Happy Birthday Annah & Happy Halloween!

Annah is SIX now!

Annah had a few minutes to open gifts before school this morning. She received some Magic Fairy Princess Cookie Mix, a makeup bag with nail polishes, candy, and jewelry from Lydia.

A BIG box from Grandma & Grandpa Lopshire came in the mail for Annah. They sent her clothes, books, a Dora video game, and some violin music books!

Sylvia had a fun class party/carnival at her preschool this morning, and Caeden & I got to go watch!

Here is Sylvie pinning the nose on the pumpkin!

The 3-year-old class is very small this year. There are 4 girls and 4 boys.

Here are Gracie, Sylvia, Haley, and Ella.

Since it was Annah's birthday, Sylvia, Caeden and I surprised her by showing up for her class's fall party this afternoon--even though it was during naptime. She was surprised to see us!

All ready to go trick-or-treating!

Caeden Tigger

Sylvia Strawberry Shortcake

 Annah the Flying Unicorn

The first trick-or-treat stop--our next door neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. Gibbens. The Stambaughs came out to continue our tradition of trick-or-treating together!

Crime & Punishment

One of the common forms of punishment I use for the kids when we are at home is to make them stand with their toes and nose on the door with their hands in the air for a few minutes without talking. As you can imagine, they do not like this!

Today Caeden opened the 'fridge, took out the box with the rest of Annah's birthday cake in it, put the box on the floor, opened it, took the cake out ,sat it on the floor, grabbed the cake server, and was ready to dig in! (Jeremy asks me how come he is unsupervised long enough to do this, but I'm telling you the kid is QUICK!) Needless to say, Caeden was punished for this!

Today it's about 60-some degrees here, so Jeremy is replacing our upstairs bathroom window. I have taken pictures of the construction process, but can't seem to resize the images to clearly show how the new siding looks. He is feeling like all these projects will take forever, but I am really impressed with how much he gets done in the little time he does have to work on it all. He has covered the whole bottom portion of the back side of the house with siding, installed a new backdoor and a nice new outdoor light by the backdoor (which I LOVE!), replaced the window at the bottom of the stairway, and has removed a lot of the lath boards and insulation from the den wall and started to put in new insulation. It's really many projects; not just one. I am overwhelmed just thinking about it all, but so proud of the great job Jeremy is doing!

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Jeremy installed the new window in our upstairs bathroom today. It looks great!!! I love how the new window is a bit smaller and doesn't go down as low--especially nice since it is in the bathroom! 

 

Jeremy is doing a great job working on the house, and seems to be doing it safely too. But being of the McEowen blood that I am, I still worry about him when he's up on the ladder or roof or using a saw or doing anything remotely dangerous. Tonight, I had to take Annah to her musical practice at church and took the other kids with me too, since obviously Jeremy can't watch them while he's installing a window. I called him a few times to see if he'd finished and was inside--and also to make sure he hadn't fallen off the roof. He didn't answer, but I didn't expect him to since he was working. So, I arrived home and he saw the car lights coming up the driveway. He decided to lie down on the deck with his legs out all funky and his eyes closed so I'd think he had fallen off the roof! It worked for a few seconds and made my stomach jump into my throat! The turkey!

Annah's 6th birthday pink & purple unicorn party

This evening we had a super-fun birthday party for Annah here at home! Gram & Krampa Mc were able to make it over from Indiana, and Annah was also allowed to invite 2 friends to her party--Ashley & Jada. The pink & purple unicorn theme turned out quite cute.

When the girls arrived, they all got to paint little unicorn suncatchers. Then, Annah opened her gifts. She received:

• black patent leather dress shoes--from Sylvia
• LOTS of clothes (which she needed!), many of which are sparkly in some way!--from Auntie E & Uncle T, Gram & Krampa, and us
• a bunch of really fun art/craft supplies--from Ashley
• Barbie princess boots--from Gram & Krampa
• a savings bond--from Gram & Krampa
• a girlie digital camera--from Mommy & Daddy
  
  
  
  After the gift-opening, the girls played "unicorn shoes" and received little goodies for their efforts to make a ringer. They had snacks, colored, and played around the house. Daddy arrived back at home with Annah's requested Pizza Hut pizza for supper, and we snarfed it down with our smoothies, then had cake & ice cream.
  
  
  

As always...there were plenty of good little helpers for gift-opening time.

Gram explains to Annah what a savings bond is...

Ooh, cool--BOOTS!! (Caeden received a pair too, and when told they were for the snow, he went to the window to look for the snow!)

Annah hadn't asked for anything for her birthday, but I had decided months ago to get her a kiddie digital camera. They day before her party, she told me and Jeremy that she wanted a camera. Jeremy was sure she'd snooped or overheard a conversation, but she really hadn't. I guess it was just a good call on that one!

A tricky game of Unicorn Shoes!

carmel, apples, and unicorn coloring books

"Happy birthday dear Annah...!"

We made sure to take a photo just to prove Mommy was at the party. (I am usually the one with camera in-hand.)

Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Mmm! Cake & ice cream!

Krampa & Gram, thank you for traveling here to help make Annah's celebration even more special!

Daddy--always around to make things more fun!

The girls invented this fun game...Bop Daddy on the Head with Balloons! It was very entertaining!

birthday kisses for Annah

It was MUCH too windy outside to hang the unicorn piñata, and we could think of no appropriate or safe place to swing at it inside, so we just dumped out the loot on the living room rug and let them grab what they could--and therefore the unicorn was salvaged to hang in the girls' closet. 

The kids ended up with treat bags full of little unicorns and other trinkets and bellies full of sugar. The party was full of giggles and fun! Annah was so excited and happy, and we were glad she enjoyed her celebration!

Growing Pains

 Caeden is transitioning to the "big boy bed" very well so far! He LOVES it, and says it's "soffy" (soft). At first we started with just the mattress on the floor for a couple nights and then put up the frame and box springs a couple nights ago. He hasn't fallen out yet, and has done extremely well not getting out of bed all night! (We're kind of surprised, actually.) Today, he even took his nap in it for 3 1/2 hours!!

I'm not sure I want to take the crib down though. It seems like kind of an official statement that we don't have any babies anymore. We've had a crib up for 6 years now, and thinking of taking it down makes me realize we are almost completely past the baby stage forever. I'm going to stop there before I bring on a torrent of tears!

We're gearing up for Annah's birthday party this weekend! She is very excited, of course and will have two little friends along with us and Gram & Krampa. Her theme is "flying unicorns"--just like her costume for trick-or-treating, as always.

Fall Festival

Our church held it's annual Fall Festival tonight! The girls had mixed emotions about going...Annah was so excited she could barely contain herself, and Sylvia said at one point that she didn't want to go because she was afraid of the bouncer things. Well, let me tell you, we all had a good time! In fact, the inflatable bounce house was definitely the favorite 2 minutes of the night for all of us. Even Caeden managed to survive inside with 5 other kids and have fun! Jeremy and I just watched them jumping and laughing with such huge smiles on their faces, and we grinned and laughed right along.

This is the face of a boy who is trying very hard to completely take in his chaotic and exciting surroundings!

Pirates seemed to be a popular theme this year, and there were 3 great pirate-themed trunks decorated for Trunk 'R' Treating. Jeremy almost didn't make it past Pirate Scott!

If that basket were just a little lower...

Trunk 'R' Treating at Sponge Bob's trunk

 The games inside the sanctuary were also a big hit with our kiddos!

Wind Farm Construction Begins

 I drove right past the windmill construction today! Up until now, I haven't been brave enough to drive right through the areas because there is so much big equipment, but today the roads around it all were not barricaded or busy! Sylvia, Caeden, and I were just in awe!

It is just amazing how huge these things are!! They make the enormous cranes look like toys! If you look closely at this picture, you can see a truck off to the left that looks teeny-tiny next to the windmill. At the base of the windmill, there is a big door--which a man going in when we drove by.

There are now two windmills in this area that are fully assembled and have their blades on, but many of them have the rest of the tower pieces as well as the rotor and other gigantic parts lying near them right now. I just think it's all so interesting to watch!

Harvest "Helpers"

We spent all day at home today! Boy, was it nice! Jeremy worked outside all day, and now has all the whole back of the house covered with siding. It looks so nice with the new door and light too!

The farmers are harvesting the bean field behind our house this evening! Sylvia and Jeremy had their first combine ride ever with them, and Annah her second! (I tried loudly to wake Caeden from his nap so he could at least see the combine up close, but he was in a DEEP sleep and missed out.) It was a memorable experience...

 Farmer Scholl shows Sylvia and Annah how the soybeans pop out, and explains how the combine works.

Sylvia went back and forth about going in the combine until Daddy said he would go with them. Mommy wouldn't do; she needed to have her Daddy.

Ready to head out and harvest some soybeans!

unloading the beans after the combine bin was full

Escape Artist

Many days Sylvia does not feel like sleeping at naptime and plays in her room instead. So, I often have to holler up at her through the grate in the floor/ceiling several times to lay down and go to sleep, or even go upstairs and put her back to bed, discipline her, etc.

Today, I kept hearing noises of playing, but when I would stand under her grate, I wouldn't hear it anymore. I thought she was getting smarter or something...UNTIL...

I went upstairs after hearing noisy toys in the hallway and walking around. I got to the top of the stairs and noticed the door of Caeden's room was open. I couldn't believe she would go into his room and play while he was sleeping! BUT! She didn't! She was asleep, and CAEDEN had climbed out of his crib and was sitting on his floor playing--or "paying" as he said when he saw my shocked face. Great; now he can climb out of his crib. I see many adventures coming out of this...

Growing, Traveling, Moving

Caeden is TWO now!!!

We made a quick trip to Indiana Friday night. Jeremy helped his brother's family move into their new place, and we celebrated Caeden's 2nd birthday yesterday. Then we came back home today! It was a whirlwind, but we were so glad to get to go even for a little bit.

Caeden's 2nd Birthday Party

For about a month now, every time we've gone anywhere near a McDonald's (or anything that looks remotely like one!), Caeden has screamed out, "McDonald's! McDonald's!" So, we decided to have his birthday celebration at McDonald's.

 Grandpa watched Caeden be ecstatic about McDonald's.

Caeden's cake was really cool! He really likes Thomas, and his cake even had a wind-up Thomas that went around a track! (No, I definitely didn't make it.) Since we started talking about his birthday a couple weeks ago, we would ask him, "Caeden, are you going to have a birthday?!" and he would reply, "Thomas Train Cake!"

Aunt Erin discovered a great way to keep Caeden from running away!

 There is never a shortage of helpers when it comes time to open birthday presents. Everyone thought Caeden's new Jeep was super neato!

our crazy little crew

Caeden also received:

• the beginnings of a nice Thomas the Tank Engine collection: several trains, some track, and the water tower
• lots of great clothes and jammies
• a winter coat, hat and mittens
• a nifty yellow school bus with flashing lights that teaches letters, numbers, and more
• a toy semi-truck with an airplane
• an awesome steel Tonka dumptruck
• 2 Thomas DVD's
• several learning DVD's

Caeden says Thank You to everyone!!!

This is a kid who is very happy!

Caeden gives night night hugs to his Auntie Erin.

snuggles with Gram