Pumpkin Land

Ok, I have no idea what the name of the place actually was, but they sold pumpkins, so that's what I'm calling it :o) The kids had a blast! Auntie Sarah and Jeremy surprised us by being there, and then Uncle Scottie joined shortly after. Dirk keeps asking for "his boy" and Eve was disappointed "her girl", aka Kyrsten, wasn't there. But she some how got over it and had fun! lol

Cousin Jeremy, Dirk, Eve and G picking out pumpkins to paint later.

I will NOT carve pumpkins with Dirk,

that would just open a whole new can of worms

that I don't need to deal with right now.

Yes, that would be my 5-year-old standing above 4 feet tall!

Eve driving the orange tractor.
I didn't get Dirk on any of the tractors
bcuz he was having way too much fun
with Jeremy running around
picking up corn off the ground to feed the animals :o)

They had a PINK TRACTOR!

Do you have any idea how awesome that was for her!? :o)

Jeremy was really good at feeding the chickens from his fingers.

My kids got a little shy, wondering if the chicken

was going to eat their fingers.

Eve loved sticking her head in all the

picture board things.

Dirk has such great faces.

What a character!

Poor little Victor. He could hardly move.

But he was warm!

I hope he grows into that, i think the hands

and feet in the snowsuit

were empty :o)

But he did SO well there.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Happy Birthday to our Grandpa! We love you!! We hope Gran doesn't eat all the cake while you're at work!


Here's some pics for you to enjoy :o) You have such cute grandkids!

More Pics

This is the look he gave Papa for the longest time! He kept his eye on him!


Boy does he love his food!



He would open his mouth, but close his eyes so he didn't have to see who was feeding him. Such a goofy boy! HAHA!

This look is perfect :o) "I'm watching you, Papa. No funny stuff!"

Evie came up to me and told me she had earrings on. Too cute!

Hair Cuts

Well, it was long overdue! What else can I say, except I was waiting to see Auntie Tracie! She always does a nice job with the kids. And the kids love getting suckers afterwards.

One of these days he'll smile nice all the time, right? :o)

Pics from the Motherland!

Dirk's first "Big Boy Bike" ride.

:o) I love being home!

Victor has NOT liked Papa at all :o( When Papa would just walk past him while he was playing on the floor, he would have this scream come out of him like he was getting hurt! But, after Papa fed him some food and played peek-a-boo, all was good! Now they are buddies. Well, we'll see if they still are today, but as of last night they were. We should not take 3 months to come back and see them again. I wish I could get Ryan to move closer, I miss being able to see our family. And I LOVE having the kids be around them! Tomorrow the kids will hopefully get to see Uncle Scott and Auntie Sarah, and maybe Jeremy and Kyrsten. On Saturday Uncle Matt, Auntie Megan and Brooklynn will be coming over! The kids are so excited! Dirk keeps asking for "my boy" and Evie has been wondering where "her girl" is. AKA, Jeremy and Kyrsten :o) So cute. And they haven't played with Brooke since Fun Fest! It's been too long!

STAIRS!

So last night, Ryan and I were upstairs putting the kids to bed and Victor was on our main level playing with toys. Well, so we thought. Next thing I hear is this squealing in the hallway. Victor was working on the 3rd step! No leaving him ANYWHERE any more :o( Little stinker. Man that kid is mobile! He's also walking around furniture and loves to "walk" if you hold both of his hands, which is a favorite thing of Dirk's. Dirk and Victor are so cute together - they both LOVE being in each other's company, as long as Dirk isn't taking off his clothes to tickle him :o) I haven't gotten it thru his head he doesn't need to strip the baby down in order to tickle him! lol

We're heading to G and Papa's house tomorrow! Mom hasn't seen the kids in 3 months! Dad and Matt swung down on their Harley's a few weeks ago. So Mom is in need of a grandbabies fix! And I need some time away. Stay tuned for a few pics I'm sure!

Evie-ism

Ugh. The S-word is here. Snow. Yuck. However, here are the statements Evie was yelling while jumping up and down on our couch this morning.

E - It's snowing! It's snowing! YES! YES! YES! I love snow! Now I can wear my new shirt! Lets go to Santa's house and get some presents!

I had told her a few days ago that she couldn't wear a certain shirt until it snowed. Needless to say I was thinking I had a few weeks. Oh well. :o)

Dirk and Kindergarten

Well, Dirk has had a "rough" few days in Kindergarten :o( But today, he got a praise report! He did very well and I'm so excited for him! He's such a busy body that he can get into a little mischief here and there. So, we've done a few changes in how we approach him and I hope it continues to work! His teacher has caught on to how he needs to be praised, so I hope he continues to be a little angel at school :o) He LOVES LOVES LOVES to color, so he gets a new coloring sheet from his teacher after a good day. When Mrs. M told him this today, he got so excited! He was seriously jumping up and down. :o) What a cute kid! I think I'm going to go out and get some new crayons/pens/pencils for him to choose from after a fantastic day. Oh! I'm so happy he is settling into a routine at school.

Molar Molar Molar Molar Molar

Yes, Victor's first molar broke thru last week. Yesterday, I pried open his mouth to find not one more that broke thru, not two, not three, but FOUR new molars. So he has five molars. Yikes.

Ok, he'll have them for sure in a few days, the top ones are not completely thru, but I can tell they are VERY close. Oh that poor boy. But he's so cute! :o)

Fun Pics

Father-Son Picture Finalists

I had some more fun with the pics of Ryan and Dirk. I think these are the ones I'm going to go with :o)

9 Months Old!!

Where did the time go?!

Check out Victor's pics we just had taken!

www.searsportrait.com
login - carriezeldenrust@yahoo.com
password - carebear

I chose pic #6. It was a tough decision this time around. There is one where he is standing up with the perfect smile! But his pants are bunched up in an area I didn't want pointed out, if you get what I mean! :o) And they were not able to crop the picture without it looking "pixel-y". Oh well, I like the one I chose.

WOW! Seriously! 9 months old! Here are the milestones he's accomplished so far in his young life...

8 teeth
1 molar (although I should check tonight to see if that second one finally broke thru!)
Crawling too fast
Pulls himself to a standing position
Standing and walking around furniture (AH!)
Holds a bottle all by himself, can self feed (SO NICE!) cheerios or bits of cheese, etc.
Can climb one stair, but luckily stops there!
Babbling - mamama, dadada
"Dances" to music - the cutest thing! I have to catch this on video for you!
Claps
Is very good at opening the drawer containing lids, removing them, and dispersing them all over the kitchen floor
Great cuddler (when he's tired, otherwise he's too interested in what the kids are doing to stay with Mom)
Best squealer since Eve
Very happy boy! I totally love this little guy!

Video of Victor

Having Fun with Effects :o)

Ryan-ism

Ryan went up to Walgreen's last night to pick up a movie from Redbox. There was a gal behind him that was looking over his shoulder at the movies, practically on him. Here's the conversation...

R - Recommend any movies?
G - (Looking up to him) I Love You, Man.
R - Well, thanks! But that's not what I meant.
G - Um, I meant the movie, "I Love You, Man."
R - Oh. :o)

LOL! Ahahahahaha! Too cute!

Father-Son

Got some nice pics of Dirk and Ryan fishing. And one of Eve :o)

Eve Singing

I decided to take a video of Eve singing. What drama. Excuse the lack of clothes, they were supposed to have gotten their pjs on, but got sidetracked and started coloring.

In case you can't here - Dirk mentions "hotel". Eve ends up saying, "Hotel? That's where Gran lives!"

Victor-ism

I figured since I give -isms for the other kids, I should give you one of Victor. Here is a "conversation" between Victor and myself :o)

M - Hi, Baby! (I just got home from work) How's my boy?
V - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M - Oh really? Is that so?
V - AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M - Ok, that's enough, Pterodactyl Boy.
V - EEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M - Cool it.
V - Mamamamamamamamama
M - :o)

Victor Pics

He's not a big fan of the play pen, but here he was having a little bit of fun.

I just get a kick out of this pic. Not sure what he's doing, but I think it's cute!

He HATES laying on the floor to get his diaper changed. This is the happiest I've seen him since before he learned to move while getting a clean diaper on.

Derrick-ism & Evie-ism

The other day, I had all three kids and we were walking Dirk to the bus stop. Dirk had picked up one of those green and black nuts that look like little apples, walnuts??? Anyways, here's the conversation...

D - Mom, look! I found a coconut!
E - A cookie nut?! Yummy!
M - A coconut, Eve.
E - Oh.
M - Actually, Dirk, that is a walnut. And it's turning black, so it's yucky. Throw it in the grass. (I know it doesn't go bad, but I didn't need him carrying that onto the school bus and getting his clothes all dirty, etc.)
D - Where do coconuts come from?
M - A coconut tree.
D - Oh. (You can just see the little wheels in his head turning, and catching the ideas of apples to apple trees, and oranges to orange trees, etc.)
E - AND CHOCOLATE COMES FROM CHOCOLATE TREES!!

Jeez. She's such a sweet person! LOL! That girl and her chocolate.

Derrick-ism

So, we're having dinner...

E - Eve and Steve rhyme, right?
M - Yes they do.
D - What else rhymes with Eve?
M - Leave.
E - What else?
M - Sleeve.
D - What else rhymes with Eve?
(drawing a blank by now!)
M - Weave.
E - What else?
Dad - Believe.
E - What? What's "bleeve?
M - Believe. It's like - We know God is here, but we can't see Him, right? So we believe He is there.
D - Oh yeah? We can't see Him or hear Him. (Victor SQUEALS really loud) I bet God can hear VICTOR!

LOL :o)

First Molar!

Yep, that's right! My 8 1/2-month-old had his first molar break thru yesterday! He's been working on it for a few weeks now, and it FINALLY broke. He did pretty good with this tooth, now that he's old enough to chew on things.

He's also been pulling himself up to a standing position so he can grab everything that's "out of his reach". He's growing up too fast!

I meant to take lots of pics yesterday, as Ryan was at a tournament, but he took the camera with to take pics of the fish he was going to catch. So, we'll try to do that today :o)

Ryan and Nate didn't place yesterday :o( Nate's motor wasn't working well, and we'll just leave it at that. Hopefully next year WE will have a boat Ryan can use that's reliable so he can place in all the tournaments! He's already looking forward to next spring when the tournaments start up again!

Victor's Stats

WOW! I've been bad about updating the last 2 weeks! So sorry!

Victor had his 8-9 month checkup yesterday morning. And this is bad, I didn't get his stats written down and now I forgot! I know he was at least 29 inches, as they mentioned he grew more than 2 inches in 2 months, so that much I know. And I remember that his weight was XX pounds and 10 ounces. What a horrible mommy I am! I'll have to call up there and bug them, or just get them in December when I bring him in for his *gulp* ONE YEAR checkup! Man, that's coming quickly. Otherwise, he's nice and healthy. We will be going forward with the surgery to remove his brachial cleft cyst. I just need to clarify some info with the insurance, and then get it all set up for January. We'd like to wait until he's at least one since he'll have general anesthesia. That just doesn't settle well with me, but, the doc really recommends getting it taken care of before it causes problems. Which I agree with. I just don't like it!

Derrick-ism

Here's a conversation I had with Dirk after school today...

M - So, Dirk, what are some names of kids that are in your class?
D - I don't know. Grant got to be the leader today.
M - Oh yeah? One day the teacher will let you be the leader.
D - Yeah.
M - I remember there was a girl named Elyse in your class.
D - Yep. She sits next to me! I like her.
M - Oh really?
D - Yep. Her hair is as high as Evie's. (Eve has short hair, not long hair now lol)
M - Yeah? What color is it?
D - It's lighter than Eve's.
M - Like blonde?
D - Yep!
M - Is she a cutie pie?
D - No, she's a pretty pie. (He had a cute grin on his face!)

I KNEW she'd be blonde. He's had a thing for blondes since he was 15 months old! Too cute! I can't wait to see this little girl tomorrow when I drop Dirk off for school! Maybe I'll be "That Mom" and bring a camera lol!

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!

AH! I have a Kindergartener! He had a pretty good day. He's stubborn like his mom :o) He's friendly like his dad. And he refused to drink milk. He made a cute little raccoon out of a bag. And during "Quiet Time" some other kids tried to talk, and he told them "Shhh. It's quiet time." Good boy, Dirk!

Playground Fun

Eve and Victor had a chance to play on the indoor playground while Ryan looked at books in Barnes and Noble. They had fun!

Happy Birthday, Gran!

We love you, Gran! Here's some pics from the hotel when we saw you. We ask to go back there all the time!

Luv, Dirk, Eve and Victor