Baby Sitting

My friend, Jamye, had asked me if I would be interested in watching her son 1 1/2 days a week during the school year.  I was hesitant, but thought it was a good opportunity to make a little extra money.  It is going pretty well.  Leah had a hard time at first with a little jealousy, but things have gotten better.  Both kids are very excited when he comes over.  Leah has become my little helper.  

Madison Half Marathon

We had a fun weekend in Madison.

On Friday we told the kids that we were going to stay in a hotel the next night.  They were so excited.  Ryan woke up as soon as his clock turned green on Saturday morning.  I will always wonder how he does it...does he just stare at the clock?  We packed up the car, stopped at Festival Foods for our car donuts and were off.

Our first stop was the Expo.  The kids have never been in downtown Madison and thought the capital was neat.  They were very focused on getting to the hotel and just wanted to go.  We told them that before we could go to the hotel, we were going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Seston.  It was a nice visit, we are rarely there when there isn't a party.  Grandma was very happy to see the kids.  The kids were so happy to play with the kitties, collect acorns.  It was fun to watch them run around and play.

After our visit, we stopped at the mustard museum...the kids and I waited and I waited in the car while Mike went in.  He said it was awesome, and I am a little jealous...  Anyway, after that we headed to the hotel.  It had a great water area for the kids.  There was a little ship that had 2 slides and a small wading pool with 2 other slides and then a bigger pool with a bigger slide.  Ryan was so excited he wanted to go down everything.  Zero hesitation.  Leah was the surprise.  We figured she would have fun, but I never guessed that she would want to do it all.  At one point she slipped and fell down one of the slides head first.  I was terrified, I thought she would be too, but she rebounded quickly.  She was so brave!  She even recently started putting her head in the water!!  Ryan shocked us with his swimming skills also.  He was able to swim across the length of the pool.  So proud of them!!!

Sunday was Mike's race.  The reason for the trip.  The kids and I ended up staying back because it was COLD outside.  We hung out at the pool while he ran 13 miles in the cold.  Seems fair.

In my opinion, he ran a great race and did awesome.  He said that it was terrible with the wind and hills.   We are proud of him!

Our last stop was Great Grandpas.  We visited, play UNO, went to lunch and watched a little football.
It was a great weekend.  We need to try to get to Madison more often.

Nutty for Books

I think this is the 3rd time we have participated in this contest.  The kids love it.  They have to read 100 books in the month of October to receive a free book.

They were so proud when they finished!  Such a great program offered by the library!!

Jack-o-lanterns

The kids have been very excited about Halloween this year.  From the Boo bags, to the candy, costumes, pumpkins...you name it.

Tonight was the night that they got to carve pumpkins.  They did great.  They both helped scoop out the guts.  Ryan used his hands and Leah refused to use her hands, and instead used a spoon.  

They each drew on faces and helped carve out their own pumpkins.  

We are all happy with how they turned out.  

We are also trying to roast the pumpkin seeds for the first time this year.  It was actually all Leah's idea.  I hope that they turn out and the kids actually eat them!

Movie night and a sick-o

This weekend was strange.  In hindsight I can see that something was bothering Ryan.  He came home and was eager to go down and start working with the "art cart".  After awhile we said that we were going to a restaraunt...yay!  Or so we thought.  Ryan started crying.  He didn't want to go.  We said we were going to Culvers.  He cried harder.  When we got there, he was okay.  He ate.  We chalked it up to him wanting to do art.

Saturday morning was exciting.  Mike and Ryan went to flag football.  Leah and I stayed home.  It was cold and rainy out.  When the phone rang after the game, I answered to hear a sweet little voice telling me he had 2 flag pulls, 1 first down and one touchdown.  He was so happy.  We were so proud.  (I am pretty bummed that I missed both of his tds this year :{)  Anyway, when he got home he went down to do some art.  Grandma Pam called and wanted to hear how his game was.  He cried again and didn't want to talk.  Pretty unlike him.

We ran a few errands and came home for movie night. We borrowed Rio from a neighbor.  The kids liked it.  Very cute movie.

After the movie, I realized that Ryan was a little warm.  Poor little guy had a low grade fever.  I was hoping he would sleep it off.  He did not.

Sunday morning I called to cancel their flu shots, that pepped him up a bit.  Then I called Grandma Pam to tell her that we couldn't come down to watch the game because Ryan had a fever.  He was super upset so Grandma and Grandpa came here (which was very much appreciated).  He didn't eat much...with the exception of the td Oreos, he ate 5.  His fever got up to 102.  He barely cheered.  In true Ryan fashion, he never complained once that anything was bothering him.

Even though his fever was gone by this morning, I decided to keep him home from school.  I kind of loved having him here.  The kids played, he was excited to take her to school and her dance class.   We played UNO, he helped with the laundry (and told me he loved doing it), helped unload the dishwasher.  He did ask if I was going to pay him though :)  It was a good day.

I hope Leah stays healthy!

Boo!

Ryan asked me a few weeks ago if we were going to do those Boo things again.  It took me a minute, but I remembered last year when our doorbell rang and no one was there.  We found little bags of treats and a note saying that we had been boo'd.  The kids loved it.  They were even more excited when we were able to make our own bags and sneak to our friends houses to make the delivery.  I had forgotten all about it.  He hadn't.  I love that he remembers these things!  Anyway, I held him off for as long as I could...but this weekend I gave him the go-ahead.  The kids eagerly packed up our treat bags and Mike and Ryan went to deliver them.  Adding Daddy to the equation added a whole new level of sneaky-ness.  They hid in backyards, hid behind garages, etc.  It was thrilling.

Well, today the doorbell rang and the kids immediately started yelling "we have been boo'd"...we opened the door to find treat bags.  They were beyond excited!!

Ryan often says that Halloween is his favorite holiday.  He says he likes it even more than Christmas.  I love how excited they are for all of the little things.  I love that we live in a neighborhood that Boos each other :)  

Lunch time visitors

Ryan has been asking Leah and I to come eat lunch with him again.  I don't want to go every week...but maybe every other?  Okay, I would go everyday if I could!  We all love it.  This time we surprised him with a Grandma Pam appearance.  We all chatted and happily enjoyed our Subway. eRyan took G Pam to his classroom and then Leah and I stayed for indoor recess.  Ryan even took Leah over and introduced her to his class.  It was adorable!  Adorable!!

Earlier this week Leah and I were in Appleton running errands.  We can't go anywhere near Diddos work and not bring a treat, so we picked up some Swedish fish and stopped for a quick visit.

This visit was pretty adorable too!!