Happy 93rd Birthday Great Grandma Berg

So we decided to go over to visit Grammy and Papa Dick this weekend for two reasons. One to celebrate Great Grandma Berg's 93rd birthday.  Two to visit Grammy before she has her 2nd round of chemo on Wednesday.  Great Grandma was excited to see the kids and the kids, primarily Maddox, were happy to have MORE birthday cake.  Maddox was so cute she even wished Great Grandma a happy birthday without being prompted when we walked in the door.  She seemed to understand that it was Great Grandma's birthday and not HERS, a very tough concept for a 3 year old.  She was quick to tell Great Grandma that she needed to make sure that she ate a good lunch so that she could have cake  ( hmmmmm I wonder where she gets that??).  Maddox helped Great Grandma open her presents and watched aside her as she blew out the candles.  Some of Maddox's expression are priceless as you can see from the pictures. Grammy and Papa Dick cooked a fabulous meal....Dick pork roast and Grammy all the fixin's.  Grammy seemed to have lots of energy and loved baking cookies with Maddox and reading books to the kids.  She looked great and even has a wig on in a few of the photos, betcha can't tell which ones.  Her wig looks much like her new short style.  Very cute.  Kennon warmed up to Papa Dick this trip spending a fair amount of time with him.  Not too long after dinner Kennon discovered a granola bar in the diaper bag and was apparently still hungry despite the delicious food and knowing that I wouldn't open it took it over to Papa Dick to open.  His little expression is so cute in the picture as if to say ' will you open this for me because I know my mom won't'.  Papa Dick knew better and handed the bar over to me :)   I opted to open it because the little stinker did not eat much for lunch....he is a picky guy.  Today the kids played so well together.  I had planned to carve our pumpkins after we got home from church school however after I showed Maddox what was INSIDE the pumpkins she took one look and ran the opposite way.  She was not going to be getting her hands dirty.  Kennon wasn't all that interested either but did have a good time picking up the slippery seeds from the floor. So I carved the pumpkins by myself, admittedly sad, while the kids played in the living. But they were so cute.  No fighting or pulling of hair today.  Kennon would stand at the door and Maddox would yell 'Ready Set Go' and Kennon would take off as fast as his little toddler legs would carry him and run right into the arms of Maddox. It was soooo priceless. They must have done it like 20 times which gave me plenty of time to quickly carve our pumpkins. Do you think they'll be interested in the roasted seeds?? :)  In the evenings when Eric is home I get to hear the kids giggle giggle giggle like they did today during the pumpkin carving.  The three of them go on a bear hunt every evening. Today they were looking for pink bears, glad to hear that we aren't partial to black and brown bears only aren't ya?? :)  Anyhow Eric runs around the house with the kids and when they spy the bear they run back to the safety of the 'tent'....ie the pink blanket that Grandma Doris gave Maddox. It is adorable and I'll have to say even Kennon is getting pretty good at the bear hunting tactics. Eric is a fabulous Dad and I envy his great patience.  I got one video to work on Kennon dancing....finally. Enjoy!!

Popsicles last week on the 80 degree day!! 

Mmmmm...this feels good on my sore gums.....

Maddox wearing her cowgirl gear to school.  This day they were going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.

Grammy and Maddox baking cookies

I love their smiles...!! 

Two beautiful ladies.  Two priceless smiles. 

I love the delight on Maddox's face on this photo and the one below. She is clapping for Great Grandma in the one below. 

Kennon found a friend in a piece of pink tissue paper. 

Papa Dick, will you open this for me??  

Four generations....

Shady Knoll Farm

Maddox at the Vandeveer fountain just after our photo shoot. I love this outfit on her. So cute...thanks Aunt Brooke!! We are growing out Maddox's bangs so we had to get sort of creative to style them for the shoot.  

So Eric and I decided to load up the kids and snag some pumpkins today with the weather being so brilliant and Halloween around the corner.  We went to a smaller, quaint, less commercialized pumpkin patch this year called Shady Knoll Farm in Illinois as recommended by my good friend Megan Wentland.  The farm was established in 1848 and was pretty cool, complete with goats, horses, cows and a brand new calf that was born just yesterday evening. Maddox and Kennon both had a ball and the Wentlands even happened to be there so Maddox got to feed the goats with Nash and Nolan. We managed to find a few good pumpkins 2 big and 2 little and get a few good pics. Maddox was very set on picking out a 'LITTLE' one for Kennon. After she found just the right one she proudly presented it to him. It was so cute. The farm had 2 separate fields. One with big pumpkins and the other with little pumpkins. It was pretty muddy with all the rain we've had but that didn't stop the kids. Good ol' Sienna needs a cleanin' now!!  It was really fun. I even saw an old high school friend from Orion.  The price was just right on the prize as well $15.00 for all 4 pumpkins.....total!!  We hurried home to catch afternoon naps and to let Eric finish up the LAST outdoor project of the year, the 2nd coat of seal on the deck. He mowed the yard earlier today, hopefully for the last time as well.  Yesterday morning we had our family pictures taken at Vandeveer park by Bella Baby Photography.  It was still overcast and a bit cool but the kids did really well.  I think we got some good pictures but we'll see this evening. The photographer is going to upload the pics to the site later today.  You are welcome to look. Go to www.bellababyphotography.com and go to VIEW PHOTOS.  Our password is kiesholiday2012.  I'm hoping there are a few good ones to pick from for our Christmas card.  I have a couple of darling videos to upload of KTK dancing. He is  dancing fool and has some cool moves just like his big sis!! I'll try to get them uploaded later but as we all know the dreaded videos do not get along with this website. We'll see. Anybody know what happened to the Hawkeyes last evening....boo hiss!!  I almost forgot we had a great visit from Uncle Scott, Eric's brother from St. Paul, Minnesota. He rode his Harley down Friday night ( in the rain and cold....brave sole) and stayed with us before heading down to Keokuk to visit Doris Saturday morning. Maddox warmed right up to him but Kennon kept his distance.  Thanks for stopping Uncle Scott!! Always nice to see you and catch up a bit and let the kids get to know their family members a bit more. Definitely going to be a better ride home for you this sunny afternoon. PS...couldn't get the videos uploaded so will tray again later.  BUT the pictures are up on the Belly Baby website so go ahead and check them out.  

On of my favorites....so darn cute.  I love this age!! 

Matching clothes compliments of Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean. Perfect for the pumpkin patch

WHOA...heavy load....I love the spiny pumpkin....

Now we've got all 4....a little heavier load.

Kennon pointing to the chickens....

'Here Kennon do you think you could help me lift this one up??'

Not sure what they are looking at but I love Maddox's expression...

Can't leave without getting the 'head in the pumpkin' shot

Brotherly-Sisterly Love

Check out the koozie grandpa Jim

I love that you can see a little smile behind the pacifier!! 

So I managed to snap these pictures this morning right after the kids woke up!!  MLK sure does love KTK despite the fairly regular pushing and stealing of his books/toys...actually on both their parts. She sees that he is playing with something and as soon as he puts it down in disinterest she runs over to grab it ( even it is something that she hasn't played with in months). He sees her playing with the item and then decides he wants it back and of course she is NOT willing to give it back. So this is kind of a constant battle intermixed with pushing and pulling of hair!!  Sometimes Eric and play referee! :) But, I know they love each other as evidenced by the adorable pictures above and they will grow up to be best friends eventually.  KTK is fighting a cold right now but in general is still pretty happy. I finally figured out how to get him to eat protein....put it in a bowl and give him a spoon!!  He'll eat anything in a bowl with a spoon. This is how they eat at Kindercare now that he is in the toddler room so I should have known to follow suit. He ate meatloaf and chicken casserole over the weekend :) You can see by the pictures he is such a paci lover!!  He is addicted to the thing here, although I KNOW he only gets it at nap time at school. Something tells me that is going to be a tough one to break. But,  on a positive note he loves the potty. Maybe the potty training business won't be too hard. Time will tell.  Well off to get MLK from church school....she SOOOO loves it there. The scenery picture is from this morning...you can't tell very well ( my photography friend Jody would have been able to get this to look better with her camera magic :) but it is the sunrise.  The leaves are so pretty right now and the sunrise was beautiful right out our back window...I love the location of our house.  So serene. Pray in 20 years that it won't be a bunch of houses.....but I am hopeful!!  No plans thus far but all kinds of other development around us right now....... This weekend we are getting family pictures at Vanderveer park taken by Bella Baby Photography the company that takes the pictures of the infants in the hospital.  I'm pretty excited to see how the kids react to the big fountain.  It will be nice to be back in the ol' neighborhood. We'll have to check how good ol' 2113 Myrtle Street looks. I'm not missing raking all those leaves :)