The Neratko Family

My sister-in-law Sara doesn't like musicals at all, mostly because we don't go through life singing all the time like they do in musicals. So, I couldn't help but laugh yesterday when I overheard Emily singing instructions to her sister. She was singing, "Maddie get down from the train table" and various other things. She continued to sing for about 5 minutes and everything came out in song, but had to do with what she was doing right then. When she sings made up songs they are always to tunes of other songs she already knows, but she will mix several tunes together. She might start with "I am a child of God" then switch to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and then "Row, Row, Row your boat" Only switching the words to whatever she wants.
Maybe for her life is a musical.

Saturday we went to Linder Farms pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. Of course I forgot the camera like always. We had a lot of fun. We rode on the tractor out to the pumpkin patch and each of us picked a pumpkin. We just told the kids they had to be able to carry it themselves. They actually did really good. After the pumpkin patch they rode on these little swings they had that are kind of like the fair swings on a much smaller scale. Then we went to the petting zoo part. Emily and Madison loved it. They were able to get in a corral with the goats and sheep and pet them all they wanted. Maddie didn't want to leave. Last of all we got some doughnuts and ate them. They were super yummy. Then we left because it was getting really cold.

Monday we decided to paint the pumpkins we picked. Joe was still at work because he worked overtime. His pumpkin is still bare.

Here is Emily's pumpkin. Didn't she do a great job? She was very upset though after she saw mine and wanted me to paint hers too.
Here is Maddie painting hers. By the end it was completely covered in black, red, and purple paint. She had so much fun though and took the longest to paint. She was really mad when I told her it was time for bed, but Emily and JJ were already dressed and in bed.
Here is my pumpkin and JJ's pumpkin. I tried to have him paint some on his, but he was too tired and just wanted to go to bed. So I painted a little face on it for him. We had a lot of fun and this is one of my favorite traditions we have started as a family.

We cut JJ's hair on Sunday. He looks so big now. He doesn't look like my little baby anymore. I can't believe he is 14 months now.

Last week in my cake decorating class we worked on the Wilton Rose. After I was done making several of them I put them on a cake. Here is the cake I made. I also did little pearls on it and did a shell border. It was a lot of fun. I only used one 9" round though because Joe and I decided we didn't need to eat a cake every week.

In these pictures he is throwing his fit at the dinner table. He doesn't just scream he moves his body from side to side too. It is kind of funny.

Today Emily was watching Pocahontas for the first time. During the movie Pocahontas's grandma is a tree. The first time we see her I hear, "What? her grandma is a tree?" With such emphasis on the What that I couldn't help but laugh. I love listening to her as she is figuring things out.

Today we took down our garden. While we were doing this we were even able to pick some more watermelons, cucumbers and strawberries. Our strawberries are still blooming. It is like they don't want to stop. It was kind of sad cleaning everything up because I kept thinking about how we won't be able to use this square foot garden next year at my parent's house. They have a lot of garden space so that won't be a problem. I just think about how much work we put into putting our square foot garden together. I am so grateful for all the produce we were able to get from our garden this year. What a blessing it was.

We will be moving in January. My parents are moving to Pennsylvania for my Mom's new job. We are sad to see them go. When they move we are going to be moving into their house. There will be more space and it is closer to Joe's work. I was telling Emily about all this and explaining that in order to visit Grandma and Grandpa we would have to ride on an airplane like when we would visit Grandma Carol. Emily said, "We will need to go on an airplane every Sunday to eat dinner with Grandma and Grandpa." I explained this wasn't possible because it would cost too much money. She said, "We just need to get more money so we can go do it then." I said that we just wouldn't have enough. She said, "We just need to get our own airplane then. Then we can go to Pennsylvania every Sunday."
She is going to miss her grandparents so much.

Today, our neighbor, Lauren put JJ up to the big piano for the first time. He loved it. He immediately went to town banging on the keys. Emily and Madison have always been gentle with the piano so I thought it was hilarious when he started banging away. After playing for awhile he started to be more gentle and just play one key at a time.

I have started a cake decorating class. Here is the first cake I decorated. We were doing clowns. It was a lot of fun. I ran out of frosting though so that is why it isn't completely finished and some of the colors are wacky. I will be taking a class every week.

JJ loves to take baths. Whenever I lay him down in the water he immediately starts kicking his legs and laughing. It is adorable. I tried to get a good picture of him, but he kept blinking with the flash and wouldn't smile the way he usually does as soon as the camera came out.