A few more pictures

Frances has been enjoying days that she can just stay inside in her pj's and play with her animals. She really enjoys lining her "friends" up on the fireplace.

Frances also enjoyed getting out in the snow with her daddy to make a snowman. Mommy opted to stay in and take pictures through the window:)

Frances thought paint was for her hands. this picture was taken while talking on the phone to my mom. It was so Gramma JoJo could see what an "angel" Frances was being.

Birthday Bash

Well, Frances is three! I can't believe how fast it has all gone. We had a double birthday party yesterday with our friend Brayden who turned three on Friday. It was a good time for all despite the snow and ice outside. Brayden had a cake from the movie Cars and Frances had M&M's.

The kids had a great time playing and eating from 4:00 until 10:00! I can't belive she made it that long but believe me, we payed for it later! Let's just say that turning three did not miraculously make her sleep through the night! Or take away any crabbiness! She received many great gifts and we look forward to playing with them over the next couple of weeks while we are on vacation! Next it is off to see all the family for Christmas. December birthday's can be so confusing as Frances said "Santa brought me my birthday presents!" Hopefully we can get her straightened out!

Parenting advice

So I talked with my friend Lisa the other day. Just catching up as it had been awhile. She was sharing with me that her son is now in a big boy bed. I asked how she kept him in as we continue to struggle with Frances at bedtime. I wholly respect Lisa and think she is a great parent with wonderful strategies so was anxious for the answer. She said her son sleeps with numerous stuffed animals and was told that if he got out of bed she would take some away. He tried it once and was devastated. I was very skeptical I will admit. But as I said, I trust Lisa so I thought, why not try it. Frances LOVES her stuffed animals and usually has at least one in her bed. So last night I am putting her to bed and she wants all sorts of animals, I am thinking "yes! this is going to help me out!". Kisses and hugs, sing a song and good night. Well, I look down the hallway when I hear a little noise and what do I see? The monkey I played with when I was two is literally peeking out the door. No Frances, just the monkey. So I go and talk with Frances and tell her that she needs to stay in bed or I will take her animals. She doesn't even rush back to bed with fear like I think she should. So I say...do you want me to take your monkey away? She says "yes". I say do you really want me to take your monkey and put it up where you can't get it anymore? She says "yes". So I take it. Back in bed. In a minute or so she comes out again and I just go and take all her animals away. She doesn't care. Then daddy came home, went in and talked to her and she never came back out. What next Lisa?

P.S.
Mitch does not always have this power over her as she can be just as disobedient to him. He just got lucky:)

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Flashback to the past month and a half!

I have obviously been a pretty busy person as I have severly neglected to update my blog since mid October! I hope you all can forgive me. Since so much has happened I will try to keep it brief but here it goes...

Frances thought it was pretty fun to be like Mya!

We went to the Children's Museum with our friends Sam and Caelyn. Frances liked the couch potato best...go figure!

Halloween was fun! Frances was a cat (again, different costume). Mitch passed out candy. We (the moms) went trick or treating with a group of friends and then home to play and run off some of that sugar!

We went to South Dakota for a week. We stopped in MN to see our niece and nephew that are expecting their first baby in Feb. Frances really liked their rabbit named Gunther. At gramma JoJo's house she liked playing with her cows. Mitch enjoyed hunting with Mya (and my brother went a little too).

Frances and I raked the leaves and it made a HUGE pile! This was only half of the yard too!

Over Thanksgiving brought our friends dog "Bella" with us to Illinois. Mitch and a bunch of other guys enjoyed hunting with both dogs!

And now it is time for the Christmas season to begin! We got out all our decorations and have begun playing the Christmas music.

Thanks for putting up with my "brief" description of the past month and a half!

New Desk!

Hurray! I finally got the desk I have been wanting for a really long time! We have been researching and hunting for the right sized roll top desk with all the right compartments. Thanks to my friend Lori emailing me about an ad she saw...this is what we got! It is beautiful and really is what we wanted but for over half the cost of new. Unfortunately, it brought with it the smell of cigarette smoke. I have been working hard to get rid of it but it is still there. I know it is getting better but then again, maybe we are just getting used to it. If anyone has any advice post it in a comment! I will be checking back! So far I have tried washing it down good with Murphy's Oil Soap and then again with Orange Glow Cleaner. I have put baking soda out and last night tried cotton balls soaked in vanilla.

Happy Birthday!

Today is one of my greatest friends' birthday! Happy 30th Dionne! Here is a special gift from Frances!

Frances informed me this morning that she wanted to watch the "doggie movie" so I told her she needed to say "mommy may I watch the doggie movie please". Her reply was "yes you can and I will watch it with you! She is pretty sharp for only 7:30 am!

Perspective

Which looks like more?

They both have 30! I am now a chocolate lover because 30 M&Ms looks like a lot less! At my Mom's Bible Study this week each gal brought me something with 30! I got pencils, paper, stickers, snickers, foreign money, and more. It was fun!

I tried to be young and "trendy" by getting some new glasses. I put them on for Mitch when I got home and said "what do you think?" He replied "you look like a teacher." Well, I don't know about the rest of you but my first thought of a teacher is one that is near retirement! I had to change my thoughts to be that of a teacher starting her first year at the mere age of 22! Much better! I am not in many photos so here I am with my new "trendy" glasses!

For those of you who haven't seen me in a while you might notice that the fall color has arrived! :)

act your age!

Here are a few things I have been up to lately...

I attempted to grow watermelons this year. They were to be the personal sized ones but I didn't water them enough and they never got very big. Here is the biggest one. It did have a watermelon taste, there just wasn't enough to even bother cutting up! Mya liked it:)

I have also been trying to get crafty like my sister Kathi and make my own cards! These are my first two attempts. Hopefully they will get more creative! They were fun though because I am so excited about my new toy that puts the eyelets on them! (how is that for acting my age?)

Frances and I decorated the front of our house this week. We put these cool plastic things on our windows. Pretty neat when we turn on the orange porch light at night! We also put up cobwebs and fake spiders! Don't have to do that inside, they are natural!

pumpkin patch

Well, last weekend we went to Stony Creek Farms to get a pumpkin. It was a lot of fun. Frances got to hang out with her friend Brayden too! Looking cool with Daddy!

The "kiddiepillar" was a favorite!

Playing ring toss with Daddy.

Climbing on the hay with Daddy.

Sitting at the top of the hay pile and trying "not" to smile. It is the perfect way to get her to laugh!

Can you tell that she had fun with her daddy?

Frances loves Monsers Inc. so this was a fun pose. She didn't want to put her face in it though, there was no picture on the back, how boring mom! That is Frances once again "not smiling" Such a silly girl!

Riding on the pumpkin train and the pony. The pony by far was the favorite! Any chance Santa will bring her one?

The hayride to the pumpkin patch and then finally...the perfect little pumpkin for my little pumpkin!

Fall Fancies

Frances and Caelyn had a good time painting on Tuesday. They were wearing bibs to keep their shirts clean (and it worked)! We did the hand spiders again but no feet today as I was the only adult! I am crazy but there is a line:)This is one of my after halloween clearance items from last year. Frances thinks it is the greatest thing. She likes to make it hug her and notice it is holding her puppy, I mean lion, Simba. Caelyn did not like it at all. We worked on desensitising her and she at least gave it a name. She called it the daddy pumpkin. Apparently she has been talking about the daddy pumpkin quite a bit since going home! These are just some roses that I have been growing this year. This is the third or fourth time they have bloomed. This is the first time they weren't fighting off japanese beetles.
I was thinking about cutting them and pretending they were from Mitch! Haha! My pink ones will open up in the next day or two. Such fun! Who knew I would take to horticulture? (that is the word for gardening isn't it?) :)