Tonight was "Happy Halloween".. Trick or Treat~!~!
Tracie and I took Ben out trick or treating and we had such a great time~! Ben dressed up like Spiderman and he had a string of glow sticks around his neck so he would be seen when running from house to house.. Tracie also put some on his bucket..
He was very polite~! He would ring the doorbell and when someone came to the door he would say "Happy Halloween"...and then they would put something in his bucket and he said "Thank You".....
We had to stop at Donna's house and get some treats.. He loves Donna. She takes care of him after school and on days there is no school. He was so excited to see her and show her his bucket of treats..
One lady gave him a plastic finger nail and he put it on his finger right away.. Oh boy that was the best treat~! He really thanked her over and over~!
We stopped at this one house and he rang the doorbell. He waited and waited and then rang the bell again.. He sat down on the step and told us "She must be in the bathroom".. we just laughed.. Pretty soon he stood back up and went to the door and he knocked on the door this time...A lady came to the door and gave him some candy..He asked her if her doorbell was not working and she said yes, it doesn't work..He told her he waited on the step, because he thought she was in the bathroom...before he knocked on her door.. She laughed and told him thanks>>> He thanked her for the candy and that was our last stop.. On our way home he told his mom "First thing we get home Mom we are going to check out the loot">>spread it all out and see all the goodies.. We had a great time and it was fun trying to keep up with Ben as he ran from house to house..
The full moon this evening was so pretty.. It was a nice evening and just a little cool.. 38 degrees.. Not bad for October..
Last year it was freezing cold and misting rain.. Tomorrow is Nov. 1st and time marches on and before we know it Thanksgiving will be here and then Christmas...I think the older I get the time just goes faster..
Have a great Halloween~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)
I woke up this morning at 3 a.m. Just couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to balance the checkbook.. Now that it is complete and all in order. I put on my jacket and went outside and looked at the moon. Oh it's glorious this morning.. It's 30 degrees outside ~ so I didn't stay out too long.. Not much stirring this morning..
Picked up Ben yesterday at 4 and went to Casey's store. Had to get a gallon of milk.. Ben wanted pizza so I bought him 3 pieces.. A gal I know that works , her name is Theresa asked me if I was going through town and if I was could I take her home.. I said sure.. When Theresa got in the car she told Ben and I it was her birthday.. Ben said "Would you like one of my pizza's?" She was surprised and said No thank you. When we got to her house Ben said "Lets sing Happy Birthday".. so we did.. she was just beaming.. She told us she was 77 and she thanked us for singing.. She said it had been a long time since someone had sang her Happy Birthday.. I told Ben I was so proud of him for offering her a piece of his pizza and singing to her on her birthday. He was just a smiling in the back seat..
When we got to his house he charged out of the car and got his bike out of the garage and rode it all over the driveway and the sidewalks.. He was happy to be home.. He came into the house and saw that there was face painting markers on the table.. So he had me paint his face.. He loved it..~!
I told him instead of wearing a mask for Halloween he should just have his face painted.. He is going to be Spiderman..
I made him pumpkin shaped sugar cookies today and I bought frosting and sprinkles to decorate them.. When his mom got home I showed her the cookies and she said that after she had supper they would decorate the cookies..
It's almost 5 a.m. and I best get a couple hours of sleep.. Going to help Mrs. Wittenburg with her 2nd graders today.. I think I can fall back to sleep now..
Have a Tiggeriffic Day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)
This morning as I was looking out the window ~ I saw this squirrel coming to the feeder and sniffing the corn..
He lifts it up with his strong arms and starts snacking on the end.. yum yum~!
Now he picks it up and still is able to eat off the corn.. Didn't get this picture but he then tried to carry if off the yard.. It was so funny. He would carry it and trip over it and then he would pick it back up and trip over it over and over again. I just sat and laughed.. He got to the edge of the yard and tried digging a hole to bury it ,,,he gave up and just sat there eating and filling up his stomach.. He is getting ready for winter.
The junco's are here and that is the first winter bird to show up. So guess winter is officially here..
Saturday I went out to lunch with Kim Wittenburg, the second grade teacher that I help twice a week. We went to Olive Garden.. I just love to eat here.. We had a chicken something with angel hair pasta and a salad with bread sticks.. IT was delicious.. After dinner we went to the cheap theater on Collins Road and went to a movie called Timothy Green.. When we got into the theater she said she was going to get some popcorn and I said I would go and find us a seat.. Get ready to laugh.. I went into the wrong theater.. I sat there and waited and waited and then finally when the movie started she came in to find me and said "Anne ,,you are in the wrong theater.".. I just laughed and laughed.. So I followed her into the right place and we settled down to watch a delightful movie.. I thought it was good.. The little boy that played Timothy was so cute.. When we came out of the theater there was a area where you could vote.. Early voting? yes,,it was early voting.. I have already voted because I am a poll elected official and I needed to get it done before next Tuesday..
We walked to the Christian bookstore and found this wonderful CD for $1.. It's called "The Invitation".. by Lee Strolbel.. I listened to it on my way home and it's a great CD to give to people that haven't committed to accepting God into their lives..
Had a great Saturday and today being Sunday was wonderful too.. Lazy day~! Made ham and bean soup so I didn't have to cook..other than I made some corn bread.. Have a great Monday~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Over the week-end Ben and his Mom, Tracie went to Wickiup Nature Center. It's a great place to take children to introduce them to nature.. This week-end they had a Halloween Theme.. Ben said they walked on trails that had signs that told them what to look out for and if you found it you received a prize to put into your pumpkin bucket.. He had a lot of prizes in his bucket . Inside the building was this bull snake.. non poisonous.. He looks like a rattler snake and will even curl up and strike at you..he can leave teeth marks but won't hurt you seriously.. We have them on this farm and they are good for getting rid of mice and rats.. The old farmers tell you if you have a bull snake on your farm that is a good thing . This is the time of year that snakes get ready for hibernation..It's that time of year that we all have to get ready for the cold weather..:)
Ben got his face painted while he was there.. When Tracie sent me this picture over my phone I thought he had a head bandanna on his head.. Nope ~! it's all paint.. Ben the pirate~! Cute..
He loved his face painted and wore it until bath time last night.
Last night I went to his house and he showed me his new Spiderman scooter. It's blue and red.. He has been wanting one for a month or more. This one has only two wheels, the one he had had four wheels.. So he is happy and he showed me how fast he could go around the sidewalk at his house..
We got out the markers, colored pencils and paper and drew people pictures , colored them~ cut them out with scissors and then fastened them to bendable straws.. They were so cute ~ the bendable straws made it so the people we taped on them would bend in all directions. He said next time we should make some for Uncle Wally for his grave stone.. We could put them in a plastic bag to keep them dry and tape it to the stone and then the angels could come and take the pictures to Uncle Wally.. I teared up because he remembered our visit to the cemetery and going to Wally's grave site.. I brought this tractor one home, I helped him make for Pa Pa Dee Dee.. He did most of the tractor and I put on the man.. We had lots of fun.
Today is Monday and the storm clouds have moved in and I can hear rumbling of thunder and see lightening in the sky outside my window.. It could rain for a month here and we could still need rain. After the drought we had this summer ~ rain is welcome~! Have a Tiggeriffic Day ~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)
It was sprinkling and Ben decided to put on his fireman's raincoat and go out and jump on his trampoline.. He is so silly. He jumped in circles, he jumped sideways and had a really great time.. This is a great tool to burn off the extra energy he has and then settle down when we go back inside.. This was the best thing his Mom could of ever gotten for him..
I had taken him to the Dr. this day for a sore throat, headache,neck hurting and slight fever.. He wanted to stop in for pizza.. He ate one slice and drank his root beer.. He was feeling better.. Dr. said he didn't have strep throat and his fever was gone and it was just a virus that was going around.. Thank goodness.~!
We went to a store called The Imagination Store.. He found this toy that was lots of different shapes and you put them together in order..He said he made a diamond. Oh he loved this one.. I told him that his birthday was coming up and he needed to put it on his wish list.. He said "Take a picture".. So here it is and he said maybe Aunt Jodie would see it and buy it for him. mmmm? This is a great store for children to expand their minds..
We went past a cemetery and he said he wanted to go in to read what all those stones said on them.. It was Oak Shade Cemetery and that is where my oldest son is buried.. He was killed in a auto accident in 1995, Ben has been talking about dying and death for quite awhile now and I thought mmmmm this would be a good place to talk about what happens when you die.. I told him that if you believe in God and you have a relationship with him ~ when you die the angels come and gather up your soul and take you to heaven to live with God.. Your body stays here and is placed in a box and a grave marker is put in place on top to say who you were, when you were born and the date or year you died.. It was quite good to see him understand what I was saying and he had lots of good questions.
We walked around the cemetery and he looked at a lot of cemetery stones and had me read off their names.. then I was surprised when he could read the dates of the years.. like nineteen hundred or eighteen hundred or even two thousand.. For Ben only being 5 years old I thought this was remarkable. He also told me after I read what it said on the tombstone, that the girls names were on the left and the boys names were on the right.. I told him someday when he gets married his wife would stand beside him on the left and he would be on the right.. We had a great time at the cemetery.
We found this tombstone of a young man who must of liked music a lot.. I just love what it says here..
On the right of this stone was a full picture of him from head to toe and below this saying was a drum set..
After we visited here I took Ben to his Mom's house and we played games , read books and he played with the car he had gotten at the Imagination Store. He was feeling so much better and he got to go back to school the next day.
We had a great day together and learned lots of new things..
Have a tiggeriffic day ~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Today is Monday and it's a sunny day.. After two days of much needed rain it's really nice to see the sun again.. The birds are enjoying it this morning. It's a very nice 50 degrees this morning with the promise of 65 by this afternoon. Mr. Cardinal looks so bright at this feeder. I miss hearing their beautiful song..What Cheer What Cheer. It's coming onto fall here and all the birds are settling into cold weather just like people.. Got out the winter coats, scarves, mittens, boots hats and am ready for the colder weather that will arrive soon.
Here they are the gobblers of the feeders.. They are so bright blue.. Right now I can see 6 of them out there scrambling after the black oil sunflower seed. The other birds are waiting for their turn to eat.. Blue rules for right now at this feeder..
Got to see Ben this morning for just a minute.. The library at school has a fund raiser to raise money to buy new books.. Today is penny day. Each class is to bring their pennies to school today.. tomorrow is nickel day and Wed. is dime day and Thursday is quarter day.. Which ever class brings in the most money by the end of the week, can have an ice cream party with the principle of the school.. Ben was so excited when his Dad stopped at the house this morning and I ran out a big bag of pennies. He said "Thanks Gran Annie".. tomorrow is Nickel day~!.. I said 'Yes , Ben we will be ready with our nickels.. He always seems to remember what is coming up at school, like what day to wear a green shirt or a red one. Or sometimes your favorite football team.. Just love that boy..
Have a great Monday~! I know I'm going to do that ~ Dave brought home some apples and I'm going to make a apple pie.. Nothing is better than warm apple pie with a cup of coffee.. Dave went to town this morning ~ maybe he will bring home some vanilla ice cream to put on top.. yum yum~!
Ta Ta For Now From Iowa:) Where it's sunny and bright~!
We go to Balltown, Iowa to Briechbach Restaurant every October to see the leaves on the trees and eat the delicious food that is served here..We went here on Friday afternoon. I picked up Ben an hour early from school so we could get there before the crowd showed up..it was a good thing. When we left there was quite a few people in line.. Tracie's friend Brian came with us this year.. He is such a nice young man. Ben really likes him and if you notice they are wearing the same kind of shirt.. Iowa... Ben was being really silly looking through the binoculars. It was a cold day even thou the sun was out shining..
Here is a picture of Tracie, Ben and Brian. We had a really great time eating and enjoying the scenery. Brian and I took Ben over to the feed store that is across the street . They have lots of dried flowers, herbs , squash, apples,pumpkins, gourds.. Ben picked out 3 large pumpkins and was so excited.. I love fall and all the color and pumpkins and all that is involved...with October. This time of year there are a lot of October fests.
The is the view from where we were standing.. The Mississippi River is in the distance, you can see it if you knew where to look. It's quite a view.
On the way home the sun was shining brightly and we saw two sun dogs.. The sun was setting and the sky was so red.. When riding in a car it's hard to get just the write spot to get the picture one wanted. There's so many hills here in this part of Iowa that it was difficult to get the one I wanted.. If anyone tells you that Iowa is flat ~ tell them they haven't been in the North.
Today being Saturday ~ I decided to get out the big suitcase out of the closet. I keep my winter clothes in this suitcase and now that warm weather is pretty much over it was time to make the switch. I went through my summer clothes and picked out the ones I wanted to keep for next year and made a pile for Goodwill. I put all my summer clothes and shoes in this suitcase and put my winter ones on the bed.. Got them all hung up in my closet and put some in my dresser. Now I'm ready for cold weather.. I love the suitcase method.. Not enough storage space in this house and this sure helps.. Plus I go through them and decide which ones go to Goodwill before they go back into the suitcase.
Made Ham and Bean soup today.. Was looking for a corn bread recipe and found one on one of the blogs I follow.. Crazy As A Loom ... She has recipes on her blog and this one was so good.. Today was very cold and tonight is suppose to freeze.. I went out and covered up some of my flowers.. Does anyone know what kind of flower this is, it's blooming right now.. It is next to the sedum and the iris's.. Don't know if I need to bring it inside for the winter or hope it comes back next year..
Hopes someone can help ..
Have a great day ~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Ben and I were outside kicking the soccer ball around and the ball got into the corn.. Ben went in to get the ball and he was shaking the corn.. He said "GranAnnie this corn rustles".. He liked the sound and walked on the outer edge of the field with his arms making the corn move.. I could see where he was by watching the corn tassles above move as he walked. I won't let him go too far into the corn. That is how children and adults get lost.. They get inside and can't find their way out.. I told him this week=end we would cut corn down and make a corn shock...and maybe make a few pumpkin people to sit on the hill by the end of the driveway..
He decided to lay on the ball and told me to take an upside down picture of him... He thought this picture was so cool~!
We went into the house and I got some paper out and had him draw circles on the paper with my circle template I bought.. He was having a ball making circles.. Then I brought out the lower case alphabet sheet and told him to make the letters inside the circles. I had some watercolor paints and a little bowl of water and a paint brush. He drew the letters inside the circles with colored pencils and then he really liked the idea of using the paint to color in the circles. He had a great time doing this and he filled in all the circles..I told him tomorrow when he comes he can cut out the circles and we can glue them on a piece of paper and put the letters in the right order.. I thought he would like this a lot.. I'm trying my best to find ways for him to practice his lower case letters and put them in order.. His Dad came to pick him up and take him to his house..have supper and then read some books and go to bed and start the day off again.
I love it when he gets in the back seat of his Dad's car.. He waves and blows kisses..and yells "Love You ~ Gran Annie"~!
Just melts my heart...ta ta for now from Iowa:)
I just love this picture of Pa Pa Dee and Ben riding on the John Deere 530.. Think I will frame this one and give it to Ben to put on his dresser at his mom's house.. I'll bet even Aunt Jodie would like a copy of this one..
After I picked up Ben at Donna's house ( his daycare provider after school) we went to my house. Pa Pa Dee Dee was just getting the JD out of the shed.. Ben of course wanted a ride.. So off he went with his legs a flying.. and climbing on that tall tractor..with ease.. He has such strong arm muscles , he makes it look so easy..
He was being silly in this one, not sure what he was trying to do but he liked it.. I suppose we are going to get into the age that every kid does including my four..A time when they think it's funny to stick out the tongue or make funny faces or do this with their hands.. Silly boy..
After I took the picture~ Ben and I went into the house to fix supper.. I took out his work from his school folder and said 'OH Ben look you have homework".. (while he was outside with Dave I slipped into his folder and put in a work sheet I had for lower case alphabet and wrote homework on the top ) He said "Gran Annie this isn't from my teacher it's from you...that is your handwriting".. I couldn't believe he could know that ... I just laughed and said Yes, Ben you are right.. could you please practice writing your lower case letters and I'll help you... He said I'll do it with Mom.. So we played a game of Old Maid.. He loves that game.. I got him a card holder so he can hold his cards in front of him without me seeing them.. I have taught him to be a good sport and it doesn't matter who won it matters how you play the game ... and congratulate the winner even if it's not you.. When he wins he always pats himself on the back.. if I win he says "Congratulations Gran Annie"..
We had supper and then Tracie took Ben home.. She called me later and said she set up a point system with Ben with Skittles.. She has these little plastic bowls with lids and they went over his word list and he would say the word and write it on paper.. For every word written with good penmanship he got a skittle and he put the colored skittle in it's own bowl.. He showed them to me this morning.. He had a bowl of green ones, red ones, blue ones, ect. He was so excited.
Took Ben to school this morning and on the way there he decided he didn't want to buy his lunch. Good thing my house is on the way to school, we stopped and we gathered some things for him to put in his lunch box which I keep at my house.. then quickly back in the car and off to school. He was so happy this morning he just talked and talked about what he had done with his Mom last night. They made Jello and worked on getting points.. I told him that if he had a great day and didn't get his name in the yellow or red cup he could play with my Kindle Fire when I picked him up this afternoon. He said 'O.K. that means no name calling, so pushing kids and no burping in kids faces.." I said 'Yes that would be a good thing not to do today".. We got to school and he skipped all the way to the door, he turned around and waved at me and blew me a kiss~!~! That was a tender moment for Gran Annie.. Have a great day~ta ta for now from Iowa:)
