Look Ma! No Training Wheels

We took lots of video of the kids learning to ride their bikes without training wheels. To our amazement they both took off on the first tries. Scott held onto them and ran behind like dads are supposed to but then they went off on their own. Clay was hurt and flipped out for awhile but he soon recovered. Emmie had a bit of trouble turning. She was attracted to obstacles like a magnet.

The broken pot in the background is actually not from a bike crash. We had a big wind storm and had yet to find a replacement pot. It would make for a good story though.

We are planning on teaching the kids how to rollerskate soon. I only hope it will go this smoothly.

Little Weirdos

Photog Clay

Clay took a lovely picture of me. This was the best of the 30 he took. I thought I would share it with you all.

Oooops!

It was pretty early in the morning and it seemed like the kids were still sleeping. I thought they had adjusted to the time change very quickly. What a relief! I went into the kitchen to find this little disaster all over the floor and the Clay desparately trying to sweep it into the dust pan. Emmie was looking on with pleasure because she knew he was going to get it. When they saw me they both took off leaving pink footprints through the kitchen and into Clay's bedroom. Clay just wanted to make a glass of strawberry Quick and didn't want to bother me. I'm so glad I found the mess before they started mopping it up with water and towels!

Trailer Party

Clay went to the trailer with Scott to check it out to see what it will take to make it clean enough for me to want to sleep in it. Used trailers are like used underwear no matter how nice! While they were down there Clay explored around and found the bathroom. Later that night Clay told me, "Ha! Ha! I peed in the trailer potty!" I told him Dad was going to be mad. When Emmie heard that she jumped up and ran to tattle. She hurried and told Scott the juicy gossip she had just heard, "Clay said he had a trailer party!" She really thought she had gotten Clay this time. They love each other so much they will shove the other under the bus just to have a little fun at the other sibling's expense.

Arresting Officer

Emmie and Clay took turns arresting us. Emmie was more gentle. Clay slapped the cuffs on like he meant it. Ouch! Emmie told us we were arrested until she counted to 3 so it wasn't too bad. She was very serious and played her part well.

Emmie Ready for the Rain

Emmie bought pink rain boots with white polka-dots and a bright pink umbrella with green polka-dots just in time for the season's first big rainstorm. Pink makes everything better!

Emmie, Sooooo Happy!

Emmie loves Pixie Sticks. They are a little sour for her but that doesn't stop her from enjoying them. She doesn't say it's sour but says it's "spicy!"
Look how happy a little straight sugar makes our pink leopard.

Clay's Goofy Smiles

I can always get Clay to pose for a picture by telling him I will take a picture just so HE can see how he looks. It works every time. He loves to see himself on the camera. He had lots of fun trying on funny teeth and smiling for us. The red lips are wax. He had a few of them but he kept biting through them before I could get a picture. I took this one just in the nick of time.

Trick or Treating

Morgan 1 1/2, Madelyn 4, Clay 4, Emmie 5

We went trick or treating in Ione with our friends after the Trunk or Treat. It was a fairly warm night and it started out dry. Then the rains came and went throughout the rest of the evening. Each wave of rain soaked us more than the one before. The kids seemed to enjoy it even more because of the rain. They were all very brave this year. Emmie and Madelyn kept saying, "I hope I'm dreaming!" when they went to an extra scary house. Clay pooped out first. He was exhausted by 8:30 and I had to carry him. Emmie and Madelyn wanted to keep going and stopped at all the promising houses on the way back to the cars. Actually Scott pooped out long before any of the rest of us did. I imagine Clay will be carrying Dad back to the car in about 5 years.

Every year so far that we have been out trick or treating with the kids, they have fallen asleep on the way home. This time even though they were exhausted they stayed awake. Well, Emmie did. Here they are pretending to be so tired they fell asleep instantly upon getting in the car. See those little smirks on their faces? Clay actually was asleep a few minutes after this.

Trunk or Treat

We went to the church for the annual Trunk or Treat. The kids ran around with Madelyn. Emmie and Clay played bean bag toss and bowled for prizes. Then we trunk or treated to the cars in the parking lot. It was pretty small this year since it was on Halloween. Most people stayed home to pass out candy from their houses. Emmie and Clay had fun anyway.

Emmie wanted her face pink with white whiskers. Clay wanted a moustache and beard. Mom wanted him to have chest hair like Dad. Clay was all for that! I went as a last minute rabbit with ears from Emmie's dress-up box and Scott went as a republican. Shockingly we did not win any costume contests.

The Case of the Missing Pizza

Clay really wanted pizza for dinner before we went out trick or treating. They had a special pizza that looked like a jack 'o lantern...sort of. We also bought the cheesy pizza breadsticks. I put them in the fridge until dinner time but when I went to bake the breadsticks they were missing. It was so weird. I walked all over the house looking for them thinking I was losing my mind. Finally I asked Clay if he knew anything about it and he said he put the breadsticks under the computer. I have no idea what he was thinking. It had been sitting out all day but we cooked it anyway. We all survived.

Carving Jack O Lanterns

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. It was really REALLY windy so we had to take it in the garage. The wind added to the spooky effect whistling through the manzanita on the other side of the driveway. It made the typical "woooooo" sound you'd expect from a ghost!

The kids insisted on taking their shirts off to scoop out the goo. I wanted one year where the kids weren't partially naked. This year was a great improvement over last year however.

The kids picked out designs from a book and we taped them on the pumpkins and scored them. Then we took the paper patterns off and tried to make sense of the markings to carve them out. It's a little tricky taking a flat pattern and trying to trace it onto a round pumpkin. Clay wanted a monster which fit best on his short round pumpkin. Emmie wanted a flying ghost that seemed to fit well on her tall skinny pumpkin. They turned out all right but I like the ones they designed themselves.

Pumpkin Carving

Emmie and Clay each picked out a pumpkin for their own carving design. Emmie drew a sweet little face and Scott cut it out for her. Clay scribbled a crazy design and I had to try and cut it out for him. They were fairly proud of their accomplishments.

With the time change occurring after Halloween this year it wasn't dark enough to light them with candles by the time we left for our Halloween festivities. By the time we came home Clay was asleep and everything outside was drenched from the rain. We will never know how they would have looked with candles but they were cute nonetheless.