Smiles

My Nephew and His New Toy!

I love to take pictures and I love to see people smile. I mean really smile, not that fake smile we give when we want others to think we're okay. I have totally dedicated this blog to God and one of the things I want to share with my readers is a smile! So I am going to be on the lookout for anything that I can photograph that I think would make someone else happy! If you have a picture you would like to share with me for my blog feel free and I will post it for you! Don't worry I will give you the credit! There can never be too much happiness, so if you need a smile look under my label of Smiles and I hope you will find one!

Smiles,

Nikki!

Pumpkins!

It's Pumpkin Carving Time! Daddy is the master carver in our house, so it was up to him to turn our pumpkins into masterpieces. Pie Pie decided she wanted Pikachu on her pumpkin. She drew a very nice likeness on her pumpkin and then Daddy started in on the carving!



Pie Pie stuck around and helped separate the seeds from the goo. She said she liked the feeling of the goo. I actually did too. The pumpkin turned out to be a pretty good likeness of Pikachu!

The it was Pants' turn to make a decision on what she wanted her pumpkin to be. She originally wanted her Aunt. It's the only Aunt that starts with a "D". I won't post your whole name, but you know who you are! I would take it as a compliment, I did when she made her sticker pumpkin into me! Daddy was not up for that kind of challenge, so he decided on Psychduck instead. Did you catch the Pokemon theme?! Pants lost interest pretty quickly and left Daddy all alone to finish carving her pumpkin.

When it got dark later we turned off all the lights and lit the candles in the pumpkins.

Daddy did a pretty good job, didn't he?! My favorite part was eating the roasted pumpkin seeds! Yummy, Crunchy, Salty and Good! All that's missing is chocolate and caramel! 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Tricky Monkeys

We like to have some Halloween fun at our house. This year my girls decided to dress-up like monkeys. I got on Ebay and started looking for their costumes. I found them, Pie Pie approved of them and I ordered them. Yeah! I thought my work was done. Not so fast, when they arrived my girls tried them on. Pant's costume fit perfectly, but Pie Pie's was a bit lacking in the length of the arms and legs. Not so Yeah! I was pretty sure Pie Pie wasn't planning on shrinking before Halloween. If anything she has more growing to do! I had a call to make. I called up my good friend to fix it. She is the same friend who made our costumes in an earlier post called South Bend Blue Sox vs. The Racine Belles. It was an easy fix and they both ended up looking very cute. They added bows and clips to make their costumes more girlie.

We participate in a Safe Halloween at my Mother-in-law's work. She works at a retirement community. We all had fun visiting the Grandmas and Grandpas.

They showed off their monkey costumes and smiles! They got lots of candy! At the end they took a break to play some checkers!

Now you can tell all your friends you've seen a monkey playing checkers! By the way, if you want any candy we will share with you! It's driving me crazy! I want to eat it all!

Under Construction:Roller Coasters

Sneak Peek!

We were invited to be a part of a Science Fair at Lighthouse Learning Homeschool Co-op! The theme Is Wierd Science! I knew right away what Pie Pie would want to do! Roller Coasters! She loves them! We got right to work. We requested some books and movies from the library and she got started on her model of a roller coaster. This is just a sneak peek, I'm not going to give too much away. We have also just started on this project so there is a lot more learning to do!

The beginning of the Roller Coaster!

Pie Pie is also designing a Roller Coaster of her very own! She plans to have this built one day! Here's a picture of what two of the cars will look like. They are the Fluffy and the Sweetie!

Here's a quick fact for you! Roller Coasters started in Russia in the 1400's or 1500's. They started as ice sledding. The hills were up to seventy feet tall, very steep and were covered with snow and ice! I got this fact from a book we are reading called Roller Coasters or I Had So Much Fun, I Almost Puked by Nick Cook.

There's more Roller Coaster fun to come so visit again soon!

4th Annual Corn Maze Day

The last couple of years we have gotten together with my parents and my brother's family to have a special Fall day. My Mom plans everything! She even sends out invitations!

My Marvelous Mom!

My Super-Awesome Dad!

It starts out with a trip to a local Corn Maze. The big girls have fun trying to answer the questions that are supposed to help you through the maze. Notice I said supposed to! Someone didn't do their research properly and some of the answers were wrong! (Sorry to rat out the corn maze people!)

The younger kids like to take turns riding in the wagon, pulling the wagon and running around. The adults just try to keep up with the kids!

At the end of the maze you get a yummy apple to eat!

There was a Hay Maze.

The slide was fun as well!

When we got back to my parents' house there was some crafts and Monster Bingo!

My mom fed us some yummy dinner and then on to Pumpkin Decorating! We use stickers so everyone can participate. Less mess too!

Pants and her pumpkin decorated like me! Sunglasses included!

Pie Pie and her Puppy Pumpkin!

Then my Mom pulled out her Trick or is it a Treat!



For dessert we had Dirt! My mom went all out with individual pots and flowers. She tricked Pants and my nephew. They thought it was real dirt and worms. Pants was quite frightened to watch me eat a "real" worm.

Pants got the treat in the end. Pudding, Cookies and Gummy Worms. Yummy!

We all had a great time and want to thank my parents for the fun we had! Good Luck coming up with more Tricks and Treats next year! I can't imagine a better day!

Riding Mr. Diesel

I'm not going to post about every riding lesson. I could if I wanted, this is my blog! But I'll just do the ones that I feel are important! This was her third lesson and she got to ride a different horse. She was very excited! She had been waiting to ride a new horse.

Diesel

She started out the lesson riding Archie with Miss Heather, her trainer, riding Diesel. She got to trot, on Archie, all on her own at this lesson. Near the end of the lesson she got her chance to ride Diesel. I asked Pie Pie what the difference between the two horses was and she said, "Diesel's a bit bumpier when you trot.".

Archie

We got a chance to walk around the farm and meet some of the other horses. Of course, I took pictures!

I've never been the kind of girl who likes horses, but they are starting to grow on me. I helped brush Diesel and Wesley came right up behind me and started nuzzling me!

My new friend Wesley!

Pants and I took turns petting Knick-Knack too!

Pants and Knick-Knack


I don't think I'll ever be a full-fledged horse lover, but I am definitely a horse liker!

Pretty Pink Stroller

The other day I wanted to make a quick trip to the drug store to pick something up. Anyone who has younger children knows that a quick trip anywhere is pretty much impossible. We did get ready to go pretty quick. Part of getting ready is deciding what to take with you. They always have to take something! Pants decided she had to take her toy stroller. I'm thinking, "Really! You have to take that!". I tried to talk her out of bringing it, but she was determined.

 I was afraid of being embarrassed or hassled with the added item we had to bring. But then I thought, "I want to be the cool mom for my kids.". It was going to make Pants happy to bring the stroller. So, we brought the stroller.

You know what? It wasn't that bad! Pie Pie helped get the stroller in and out of the car and Pants had a great time pushing it around the store. We even put a couple smiles on the other customers' faces!

Sometimes you SHOULD give in to your kids! In the end it made me happy too!

The Blue Bracelet Challenge

My Blue Bracelet

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13

If you get a chance to read my blog regularly you already know that I've been reading Beth Moore's book titled Believing God. In the book there is a challenge to help you draw closer to God. You can pick pretty much anything do do as long as in doing it you are improving your closeness to God. To help you remember your challenge you wear a blue bracelet daily.   
I chose to read my Bible twice every day. I am still working on my challenge. Some days I remember and some days I don't. It's not about being perfect because nobody is. It's about improvement.
You are supposed to wear your bracelet until what you've challenged yourself to do becomes a habit or you feel comfortable taking it off. My bracelet will probably get moldy and fall off before I take it off. ( I like a visual reminder.) I'll just have to make a new one when that happens!

History Stop:Jamestown

Pie Pie and I are learning about American History this year. We started out with the first Americans, the Native Americans and are currently working on the first successful American settlement. If you haven't figured out what that is, it is Jamestown. Pie Pie was very interested in making a project which I will feature on this blog post.
The project she picked is a land map of Jamestown. We got the idea out of a book, I'm just not sure which one. First you start off with a large piece of wood. Then you paint it. The land is green.

Add blue for water and brown for Jamestown. Jamestown was a triangle-shaped town. With only 3 sides it was easier to defend and it quicker to build the walls around. 3 walls instead of 4 equals less building!



Then Pie Pie added on the white roads.



The clay came next. Pie Pie built a wall of clay around Jamestown. She also built a canoe and some houses.

Then we got the paint back out. She painted the wall brown. She also painted her houses and canoe.

We added some trees and horses to the final product.

Pants had fun painting and playing with Play-Doh while Pie Pie worked on her project.

This was a project Pie Pie picked out and was very excited to accomplish! She had a lot of fun while working on it and was very proud when she finished!