Life's a Garden

A while back Mark was flipping channels and landed on the David Spade movie, "Joe Dirt." A real classy movie, let me tell ya. I told Mark that he probably needed to change the channel, and he did eventually, but not before Kamdyn picked up a few new phrases.

So when she tried to tell me "what that guy said on the movie" a few days later, I held my breath waiting on what she was going to say. When she said, "life's a garden, you gotta dig it, mommy!" I had to laugh. It's become her favorite new phrase because she knows she always gets a laugh from whoever she says it to. I guess I should be grateful that it's not dirty or offensive!

Mimi and Pop's New Ride....

Mom and Dad got a new 4-wheeler, or 4-liter, as Kam calls it a little over a month ago. The kids are having a blast with it.
The Chastain's officially have a new hobby.... I never thought that I would be one for just riding out in the woods for no reason, but we are having such a good time exploring with the kids.
We have been riding around looking at land and debating a good spot to build. It's really been a great bonding time for us and, hopefully, we'll be able to build sooner than later!

Yesterday, we went back to pick up a deer skull and horns that we found a few weeks ago for one of Mark's coworkers who collects horns. Cooper wasn't too sure about it when Mark first put it on the rack but he eventually liked our new hood ornament. He said, "hold on, deer" when Mark took off and then asked if he could put it in his room. I told him the only way he could put it in his room was if he promised to sleep in there with it. That's about the only way he will get deer horns on his wall anytime soon!

I promise...

So I've been a little slack with the blog--again! My apologies to those of you who actually read this every day (or so you tell me you do!)... I've been in Corpus Christi since Sunday for a conference, but I promise to update soon! I've got Halloween pics that I need to post and, of course, a few stories. I know... it's almost Thanksgiving. I'll catch up, I promise. Thanks for reading! Check back soon.

Surprise

Imagine mine and Mark's surprise a few weeks ago when Cooper went to the chalkboard and out of the blue wrote this:
I knew he could write a C and O but I had no clue he could write (or even spell for that matter) "pig." We were pretty impressed!

Halloween Craft Fun

The kids and I got craftsy last week for Halloween. Nothing thrills Kamdyn more than a craft project. She loves it. This is one of my door signs that I painted. The kids loved the witches feet.
I also painted a witch for the front door that Cooper wasn't always so sure about. I tried to tell him she was a friendly witch. One morning while I was unloading the dishwasher, he was sitting at the table alone eating breakfast. I noticed he kept looking at the witch in the corner and before long, he was rotating seats around the table so he wasn't anywhere near the witch. It was so cute.

I found an easy "black cat" project for the kids to do; however, it turned out to be very messy. Black paint and kids is never a good combination. I was going to post some pics of the kids actually painting, but we had to quickly take their shirts off when I saw how messy it was and I didn't want to run the risk of being turned in for posting those kinds of pics on here! Stranger things have happened. So you'll just have to settle for the completed project.

Fall Festival and Costume Day at Mae's

The kids are trick or treating at school today so they wore their costumes over their clothes. Kamdyn insisted on being Gabriella from High School Musical (not the best costume, in my opinion, but she picked it out and she's happy with it!). Cooper wanted to be a football player. He loves his new helmet!

I took this pic before we left this morning. Kam still has a few rollers in her hair which is why she is pouting in the picture. The clothes underneath sort of takes away from the costumes so I will take more pictures when they are completely dressed up.
Each kid came to the front with Mrs. Mae (the owner) to tell who they were dressed up as. There were some very cute costumes!
Cooper's helmet is a little big, but he will hardly take it off.
Right before we went inside... her mood is much improved as you can tell!
Last night we had our annual "Fall Festival" at church and Kam told me after that it was the "best Fall Festival ever!" The kids played every game there, which is a first for us. We are usually running around chasing Cooper so this was much more enjoyable for us all.

Obviously, they let Cooper cheat a little....
If there's one thing I learned last night, it's that my kids are lacking in athletic ability. Take a look at Kam's golf skills. We're gonna have to work on that!
On a totally unrelated note, take a look at Kam's outfit. When I put it on her this morning, I had a flashback to childhood. I know I've seen a picture of Shane in this exact outfit when we were little. Shane--I know you're reading and remember what I'm talking about!!

Two happy kids who got WAY TOO MUCH candy!!!!

Kids say the darndest things...

Actually, this post should be titled "Kamdyn says the darndest things!" It's so true. She keeps us in stitches with the things she says. I hope she will always be this funny. A sense of humor is such a fantastic trait! Here are a few things that she has said in the last few weeks:

Last week we went to Wal-Mart and I was hurriedly trying to get the kids back in the car. I asked Kam to buckle herself up (which she is big enough to do now, praise the Lord! Can't wait for Cooper to be able to do this!)... She argued with me and kept asking me to do it. When I told her she was big enough to do it herself now she looked at me and said, "Ah, come on. Be the mother!" Oh no, she didn't! Oh yes, she did!
So on this same day we were riding along and the kids were talking about their letter of the week (which happened to be X) and trying to come up with words that start with it. My kids are nerds because this is an everyday occurrence for us. It entertains them for endless amounts of time.

There aren't really a lot of words that start with X so Kam was trying to show Cooper her cards from school that had words with an X in them. She got to "exercise" and proceeded to tell Cooper with all these exaggerated hand movements, "You know how daddy exercises everyday... and then he eats like a pig!" I laughed for an hour about that one!

Bath time tales...

Another night, Cooper got into my shaving gel in the bathtub and got it everywhere. I must have been out of the room for a second because when I walked back in she looked at me and said, "I"m sorry Cooper put shaving cream everywhere. I won't let him do it again." Little mama!

On yet another night in the bathtub, Cooper was getting a little wild and worked up and Kam looked at him and said, "Cool it, Rob!" Now I know she was repeating Mark on that one!!!! The child keeps a running transcript in her head of conversations from months ago. I am not exaggerating at all. You can ask my mom or anyone in the family. A while back she repeated a conversation (with hand gestures and all) that Mark and I had when we thought she was asleep at 5:15 in the morning! You've been warned!

Friends aka Characters...

I tried to pull one over on Cooper this morning and tell him that gymnastics was just for girls so he wouldn't get upset that he had to ride home with Mimi. Kam said, "uh-uh, Momma, Tank goes to gymnastics." I asked her who Tank was (that's a new one to me) and she said, "you know, he's that character at gymnastics that jumps on the trampoline." It absolutely cracks me up that she calls people "characters."

Daddy's Project...

And, lastly, Mark worked late some and I told Kam that Daddy had a big project that he was working on at work. A few days later when I told her Daddy was working late she asked me if he was still working on his "craft" at work. Everything's a craft in Kam's world!

Although I wrote this post this afternoon, Kamdyn just told me the cutest story that I had to come add. While bathing, she was telling me that she got to watch "The Three Little Rascals" today while waiting on the little kids to finish eating. I asked her who was on it and she said, Darla, Spanky, and Alfa Falfa! Then she said, "Mommy, it wasn't colored either. It was black and grey!" She then proceeded to tell me all about Spot the dog and the boys dressing up like girls. I had to call my dad to tell him because he always loved the "Little Rascals." She loved it so you can bet my dad will be buying some "Little Rascal" DVD's soon.