Halloween 2009

How did the chicken cross the road?

On her bicycle!

Firefighter Isaac

Playing with friends at the church trunk-or-treat.

Doing the chicken dance?

This was pretty much the view I had while trick-or-treating. She is getting fast and we can't figure out how to contain her. Tonight she had to go on trunk or treat probation for running away from me too many times. It didn't slow her down as much as we would have hoped.

After walking up to the first house, Isaac figured out the fun of begging for candy pretty quick. So did Maddie. She tried to take off with the entire bowl of candy instead of just the one piece offered to her. That's my girl. Now, if I could just train her to choose the Snickers over the Smarties...

The entire chicken suit.

This picture is blurry but I love it because he's holding her hand. How did the chicken cross the road? The firefighter helped her, of course!

Isaac crawling through the tunnel at Ryan's school party.

She's currently fascinated with balloons.

Painting a pumpkin.

We've had way too much sugar this weekend.

Shoveling it in as fast as she can for fear it will disappear.

Happy Halloween!

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?