Grandma Jean bought a swing for the kids and wanted to put it up somewhere in the yard. Unfortunately, there aren’t any good tree branches for it to attach to but we winged it.
Katie was the only one able to swing on it—Grandma Jean and I were going to except it was a little too low and Owen tried but wasn’t serious about it and kept “falling” off.
So the swing wasn’t a huge success…as a swing…but Gramma saw the positive and said “At least I bought them a frisbee on a rope!” 🙂
I guess that’s what happens when a small town theater gets a big movie on the opening day (Secret Life of Pets) and the weather is questionable (it was supposed to storm and it was getting dark and windy). As a sidenote, Owen completely freaked out about the weather and wanted to go home. We are not sure how or why he has become so freaked out about weather.
Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to see the movie—there were so many people that by the time we made it in to look for seats there were none available (definitely not six together and pretty much only single seats here and there—people were even sitting in the aisles and on the steps). So we got our money back and decided to go another day.
Grandma arrived and picked Katie up to hug her.
Gramma: I’m going to squeeze you until you fart.
Katie [obviously] didn’t fart.
Katie: Grandma, you couldn’t fart me!
Grauntie Marge wears a wig, but didn’t have it on yet first thing in the morning. After she put it on:
Katie: You have your big hair on!
Demonstrating his newly-learned martial arts moves to Uncle Rob via Skype:
Owen, pointing to Katie: Katie, be my assistant.
She eagerly got up and threw some punches and blocked some punches.
Katie: Do your feet kicks!
We were shopping at Nordstrom Rack and Katie was checking out the mannequins, lifting up the dresses—and she saw that there weren’t actual legs (they were just metal rods).
Katie: Mama! The mannequin has leg poles!
Katie: Mama, why are you wearing a belt?
Me: Because my pants are too big and the belt keeps them from falling down.
Katie: You could just wear comfy pants!
We were all in the car and Katie was trying to describe what she just saw flying.
Me: A bird.
Katie: No. It was white.
Me: A bird.
Katie: No. It had feathers.
Me: A bird.
Katie: No.
Owen: A goose.
Me: A goose is a bird.
Owen: A waterproof bird!
I laughed so hard over that that I actually cried. 🙂
Owen was reading Wimpy Kid.
Owen: “It was an 80 picture of Uncle Charlie.”
Me: What? Let me see.
He shows me—its “8 X 10.”
Owen: 8 times 10 is 80.
❤️ this kid.
This was from 5/4 but I just got the pics Gramma Jean took. 🙂 She was surprised at how quickly he finished it.
Complete with braids (and a few curls!) by Gramma!
I brought Gramma today to pick up Katie and wait for Owen… Swings are Katie’s favorite and she had fun competing with Gramma!
Katie wanted three pony tails from Gramma this morning! Then Gramma even curled one of them!
What did we make?! CITY CHICKEN!!!! It’s a bit of work so I’ve never made it but my mom made it off and on when I was growing up and it’s a favorite!. She’s here visiting so we made it together today. 🙂
Of course, Katie had to help, too.
She did pretty good until the last piece she couldn’t get on the stick…and she wasn’t too happy (as you can see on her face).
What is city chicken, you may be asking? Breaded, fried, and baked skewered pieces of veal and pork. It looks like chicken legs—like non-farm “city” people might have. Apparently way back when, veal and pork were also cheaper than chicken so it was a faux chicken. It’s DELISH. (Similar recipe to ours here.)
Tom took Dave and mom to the Pentagon and to see the Capitol. Unfortunately it was a yucky, rainy day.
Katie’s first experience with a curling iron! She LOVED it!
I took her on my trail walk! 🙂
And then mom posted this old picture on Facebook so I did this:
Look at all the gray hair!! On both of us!! 🙂
My mom found this in about 13 seconds. I could have looked for days and not found it.
Owen reading his homework to Grauntie Marge and Katie beating Gramma Jean at her favorite game!
She loves her outfit, Gramma Jean. Now we just have gold glitter from one end of the house to the other.
I had to ship something to Gramma Jean in Florida so I asked Katie if she wanted to draw a picture to send. I got an immediate and emphatic YES!! She raced to the drawing table and did this.
As she drew the first body, she says “A potato!” 🙂 Then she continued drawing and talking: “Two eyes. Two ears. Two arms.” It was so cute.
“Another potato!”
And if you look closely you’ll also see belly buttons. 🙂
And sharing them, too!
We Skyped with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David today to have the kids open their presents! They loved everything, but the hats seemed to be the big hit!
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Yes, it’s a rock. Yes, Katie already has three real phones to play with. She LOVES it. Kids are funny.
She actually slept with it last night and found it under her pillow this morning!
In a hand-me-down dress from the Beson cousins.
Wearing Gramma Jean’s lobster hat!
Katie wanted Elsa hair so Gramma did the best he could since Katie doesn’t really have enough hair for a French braid. Katie was thrilled!
And then Papa and Grannie came over to say goodbye…and brought nutty donuts!
