. It was hilarious. Such drama. Tonight as he was throwing the temper tantrum of his life he started saying "this is terrible" over and over. It's so hard not to laugh sometimes.

God bless America

I am going to be out of town on Nov 4, so I went downtown and voted today. I have been putting it off because I knew it would be a production with the kids and all. But, I bribed them with M&M's and thanks to the nice registrar who loved kids, we were in and out, no problem. I think that it has something to do with having kids, but in trying to explain what I was doing to Carter, I was just overwhelmed with feelings of pride and gratitude that I was blessed enough to have been born in the USA. Regardless of how messed up things are right now, there are people all over the world who give up everything just to clean toilets here. I am so grateful when I think of how I have been blessed with so many freedoms and how much better my children's lives will be because we live here. Go America!

Why...

Why do you always remember to grab your keys right as you pull the locked door shut?

Fall Fun

This morning was so nice outside and we had a lot of leaves to rake. Put those two together and you have a great time jumping in the leaves! Carter was a little anti-photo, but I managed to get one or two.

Future Firefighter

Carter is obsessed with fire fighters - the trucks, sirens, everything. He is convinced that he is going to be one when he grows up. Our neighbor, John, is a fire fighter with Milwaukee Fire Dept. and took Carter on a tour of the fire station today. Carter was in heaven! He got to try on a jacket and helmet, sit in the fire truck and see the lights. He was a bit of a know-it-all, but John was able to show him some cool things he didn't know about. Carter's favorite part was seeing the lights. Samantha's favorite part was just smearing her hands on the dirty tires and wiping in on my pants. Sweet.

Pumkins, picnics and pictures

We had such a fun day today! The weather was fabulous, so we went to pick pumpkins, have a picnic and try to get some family pictures. We stopped by the hospital to see Grandma first. She was glad to see the little ones and Carter was excited to tell her all about soccer and the pumpkins. She is doing better, she should be discharged Monday back to the nursing home for more physical therapy. They had the bed up after making it and the kids loved it.

Pumpkins! Carter changed his mind at least 3 times on which one he wanted and Samantha went from trying to pick them all up to trying to sit on each and every one of them. I absolutely love this farm that we went to. They have apples as well and so we had to grab some. I came home and made apple pies. Soooooo good. I love the fall. If only winter didn't have to follow so closely.

One of the few occasions that they are touching and neither of them are screaming. I didn't even ask for this...

And we did get a decent family shot (thanks Kara, awesome timing!). Carter struggles with smiling and Samantha was being a stinker most of the time. I need to invest in some head-swapping software.

Pump it Up

There is a place in Waukesha called Pump it Up. It is full of huge blow-up toys. The other day I was watching a friend's little boy and after going crazy in my house all day, we decided to head over and burn off some energy. They had a blast. Samantha has to be the toughest little chica that I know. Her favorite thing was the huge slide. This slide is probably 20 feet high. I had to go with her because she is too little to climb up by herself, but as soon as we got to the bottom, she would point to it and say "Deees!" (that's please in Samanthese). Anyways, we had a blast and we were all exhausted. Win, win right?

Samantha trying to keep up with the big kids: