All decked-out for playgroup!

The kids dressed-up in their costumes today for playgroup. Princess Rose Ella loved having a crown and kept taking it on and off. I stopped in the van to take this picture of her as for she had her crown on upside down and was reading about "babies" in her American Doll catalog.
This isn't the best picture but Walter loved being a miner too. His helmet was a big hit and he was proud to come walking in with his Thomas the train lunch box. They where eating a snack here ,it was fun to see the kids all dressed-up.

Lastly, I snapped this picture of Rose E sitting down with a dolly in the doll cradle. She started a trend after discovering she fit in it. As for the rest of the kids had to take their turns in it too then. She has been adding more and more words to that vocabulary of hers and putting words together such as "light on" and yesterday when Jeff left she said "door" as he was leaving and then once he left she said sadly "Daddy gone."
Walter is cracking us up with his grown-up phrases too such as "you've got to be kidding me" and " Mama what's new with you?" He has discovered Scooby Doo at our library and loves the stories since they are scary but always end up to be someone else playing a trick. Anyway, the other day he came-up to me and said "mama can we make-up a story about Scooby Dooby?" Oh and he was wearing a shirt that according to him said "old Naby's" (Old Navy):)

Another fun day!

Today Jeff and Walter went on another Ranger adventure. They rode about 100 miles in Iron county Michigan, and Florance county, Wisconsin. This bridge in the picture is on the border of Wisconsin and Michigan. Walter got to see his favorite things: old train bridges
mining buildings, depots

and to top it off he got to eat lunch in an old train passenger car in Iron River, Michigan!

He was one happy boy and at the restaurant had to order his own meal.

This is the outside of the restaurant.

Rose E and I did the girl thing, we went shopping though I missed my boys, it was nice to have one on one time with her.

Hats off to these kids (well and hats on too)!

Hats are still the hot commodity in this house, especially with Rose E. She slept with this one last night and wore it all morning. Oh and speaking of hats, today as we where leaving to do some shopping Walter told me "one time my hat came off when out I was outside and the wind got in mine ears because it was curious about mine ears." What a goof! Oh and while we are on the subject of "mine"(Walter always says mine instead of my) I noticed today that Rose E is now picking-up on some of Walter's phrases. The kids have been playing a lot with flashlights and I heard her say "mine light" to Walter. Some of her other new words have been " a snack?(which Walter also is known to say)" "lady" and she also handed me her cup yesterday and said "more, thirsty." This kid is getting too big too fast. Just within the past couple of days she has outgrown more of her clothes. Lately too where ever we go (playgroup, church, shopping) people are just amazed at how fast she has changed from a baby to a little girl! Sometimes it just seems as though they are going to be this little for ever, but then when I stop and reflect from a year ago it just amazes me at how fast it really does go!

Speaking of being amazed, you never know what is going to be the source of entertainment with this kid! A couple of weeks ago he found these dried-up containers of glitter glue and he has just been fascinated with them (glue, glitter and tape have been crafting favorites of his lately). Anyway, two weeks ago he said next time we see Grandma "I am bringing these with to show her" (before that point I was going to sneak them into the garbage but after that I knew I'd hear about it if I did) anyway, today he spent about an hour put zing with them making a "holder and a slide" with tape and decorating the tape all for Grandma. We even had to "make-up" a story about them. While we are on the story subject too, the puppets have also been a big hit in his world. I don't know how many puppet shows we have had lately, it is so much fun watching that imagination at work and Rose E has gotten into it a little too putting them on her hands and even pretending to do things such as have the puppet eat.

The creation of George!

This was our entertainment tonight! The kids had quit the reaction as Jeff opened the pumpkin-up. Rose E started to cry when she saw the pumpkin guts and I took Walter's shirt off so that he could help scoop it out but it was too messy. He took out two seeds and than asked for a napkin (he hates having his hands dirty).

However it was a different story once they started to carve. Walter asked about a million questions and talked a mile a minute. He had his dinosaur puppet watching and it said "this is the best pumpkin I've ever seen."
And so they named the best pumpkin a dinosaur has ever seen "George." I tried to bake the pumpkin seeds but they didn't turn out the best. I think next year I will try to make them a little differently, flavoring them-up before I bake them. I was surprised though because Walter ate more of them than we did.

George enjoying his can of dew on the porch!

Scary things that go bump in the night.

Tonight we took the kids on the spooky train ride at the museum. We weren't sure if we where going to take Walter at first because he has been afraid of scary things lately but it involved the train so he said he wanted to go. They did pretty good, of course a few things where scary but it was worth the train ride for the two of them. This picture is of Rose E watching the smoke from the steam engine. Oh and speaking of being afraid, Rose E now is beginning to be afraid of certain things. The other night I put her down to sleep and she started to scream in her room, I went to see what was wrong (thinking she'd say "up," pick me up) and she pointed to the shadows on her ceiling. I showed her how she could make her fingers move to make more shadows and at first she was amused but after awhile it was bye bye to the nightlight casting them. What is it with those shadows? Walter won't let me put a certain light on in his room either at night because according to him "it makes shadows and I (he) tried to talk them (the shadows) saying to go away but they wouldn't listen so I (he) gave-up talking to them." I keep explaining that they are not alive but there's just something about them that creates uncertainty.
Back to the train ride....the kids where able to dress-up in their Halloween costumes so here is a sneak peak. Walter chose to be a miner (because the miners get the copper for the trains). If you look closely he is carrying a Thomas lunch box too. Rose E is going to be Princess Rose Ella (I guess their is a movie starring the barbie doll princess Rose Ella but we haven't seen it yet). We decided to hold off on the dress in fear that it would get dirty on the train though. Oh and speaking of trains, yesterday as the kids where heading down the steps Walter decided to pretend that they where a train, so he started to say "choo choo" and Rose E said "choo choo no no whoo whoo." She certainly is starting to get a little mind of her own these days!


Today Walter also found this dinosaur puppet in the basement while we where trading out toys and then we just had to have the puppet theatre too. It has been so much fun listening to that imagination roll! Here Bob the Builder and his crew built a new school, football field and train tracks leading to the school. Then the dinosaur rode to the school in the train.

Rose E is all about those hats and jewelry lately. She likes to dress us up too. Isn't that hat becoming of Jeff?

Last but not least the other day I set-up mini water tubs for the kids to play in. They had a blast. In fact Rose E was upset when it was time to call it quits and eat some lunch. She was definitely into the dumping and pouring and kept saying "spoon." By the time she was done she had about ten spoons to play with.

Walter on the other hand stirred up his bubbles to make "apple soup" and also did a little fishing.

Off off and away!

This is what Walter has been up too for the entire week( I can't believe this kids attention span sometimes, he has literally been at this creation for hours)! It started out as an airplane that he made with some of the packaging from my Birthday presents and over the days it has grown and grown (there even has been more added since this picture last night). If you look closely their is a runway, a stop and go light and a tall airport too. A few times he has mentioned that he's thinking of flying it outside, but I don't know I think that we would have more than just one thing flying in our yard if he did!

I also brought out these blocks since Rose E likes to stick toys inside of toys and they come with sticks that attach them together, anyway they have become little pizza's and this is a picture of all of the place settings at their picnic. Their was even a place setting for Walter's friend Cyrus and for Grandma, oh and they had very interesting ingredients in them such as apple, chocolate and pepperoni. Anyway, that night I decided to have Walter help me make a real homemade pizza then and no it didn't have chocolate or apples but I did have to laugh because he was telling others that he put ring bologna on it (I can't imagine what they thought of that, he must have thought the Canadian bacon looked like ring bologna).

Just within the past couple of days Rose E has said several new words. This evening I even heard her say "uh oh something fell down." Some other new words have been "broccoli," "brr" "moo, and"Owie." I had to smile because yesterday she was pushing something around pretending it was a car and when Walter was in her way she said "beep beep." Oh and speaking of cars, this evening I was cleaning my kitchen while they where running from room to room making car noises and pretending to be Dale Earnhart and Jeff Gordon. Anyway, I sat down and glanced at the newspaper and Walter said "mama did you run out of gas?"

More Birtday celebrations!

It's been all about celebrating my Birthday this weekend. On Friday we went out to eat, Rose E pretended that her food was a train, drove it around and then got in the brake sound effects when it was time to eat it. (Her latest thing too has been "hot" as soon as she gets it to her mouth she says "hot.".) When we finished the meal Jeff said "I'm all done" and Walter said "me too I ate a million things." Then on Saturday we went to Tomahawk to celebrate mine and my Aunt Sherrie's Birthdays. We took a hay ride and in the pictures we made a stop and the kids played on this playground. Speaking of Wisconsin, Walter is starting to pick-up on my huh instead of the yooper eh at the end of a sentence. I guess I didn't realize how much I say it until he started to say it too. Rose E is just on a kick with those words too and answering me when I ask her things sometimes. The other night I put her to bed and she wasn't too happy about being in her crib and thrust her body down hitting her cheek on the bars of the crib. Anyway, when she woke-up in the morning it was bruised and I said "what happened under your eye, how did you get that mark" and she said "fall down." Little smarty! Some of her other new words have been "outside", "more","box," "dance" (when she hears music now she says "dance" and then starts bopping around) and "apple sauce."

A picture of Rose E with her cousin Colton and Auntie Jenny.

Another snapshot of Colton.

And last but not least a picture of monkey boy, Walter and Grandma. Calling him monkey boy reminds me that he has been naming things Walter lately. Mostly toys and today even a rock. He will say "I am Walter and this is Walter too." Then he will say something like "shh be quite the Walter rock or frog or dinosaur is going to sleep (but of course it's never the real Walter cauz he never gets tired). "