Five

Phoebe turned 5 about a week ago.  What a cute, sweet, quiet, loving girl she is!  Her little hugs warm me and melt me all at the same time.  Her hand fits perfectly in mine and I am okay with it staying like that forever.  She is intelligent and helpful.  She can play for long periods of time by herself with character toys and loves to color.  She is a good big sister to Silas, helping to care for him, play with him, and teaching him how to do things.  She is a good little sister and friend to Sarah.  

We all love YOU, Phoebe Ann!

What is your favorite animal?  "a dog"
What is your favorite color?  "yellow"
What is your favorite food?  "macaroni and cheese, did you know I was going to say that?"
What is your favorite dessert?  "ice cream"
What do you like to drink?  "lemonade and chocolate milk"

What books do you like to look at?  "my Doc McStuffins book you got me"
What is your favorite movie or show to watch?  "Daniel Tiger and Doc McStuffins"
What are some of your favorite songs?  "Jesus songs, Ariel, Tinkerbell"
What is your favorite store to go shopping in?  "at the toy place so I can look at toys"

What do you like to do with Sarah?  "play Barbies, ponies, color, and ride bikes with her"

What do you like to do with Silas?  "play cars, and play stuffed animals downstairs and have tea parties and cook dinner with our tea parties"

What toys do you like to play with the most?  "my Doc McStuffins toys and my piggy, stuffed animals, legos, and puzzles"
What do you like to do with Daddy?  "piggyback rides, horseback rides, and chomps, the blueberry game"  Do you mean Hi-Ho-Cherry-O?  "yep"
What do you like to do with Mommy?  "watch movies and go swimming with you"

I am scared of... "monsters and the dark."
I would like to take a trip to... "The water park and the park."
I feel sad when... "I get out of bed."
I get really excited about... "swimming, going to the park, and going to the zoo."
I am glad I am 5 because.... "it was my birthday party."

KSU vs. OSU ~ Our Anniversay Weekend (a month late)

My hottie and I headed to Manhattan on November 1st.  (First of all you should know that I heart my hottie with my whole heart and I always will, and second of all you should know there is a spot I love full well, Tis' not in forest nor yet in dell; Ever it holds me with magic spell, I think of thee, Alma Mater.  I heart you K-S-U! Loyal to thee, thy children will swell the cry.  Hail, hail, hail, Alma Mater.)

Anyway, our wedding anniversary was October the 4th, and on that day, and many days and months before that actually, I was VERY BUSY helping my BS Chick, pull off the biggest and best KANSAS BARN SALE ever.  

So, here we are almost a month later having or 11th wedding anniversary date weekend!

We heart the Kansas State University Wildcats!  We both attended and graduated from KSU and are what some might call crazy loyal KSU fans. That day they were playing the Oklahoma State University Cowboys.  My hottie scored us some FREE tickets to the game and I had a motel reserved under the name "Hendrickson ~ NEWLYWEDS".  (We also had a couple of the BEST people ever to watch our children ALL weekend while we were away.)  We dressed in purple and headed straight to Aggieville, (Manhattan, KS) for lunch and some game day atmosphere!

After lunch in the Ville we made a quick stop at our hotel, then on to visit with some friends before the game, and then it was GAME TIME!  It was a cold evening and kick off wasn't until 7:00 pm.  We dressed in layers and carried in a blanket.  Bill Snyder Family Stadium... and tailgating... the excitement and atmosphere just keeps getting better and better!

Our seats were pretty high up, which meant we had a really good view of the stadium and the game, but the cold wind was blowing right on us for the ENTIRE game.

Below is us at the beginning of the game....

The half-time KSU band performance was really good!  Look below.  That is the band playing patriotic music while lined up in the shape of the United States of America!

Below is us at half-time.  I was freezing!  My hottie let me use the entire blanket for the entire game.  He wrapped me into it like I was a burrito wrapped in a KSU fleece outer shell.  

It was a fun game to watch.  KSU won, beating OSU by a LOT!

The next morning we slept in and then hit Varsity Donuts for half a dozen delicious donuts to bring home and share with our kids.  We did try one out almost immediately though... the pumpkin spice donut.  It was super YUMMY!  I probably could have eaten at least four of them myself, but I did have the donut police with me, aka my "hottie", so splitting one with him had to be enough.  Darn you, donut police, foiled again.

Happy 11 years of marriage to my HOTTIE!  We ALWAYS have such good times together.  It has always been that way.  I love the man he is....true, honest, kind, giving, patient, loving, gentle, my protector, my hottie, MY MAN!

Tricks Or Treats

This year for Halloween Phoebe was an Emporia State University cheerleader.  Silas was a Kansas City Chiefs football player.  And, Sarah was a Kansas State University cheerleader.

Silas did not wear the helmet for long.  He wanted it off after wearing it for only about one minute while I tried to take a few pictures.  We could not talk him into wearing it again after that.

Ready for some trick-or-treating!

We trick-or-treated a few houses on our street then went to a trunk-or-treat at one of the local churches.  While walking down our street, Phoebe started to chase Silas and tickle him with her pom-poms.  This lead to running and finally both of them falling down in a pile of leaves on the street, and spilling their candy out of their buckets.  It seemed like a classic Charlie Brown happening that one might see go on between Lucy and Charlie Brown on a Halloween special. 

 (I may have laughed out loud when this happened.... It DID involve people falling down, and the candy spilling out of their buckets into the leaves was icing on the cake for more laughter from me.) ps - I love my kids.

Pumpkin Carving

The kids got to help Daddy a little with carving our big pumpkin that we got at the pumpkin patch this year.  They mostly watched, scooped out a few seeds with a shovel, (Phoebe was the first kid to put her hand in and grab out some of the pumpkin goop.  Sarah and Silas did not want to put their hands into the goop.) and rode their bikes around the garage while Daddy carved the pumpkin.  We picked out a Powercat design and Daddy got to work.

It turned out pretty well for a quick free-hand design.  He drew the Powercat onto the pumpkin while looking at a picture of a Powercat before cutting it.

Silas was very concerned that there was "FIRE" inside the pumpkin and kept pointing at it and telling us, "fire, fire, fire" over and over.

Popee and Nanee came to our house on Halloween.  Popee brought three medium sized pumpkins to carve with the kids.  Again, the only kid who would put their hand in and pull out some pumpkin goop was Phoebe.  Silas liked watching, but did NOT want to touch any of the pumpkins.

Popee even got Phoebe to put a carved out pumpkin slice in her mouth for a Jack-O-Lantern silly picture!

Sarah had elaborate plans for her pumpkin face... hearts words, and more hearts.  

Popee helped her scale it back a lot, then she decorated it with a sharpie marker and some loving words after it was carved.

Pumpkins, left to right, Phoebe's smiling Jack, Sarah's love Jack, and Silas's silly Jack.

Sally ~ The Little Box Turtle

**GUEST BLOGGER**

 ~ Sarah Hendrickson  and Mommy~ 

Sarah ~ The first time we got the turtle from James and Ruth I was at school.  When mommy picked me up she told me there was a surprise at home for me.  When we got home I ran in the door for my surprise.  It was the little turtle.  Me and Phoebe wanted to hold him.  He was a cute turtle.  We took it outside.

He was roaring like a lion, but he didn't really make a sound.

He didn't get to crawl around a lot cause here's why, I kept picking him up a lot cause I liked him.

He was a good water drinker.  I kept on trying to play with him but he wouldn't play with me

Mommy ~ This Box Turtle was about the size of a dinner biscuit.  It was the smallest I have seen alive in my life.  And, Sarah is right it was pretty cute!  It was also the most active little Box Turtle I have ever seen.  It didn't seem to be scared of us at all.  It did not tuck into its shell many times.  Instead, it stayed out and crawled all around the box we put it in and in our backyard, (except for when Sarah or Phoebe wanted to pick it up and inspect it a little bit closer.)  Phoebe was certain this turtle was a girl from the get go, and named it Sally.  Sarah thought it probably was a boy.  If it was a boy we all thought a good name for it would have been Stickers.  (Sally and Stickers are names from the Disney movie "Cars".)  

This little Box Turtle went back and forth between our house and our next door neighbor's house about 4 times!  They would find it in their yard or their dogs would find it, "play" with it awhile and carry it inside the house, then the neighbors would bring it back over to us.  We would watch it and play with it for a few hours then let it go in our backyard.  Somehow it would make its way out of our backyard and right back into their backyard...with their 3 little dogs!  The last time she was brought back to us, we thought about keeping her until Spring.  After reading about Box Turtles and talking with a friend about Box Turtles Eric and I decided the best thing to do was to go ahead a let the little turtle go so that she could find a good spot to hibernate for the winter.

Sarah ~ The fourth time we got her i didn't like how her shell looked.

The shell was all beat up.  But she still looked cute.

She kept on trying to climb out, but I said, "no!no!no! little turtle!"

I liked to stare at her and watch her and love her, but best of all I liked to hold her 

When we gave her a tomato salad she wouldn't eat it.  She would just walk through her food and around her box. Then at dinner we gave her a gross earthworm. She didn't eat the gross worm either.  I couldn't eat my dinner either after we gave her that worm.  I thought my food tasted like a gross worm.

When we gave her a another salad of cabbage and grapes the next day she didn't eat it either.  The next day we gave her another kind of salad.  I thought it looked yummy.  It had watermelon pieces and banana pieces.

Mommy told me to go get some leaves so she could hide and lay in them.  When I went out I picked up a lot of wet leaves then put them in her box.

We visited Popee and Nanee and went to the zoo.  We saw big and small animals but best of all we saw big and small turtles in a pond.  We got to play at the zoo park.  We saw a big turtle that we could climb on.  I pretended to be turtle of the mountain, then mommy snapped the adorable picture of us.

We went to go let the turtle go so she can be free.  I was feeling sad but when we let her go I realized I was happy.  She didn't want to be cooped up in a diaper box or glass aquarium.  When we let her go we put her by a log.  From now on I'm happy for that turtle cause she's probably found some friends and family.  She probably loves them all.  I hope she remembers me and my family.  I love that turtle.

I hope the turtle likes her new forest home.