Before I forget my sour patch kid can be sweet....

Mad Man was a little bored today...We went to Target and Goodwill.  Looked at monsters, skeletons, played outside, worked on colors.... but mommy wasn't good enough today.  He looked at me a little after lunch and said, "Girls home... I love them."  Of course, that was right before he was on to his next ghoulish little boy maneuver of hitting the dog, or something along those lines.  Just like the commercial...Sour, sweet, gone.  :)

On another note...Maiki found a little frog outside this afternoon and HAD to bring it in so she could take it to school tomorrow.  Before heading to bed, we all decided to check on the nasty little creature only to find, it was not in it's snug little cage.  So, the mad hunt was on...How the little guy got out, we will never know, but the antics of the three of us squealing when he was discovered hopping around in the living room was a sight I'm sure!   Needless to say, he was found, recovered and QUICKLY tossed outside.  School will have to wait another day for a Maiki show-and-tell!

Let the Madness Begin......

This is Maddox. He is also known as Mad Man, the Madness, Maddie (which Grandpa hates), Max and just Mad depending on the day. Today, he was Madness - full force. Don't let the sweet face below fool you.

Yes, this one is a glimpse of the REAL Mad Man. The one who started pooping in the big boy toilet today....

Yes, this sweet little face. Learning to poop should not be such a big task. But, for this little boy, it is just one more experiment in "What can I do to drive mommy and daddy crazy today?"

Yep. This is him - big boy Under Roos and all. Right after....

He pooped on the floor and drove his "dump" truck through the mess, much to his liking, and mommy's horror. Yep, don't mess with this one. He is my Sour Patch Kid. Love him or leave him. The Madness.

Tour de Farm 2009

It is fall indeed! Time for the Kaw Valley Farm Tour, 2009!! We had a great weekend touring all of the farms, or at least quite a few of them. Saturday we hit Pendletons and the Davenport Winery. LOVED some of the wine, but Mike didn't get to taste. (A great excuse for me to visit again on Sunday!)

Sunday, we hit an old favorite, Hammil's, another Winery we didn't like as much, Lawrence Landscape, the Chocolate place (can't remember the name) and the Davenport Vineyard again.

This is a GREAT and very cheap weekend if you ever get a chance to go. www.kawvalleyfarmtour.org. Happens every year in the Douglas County area. We had a blast and picked corn out of Mad Man's diaper the rest of the day!!

Maiki sampling some of the grapes at Davenport Winery
Fun at Hammil's in the mums...

Buried in corn... hey - it's better than sand any day!

My sweet, sweet girl.

My girl, Maiki.... she is the sweetest thing on earth. I am convinced of that. I often refer to her as my "forgotten child". She used to drive me crazy when she was smaller. She was even worse than the Mad Man (although Mike will never admit this). She would disappear and I could guarantee she was doing something that I used to see as destructive - glueing, coloring on walls, cutting something - often hair.

Now, as she gets older, and I'm seeing the little baby fade away all too quickly, I am realizing that she isn't destructive, at least not on purpose. She is just extremely loveable, and caring, and creative. My little caterpillar is turning into a butterfly right before my eyes.

This note made me both happy, and sad. She wrote me this note the other day. Makena was invited to a sleepover at a friend's house. Maiki, as usual, had nowhere to go. So, we stayed home and had another Maiki night. We watched scary shows, did arts and crafts, ate lots of junk. She loved every minute of it. So did I. No one was competing for the attention I was giving her, and it was heaven for us both.

She was upset she didn't get to go to a friend's, but this note is the result of the time she had with us instead. It broke my heart. I forget sometimes how much those moments mean to each of them, but most of all to her. She is very appreciative - but never demanding - of any time she gets to herself. She is my sweet, sweet girl.

Marissa

Our girls have been learning all about Monarch butterflies in school. We have seen little booklets, and pictures, and tons of information about these beautiful creatures coming home. Last weekend, we went to the fall open house for KU's monarch building. The kids all had a lot of fun, and were each able to take home a monarch chrysalis. Makena's hatched at school and was released there. We were all convinced Maiki's was dead because it took so much longer to change, but it surprised us all on Sunday by turning black and hatching. From the shell came a HUGE and very pretty butterfly that Maiki named, "Marissa".

We housed Marissa for a day in her plastic container, and let her wings dry. We all got to watch her, and hold her. This morning, Marissa was released out into the world (only to quickly turn around and hang out on the side of our house!) Maiki was sad, but it had to be done.

This amazing process taught me a lesson in appreciating the smallest things. It was something that the girls have learned on their own, and shared with us. It was something we could all participate in as a family, absolutely free, and was far more valuable than any toy I could buy, or tv show they could watch. Nature ... something so pure and untouched by our hands. We were all fascinated.

If anyone is interested in events like this, go to www.monarchwatch.org. They have tons of information and events coming up.