Looking for Pumpkin Bread...

as good as Barbara Jean's! Anyone got anything for me? I made a Martha Stewart pumpkin cake recipe today but really it was just like a pumpkin bread, really dense (its pretty good though especially with a thin layer of cheesecake flavored cream cheese). I'm wanting something nice and light and fluffy. And, how does Barbara Jean get that nice thin brown crust on top?

Check out My Kids!

Monday we went up to Atlanta for the day to have Kara take pictures of John and Ruthanne. We also got to hang out with our other cousins in the area. It was a fun day. Kara took some awesome pictures of the kids! I didn't think she got any good pictures from my viewpoint. But maybe she has magical powers and her camera snaps pictures super fast! Here some of them are on her Honeysuckledew blog! Magical powers I tell you!

I've been tagged!

Kara tagged me to:

1.) Go to your Pictures folder on your computer

2.) Go to your 4th folder

3.) Get your 4th picture

4.) Tag four people

Here's my photo:


This picture just shows the progress on the swingset this winter at my inlaw's house.

I tag Sister Griffis (Gigi), Amanda, Shauna (you still out there?), and Tara (Hale but I will always think of as Griffis!)!

Pumpkin Painting

Well, the kids painted their pumpkins, Monday night actually. I just got the pictures uploaded. They really had fun. John was intent on covering as much of the pumpkins surface as possible. Ruthanne wanted me to draw her a girly pumpkin face that she then painted, with green and yellow freckles even! Here are the pictures.

I think they could have looked a little more excited about painting pumpkins, don't you?
Ruthanne dips into the paint!John takes a look at his work!Must cover all the orange pumpkin!The finished product. Well, almost, she added silver eyelashes after the picture was taken.John is very proud of his creation!

Spiderman Theme Song

John, of course, wants to listen to a Spiderman song. Well, all we had come up with was itsy bitsy spider, but that just wasn't cutting it. Grandma had sung a little bit of a Spiderman song so we tried to find it tonight. I found it, it was the theme song from the old Spiderman cartoons. John loved it, we listened to it twice before bed tonight and I see it becoming a ritual. Thus, I'm going to put it here on the blog so I can find it easily!

Pumpkin Patch, Hayride, and Animal Farm

We went to a farm today that had a pumpkin patch, hayride, and animals. It was pretty fun for the kids, and I was thinking cool, I'll get some good fall pictures. Yeah, not so much. Kara, you seriously have your work cut out for you next week!

I thought this chicken was funny and I call it the poodle chicken.


This was a somewhat nice shot of some of the horses they had there.


Here is a picture of the kids on the hayride. Unfortunately John wasn't looking during this one.

And then, this one, Ruthanne is wiping her eyes. The sun and I think the hay were making her eyes squint and water a bunch. She could not look in the sun.


This dog was HUGE. He/she was so tame and did not jump (good thing because he was already as tall as John). John just loved him, a dog that doesn't jump/lick is right up his alley!


Ruthanne picked out her pumpkin.


Ruthanne and John both with their pumpkins. I tried really hard to get a good picture here, but Ruthanne's eyes were seriously bothering her. I think she needs prescription sunglasses, and the ability to keep glasses on her nose!


In other news, tonight Luke changed into his BYU shirt that says COUGARS on it. John was looking at his shirt and said my hat has that letter on it and pointed to the G. The hat he was talking about is a white one with a red G for Glynn Academy (NOT UGA!). I thought that was pretty impressive. He did not know the letter name but to recognize it as being the same was pretty smart. He also likes his clothing to match now, especially if he has on his orange shorts.

Ruthanne is still reading away and today she wrote a story about a princess. She is excited about painting her pumpkin and wants to enter the pumpkin contest at the library. I need to go buy a craft pumpkin for that. Maybe there will be some pumpkin decorating pictures soon!

Poor Ruthanne

I'm not sure if you can tell but her left cheek is swollen. She had been complaining of her mouth hurting for a little while and we kind of ignored it, thinking it was just her molars or something. Well, today she woke up with this swollen cheek so we decided it was time to take her back to the dentist. She had just had some fillings done in the past couple of weeks and we thought maybe it was related. Yep, she has an abscessed tooth. The decay had gone down to the nerve and they didn't notice it when doing the filling. So, now she has to take antibiotics and then have a pulpotomy (or something) to clean out the nerves and then put a filling on top of that. Ugh. That happens in a couple of weeks. Luckily she should be feeling better within a day or two of the antibiotics. The unlucky thing is I had them call it in to Walmart and it was not ready even two hours later, so I will be picking it up in the morning. Grrr Walmart pharmacy!

On other news John just keeps on talking up a storm. Lately he is all about the baseball. Luke and John have been watching some playoff games and John really likes it. He started asking when we could buy him a baseball bat. Luke told him sometime. Well, after that every time John woke up he would ask me if I had bought him a baseball bat. Luke decided to take the kids out to buy a baseball bat while I was at church Tuesday night. Before they left John wanted to make sure that Dad had money so that he could buy it. I guess he thinks Mom is the only one who knows how to spend money! They bought a (you will never guess!) Spiderman bat and ball. He loves it! Of course now he just asks me when I will buy him football pants and football shoes. Give it up already boy!

What did the Tooth Fairy Bring?

Well, I was going out to Wal-mart the night the tooth came out. Luke was getting the kids ready for bed as I was leaving. Ruthanne asked me if I was going to get her something for losing her tooth. I said, no, the tooth fairy brings something. Ruthanne said, well, thats just money. So, I decided I had a couple of little princess dress up toys stowed away in the closet I had gotten for cheap (like this, but smaller, and WAY cheaper!).

The tooth fairy also left a note saying that this was a special gift for the first tooth and that all other teeth would get money. And how much money will the tooth fairy be giving out per tooth? Probably a dollar. Ruthanne was very happy about the toy and has been playing with it constantly. Too bad new toys lose their charm after a few days around here! Anyhow, yesterday Ruthanne reminds me that we have a Belle toy just like this. Shoot (I had bribed her with one of these princess toys when she got her 5 year old shots, more than 6 months ago)! I told her that yeah, we'll just have to give that one to someone else! Maybe I'll pretend I sent it to Lilian! I never thought she'd remember I had those toys!