Halloween

H - A - double L - O - W - double E - N spells halloween!

This was Quinton's first year dressing up.
Last year he might have enjoyed it but Rex and Myla were still so little so we just handed out candy. This year he definitely embraced the holiday. Dan picked out a very simple but cute costume. A cowboy hat and a holster with some guns. I threw on a jean jacket and some cute jeans and we had our costume!

The cutest cowboy I've ever seen!

We attended a costume party on Friday night with a lot of kids. There was a lot of dancing and cute costumes. Here are some pictures of some of the cute kids all dressed up...

Adeline as a flamingo

Millie and Stella as ketchup and mustard, Adeline again and Eliza as a giraffe.Desi in her tutu and Mason as a firefighter.

Landry Judd as a little bear

Saturday night was "beggers night" in Des Moines, a strange thing for me considering in Minnesota we went trick or treating on Halloween but here in Iowa they go the night before, strange Iowans. We joined up with some of our old neighbors to go get some candy. We enjoyed pizza and then headed out. My babies were not dressed up but enjoyed a sucker in the wagon and Quinton enjoyed getting candy. He got A LOT of candy, which is funny because we don't really eat it here. He was fascinated with the whole idea of going to people's houses for candy.

The whole gang.

We attempted playdough yesterday with all three of them. Very little was put in the mouth, buts lots of it ended up on my floor. I decided to bring in our little picnic table from outside to play on in our kitchen. A good indoor activity, I'm sure playdough will get a lot more use as the snow comes.

After playdough Quinn tackled Myla. She thinks it is funny and he likes to "get her." About two weeks ago Dan called Myla a "tough cookie" ever since then Quinn calls her our "little cookie Myla." It is so cute! He will tell me that our "little cookie" is crying or awake or needs my help. A fun little nickname for our "tough little cookie!"

A successful and fun weekend! Next year I will have to get creative having to come up with three costumes!

October Fun!

We have had a busy but very fun month. We have enjoyed the warmer weather and still lots of playing outside. I love not needing coats in October just a zip up and by lunch time just a long sleeved shirt. My children are addicted to the outdoors, the moment the front door is open they all drop what they are doing and head straight for the door. Quinton is a FABULOUS big brother. Although at times Rex and Myla get "in his way," he genuinely enjoys their company and always wants them around him. He loves when they chase him on his motorcycle and throw the ball to him. He is helpful when they get their push toys stuck on the grass and tells them to stay out of the street cause their are cars. Sweet and wonderful big brother.

Although we can't go very fast with boy kids on the scooter, Quinn likes to ride with the babies.

Rex enjoying the motorcycleTaking Myla for a spin

My dear friend Heather Guck arrived home from a year of serving over seas. It was wonderful to go to the welcome home ceremony and to see her again and support our troops. What sacrifices these men and women have made to protect our freedom. I have been honored this past year to receive her emails regularly and to hear about her life at war. I cannot image being away from my friends and family for a year. It was such a heart warming time to see these men and women reunited with their families and friends. Many of them had children that they had not seen for a year. How blessed so many of us are to not have to be apart from our families. Thank you Heather for your hard work and sacrifice!Friends welcoming Heather back home!

How cute is this??
My children are watching the garbage man. A highlight of our Thursday mornings!

My three amigos.
Check out Rex' THICK hair! It is beautiful, I'm jealous for Myla.

A favorite hiding spot in our new house is this cabinet. All three of my children LOVE climbing into this cabinet and hiding. Myla will sit in their with the door shut for over a minute and laugh when you ask "where's Myla." We have had many pinched fingers and bumped heads but it doesn't stop them from climbing in and out all day long.

Aunt Kelly sent Miss Myla a Viking's shirt.
She looked so cute in it with her purple head band on. Although it didn't bring a win, we are expecting it to bring a lot of good luck for the Vikings this year. I'm an optimistic fan!

Saturday nights are me and my kids night alone at home. Dan is at church and we enjoy an evening just us. We usually eat leftovers or mac and cheese, a favorite at our house. On this particular night, Rex decided it was more fun to rub dinner in his hair as opposed to eating it. He seemed very proud of himself. As you can see, his hair is completely coated in dinner!

Disgusting, but still so sweet!

I rinsed his hair with water but no soap... this is how hair dries when styled with mac and cheese. This looks pretty fashion forward if you ask me, maybe I will have to tell my hair stylist friends.My children are not big into cookies, they have their mothers taste in food, they prefer saltiness, but I did offer oreos on this particular night. After cleaning up such a messy dinner I opted for cookies in the bathtub. That might be strange to you, but it seemed much easier in my mind that cleaning up their high chairs again. They seemed to enjoy them and I rinsed them right off!

Rex' cool hair again!

Miss Myla finally has more teeth. Last night she had her two top teeth poke through. Now she is up to 4 teeth! Go MYLA! My children are generally good teethers although Myla did need a little Tylenol and some extra cuddle time. What a sweet girl.

Quinn with an Oreo Smile

I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my family, I love my friends.
I'm a truly blessed woman.
Actually, some exciting Rude family news is that Dan's younger brother Jason proposed to his girlfriend Amanda Stopek on Friday and she said YES! We are very excited to welcome her into our family. She is a very dear girl.
Congratulations Jason and Amanda!
This is a picture of them on the Rude family vacation this summer.

I Was The Best Mom EVER...

"I was the best mom ever... before I had kids"
That was a funny but true quote by my good friend Sarah Roberts this morning.

Wednesday mornings.
Wednesday mornings are one of the highlights of my week. Wednesday mornings at 5:45 am I get in my car and drive over to my friend Tonya's house. At 5:55am nine of us moms open our bibles, enjoy coffee and learn from the mistakes and wisdom of each other. Seven weeks ago we began a little moms bible study, or as we call it "Young Mamas Memorizing the Word." We meet from 6-7am before our children wake up and our husbands go to work. Dan normally leaves for work around 6am but stays home on Wednesdays so I can go meet with my girls! It is early but so peaceful. Every week we get together and every week I leave so encouraged. We pick a different passage to memorize each week. It has been really amazing to see the Word of God transform my life. It has made such a difference having a verse to meditate on throughout the week. We all see each other throughout the week so we decided to keep on track. When we get together we recite our verse from the week and the week before (so we can really keep the verses in our memory), talk about the verse for the next week and share prayer requests from our own lives. These women are truly an encouragement in my life!

I am learning a lot about becoming more like Christ.
So the comment, "I was the best mom ever... before I had kids" was quite appropriate. Before I was a mom I thought that I would be a perfect mother. It was so easy to see moms at the grocery store, the mall, at church, and think, "I would never let my kid do that." I always said I would never have a child with food on their shirt.... and then I had kids. But being a mother is HARD WORK, (hence the need for memorizing the Word and mothers around me to encourage me!) I don't realize how impatient I am until I am teaching Quinn to clean up toys, or how selfish I am until things don't go as I have planned them, which is quite often with three little ones, or how easily I can become angry when my kids knock an entire cup of milk onto the floor right after I just cleaned it. All these areas are areas that the Lord is teaching me in and making me into the woman that He desires me to be. I love my children and my husband but I surely would be an awful wife and mother without the Lord. I can feel my life being transformed each week as I mediate on new parts of the Word and I know that through it all I am becoming more like Christ and as I become more like Christ, I am inching closer to being "the best mom ever" even after having kids!

These are my note cards to help me memorize... I seriously LOVE Wednesday mornings!
It is truly amazing how refining motherhood is. There is no room for selfishness and lots of room for sacrifice. Although looking at the little faces of the children that the Lord has blessed me with makes it more often than not easy to lay down my life for them. I desire to be the best mother ever for my Wee Rudes.

We are still enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Myla is wearing another pair of new (to her) earrings. I keep losing them and I am running out of studs that I have. I need to remember to get some new ones but for now she is sporting my amber colored earrings.

Check out his long hair!

And a little drool

We enjoyed a wonderful Rude Family Gathering on Sunday. We hosted in our fabulous new house. The little boys enjoyed some basketball and Dan taught Quinn how to "shuffle his feet" while on defense, an incredibly funny sight to see!

Quinn dunking it!

My little guy loves the scooter (check out my cute shirt Aunt Dana)

Quinn showing off his helicopter

As I have said before, Rex loves putting things in his mouth... this is how I often find him.
Crazy boy

Curly Q

These videos have been long awaited. They are not walking a lot yet. They both take lots of steps, Myla more than Rex. They both stand up on their own without pulling up on something. They both love their push toys... a good find at my sale!
Enjoy watching my walkers

Myla taking some steps for you to see. She is still so little to me!

Myla being goofy


So for all of you that don't have children yet, you can still consider yourselves "the best mom ever" as for the rest of you, consider yourselves a work in progress and thank the Lord daily for the grace that He extends to us as we learn to become "the best mom ever!"

Delicious Recipes!

Two delicious, easy recipes that I wanted to share with all of you....

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

This recipe is so easy. All you have to do it put everything into your crock pot or a pot on the stove and leave it! It is delicious and nutritious... that is what Quinn and I say!

Ingredients:

• 1 onion chopped
• 1 can (16 oz) chili beans
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans
• 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn drained
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 16 oz of chicken broth
• 2 cans (10 oz each) of diced tomatoes with green chilies undrained
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 4 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used frozen)
• shredded cheese
• sour cream
• tortilla chips

Put everything (minus the cheese, sour cream and chips) into a crock pot. No need to thaw out the chicken, frozen chicken breasts work great. Turn the crock pot on low if you have 5 or 6 hours, or high if you have less. After about 3 hours pull the chicken breasts out and shred them with a fork and then place them back in. If you were gone until dinner time you could pull them out and shred them right before you eat it too. It is a delicious soup and so easy! Seriously all you need is a good can opener and you will have a delicious and nutritious meal!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Another delicious and nutritious recipe for you to enjoy! I am not a huge fan of BBQ sauce but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this. I owe the credit for this recipe to my friend Laurel.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of crust mix (all you have to do is add water)
• 2-3 chicken breasts (depending on the size and how much meet you like on your pizza)
• Sweet Baby Rays Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ sauce (or whatever sauce is your fav but we have had good luck with this sauce)
• Mozzarella cheese (one bag should be enough)
  

Follow the directions for the crust mix. Boil your chicken breasts. Once cooked through shred the chicken ( you could slice it too, I prefer it shredded). Mix with a little BBQ sauce. Put BBQ sauce onto crust. You will use less BBQ sauce than regular pizza sauce so don't go overboard. Add chicken and top with your cheese. Cook like the crust directions indicate and keep your eye on it.

Dan was drooling over both of these recipes. They have become big hits in our house, actually my kids didn't really love either, but I think they will eventually have to like them because Dan loved them! Both recipes were REALLY easy and quick which is what I love the best!

I hope that some of you enjoy these.

THE Sale!

THE sale is a BIG deal!
There is a mothers of multiples sale that happens twice a year in a Des Moines. A group of my good girlfriends and I get so excited about this sale. If you are pregnant or a mother of multiples (thank you Lord for my twins!) you get to go to the sale the night before to shop. So twice a year a bunch of us mommies get together for dinner before the sale. As much as we all love our children, it is a blast to go to dinner and chat with my dearest friends for two hours and not have to cut anyones food up or wipe up any spills. And then it is off to the sale, many of the girls just come to dinner and then go to the sale the next day! As silly as it may sound, especially to those of you who don't have children yet, a girls night out is so so so much fun, especially when it involves good friends and good deals!

Dan thinks that I am crazy but is always very appreciative of the good deals that I find.
I really wanted to find some push toys for my babies. They are both taking steps but not walking all around and I thought that some push toys would help that process. I decided that one push toy would not suffice, those of you who have twins would understand, one push toy+ two children who have not grasped the concept of sharing = lots of tears. But when the deals are good two push toys is not a problem. I also picked up Quinton a "motorcycle" as he calls it!
Quinn was much in need of some 3T shirts and I found quite a few for less than a dollar as well as a really cute zip up sweater for my handsome toddler.

3T pants were necessary too. One of my most exciting finds was a pair of basically brand new Gap 3T jeans for $3

Myla got some new shirts for this winter! She is going to be stylish. Plus a cute shirt in the bottom right corner for next summer!

Some 12 month and 18 month sleeps for Myla.
Good for snuggling.

Quinton got some cute new PJ's too.

Some more expensive finds... I found Myla a 2T winter coat for next year (top left), Gap, looks like new $10 and a coat for Quinn (yellow) for this winter. And two cute coats for Myla (top right and middle) the middle is more like a fleece and then a coat for my nephew, Hudson, and snow pants for Quinn for a dollar! I love cheap finds especially on things like snow pants that we don't wear a lot anyway. My kids are set for winter!

New (to us) shoes! Quinn boots for a dollar and Myla some fashion boots and Rex two pairs of shoes.

As you can see, I found a lot of good stuff for great prices. It is hard to justify buying children new things when there are so many great used things for sale. I was pretty excited by all of my finds and the prices I paid for all of my finds!

The lovely reasons why I get to go to the sale the night before...

For those of you who have not spent much time around Rex, he LOVES to put everything in his mouth. He is crazy!

Myla enjoying a treat after lunch, a milk chocolate graham cracker! So delicious.

Rex of course finished his milk chocolate graham and is now munching on a spoon!

Glasses are quite a hit around our house these days

As well as my water bottle

I watched a friends girls the other day and wanted to capture our lunch time. It went very smoothly and everyone was fed and happy! Eliza is 3 months older than Quinn and Adeline is 3 months older than Rex and Myla!

My babies have begun to enjoy the park. It just means that I have to really keep an eye on them and follow them wherever they go. They love the freedom.

My favorite girl in the whole world!

What a stud.

We are keeping busy! I can't believe that it is the middle of October. Time seriously FLIES! We have been enjoying the warm weather and hoping that it stays. I would be totally fine if all those warm jackets I found never got worn! I despise the winter, especially with my kids. It doesn't keep us from going places but it does mean that I have to make extra time before we go anywhere to put on jackets and hats and mittens and boots... oh how I long for Heaven where there will be no snow... at least I am hoping!