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?) :)

I can't believe how big Frances is getting! She looks like she is so grown up in this picture! It was cool enough on Sunday morning to wear pants and a sweater. It warmed up quickly though as we went out on the boat that evening and Frances even got in the water! What a fish! Anyhow, on the way to Church Sunday morning Frances was playing with Lucy (remember that Lucy is the troll doll that lost her hair), anyhow, Lucy was looking pretty dirty so I handed Frances a wipe. She tucked the wipe into the hole on Lucy's head and said "Look mommy, Lucy got married". She had made a veil!
Today we had our friend Brayden over to do some painting! The kids made halloween paintings with their hands and feet. This one is a ghost made out of Brayden's feet.
This one is a spider made out of Frances' hands.
Then we went inside and made rice crispy bars! While I was turned around doing something else in the kitchen...Frances climbed up on the counter and started licking the spatula. She thinks she is so cute!

She coughed the other morning and I said "Where did that cough come from?" because she has not been sick lately. She stoically replied "from my mouth."

Frances received a raggedy ann doll from some nice lady that works at Red Gold. This is the same lady that gave her a mommy and baby puppy set last year. Those puppies have since changed identity numerous times. They are often lions and go by Mufasa and Simba. They do like to be dogs some of the time though.

This is yet another dog that has changed its identity and become a lion. This one goes by the name Nala. She is a runaway from Fort Madison, IA. She will be returned soon, not sure how she snuck into our car?
Frances and I had a busy day today. We got up early and walked a two mile walk for life for the Indiana Crisis Pregnancy Center. It was a lot of fun as I had three other good friends there to walk with. Plus they had free breakfast from Chick-Fil-A (no Barks Root Beer though Lisa)! Then we were off to the big city of Atlanta! Well, it is pretty big for one weekend a year anyhow. Atlanta is a very small town about 8 miles North of here. This weekend was the "New Earth Festival". There were lots of people, vendors, vendors, and people. We enjoyed an elephant ear together and just enjoyed an excuse to wander around outside on this beautiful September day. Pretty much the whole town is shut down to traffic and vendors lined the streets. Many people also had garage sales set up too. Frances found a little barbie type thing that she just had to have and I gave in. It is like a mini playground with three dolls. She was having such a great time playing with it! I never thought I would have barbies in my house but it looks like we will.
Here is a video of Frances attempting to say the ABC's.

Not much else is going on with us. I am attending a mom's Bible study on Thursday mornings and leading a group called Divorce Care for Kids on Thursday evenings. I have started to do a babysitting trade with a good friend on Tuesday's. I watch her two girls one week and she takes Frances the next. I have not decided how I want to spend my Tuesdays yet but look forward to the me time! I am also trying to stay up on my scrapbooking so hopefully I will be doing that once a week with some friends as well. And then I need to make sure I cook and clean and cook and clean.............................Got to keep my man happy!

Update on Mitch

Well, he got results from the Dr. and his rib is not cracked or broken. So why then does he seem to be in so much pain? Not sure. I hear that a bruised rib can often times be just as painful as a broken one. He also wonders if he maybe tore something like cartalige in that area. Not sure at this time if he is going to seek further treatment or just wait it out. I think he likes it. I have to mow, he had me change the oil in the car, he keeps coming up with more things that seem to bother him:) I just hope he doesn't catch the cold/sinus infection that I have this week. He says it is really painful to sneeze and sneeze I have been doing!

My Crazy Man Mitch

I forgot to mention that while I was on vacation Mitch called to tell me he "thinks" he has a concussion! This was on Wednesday night. He had not been to the Dr. but his mom told him to call me! He could not remember anything from the time of his wipeout on the wakeboard until they were putting the boat on the lift. He thinks he might have even had another ride on the wakeboard while out of it! So he called the ER and they said it sounded like he would live and not to worry to much. Needless to say, I did call him the next morning to make sure he wasn't in a coma. He was fine. Dull headache but mostly a full body ache. He was trying to do a 360 but supposedly went farther around and caught his front edge. OUCH! So I talked with him each day until I got home Saturday evening and he said he was doing alright. When I got home and gave him a hug he grimmaced. I asked what was hurting now. He said he thought he had a cracked rib. This is Saturday now and this would be from the same accident back on Wednesday. He went to the Dr. yesterday and had an x-ray. They said they would call today and give a report. Not sure why they couldn't just read it there but we will see. Not sure what they do for that but Mitch is bummed about boating being over for him. Last year it was his ear drum being ruptured about this time of year and now this. Hmmm? He is hoping that it won't interfere with hunting season! I will keep you posted!

Vacation Fun

Frances and I went on a week long voyage. We first stopped in Bradford, IL to stay with some of Mitchs' family. We had a great time seeing everyone. We swam, played cards, and scrapbooked! What a great weekend!

Then we headed on to Fort Madison, IA, where Mitch and I lived for three years. Fort Madison is home to the state federal penitentiary, the longest double-decker swing-span bridge, and the world's largest ice cream cone!

While we were there we got to visit with numerous friends from the past. Frances really enjoyed getting cozy on Steve and Connie's bed to watch the "doggie movie" (Homeward Bound).

Our friends the Brinkmans also came back to Fort Madison for the weekend (they moved away shortly after we did).

We all went to the Tri-State Rodeo on Thursday night. Frances was really into the rodeo and liked watching all the events. She sat on my lap and was pretty mesmerized the whole time! She wore her "rodeo" shirt! A colt is a horse! Go Colts!! We missed the opening season game for the rodeo (I did make it home to watch the last five minutes!) During the National Anthem a sky diver jumped out of a plane with the American Flag. It was a pretty cool thing to see!

The cotton Candy was a hit!




Frances and Kayleigh (I babysat her when she was only ten months old)!
Frances and Kally became good friends by the end of the weekend.

It was a six hour drive to get home on Saturday. When I pulled into the garage Frances said "Oh good job mommy, you made it home!"

Boating

Well, I haven't updated in a while as we have been on vacation (see next post). Here are some pictures from our last boating trip before Frances and I left town. We went up North to Lake Missessinewa with one of Mitch's coworkers.

Frances thought she was pretty funny by making "grape eyes".

Okay...I will be good!

What a girl! She didn't cry after the wipeout but she was done for the day!