Odds and Ends....(title borrowed from my friend Megan)

So I just have some random pictures from my iPhone. It seems our regular stand alone camera is a bit on the brink and has been un-usable the last few photogenic opportunities.  This weekend was great weather wise and family wise. We went to the Festival of Trees parade in downtown Davenport. It was a beautiful day which really brought out the crowds but we still had a good time. The kids enjoyed the big balloons.  Then today we did some more work outdoors on the yard and put up some Christmas lights, taking advantage of the warm weather.  Kennon is now taking the place of our old cleaning lady. Well, she was barely old to us as we had only had her come two times before her helper was arrested for stealing some jewelry from one of their other clients. Luckily WE didn't have anything stolen but unfortunately we are now on the look out for another cleaning lady!!  Kennon is doing a good job helping me in the meantime :)  We are looking forward to seeing everyone during the Thanksgiving holiday.  

mmmmm....yummy donuts from Hyvee....an oddity around the Kies house

It was 'All About Maddox' last week at church school.  We got to make a poster and I got to go to her class and read her favorite book. 

Kennon 'helping' me clean. 

Action shot...

'Whoa...did I do that?'

'I sure did and I'm proud of myself too'

A stop at McDonald's on the way home from the parade!!

mmmm....yummy fries.....

Halloween Happiness

I think he kinda looks like a Sasquatch here

I love the depth of this picture. Kennon looks twice the size of Maddox!! 

So I uploaded this pictures over the weekend and never got back to writing the text.  So, all my funny little sayin's I had formulated in my mind while I was cataloging the pictures are now gone. So this time I"ll let you formulate your own. In a nutshell Maddox and Kennon had a ball trick-or-treating. We got to go with Hannah and Charlie, Jody and Aaron our neighbors up the road who are moving to Minnesota....as I type this....Kennon and I are actually watching Charlie so Jody can help the movers load up the semi.  We are sure going to miss the Stegemanns!!  Watching the two boys interact together is really fun. Quite different than Maddox and Kennon.  They are both slapping the toys to see who can make the loudest sounds. Charlie turned 1 on Maddox's birthday so he is just slightly younger than Kennon but is not walking quite yet.  It would be cool for Kennon to have a little brother!! Anyhow Kennon got a neat light stick from our neighbor Lori to the North of us on Halloween night and after that he really could have cared less how much candy he did or didn't get. He LOVED that light stick and literally just sauntered from house to house following Maddox and Hannah arriving at the doors in own sweet little time all the while pushing the light stick on and then off about every 30 seconds.  He was mistaken several times as a BEAR instead of a monkey which kinda became a funny joke between Jody and I.  As the sun went down it got really chilly so we retreated home to homemade pizza.....and a feverish Maddox.  Maddox woke up at 2am with a fever keeping her home from school the next day. We were lucky Grandpa Jim came to the rescue and was able to stay home with Maddox while Eric and I worked.  Thank you GRANDPA JIM....this retirement of yours is really coming in handy!! Just a 24 hour bug or something as she was able to go back to school on Friday.  Last Wednesday Maddox went for her  3 yr check up. She is up to the 74th percentile for height at 38.5 inches and the 54th percentile for weight at31.8  pounds.  Dr.  was happy with how she looked and even took her blood pressure which was 110.60 if I remember right. She didn't get any shots, which was good since it was Halloween.  Dr said we are able to move her to whatever type of milk we want, even skim.  Both kids are sort of alternating sleeping through the night. So it seems like forever that Eric and I have gotten a full nights sleep, I guess that is just Murphy's Law when you have two kids.  Actually Eric takes the brunt of that as his sensitive ears allow him to hear the kids much more timely than myself.  Well back to entertaining the boys.  Have a good week.  

Kennon and his light stick....slightly mesmorized!! 

Maddox's first sucker.....a purple blow pop

Hannah and Charlie

Maddox Hannah Aaron and Charlie

Check out the mask on the candy giver.....a little scary for the toddler aged kids in our neighborhood!! See Maddox is keeping her distance.  It was a really scary mask....I didn't even go to the door. 

Jody captured this shot....perfect smiles and Halloween Happiness written all of their faces. 

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....