the day before

What a difference a day makes. 75 degrees today in Topeka. But wait...it is the midwest...oh yes, it will be 45 degrees and windy tomorrow! What a great Halloween! I have a sick little red head home from school today. Hopefully she will be fine for all of the festivities tomorrow! Is it bad that I have no plans yet for what I'm making the kiddos for school? I'm thinking orange rice krispie treats for Parker and iced sugar cookis for the girls. Dunno yet. I'm sure whatever I end up with will be on the blog later! Wish me luck! I need to take the boy outside so we can enjoy this last little bit of indian summer!

a change in plans

So the 50's theme is in the scrap pile (literally). My mother-in-law sent up a cape she made for a Superman costume for the boy. He was not all that impressed...the store bought costume that came in the box from grandma was much more appealing...go figure a four year old. Morgan, on the other hand, fell in love with it. She was trying to convince me that a bright red cape would go well with the pink flowers I was diligently hand sewing on the circle skirt. With one flower down and 3 to go (each was taking about an hour to stitch) I thought we might be able to rethink this costume. We pulled the pins and the stitches out of the flowers. Then my precious little red head said "how about little red riding hood"? Genius. Actually, she is going as little red riding cape. She's thrilled to pieces. Thanks for the start Grandma Vicki! I had enough time left over to make my first bag. A little rough around the edges, but I think I could get the hang of this! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

wip friday

So Morogan's Halloween costume is on the top of my wip list this week. the skirt went together no problem, but sewing the flowers on may take a bit longer. She wanted a poodle skirt, then decided she didn't really ike dogs as much as she liked flowers. Hence, the 50s flower skirt and not a poodle skirt.

pumpkin patch boys

Yes please...I'll take one of each! Isn't the pumpkin in the back about as cute as they get?! Janielle and I took the boys on a trip to the pumpkin patch today. It was windy, cold, and short lived. The boys were terribly upset when we pulled them away with their purple fingers and bright red cheeks. It really has been a perfect fall day. A bite in the wind. The leaves changing colors. Pumpkins and gourds ready to decorate and carve. The next post should have the fruit of our labor in that department. We were blessed this weekend with my family. One person noticeably missing. Ben celebrated his 30th birthday and we were all able to get together for a few days. It is amazing to me how close we all are. I could never ask for better friends than my siblings (and their spouses).

The next few pictures are of Parker's favorite spot at the pumpkin patch. I think he jumped into this hay 20 times. What fun to be a 4 year old boy!

Best Commercial Ever

As many of you know, my dad has been deployed to Iraq since May of this year. He sent me this clip in an email last night. Teared up a bit. We are all so very proud of your service Dad! Thanks for being a credit!

a day in the life

Aren't these guys a riot?! Went shopping with the two toe heads today ( and grandma and aunt janielle of course). Parker still isn't quite sure he's ok. He was pretty secure in being the baby of the family. Kerry's little guy is going to rock his poor little grandma centered world. I think he'll get over it when they are all old enough to do his bidding (being the oldest won't be so bad).

On to the picture of the lunch bag.

Morgan is the only one of my kids that is bizarrely picky. She's not like normal kid picky. Normal kids only like pbj and chips. Hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Not my Morgan. We have struggled with her school lunches this year. She doesn't like the school's lunches (who can blame her). She won't eat chicken noodle soup in a thermos. She won't touch a sandwich. Salad has been a good lunch item, but its wearing thin. We had a revelation Monday. She packed dry cereal in her thermos and bought milk at school. Genius. The principal called and told me she was sending her son with cereal the next day! Nutritious ...easy...she'll eat it...yup, all the things a lunch needs!

wip friday

I have big plans for the weekend! I have quite a few works in progress. The fabric above is earmarked for a purse. Wish me luck on that. I just love the colors and the flowers.

Went through my small pieces this morning and got them all folded up and took a mental inventory. Forgot I had a few of those pieces...i love the jump roping little girls on the green. Parker looks excited. He started to dig into that fabric box while I was taking pics of the fabric on the table...he gave me that look unprompted. Not quite sure what to make out of it. He picked out the green jump rope and the red pattern. Says he needs a blanket for his teddy. How do you say no to that?

Of course I have the ever present pile of baby blankets to finish. All the farther I have gotten on this batch is the shopping and the washing. The washing takes about as long as anything else. I always have sooooo much laundry. Washing fabric for sewing seems to get pushed to the end of the line. Well, wish me luck. I fully intend on sewing this weekend. Of course it is Nutcracker season, Will's off, and intentions are just that...

autumn

I really love this time of year. The changing of the seasons in Kansas can be so dramatic. A friend of our took this picture and I think it says it all. Looking through the green of summer to the changing colors of the fall. It is brisk today. The air has that little bite... makes you shiver just a little. Invigorating. I have been nesting a little bit today. Changing the clothes in the kids closets, dusting the fireplace, and finding some new sewing projects to start. Thank God for all of the seasons he gives us.

(Can ) Father-son bond of Dick and Rick Hoyt

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

eager

OK, the season is almost over. You won't have to put up with many more Project Runway posts. The season finale part 1 is tomorrow night on Bravo. I'm sooooo excited! And Tim Gunn...who couldn't use a guy like that cheering in your corner?

new babies covered!

I have been blessed recently with many friends with new babies. These are my favorite kind if babies. Babies I can hold and kiss and snuggle. Babies I even babysit on occasion. Babies I DON'T have to get up with in the middle of the night! The neighbor across the street had a sweet baby girl last Monday...8 lbs 15oz and cheeks I want to each for lunch! I had the fabric for these blankets and burpies, and a few were in various stages of being done. I had a blissful day at home on Friday and managed to FINISH all of the ones slated. I still have a few yet to begin, but for now, having 4 done was a pretty big accomplishment.

cutie patootie

Could this be the cutest pregnant person EVER! I think so. We share the same DNA, but I never looked that good pregnant. Its hard for me to see my baby sister getting ready to have her own baby. I keep thinking of how many times I did her hair before school, how she would rag tag along behind Ben and I, and how she has been the best aunt ever. I know she will be an amazing mom. I feel very blessed that God graced me with a sister like Kerry. I have amazing friends, but there will never be anyone like her...my sister.

happy birthday small boy

I can't believe he's four. It just can't be right. He has officially graduated from being a toddler. No more bottles, diapers, and spitup for the Wise family. A little sad if you ask me. Parker has turned into this sensitive, intuitive, active little man. He loves to play with his "guys" trains, and coloring books. And lucky for me, he still loves to cuddle up in a big chair with his mama to read a book. I keep telling him he's such a big boy these days. A few days ago he looked back at me and said, "I'm still just a small boy mama". And that's just fine with me. The baby days are over, but this sweet little blonde guy can be my "small boy" for a few more years.