The Gingerbread Man

Allison was in a drama class these last few months and they put on their own production of the Gingerbread Man. Allison was Deputy Dog.

Allison Getting Ready for the Talent Show

Allison playing Agent X at home before the talent show. Please excuse the mess on the floor!

Allison's Talent Show

Sorry about the shakiness!

Trunk or Treat 2011

We went with a Suess theme this year for Trunk or Treat. The kids and I had a lot of fun figuring out how we could make Dr. Seuss get 'tricked' for Halloween. We made up new Halloween names for a bunch of his books. Like Mc'Ghoul'igot's Pool for McElligot's Pool, and 'There's a Zauldron in my Cauldron' instead of There's a Wocket in my Pocket, 'Horton Hear's a Boo' instead of Horton hears a Who. Allison one night took a piece of paper to bed and wrote several of her ideas. I loved it! She came up with 'Oh the Places Bones Go' and 'One Fish, Two Fish, Bat Fish, Boo Fish'. I draped a piece of big black fabric over some cardboard and then we put up pictures of Dr. Suess characters which have all been 'tricked' in some way. Sally's body turned into a skeleton. The boy in Cat in the Hat has a pumpkin head. A Dr. Suess Fish has 3 heads. The Cat in the Hat - actually has a witch's hat. You get the idea.

We had a trunk-or-treat Friday night at the school and then Saturday night at church. Anthony had each trick-or-treater finish a rhyme to earn their treat. The best part was seeing Carter and Allison get into the game. They would look through the Suess books for good rhymes and them read them for the trick-or-treaters to finish. By the end of the night, the trick-or-treaters had died down, and Carter was going up to anyone he could find saying, 'Hey - do you want some candy? Here - you have to finish a rhyme.'

In case the pictures aren't quite clear - Carter was Horton, Alli was the Cat in the Hat (I've been on a face-painting kick - trying to figure out how to do it . . . and she was my first attempt. I was pleased with how it turned out. She loved it and went around the house saying, 'I'm such a beautiful cat!') Anthony and Carter were Thing 1 and 2. I had extra fabric paint from Fab Friday and so I painted them matching shirts. I got a blue feather boa from Hobby Lobby and hot-glued it onto beanies for their hats. Carter was supposed to be Sam-I-Am and so I made this cute red hat for him and cut up one of my old yellow shirts. But come Friday he wanted to be an elephant - so we made him Horton, and I got to wear the Sam-I-Am costume.

We also had Suessical music playing in the car. Fun night!

Watkins Family Reunion

Tanner's Homecoming Family Celebration!

We sure had a great time in August welcoming TanMan home from Russia and catching up with family and friends. Here are some pictures . . .

At an arts and food fest in Akron . . .

Blowing bubbles while waiting in line for the twisty balloons.

A budding chalk artist . . . .

A real-live train ride! And a real-live Uncle Tanner! Carter is a happy boy. :)

Carter holding a large snake at the Cleveland Zoo. He informed me afterwards that it wasn't a real snake. Real snakes are slimey. I couldn't convince him it was real.

Emilyn, Allison, and Carter on our hike at the Butterfly Museum.

Up close and personal with large mammals . . .

Has anyone seen any zebras? Carter is crying because he wants to feed some. (We'll have to work on opportunity recognition) :)

Miscellaneous Pictures

C-man and big Daddy-O on their father-son camp out. Two handsome fellows if I do say so myself.
Carter's birthday party invite. (FYI - if you're looking for some good pirate words, changing your facebook language settings to Pirate English is a great resource!)
Sc'alli'wag and little Devin Blackbeard scoping out the land.
Captian C'arrrgggh'ter walkin' the plank.
Little Miss Sc'alli'wag

Looking at this picture makes me sad. Allison's kindergarten year is over! She's now a big 1st grader. This is her with a few of her friends at field day.
Gunny-sack races.
I made these cookie pops for Allison's last day of kindergarten. They took a lot longer than I anticiapted, but it was fun to learn a new skill. :)
Evan's 1st Birthday Cake (a cream-filled doughnut from King Soopers and a blueberry muffin).

Today

Allison is a sweet heart.  It was Anthony's birthday today and so Allison this morning spent awhile making a gift for him.  She made a coloring page and a card then wrapped it up.  It was really nice. 

While she is working II come downstairs and see Carter trying to stuff a big roll of red cellophane in the garbage.  I stop him and ask him why he's throwing it away.  "It's see-through mom," he says.  That made me laugh!  Of course - what use is wrapping paper if it is see-through!

We went shopping for a stick horse for allison to use at the talent show this week and we found one at Toys R Us.  Allison named it Oreo . . . Ok I actually mentioned that he looked like an Oreo and she thought that was a good name.  On the way home from the store she started talking to Oreo like Anthony and I talk to her.  "Silly Oreo - you had better behave or you are going to lose your privileges".  And her tone of voice wasn't too gentle.  It took me aback for a minute hearing my own words and tone through her . . . It made me realize that I need to practice using a gentle voice.  I want to fill our home and their life with sounds of love.

Evan had his 9 month doctors visit today.  He's doing well.  At the appointment there were these flyers for a baby-wise class  Dr. Bucknam is teaching with his wife at a church for "young marrieds".  I looked at it and thought about how much I'd love to go to that class (if only it wasn't at 10:45 sunday morning right during church).  But then it occurred to me . . . Wait - am I a young married?  Can I still be classified as that?  I'm not sure. I've been married almost 8 years.  I have 3 kids.  I'm 28, Anthony turned 34 today.  What if I'm not a 'young married' anymore?!  How sad!  How weird.