Doggie Dress Up

Sometimes at night, after the kids go to bed, I walk around the house a do a little clean up. I like to see what the kids have been doing when they quietly play by themselves throughout the day. A lot of times Zoey has written poems or stories that make me laugh. Or Max has put together some scene from a story with totally different characters (like he acts out the Cars movie with penguins or something). And they both love their stuffed dogs. They all have names, and Zoey has recently given them each a collar with a tag that has our address on it!! This one, however, takes the cake...

Tiny little dog

Denim skirt

Cloth collar and construction paper tag...

Totally cracks me up


I hope it makes you smile, too.

And Happy Thanksgiving! I am certainly thankful for you!

CAN-tucky

So I am going for the "how many blog posts can I get out of one trip to the aquarium" record. This should actually be my last one. I just wanted to post a couple more pictures. So, the aquarium is technically in Kentucky, but just barely so. Zoey was amazed by that fact. We were in Ohio, and we crossed a bridge and POW! Kentucky! And to top it off, Ross and I just kept cracking ourselves up, thinking we were so hilarious, telling her every time that we were no longer in Ohio, but "CAN-tucky!!!" (With a southern accent) It's probably one of the reasons we are married. If we both had taken Zoey separately to the aquarium, we both would have told her the same joke! I think she just rolled her eyes after the fifth time or so.

By the way, we do not mean to offend any friends who hail from the Bluegrass State. I actually think the state is quite beautiful. We are just dorks sometimes, who totally amuse ourselves with silly humor.

Here are the pics:
Ross and the kids standing in CAN-tucky (see, I just can't let it go), but with the Ohio River and Cincinnati in the background.


And here's me and Zoey (Max was pictured out by now, and sick of the joke as well)

Fun For All

So, a quick update on Zoey's Race... she won and came home in a very good mood that day. She is holding on to her "fastest in the class" title, even if it is just based on a race against two people!

Okay now, if you talk to me for about five minutes (give or take) you will learn that I have a deep love for Costco. It pains me that we don't even actually live close to one, but that is another story... (if you have a moment, go e-mail them to put one in Beavercreek, OH. I am making it my personal mission.) ANYWAY.... I love Costco. Half the stuff in our house is from Costco. It makes me smile to walk in the store. I could literally spend thousands... And luckily for me, the kids do not protest when we take the long journey to the closest one. The fun continues after we get home as well! I sometimes am slow to put our treasures (okay, usually its toilet paper) away, but have found it just becomes an hours worth of joy for the kids. Check out the pictures:

Here comes Zoey running into the paper towel tower!


And then Max has turn:





Oh, and here we are heading down the basement stairs... I am not sure what this game actually was... but it provided lots of giggles.


I guess I know what to get my kids for Christmas...

Just Kidding

Don't forget to send that e-mail (wink, wink). I think they're getting tired of the crazy lady from Beavercreek requesting a Costco and just hit delete...

The Race

I just have to post this, because it makes me laugh too much. Last week at school, during recess, Zoey told me that she was playing "chase" with a couple of people. It then paired down to just two, her and this boy. But, because she was so fast, he spent the whole time chasing her. According to her (this all is, of course) she spent two seconds chasing him and the rest of the time he had to chase her. So one day, he tells her, "Zoey I think you must be the fastest in the class!" She is proud of this, of course.

Fast forward to this morning, getting ready for school... She informs me that she may be going a little slower than usual. I ask "why?" thinking she's hurting somewhere or not feeling so well... She tells me, "Well, I mentioned to Thomas that Codie thought I was the fastest in the class, and well... now he wants a race!" So it's going down. Today, recess... And so she was saving all of her energy!!

As she was walking out the door, Ross said, "come on, speedy!" She replied to remind him, "Dad, I'm not moving like normal today. I'm going a little slower."

*I know I'm biased, but she is fast... Ross and I are always amazed at her running when she puts it into high gear. Speedy Speedikins we call her. I have to wait until the end of the day to hear the results!!

Love These Guys

The other day, Ross and Max had on matching outfits (not planned) and they were playing and wrestling with each other. Just having a good ole time! I had to snap some pictures.

Big Smiles

So Sweet

The Muscle Pose

And Silly Faces

I do so love these boys...
And her too,

Hanging out on a frog at the aquarium

How Do You Measure Up?

Our trip to the city (I say that like I live on a farm! Ha!) included a visit to the aquarium. We love aquariums. We had a season pass to the Long Beach Aquarium where we got to go to members only nights and be the only ones staring in front of a 30 ft high tank. Something so peaceful about that! Well, visiting this one on "field trip Friday" was a little bit different. Not quite so... serene. Still, we had a nice time. Zoey saw all the kids taking pictures, so she took the camera and had fun... here are some of her favorite pictures...

The Lorikeets

And Moon Jellys


And here are my three kids (yep, three) seeing how they compare in height to a shark.

Max - always the one with the map!

Zoey

And...

I know. I have my hands full.
But I love them anyway.

Through a Child's Eyes

We were driving into the big city of Cincinnati today. We don't actually drive too often in a city since moving to Ohio (we live in a quite suburban or even rural area), so things are noticeably a little different. Max always yells, "oooh, the city!" whenever he sees more than one large building in a row!! So as we were cruising through the more industrial part of the city, Zoey noticed a smoke stack coming out of a factory and exclaimed with joy, "Look at that! I see where they shoot clouds into the sky!" Ross and I just smiled. It certainly looked exactly like that... big, puffs of white shooting into the air! How sweet and refreshing to see something in a different light.

Falling Leaves...

Falling Leaves, Calling Trees
Pumpkins in Halloween,
Apples are So Sweet,
For a Treat,
In the Season of Fall.
Going Trick-or-Treating,
It is So Much Fun!
Come On, Come On and Play With Us.

original song by Zoey

It's even cuter when she sings it, but I wanted to post her cute poem/song so that I wouldn't forget.

We are having beautiful weather... finally the Indian Summer I was waiting for, so we went outside to play in leaves and just enjoy the sunshine.

Pumpkin Carving

We got into the Halloween Spirit with a little pumpkin carving. I had the kids draw their designs on their pumpkins, and then Ross did his thing with some tool.


They drew on the pumpkins first, so here is Max's design. I just thought it was a cute pumpkin with a button nose and smiley face.



And Zoey decided to go theme... She drew a ghost and spooky tree. And then a haunted house with the word "Boo!" Here is Ross doing his part of the "carving".

And here are the finished products: