Happy Birthday, Daddy!

"Dad! You're the best of the bunch

You're our DAD

Whenever you're around, we never are sad

Dad! It is you birthday, so this is what we say...

Happy birthday to you, etc"

Not the Answer He Expected

M and I were visiting with one of her MD's yesterday and he asked her, "Is it ever hard for you to concentrate and pay attention in class?" She replied,

"Only if we're talking about something boring like the electoral college. I mean, who cares about the electoral college?! But, if it's something interesting like a really smart person who invented something, then I can pay attention just fine."

Yeah, not exactly what you anticipate from a 9 yr old...

"It's Halloween!"

This one's for you, Gramma!



"Oooooooo
It's Halloween!
Ghosts and goblins can be seen
It's Halloween!

It's scary, it's frightful, it's oh so delightful
It's Halloween!
Time for costumes and trick or treat
Witches and fairies roam the street

Ooooooooooo
Halloween!"

Just for the record, they make these up all by themselves, and usually in about 5 minutes. ;)

"Prettiest" Award!

E came bursting off the school bus (in the POURING rain) this afternoon with a black cauldron-like bucket, "I won! I won! I'm the prettiest cake!"



Yep, her dreams came true and she won "Prettiest Cake" at the school's cake decorating contest held last Friday. All the winners' names were even read aloud over the intercom for the whole entire school to hear! WooHoo!



As if that weren't excitement enough, she was awarded the aforementioned plastic bucket filled with apples and carmels. Apparently, she started out with 5 apples, but made it home with 2 because "everybody in my class wanted my prize so I just gave some people some apples."

Doncha love kindergarten?!

Country Sisters - Take One

Country Sisters - Take Two

You know we aim to please, so Sonnet, this "country" duet is for you! They did one take yesterday, but the sunlight was too bright, which was too bad 'cause I totally dig E's moves in that one. I will post it anyway. They shot another take tonight, and you can see 'em better, but they weren't as into it. Well, put them together in your mind, ok?!

"We're just two little sisters singin'

Hey, diddle day, Hey diddle day

Momma's in the kitchen singin'

Hey, diddle day, hey diddle day

Doggy is a runnin' and he's sniffin' at the

Hay diddle day, diddle day

We're stickin' together like paper and glue

Diddle day, diddle day

Now we're just ridin' home singin

Hey diddle day, hey diddle day, hey diddle day..."

Happy Times Farm

Two great events coincided today: great weather and a Saturday with Daddy at home! What better way to celebrate than by going to a pumpkin patch, right?!

There are many to choose from in our area, but our neighbor works at one and gave us a discount coupon, so of course, we decided that "Happy Times Farm" was the place for us.

(I have to digress a minute here, though. Many of you are familiar with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of books, right? It's set in South Africa, and all the businesses seem to have names that describe what the owners hope you'll think about their services/store. Well, this particular "farm" was run by people obviously from Africa who don't really farm the land, but just make it into an October fundraiser. Their accents and personalities were charming, but it really reminded me of those books, as it was called, "Happy Times Farm!")

We've only done kid corn mazes before, and I think it will be awhile before any of us wants to do a "real" one again. It was fun at first, but after 30 (or more) minutes of muddy tromping around, and being able to see the road, but not get to it, we got a little antsy to get out. I already know that I don't like Haunted Houses, and today, I learned that I really don't enjoy corn mazes. I much prefer knowing where I am. I even said, "No one saw us go in here...how do they know when everybody's out?!" Let it be noted that I, as directionally challenged as I am, was the one who eventually got us out of there. A determined mother can do anything, right?!

The girls had some fun sledding down the dirt hill and playing on the swingset. The "petting zoo" wasn't much; just animals in a pen that you couldn't really reach. The advertised ferris wheel wasn't there; someone said it had broken. The brochure and the website really made it sound amazing: but, really, it was a little under-whelming.

Oh well. At least it was sunny and we got to tromp in the mud together! Yahoo!

Next week, we'll go to the grocery store and buy a pumpkin...

They Take The Cake

The girls' school held a Fall Festival on Friday night and had a cake decorating contest as a means to drum up some cakes for the cake walk. Of course, my little bakers (oh wait, I forgot...M kept correcting me, saying they were 'pastry chefs!') were inspired and motivated to participate.

E is hoping that she won the "Prettiest" category for her "Halloween Barbie" creation, while M is hoping that her "Alien Doggy" got some sort of nod for "Most Creative" or "Funniest."

I baked the cakes in the same sized Pyrex bowl - it's such a reflection of their personalities how they took the same shape and decorated it so differently!

Taking Requests

"Thanks, everybody, for the compliments! What kind of song do you think we should do next?" M & E

Another Smash Hit!

A note from M & E: "After we saw how much our fans loved our first song, the "workers" at Sis Recording Studios got busy to produce a second hit for them. We hope you like this one as much as our first performance!"

Lyrics:

M: The Sisters are in the house

E: In 2008

M: M. L. R.

E: E. J. R.

M: We're sisters

E: Uh-huh, that's right

Both: Do wacka do wacka do do do. Do wacka do wacka do do do.

Both: We stick together like paper and glue

Both: Uh-Huh. Shicka bow wow

Both: Sis

They Learn So Young

Last night during part of our weekly family home evening, Daddy was reading stories out of the Friend magazine while M worked on a puzzle and E was working on tying one of two quilts she & M have been making (one for our new baby cousin, Lily, and an identical one for the church's humanitarian project). He read and read and was ready for a break, so he said, "Do you want me to put a movie on for you?"

I said, "I don't know if she can concentrate on her sewing and a movie at the same time."

E replied, "Of course I can, Mom. That's what womens do! I can do two things at once just fine!"

Notes for M's Future Wedding Reception

Tonight, M wanted to know all about our wedding...what we did at the temple, (were there flowergirls? A ring bearer? No, and no) and then what we did at our reception (bed & breakfast locale, harpist, food, receiving line w/P&I and our parents). She said,

"I think when I get married, we'll have it in a gym and have a big dinner and lots of music. And then, we'll play bingo."

I laughed and asked, "Why bingo?!"

"Because it's a good party game and you need games to liven things up at weddings."

She's still deciding what the winners will get...

R.I.P., Snapper

This post is from M:

"A few months ago, Mom let us get some pet hermit crabs. I named mine Snapper. We loved them very much. Today, while we were watching General Conference at our house, I thought we could play with them. But, when I grabbed my hermit crab's shell, it was empty! I searched around the cage and there, motionless, white, and shell-less, was Snapper.

After coming to the conclusion that he was dead, I yelled out, sobbing, "Snapper's dead!" I sobbed heavily for about 45 minutes, and then me, mom, and E prayed that I would be able to overcome the loss (as I said in my prayer). Immediately, I felt the Spirit and felt better. I found an empty necklace box and along with his shell and some smaller sea shells and some tissues for softening, I put my dead pet in.

If Dad lets me, I'm gonna buy a second hermit crab with my own money. This time, having learned my lesson, I'll take better care of him (or her). If I can get one, I will name it Snapper the Second.

May Snapper 1 rest in peace."

Shout Out to Laura, Field Trip Coordinator Extraordinaire

SOTD: (Scripture of the Day) Doctrine & Covenants Section 58:27

Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause,

and do many things of their own free will,

and bring to pass much righteousness;

Toward the end of summer, my friend, Laura, asked a bunch of moms in our ward at church if we would be interested in doing "Field Trips on Fridays." Since E doesn't have kindergarten on Fridays, I jumped at the opportunity. She has called around our community and has arranged all kinds of fun activities and places for the kids to go. We are all having such a good time spending our Friday mornings together! It also works beautifully because I babysit E's friend, A, on Fridays, so I look like the funnest sitter ever, when, really, it's all Laura!

The events are definitely popular and are filling a need to get the 5-and-under crowd together during the week. Today at the pumpkin farm, even in the rain, we had 26 kids! The thing I love is that while we all keep track of our own kids, we also do our best to herd and care for all the kids. I have always wished for a community of friends where I knew my kids were safe and loved. E got separated from me during the corn maze and was quite upset when she finished the maze. I hugged her and said, "Do you know that every single mommy here knows who you are, and knows you are mine? They will all take care of you. I was anxious to see you again, too, but I knew you were ok with all these mommies." I hope that these "Fun Friday Field Trips" make it easier for our kids to grow up together and have good, strong, healthy friendships as they go on to school and *gasp* become teens someday!

So, I just wanted to award a "Gold Star on the Forehead" to "Sister Johnson!" No one asked her to do this, and she's certainly not being paid to do it. She just put it together to benefit her own children, and in the process, is blessing all of ours. She's a great example of the "SOTD," doncha think?! ;)

Sisters and Friends - a Debut

M & E made up their own song & dance routine last week, bringing back many childhood memories for me.

Here are the lyrics (in case you want to sing along):

M: We are sisters

E: We are also friends

M: Sometimes we quarrel

E: Sometimes we fight

Both: But we always make up in the end

'Cause we're sisters

And we're also friends.

We stick together like paper and glue

M: 'Cause we're sisters

E: We are also friends

Both: Yeah!