We’ve had a great fall this year and had a lot of fun with the kids. They have a way of letting you know which events they really like, too, by asking to repeat them over and over again. We have a few such activities that have started to become annual events for us – giving ample opportunity for more adventures to find us.
The GOOD
One of the kids’ favorite events that we have gone to several times is at the hospital where we just got 3 new bellybuttons. Every spring and fall, they have a big FREE carnival, complete with bounce houses, all kinds of wild and domestic animals and free lunch. In the fall they give out free pumpkins, too (unfortunately 2 of the 4 have now disappeared). At the face painting booth, the kids were excited to make their choices. Alyssa requested an iguana and Lauren a flower. The boys got a little more unique with Jack requesting Elmo on his hand (so that he can see it) and Drew asked for a house (complete with a sidewalk, tree, sun and clouds). It was almost worth the hour wait to see that!
Another highly requested tradition we started last year is a fall hike at a local park. It’s so exciting to go empty-handed now and leave the strollers behind! We went on a beautiful warm day with the leaves showing off their gorgeous colors. Back in the days when I was pregnant with Alyssa, the first shirt I bought her said “Hiker in Training.” Now I feel like we’ve lived up to it a little bit with our new tradition. We had a great time walking around, taking it all in, and nature put on quite a show for us (or we must have just been there at mealtime). We got to see a hawk make several unsuccessful bids to make a squirrel his next meal. We also got very close to another squirrel that was working very very hard to crack open a walnut for its chow.
Also, way back before we started having kids, we started visiting a local pumpkin patch every year (I went there as a young kid, too). Through the years, my Mom, sister and Dad have been able to come with us. This year my Dad joined us. We were able to enjoy our normal routine of taking a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, checking out the log cabin built in the 1850’s, petting the farm animals (and feeding a goat), and sitting in the “Cinderella carriage.” The kids seemed to have the most fun with the straw maze and bales of straw all stacked up for the kids to climb on. The triplets (minus poor allergic Jack) were able to try their first elephant ear this year. The first time we got one for Alyssa there a while back, she said, “Who would want to eat the ear of an elephant?” It was a big hit, though, and the kids had a great time.
THE NEW
This year we also got invited to a fall party at the place of one of my old high school friends. It was fun to see people I haven’t talked to in 20 year (where does the time go!?) and watch our kids play together. We also got to go on a hayride there and eat some good chow. But I think the highlight for us was seeing our first ever pumpkin cannon. Here’s a video for you to the “Punkin Chunkin” in action for yourself.
THE BAD AND THE DEAD
Some of you may remember this post about the annual field trip the preschool takes to the apple orchard. I don’t know what it is about that place, but I’m beginning to think all the preschool field trips there are cursed (good thing this year was the last one!). We were running a couple minutes late to leave the house and ut oh, the van door didn’t open. The battery was dead. In the garage. Someone had left the lights on. Poor Dave got a panicked call in the middle of a class he was teaching, asking him how to get the van into neutral. Long story short, my awesome neighbors rescued me. We never did get the van in neutral (and I even had to borrow one of my kids’ flashlights, because the batteries in mine were all dead, too!). We had to take a shelf off the wall just to pop the hood. The other side of the garage was full of all kinds of stuff we had to move out of the way to get my neighbor's truck in the garage. Our batteries were on opposite sides, so we strung 2 sets up jumper cables together. But we did get to our field trip – just in time for the trio’s class to get off the hay wagon and end the field trip. <sigh> So, I let the kids play on the playground for a bit to make up for it. Despite being told not to, they ended up stealing some apples off a nearby tree and 2 of them chomped away. When I told them we had to apologize to the cashier and pay for them, I immediately got tears from the nonconvicted thieves. Secretly, I was glad to see their repentant hearts, but I felt for them, as I remember well that pit in your stomach when you have to make amends. One kid told me he was afraid that the police would be called and haul them away. But, eventually, we made things right again and I bought some goodies for the neighbors that rescued me earlier. Always an adventure when we are around!
I have a ton of pictures from all of these events that I was going to put in a slideshow, but, let’s face it, I’m not going to get to it. I still have stuff from this summer I want to blog about like visits from family, the boys’ new room, the basement finally got finished (a YEAR ago), swim lessons, the big birthday party… Someday……
Hope you are enjoying what’s left of the fall and getting done the most important things – spending time with family.
On Sunday night, as you would guess, there were lots of costumes being donned at our house. I started gathering up all the supplies, checking the stash in the attic and doing some borrowing way back in August, so we have been looking forward to this day for quite a while.
Gearing up for it the day before, Dave planned some fun pumpkin carving activities for the kids. Not only did the traditional carving of the jack-o-lantern take place, but they made some extra special spider pumpkins, too. Lucky for us, Dave’s science class had lots of leftovers from the previous days’ pumpkin drop that we could use. It’s amazing what you can do with some hollow pumpkins, a drill, glue, googly eyes, a black marker, pipe cleaners, and some cute ghost candles (thanks Grammy). I know I’m prejudiced, but I think they turned out pretty well.
Here are the models demonstrating their creations for you:
Then before we knew it, the time had come to light our pumpkins on the porch and go get some candy. The girls decided that as part of their costumes this year, they wanted to change their hair color. That added quite a bit to the adventure to the day (especially before bedtime) and was yet another learning experience for us. But, they seemed pretty happy with the results.
So this year, we had ended up with Buzz Lightyear (complete with laser shooting noises)……
Belle from Beauty and the Beast (pretend for me that her mom was able to find the brown hair coloring instead of black)…..
Redheaded Supergirl (and Superdog, whom we borrowed)….
and a dinosaur with a big ole tail and a mean growl.
And here’s what 4 kids look like that just want to get some treats instead of sitting and having their picture taken:
Every year, it seems like we walk a little farther in the neighborhood (which means collecting a little more candy, too). This year, one of the local police officers also gave out sweets (and apparently enjoyed a good sucker himself). Our kids were so excited to get their candy from him that they jumped into a picture that someone else was having taken with Mr. Officer. Here’s the evidence of our kids stealing from the police and getting their own picture taken with him as well.
Evidently, it’s harder work than I remember, walking around and carrying all that candy and all. Our crew tuckered out after a while, one by one. But lucky for Lauren, she has a Daddy that doesn’t mind carrying her home, where she could chow on her good eats.
Hope your tummy was filled with lots of yummies, too.
Well, Amanda told you about how the girls got to take a ballet class last summer. Well, the boys got to take a sports class, too, last summer. Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of them in action, because the day Amanda was going to go photograph them, the class was cancelled. Amanda was a little sad that she didn’t get to see them at their first class, but when you have more than one child, you just have to miss some events, unfortunately.
This class was in the style of parent/child, so I (Dave) went with the boys and got to coach them along. They were among the youngest ones there and did pretty well, considering. The class was an “Intro to Sports” class which introduced toddlers to throwing, hitting, catching, kicking, etc… Now, to those of you who have been around our family, you know that Drew is the sports lover and Jack is the one doesn’t have the love of sports…yet. Although, as this video shows, when they were one and a half, they sure did fight to the death over a ball. [Click here if you can’t see the video below.]
Oh how we wish their fights were that tame now! Anyway, the boys were a little like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at sports class. One absolutely loved playing with all of the balls, so when he got to learn all about new things to do with balls during his class, he just loved it. The other couldn’t care less if he was throwing a ball, sitting on a ball, or calculating the circumference of a ball. A typical day at sports class last year went something like this:
Drew: “Come on! Throw me the ball, Daddy!”
Jack: “I’m bored, is it time to go yet?”
Dave: “Great kick Drew! Jack, get back here!”
Drew: “I kicked it really good, huh Daddy?”
Jack: “Can I throw the baseball at Drew’s head?”
Dave: “Way to swing that bat Drew! Where’s Jack???”
Overall, we had a good time, but it’s pretty evident as to who likes sports in the family. While Jack will often fall asleep with sunglasses on, Drew will often be found snuggling with his little mini basketball. Since he was very young, he has always had the disposition to play sports. Before he was two, he was dribbling a ball and hitting kick balls with a bat when we pitched them to him. When taken to the toy store and given his choice last summer, he picked a ball. His choice of tattoo at a picnic was also a ball. Balls are just his thing! Needless to say, we see lots of sporting events with Drew in our future!
Over the winter Amanda saw that there was a baseball league that Drew could possibly play in. Even though the league was a developmental league for kids ages 4-6, Amanda emailed the league commissioner and asked for an exception. Thankfully, he agreed to let Drew play, but I (Dave) had my reservations. Being very competitive myself, I didn’t want to see my son be the worst one on the team, because he was so young and little. However, I was happy when he was placed on the New York Yankees, and he ended up with Reggie Jackson’s #44. (We gave Jack the choice to play, too, but he chose a summer class with the girls. More about that later.)
So, the first practice came and went, and after practice was over, I was about to have Drew quit. Shy by nature, he didn’t really know what to do, and he was very scared. He was the shortest kid out there, and the others seemed to know what they were doing (somewhat). On the drive home I decided that instead of quitting, our backyard was going to be our spring training center. We were going to do stretching, pushups, sit-ups, squats, sprints, batting practice, fielding practice, and drills. Well, maybe not all of that, but I was determined for him to get better. But, I wanted him to want to get better, so Amanda and I made baseball a lot of fun in the backyard with him. If he didn’t want to play, no big deal. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was totally burned out with baseball. My coaches made it be like a dreadful job. Plus, I wanted to do other things, like play basketball with my friends and get better at tennis. So, I quit baseball. If our kids want to play sports, that’s great, but if they don’t, that’s fine with me as well.
The way Drew’s league is set up, the team has one practice during the week and games are on Saturday morning. During the game, the coach will throw about 5 pitches to the kid, and if they don’t hit it by then, they’ll get out a tee, where the kid will hit it. So, everyone hits the ball, everyone gets on base, and there are no outs. The last batter gets to hit a grand slam no matter what. So, each 1 hour game lasts about 2-3 innings and ends up with a score being around 40-40.
When the other team is up to bat, all of the players are positioned around the infield. Whenever someone hits the ball, it’s usually a mad scramble to get the ball. The first game was pretty hilarious when a kid hit the ball and about 8 kids ran to the ball like bees to honey. Drew had some trouble hitting the ball the first two games, so all of his hits came off the tee. To his defense, the 2nd game was played in about 45 degree weather (the wind chill made it around freezing) and Drew was still learning how to use an aluminum bat. These bats are around 14 oz., and he was use to 5 oz. wiffle ball bats. (Plus, his mom is convinced he hadn’t completely regained his strength yet from being so ill.)
As the season progressed Drew got better and better. He learned how to swing the aluminum bat really well, and he rarely had to hit the ball off of the tee. He has quite a strong arm for a three year old, and his coaches told us that he was the most improved player on the team. At the end of the last game, Drew received a nice little trophy, and he was blessed to have 2 great coaches who really cared about the kids. So, was I glad that Drew played baseball? Looking back I think he really enjoyed it, and he still loves to play in the backyard (and practicing sliding in the kitchen), so I think it was a success. Next year, he may want to do something totally different, so we’ll see where Drew’s athletic abilities and desires take us then.
We had a great time! We started with a cookout at my Dad’s, complete with popsicles and dressing up.
Then we watched fireworks with some friends from church. This was the triplets’ first time to see fireworks.
Lauren kept pointing out every single one that was purple (my favorite color). Drew said things like “This is the best thing I ever saw!” and “It’s magical.” Alyssa, the veteran, even exclaimed “This is better than I thought it would be.” Later, she grabbed Drew and hugged him and said, “This is the best night ever!” Meanwhile, Jack calmly sat in his chair, watching his siblings jump around all excited. When I asked him if he liked the fireworks, he calmly nodded yes and took it all in.
The next day, we continued our tradition of going to a local parade with some more great friends from church. There were lots of loud noises….
lots of candy…
and lots of love - for our family, friends and fantastic nation.
We also stood and applauded for all the veterans in the parade – as appreciation for them making it possible for us to enjoy all this.
(We also had lots of laughs together; Dave especially enjoyed heckling his former students that were in the parade.)
How did we end our holiday weekend? Back at our church, actually, where more friends from church showed up unexpectedly. We stretched out and watched the local show there, since the night before was such a big hit.
Unfortunately, that’s where the fairytale ends, as we got the kids to bed 2 hours late again. We are paying now for all the lost sleep, but it was worth it. After all, how often do you get to see sights like these?
Hope you had a great 4th of July. We sure did and the kids are already asking when they get to go to the parade again and see fireworks.
Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you had a great holiday. We did here. It gets more fun every year as the kids get into the holidays and enjoy our traditions more and more.
This year we started out the season with decorating the house. The kids loved getting out their baskets that Grammy got for them and have been playing with them ever since (it’s going to be tough to put them away). Grandma and Papo came for a visit, and continued their tradition of dying eggs and buying new outfits for Easter day.
Last weekend, we went to an Easter egg hunt at a local park. It was crazy! There were at least 500 people there. They split up the kids by age and put half on each side. They threw a bunch of eggs all over an open field and set the kids all off to meet in the middle. It was a 2 minute hunt, but afterwards the kids got to have their pictures taken with the Easter bunny. Alyssa also ended up having her picture in the newspaper, too! Here’s a quick glimpse of the madness. (I found out today our camera has a wind filter, so next time it will be better, I promise!)
To get ready for the big day this weekend, the kids picked daffodils and placed them in a vase for a centerpiece. I had planned to make cupcakes with the kids on Saturday. But alas, there had to be a complication, right? Alyssa was sick and had to be checked out. She has strep throat again.
Sunday morning, Dave made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we read about the true meaning of Easter, and then the kids found their Easter baskets, which were hidden in the basement. They were also excited to wear their new outfits for church. That made it picture taking time and we let Alyssa dress up, too, so she wouldn’t feel left out. Once everyone else left for church, she helped me make the cupcakes and frosting. She was quite the little helper in the kitchen. The math she is learning in kindergarten came in handy, too!
When the rest of our crew returned home from church, something was amiss. It turns out Lauren thought it would be a good idea to write all over her hands and through the hole over the knee in her new tights. She got a new flower pen in her Easter basket, so why not, right? And guess where some of the ink ended up? Yep, on her brand new dress. Lucky for me, my mom is the Stainmaster of laundry. I put in an SOS call, Mom did some research, and blotting with rubbing alcohol did the trick and saved the day. She was quite remorseful when she was caught, though.
This was one of many glitches and distractions that happened throughout out the day that lead to some last minute changes to simplify the menu. It also cut into the cute bunny cupcake project (adapted from this idea from All You Magazine) I thought I was going to do with the kids. I ended up doing most of it, due to time constraints, but each kid seemed happy with decorating the face of their own bunny (and later eating it after dinner).
In the afternoon, the kids also got to play some baseball, and we had a much longer Easter egg hunt in our backyard. See if you can figure out from the video why the girls ended up with twice as many eggs as the boys).
Then we enjoyed a simple, yet traditional ham dinner. I think that everyone came had a really good time and we did, too! We were blessed to share the day with my parents and some friends from church.
But more than having a good time, I want to celebrate what this holiday means. We truly believe that if Jesus hadn’t defeated death, to pay for our mistakes, there is no way we could go to Heaven. Isn’t that amazing? Please know, that it is my prayer for each and every one of you to see Easter as the celebration of our ticket to eternal life in Heaven. I feel with all my heart, there is no greater decision for you to make than what you believe about Jesus. If you want to talk to me or ask questions, please know that I am here for you. I want you all to be with me in Heaven someday, and I’ll do whatever I can to bring you with me!
I’ll close with another little slideshow of our Easter festivities highlights. I hope you enjoy it. I am so grateful that we are so truly blessed.
When I originally pictured how I would blog about our trip to Colorado last summer, I envisioned capturing the play by play action and every detail in a multi-part post (especially for the kids’ sake). Well, 7 months after we have arrived home, I have finally conceded that’s not going to happen! It's been an overwhelming task to do justice to such an eventful week, and I just don’t have the time to write about it the way I would like to. So I’ll just have to settle for the highlights.
A little background, first. We headed out west to visit Dave's brother, Mike, his wife Laurie, and their kids Will and Paige. (They are otherwise known as Uncle Mike, Aunt Laurie, Cousin Will and Cousin Paige.) Grandma and Papo drove out there as well, and we met them about 5 hours into our trip. They were great to caravan with and helped us out in so many ways. We also stayed together in a hotel one night each way to break up the drive (and the kids loved the pool).
The kids were so excited and couldn’t wait to see all their family. In fact, when we dropped the van off for a tune up before our trip, Jack cried on the way home, because he thought that we were leaving then and there.
Round trip, we drove over 2500 miles in one week. To be honest, the kids did much better than we expected. Sure, they had their squirmy moments and near fights with kids at a McDonald’s Playland, but really they did well considering all that we threw at them.
When we arrived, it was so great for all of us to be together and the drive out was immediately worth it. We hate that we live so far away and don’t get to spend more time together. I think the best part for me was getting to do those little every day things together. The kids were so cute eating together (the youngest 4 at a picnic table and Alyssa and Will in the big kid stools at the bar). It was fun to watch the girls play dress up and the boys wrestle. Alyssa and Will danced and held hands. Paige gave Papo a Curious George band aid for his boo boo. We got to see where Will goes to school and his favorite restaurant. And I got to hold my adorable niece, which she may be too big for the next time I see her!
Of course, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was so fun to see the wide eyes on our kids as they saw mountains for the first time (too bad they fell asleep for the most beautiful part). We saw elk, prairie dogs and played in the snow in June. We enjoyed Pearl Street and the toy store in Boulder. The guys golfed and the wives & kids went to Bounce Town. We got to see Laurie’s parents and introduce our 3 little guys to them. We played outside a lot and rode bikes, met the neighbors and even went to a cookout with them. To top it all off, we had perfect, gorgeous weather.
When it was time to go, the kids gave each other the most adorable hugs. We missed them so much, we seriously talked about driving out again at Christmas Break (didn’t work out, though). We really had a great time, and I made a slideshow a while back that I would like to share with you. Enjoy.
What is better in the fall than visiting an apple orchard? Since I am blessed to get to stay home with our kiddos (a blessing I try not to take for granted), I was able to attend both of the kids' field trips out to a local apple orchard.
First, I went with Alyssa's class, and it was fun to meet her little friends that I had heard about. It was also the first time in a long time that I had been on a school bus!
It was a gorgeous fall day, and the kids got to sit on wooden crates in the middle of the orchard and sample different types of apples and drink some cider.
Then it was off on a wagon ride through the orchard and off to the pumpkin patch.
Their teachers got out and selected a pumpkin for the class.
Then they headed back inside to learn about how cider is made, and they got to see the orchard beehive up close.
Next, it was back outside to a picture perfect setting by the mums to learn about how corn is ground up and made in many different foods.
Finally, it was back to the bus, where Alyssa and her buddies held hands while they waited their turn (I am soaking up every second of this; I know it won't last much longer!)
Then, just a few days later, I was off with Lauren, Drew and Jack's preschool class to the same place for their first field trip ever. I won't say it was as bad as last year (especially since no one left bleeding), but I am beginning to think that there is some kind of curse on me going to this farm with preschool!
For starters, as we pulled into the parking lot, the raindrops started to fall and uncertainty reigned from there on out. After sitting out in the rain for about 15 minutes under our umbrellas, they finally ushered us inside to learn how cidar is made and how bees do their thing to make honey. As you can see, trying to get a bunch of 3 year olds to sit through this doesn't work so well.
Next, we were ushered into a corner of the garage where the kids got to learn about corn. They thought the scale was pretty cool, which I think kept them from wandering off.
Then, we headed out to the barn, where we sat on wooden benches covered with cardboard, so our pants wouldn't get wet. (Guess who got wet pants anyway, since the cardboard ran out?) We tried samples of different varieties of apples and cidar, as we listened to the rain pelt the tin roof.
As for the wagon rides, well, they had to cancel that. I'm sure the tractors would have gotten stuck in the mud. So, instead of going to the pumpkin patch, the teachers just picked a pumpkin off the wagon for the class.
Well, you win some, you lose some. Some field trips seem just perfect: the weather, good times with friends, even the pictures turn out better. Other days, you just show up, eat your food, and go home. Just like life, huh?
