TFFAAo

Der Tothfae

I thing that I swoloud my tooth.

Love, Madison

(followed by a sketch of the tooth fairy)

I can't believe the tooth fairy these days. This is the second letter Madison has written to the tooth fairy in place of an actual tooth and she still got a dollar!

Surprise!

Derrick's officially an old fart! (Not really, but it's fun to tease him!) He got to spend his birthday hunting with a friend and when we came home, we surprised him with a small party with friends. Man that was a lot of candles on one cake! (Good thing for me he doesn't bother with candles on my birthday.)

We were fortunate to have Lucas and Kelly's family visit with us this past weekend. We actually didn't DO too much. The kids had a great time playing and we did get to the Corn Maize and took them to Red Robin for dinner on Friday night.

Aliya loved the cow ride while others enjoyed the slides, mind puzzles, duck races and of course the maize itself. It's always a fun fall event!
Aliya was so torn because she couldn't possibly carry all the corn she found on the ground. She sure tried though.

Last week, I got to take Breanne on a date. She experienced her first strawberry malt from Dairy Queen which she may like better than an icecream cone now. We then went shopping for shoes to wear with her flower girl dress and finished up, our cameras in hand to take pictures at a park on the Yellowstone River. This is my favorite picture. What a doll of a daughter I have!

Madison and Breanne have been learning about initiative this month. Specifically last week, we talked about when someone has a need, don't wait for someone else to do something about it. I came up with (what I thought was) a great idea of picking up trash in the ditches on Alkali Creek Road. Breanne thought that would be boring and Madison wasn't sold either. So later that afternoon she says, "Mom, we could have a lemonade stand!" It has been a gorgeous fall, I'm sure our neighbors would love a bit of lemonade.

We wanted to give it away, but everyone kept trying to pay them. Breanne was getting so frustrated, she didn't even want to flag cars down anymore because she just knew they would want to pay for it. The money they did make, they brought to church for the Immerse campaign (getting our city's pool in the ground.) What giving hearts! We were fortunate to have Bella (a girl down the street) join us in sales and deliveries.

Check

Gorgeous weather this fall has allowed us time to finish projects up around the yard. Check one more thing off the list as we finish up painting the deck, painting the cement foundation and touching up paint around the house. We had our first frost (October 12). I'm relieved to be finished watering flowers and eager to get my tulip and daffodils in the ground.

We had some friends over to wipe the dust off the cover of Rock Band (not much time for that in the summer.) The kids (and Derrick) are all so into it. However, for a brief time, we thought the Wii was broken, so we got Monopoly out and played. I'm thinking the kids actually like Monopoly better than the Wii. Good times!

Let the good times roll

Grace, Breanne, Faith, Toby, Aliya, Madi and Karissa...what a crew!

After everyone got home on Friday afternoon (Derrick had been gone all week) we were finally able to open birthday presents with Aliya. She of course loved her toys, but was most excited when she'd get new clothes. Immediately the clothes she had on would come off and she had to wear the new ones. She's such a girl!

We were able to have family friends over on Friday night for a birthday celebration for Aliya. It was fun for the kids to play and we did have a pinata for the kids to break open.

It was our first pinata and was a success.

After birthday cupcakes, the kids played hide and seek and eventually made their way outside to the garage where the adorned our floor with magnificent pictures of fairies drawn with sidewalk chalk (complete with pixie dust mind you). It was a fun evening to spend reconnecting with friends.

On Saturday, my neighbor claims I cracked the whip on Derrick and we finally finished our landscaping project around our house. (It only took 4 years from start to finish, oh well.) We're pleased with the finished project. The yard is so green, with the wonderful weather we've had this year. It was nice to pull the hammock out today and enjoy it for a while...ah, fall!

Sugar Pie Honey Bunch!

Our little bundle of joy is now two years old! She is full of life and constantly trying to keep up with her sisters. From time to time, she takes a break from running to cuddle with her mom or dad.
She started the "Terrific Twos" this morning with chocolate chip pancakes. We topped the pancake with whipped topping and 2 candles. She blew the candles out before I even picked up my camera. (We tried it again, just for the picture.)
This morning, she had to go to daycare for a couple hours and while we were there, some friends wished her a happy birthday, to which she responded by making a blowing out the candles jesture....too cute!
With Derrick out of town and her party with some family friends not until Friday, we celebrate this evening with a trip to McDonalds where she got her "nugs," "sli," and "ice," (translation: chicken nuggets, slide and icecream.) Big sisters were equally excited to celebrate with her.

39 quarts later...

A week before Labor Day, Derrick and I decided to take a quick trip to Minnesota over the long weekend. Although the time was short, we had a great time reconnecting with great-grands, grandparents, cousins and even the Pizza Ranch! (Look at all those Tevas! Thanks grandma Linda!)

At the DeWilde farm, we were able to gleam the apple trees and scored ourselves 6 1/2 boxes of apples. I'm relieved we thought to give one box away to ambitious cousins and bake an apple pie at my mom's to share with everyone. So, 39 quarts of apples later, we have given a few bags away to neighbors and are eating apple everything..apple bread, apple french toast, apple bread pudding, apple peanut butter smoothies, applesauce, apple crisp....

On a comical note, Derrick told me that Aliya successfully killed two bugs yesterday by getting a shoe from the garage, returning to the bug and smashing it with the shoe. And Madison informed Derrick and I that she killed two grasshoppers at one time yesterday while they were "tackling." Umm, I didn't know it was that time of year for the grasshoppers.

Our girls!

We now have a Kindergartner AND first grader in our home! Breanne started Kindergarten on August 25. She was very excited and not nervous a bit. It was like she's been ready for this since January. She chose what to wear the first day of school. Interestingly to me, she picked out the same dress she wore on the first day of preschool.

The picture looks just the same as last year, except for the new backpack. She got a new haircut the day before school too.

When we got to school, Madison and Breanne took off.

They obviously didn't need dad and mom. They walked circle together and met up with one of Madison's friends, Alyssa. After the bell and pledge of Allegiance, they lined up with their teachers and they were gone.

About an hour after getting home and telling me all about it, Breanne sighed and said, "I just can't wait for Kindergarten tomorrow!" I think that says it all! A week into it, she's learning friends' names and singing songs she's learning.

Friday after work, we headed out to camp with friends in Cody, WY. We got to spend time with friends who moved there a year ago and see the ranch that he works at. Two families in our small group joined us on Saturday. Unfortunately, it rained off and on Saturday afternoon and evening. We saw the first wave of rain coming across the lake which looked really awesome and when it came in, it met us with hail and high winds.

However, we did get to enjoy some s'mores. Derrick and I adored the JUMBO marshmallows! You could never have too much mallow! When it got dark and time for headlights, Aliya was not without!

Thanks to the rain, I got to play a razzing game of Sequence with the girls and got some reading done.

On Sunday afternoon, we rolled into Billings just before a big storm that we watched brew all the way home. The lighting was flashing so we all headed inside for cover. As it started to blow and rain, we noticed the hail coming AGAIN. Derrick got the truck in the garage just before the hail really started pelting. We had marble size hail for about 5 minutes. Needless to say, I think the garden is done. I've never before seen hail in Billings and this year I've seen it 4 times! Just bizarre!