Dear Lightning McQueen,

You have been replaced.

By an annoying brown haired girl who speaks Spanglish and talks to her pet monkey and her purple backpack.

Don't worry, we still love to play with you. Just not as much as Dora. Think of yourself as Woody, and Dora is the new Buzz Lightyear.

Our new favorite past time (since the weather turned chilly) is to go to Ryan's school and make up our own Dora adventures (i.e. Map says, first find the game room, then we go through the underground tunnels, and that's how we find the skeleton man!)

Say it with me: Game room...

Tunnels...

...then we find the skeleton man!

I don't just love Dora, I think I am her.

Hey Maddie, Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?

Laundry Day

Sometimes we feel like putting them in the washing machine, too.

Making Caramel Apples

Here are some pictures from this year's caramel apple making. We make them every year in October, and it was fun to have Gavin and Amanda, our next-door neighbors and good friends, join us. I made them do all the work while I barked out orders and took pictures. They didn't seem to mind too much.

Isaac and Gavin dipping the apples.

Maddie anxiously awaiting a taste of the goods.

Ryan was in charge of crushing the Reese's Pieces--both delicious and appropriately colored in orange, brown, and yellow--the perfect Halloween candy.

Here is Amanda with the semi-finished product. After the caramel, we dipped the apples in white chocolate and then either cinnamon sugar or Reese's (or both). Sadly, I never did catch a photo of the completely finished product---we ate them all before I realized it. You'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that they both looked and tasted amazing.

Next Year's Clerkships

Ryan has been busy lately applying to different programs for his rotations next year. We have heard back from all the programs and organized his schedule for next year. For those of you who aren't familiar with how it works, during Ryan's 4th year of medical school (starting this coming June) he will rotate to several different programs throughout the country. He will stay at most programs for a month, and then spend his last four months of his fourth year back here in Iowa. Our hope is that he will end up doing his 3 year residency in one of these locations after he graduates. Here is a schedule of where and when he will be next year:

• June--Orlando, Florida
• July--Louisville, Kentucky
• August--Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• September--Utah (either to do an internal medicine rotation or a private practice rotation)
• October--Greeley, Colorado
• November--LaCrosse, Wisconsin
• December--Utah (internal med or private practice)
• January--Salt Lake City VA hospital
• February-May--We all move back to Iowa to do his core rotation until he graduates

Next year will be a busy and trying year, since the kids and I will be living in Utah while Ryan travels around the country. I think he added up the mileage that he will drive over the course of the year and it is somewhere around 8,000 miles in our little Corolla. I am glad his schedule worked out so that we only have to be separated for a total of 5 months. It will be challenging but I know it will be great training for his future career. Wish us luck!

Random shots of the kids in their Sunday best a few weeks ago

Is it wrong that I'm totally jealous of her outfit?

Ike at 2 1/2 years

Here are a few things that Isaac has been up to lately:

• He loves anything to do with Dora the Explorer---we check out every Dora book we can find every time we go to the library, and he loves to watch the one Dora episode we own over and over again. Luckily we found a few different episodes at the library to add a little variety. The other day during nap time I heard him acting out his very own Dora episode in his bed..."We haf ta cross da river, Boots! Get out da map!" He never fell asleep that day.
• He started preschool this past month and loves that he owns his very own backpack and crayons, and that he gets to be just like his dad and go to school. They meet once a week for an hour and all the moms take turns teaching the 5 little boys.
• Isaac has discovered that he can jump into Maddie's crib, and he does it almost daily lately. I thought I broke him of this habit by using a sticker chart, but alas the stickers lost their luster and he'd rather dive into her crib and jump on her than earn one. This new trick of his makes me very anxious because, while Maddie can fend for herself in this situation, a newborn won't be able to. Any suggestions? Separating them at this point really isn't possible.
• Whenever Ryan is home, I might as well be invisible. He speaks almost solely to his dad, and if I try to answer any of his inquiries, he emphatically replies, "No mama! I talk ta Papa." Sheesh, sorry for trying to help." If I forget to be offended it's really quite endearing how much he admires Ryan.
• He still loves to sing. His current favorites are, "If You're Happy and you Know it" and "If you Chance to Meet a Frown." The grandparents are very good to listen to him sing these songs over and over every time we talk to them on the phone.
• I attempted to potty train Isaac last month. I'm pretty sure he wasn't ready, but I'm POSITIVE that I'm not. I'll wait until I'm not spending quite so much time losing my lunch before I take on a task that big, even if it means having 3 in diapers for a little while.
• Lately the little guy has become more and more talkative, and he is really a pretty good conversationalist. He is especially chatty whenever we are in the car, and loves to chat about what color the stoplights are, where we are going, what kind of cars are driving next to us, and how many bridges we are driving over/under.
• I know the twos have a reputation for being terrible, but we are really enjoying this stage in Isaac's life, despite it's challenges. He is generally a very happy child and is excited about life. Although he can pick on his sister, he really watches out for Maddie and is kind to her more than anything else. I am so proud to be his mom.

Photos courtesy of Chrissy Jo.