Amber Waves of Grain

Somehow between the swine flu and throwing my back out, I totally missed Kennedy turning 10 months old! (Oct 23rd). I didn't even get her 10 month pics taken. Here is her *late* 10 month update! Kennedy continues to be easy going and she has the sweetest disposition. She crawls very fast and can stand unassisted for 5-6 seconds now. Last night she even took her first unassisted step. We think she'll be walking before we know it! She is a great eater and will taste anything. She's been off baby food for 2-3 months now and just wants what we're having. Her favorites include Kraft mac n' cheese (who doesn't love that?!), cheese, meatballs, pizza, and mandarin oranges. Keegan loves to play with her but often forgets she's a baby and plays a little too rough. Kennedy doesn't seem to mind it though! She does a good job keeping up with him. She loves to be wherever he is. One of my favorite times with Kennedy is when Nathan gets home. The minute ...

So, today I went to the spa. Ok, not really. It was actually just the chiropractor .... but they put me on a bed with a cushy pillow, massage my back, dim the lights, and have relaxing music playing. All while I have a babysitter at home. I'm calling it the spa! I've spent a lot of time at the 'spa' lately. Last week I woke up on Tuesday with severe back pain. I apparently threw my back out somehow. I have no idea how it happened; I wish I had an exciting story to go with it. I was unable to sit, stand, lay, bend, or walk. It even hurt to cough or blow my nose. I knew something was terribly wrong. Out of desperation, I took myself (barely able to drive) to one of the Urgent Care Centers. I always swore I'd never go to one of those places. Like I said, I was desperate. They said my sacrum was probably twisted and gave me prescription pain pills and muscle relaxants. Day by day I've been getting better. I've had good and bad days. Over the wee...

For my faithful blog readers, I thought you all deserved to get some TOP SECRET stuff today. That's right, I'm letting you see my kid's Halloween costumes a day early!! Keegan is obsessed with the Wizard of Oz. He loves to sing and dance along with all the songs and even knows a lot of the dialogue too. So, he's our little Tinman. the costume looks a little silly, I'll admit, but I love how happy it makes him. He actually goes into character when he puts it on and walks and talks like the Tinman. Here he is: Here he is dancing like the Tinman: If he only had a heart: For Kennedy, I got her a flower costume only because it was only $1.50 at the thrift store. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't dress her up. You know I'm a tightie. Here she is: And, here they are together at the 'spooky' cemetery. Have a fun Halloween!!!

Hidden in a little building downtown is a magical place called the Peewinkle's Puppet Studio ( link ). I'd been wanting to take Keegan there because of his love for puppets. The studio is a quaint 50-seat theater that does puppet shows using the old marionette style puppets. Here's the building. I have never noticed it before. You can see Lucas Oil Stadium in the background (if you know where the downtown Arby's is, this is just south of their parking lot): I love the red door and cute sign: When you go inside, there is a lobby type area where you buy your tickets (although I do recommend having advance tickets as they were nearly full). They have a lot of puppets on display in the lobby to view and then they give your child a bag of popcorn to eat (juice boxes also available for sale): These puppets were for sale: Then you enter into the studio through a black curtain: The studio is small and has probably 10-12 benches. We sat in the back row (there's Nathan ...

Nathan and I had a spontaneous golf date this afternoon. We've only played a couple of times since having kids (babies put an end to our golf for awhile). Needless to say, we're a bit rusty. Although, I did play once a few weeks ago for the first time in forever... so I had at least warmed up once this season. It was so fun to be on a 'date' and to golf. The high was 71 today and the fall leaves on the trees made the course just beautiful. Plus, we had no kids with us which was a rare, wonderful chance. I really had a good time! We're still wiped out from being sick, so we got a cart. Wasn't it sweet of Nathan to rent us a convertible for our date?: What's with my left foot not lined up in my follow-through? That's why I should have worn my cleats: Nathan had some good shots: Look how pretty the leaves are: And, he took me to the best drive-thru: The bet was that if I won, I would get a nice back scratch/rub tonight. If Nathan won, I had to...

I officially survived the swine flu (H1N1) last week. It really brought new meaning to the phrase " I've died and gone to hog heaven ". It wasn't horrible, but it certainly was the sickest I've felt in a really long time. Nathan ended up getting sick too with some type of flu, and Keegan as well. I am ' squealing ' with delight that Kennedy never got sick, praise God! These were the best things about having the swine flu: 1. Nathan helped extra with the kids. Really, he took complete care of them over the weekend and came home early one day from work to help when I couldn't. Sort of like a vacation. 2. You get to wear sweat pants all week. 3. When you're sick you don't bother wearing makeup, so your skin is in great condition at the end of the week. 4. I lost 3-4 pounds in one week without exercise or fad diets. 5. I felt protected from robbers. If someone tried to break in, I could simply tell them that I had swine flu and threate...

Each day at preschool, Keegan usually brings home 2-3 art projects. Some of them are large and sometimes the paint is even still wet since he lathered it on so thick (always fun to try to get a wet painting home in the car with 2 small kids). We've had the scissors-in-training experiments, the finger paints, and yes, the macaroni glued to paper. All these art projects have outgrown our fridge at least by 10 times. I've decided that the best option is to start taking photos of each art project and just keep the digital image. That way I can sneak the actual project into the trash once Keegan forgets about it a week or two after it comes home. I did save the first week's worth in his keepsake box so I don't feel like such a horrible mom. Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of his projects from the last week or so! A pumpkin: I think this was supposed to be an owl.... maybe.....: A raccoon hat. He used the scissors himself around the outer edge: It's supposed to be...