Trick or Treat

 Joelle did a little trick or treating at her school today so she thought she done getting candy.  When I explained to her that we still had more trick or treating to do, she was so excited!  I think she made a wonderful Sleeping Beauty.

 She really had a good time.  After we went to a few houses, we were walking on the sidewalk and she jumped up and said, "Trick or treating is Awesome."  She is so full of life and happiness that it fills me with happiness as well. 

 She really liked the houses that had lights.  We had to go to all those, even if it meant we skipped some others on the way.  She also liked the spooky houses and as we would walk to the door she would say things like, see mom, that doesn't scare me.  Mom, that wasn't scary was it.  I asked her to stop by a spooky area so I could take a picture but she wasn't having it. 

 We are on the way to a house with lights.  We were walking a cul de sac and she spotted it on the other side of the main road and it became her mission to get to that house. 

 Here she is clapping because she got so much candy and we are on our way home.  She actually stopped and sat down on the curb and said, "Mom, it's time to go home.  My legs are really tired mom."  As we were walking down the sidewalk back to the house she said, "When I get home, I need to sit down and watch some TV and rest mom."  I think maybe we should work on her endurance. 

Here is her haul.  I guess it is a good thing she got tired and needed to go home to rest because all she is going to want to eat is candy.  When she is getting on my nerves because she is constantly asking for candy, I will have make myself remember tonight and how much fun it was for me to see her having a great time.  

Mother Nature Farm Pumpkin Patch

 As you can see, Joelle is getting to be such a big girl.  I can't believe that she is almost 4 years old already!!  I remember the first time I brought her to this pumpkin patch when she was 10 months old!!

 She picked out this little gourd for her pumpkin.  When we actually went into the rest of the patch, we got to get a larger pumpkin so this one went bye, bye.

She really wanted to be able to drive this tractor!

 The farm had a huge bounce house that Joelle couldn't wait to go play in.  I was worried that with all the kids in it that it would be too much for her.  She only started to like bounce houses a year ago.  She loved it.  She was jumping all over the place and smashing into the walls like a pro. 

 This is the pumpkin we came home with.  She was very picky as to the perfect pumpkin and I offered several possibilities, but she wanted to pick it out all by herself!

 She was so excited to be able to get her face painted.  The kids before her were getting bats and ghosts, but my girl wanted the sun.  It totally fits with her sunny disposition. 

 There were a few animals there that Joelle was able to feed.  When she saw the cow and she got so excited and ran over to her and scared her away.  Joelle looked at me and said "she won't eat mine mommy."  The cow finally did take some of Joelle's straw and she even got close enough to pet it.  They also had some goats and some baby pigs.  The pigs were so cute!

In the beginning, Joelle didn't want to go on the hayride.  The trailer is pulled by a tractor and I she kept saying it went to fast.  Finally she was able to see it and I pointed out that it really goes rather slow.  After that she agreed to take the ride! 

We had a wonderful morning playing outdoors at the patch.  Joelle was very excited to go and I really enjoy watching her have a good time.  I can't wait to take her trick or treating tomorrow! 

Monster Mash Fun

 This year Joelle dressed up as Sleeping Beauty.  Doesn't she look cute??

 Joelle and Jack playing the Leapster while the parents sold soda at the dance to fund field trips this year.  We ended up running out of drinks!!  Over 700 sold in 2 HOURS! 

 We hung out in my classroom until it was time to start the party!  Megan is Olive Oil:) 

 I am not sure what Joelle liked more, the dancing or flinging her glow necklace around!

Megan had a good time with good friends.  Once the party started she was cut loose from watching Joelle so she could have some fun!

One Man's Trash..................

Is a little girl's treasure!

In Gilbert we have a bulk pick up once a month.  This is a great way to get ride of all that trash that doesn't fit in your garbage can.  Can you believe that this playhouse was on the curb for pick up.  Some times people put items out knowing that someone will come and pick them up.  Luckily we got this before anyone else did!  All it needed was a good cleaning and a few extra screws to secure it and Joelle has a wonderful little house to play in.  In the words of Joelle, "I LOVE my house mommy."

Mini Vacation

Steve had to be in Tucson for a few days for work, so Joelle and I went with him and had a little mini vacation!  We stayed at the JW Marriot Starr Pass.  It is a beautiful resort.  This was our view from the restaurant where we had breakfast. 

You can't even tell that there is a city nearby.  Well sort of nearby, it took us about 20 minutes to really get anywhere.  It was such a relaxing time in the desert.  They had 3 pools, one of which was a lazy river with a water slide. 

There was also an area that had little water fountains that sprayed.  There were probably 20 holes and they would switch all the time so Joelle had a great time chasing after them. 

While Steve was working Joelle and I went to the pools.  It is so enjoyable to watch her.  She gets pleasure out of the little things in life and I love that she is such a happy little girl!

She went down the water slide and really liked it.  When Joelle and I first got there, she wanted to go down the slide.  There was another woman with older kids and they offered to take her down with them.  She got all the way to the top of the slide and then chickened out.  We ended up just going around river.  Joelle really liked the fact that because she had a life jacket, she could float with the current.  Finally she decided she was ready for the water slide.  We got up to the top and she sat on my lap and away we went.  It was a pretty fast slide and I was worried that she wouldn't like it, but she did!  When Daddy joined us he had to take her down a few times as well:) 

It was a wonderful little get away. 

My Fall Break Project

 The task: to take this walkway and make it something I like to walk up!! 

 I dug a trench by the edge of the sidewalk so that rain runoff doesn't send sand and dust everywhere.  I also had to mix the clay soil with a topper soil.  That was the hardest part.  Wet clay is think and hard to dig up.  I think the reason the other flowers did not do well before is because the clay was not aerated enough.  Hopefully I have solved this problem!

 I placed everything to make sure that I liked how it would looked. 

I was out in the yard planting these babies from 7-9 at night.  I wanted to get them in the ground and watered before they spent a day in the sun.  The back row is mums and gerbera daisies. 

The front row is royal red superbena and gazania.

These are the gazanias.  They are really interesting because the flower closes its petals each night and then reopens in the morning. 

This is the suberbena.  It is a hybrid of a verbena. 

This is the Mexican heather that is at the corner. 

Here is the final product.  I can't wait for the new flowers to fill a little, I think they will turn out great.  Providing that they don't die!!

A Time to Reflect

On Wednesday, September 21st my Grandma Hess was finally reunited with my Grandpa Hess.  It was a reunion that was 10 years in the making and long overdue.  I was able to see my grandmother this summer in Ohio.  We had a mini reunion at Coldwater Park and celebrated her 86th birthday.  It was wonderful that Joelle got to see her and be a part of that.  The last time we saw her was my cousin Kevin's wedding and Joelle was only 6 months old.  She knew we were there and she knew we had come a long way to see her. 
I remember holidays at my grandparents.  We used to play pool in the basement.  The basement was the kid hide out.  They always had soda and beer in the fridge, it just wasn't always in date!!  Flat soda was a common occurrence.  The best part is that we joked about it, but we ALL drank it!!  My grandma was a typical stoic German woman.  My grandma had very unique kisses.  She pucker kissed!!  My grandfather was the one who would get goofey with the grand kids.  He would "get your nose" and tickle you.  My grandmother was the one who kept the household together.  I think I am a bit like her in the sense that I am a touch obsessive about how I want things done.  She was a touch obsessive about that and how clean her house was.  My grandfather was Grandma Ellie's life.  After he passed away, she still went about life, but it was going through the motions.  I am so happy that she was able to meet Joelle and that Joelle was able to meet her.  She had 17 grand kids and 29 great-grand kids at the time of her passing.  I hope that some day I can have a legacy like that.  I love you grandma.