It makes me smile to happen upon these moments.
She is reading a First Look and Find book – her favorite.
He is reading a graphic novel – Plants vs. Zombies.
It makes me smile to happen upon these moments.
She is reading a First Look and Find book – her favorite.
He is reading a graphic novel – Plants vs. Zombies.
I caught Alex drawing on the eggs yesterday and just warned him to be careful. (I thought he was creating unimpressed eggs again – see here). It turns out he was also writing the sweetest note.
Evidently her pretend pots are no longer good enough.
Tabit is taking advantage of the fact I can’t quite get this bin of clothes back into the basement. Now they will nicely be covered in cat hair…
We went to church, had lunch at home, some of us took naps, we had some iPad time, and some general silliness.
The first UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT occurred when I didn’t make Kaitlyn come upstairs with me to get dressed. The three kids were playing so nicely together I left them alone in the playroom. When I came back downstairs, I found black marker all over my red chair and blue marker all over my couch (which did wash out).
Fast forward to the nap part of the day and the second UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT. I woke up to a horrible smell. Evidently Alex decided to use the timer on the microwave (which he had seen me do) to time his reading. Sadly he didn’t realize there was a different button for Timer and running the microwave. He ran it for 20 minutes.
Then to top things off, Kaitlyn locked herself in the downstairs bathroom for the third UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT. I was cooking dinner and heard her making distressed sounds (but not crying). I kept telling her to come to me. I finally realized the distress was because she couldn’t come to me. I ended up having to take the doorknob off, but we did get her out of the bathroom.
Early bedtime for everyone!!
I never know what Alex is going to come up with next. Today he created a Santa beard and then found a pillow to complete the look. Perfect.
A field trip to Home Depot, playing in the Pre-K fort, and a little hand holding.
Kaitlyn has become crazy independent lately. She wants to do everything herself – or at least try first. She still loves to work puzzles but is needing less and less help from me.
These guys are soaking up every warm day. Today they played in the Pre-K Fort (you’d think they would rename it now that they are in Kindergarten) and fed the horses.
Just when you think your kids have outgrown something they prove you wrong. I hadn’t seen Teague holding a hand in months. Today he and his buddy were inseparable.
One of my birthday gifts was a table and chairs for our patio. (This is our first house, out of four, to have a back deck.) I couldn’t wait to pick it out and have our first meal outside. Tomorrow we are going to add a nice red umbrella and possibly a small seating arrangement (we have a really large back deck).
We had to be in Milwaukee this morning so we met up with some friends at the park. The kids wanted to go walking through the woods and we all had the best time (and the best pictures)!
We got home in time for Kaitlyn’s nap and then the big kids wanted to rake leaves. Leah quickly joined in and the jumping began!
All the kids were off school today so we made it a family day. After much discussion, we decided to try out the Kohl Children’s Museum. The kids loved it (and so did Wade and I )! Kaityln would have been happy to stay in the newborn nursery (with beds, scales, casts, food, and diapers) forever. They boys bounced around between the water room and the building areas. Alex took a liking to a stuffed snake in the vet area.
Teague asked Dad to help him build a rocket ship and Dad was happy for one excuse to build.
Cookie making, cheerio guarding, and funny faces.
Today was officially Halloween so Kaitlyn’s ballet class was done in costume.
Then we headed to Alex’s school for his Halloween parade.
Madison has always considered herself a lap dog, but in recent years she doesn’t like to jump into a lap as much (old hips). I was out for the evening and Wade sent me a picture of Alex and Madison snuggling. How sweet.
Our neighborhood seems to be growing like crazy. In the last year, the number of children has grown exponentially. With all the new residents, the home owner’s association decided to put together more holiday activities. My neighbor is in charge (Awesome!) and planned this fabulous Halloween event for the neighborhood.
Today was full of parties. Two kids had Halloween Parties at their school and then we went to a friend’s party after school. I helped out with Kaitlyn’s party so I have plenty of pictures.
I also have a few pictures from Teague’s Halloween Parade around the school.
Then tons from our party at a friend’s house.
Trying to find the perfect coloring book is hard work.
The tree house was finished last week just in time for the pumpkin carving party. It looks awesome and the kids love it!
Teague has a very small class (11 kids) and they do some awesome things with their teachers. Today they dissected bats.
Kaitlyn loves her “pubbles.” She will sometimes work the “baby” puzzles with a single piece per hole, but her favorite are these 24/48 piece puzzles. She needs quite a bit of help but I doubt she will for long.
This is the 12th year Wade and I have hosted a pumpkin carving party. (Isn’t that crazy?) We had a mix of Milwaukee friends and local friends. The weather was prefect for carving outside and then the adults moved inside to socialize and the kids played outside in the treehouse and with flashlights till 9 pm.
And always we have the group photo!
Madison happily held Kaitlyn’s loveys while she ate her snack.
Kaitlyn has always loved to climb. I knew it wouldn’t be long before she could climb the netting on the tree house.
We love our after school play dates. There are a couple families that always stay an extra 30 minutes after school gets out. We let the kids run and play around the school and the adults get to relax in the sun.
The tree house is so close to being done! It just needs a roof.
These three were hard at work all day in the shop.
Wade pulled down a huge limb today and the boys were pretty excited to help him with the cleanup.
Teague and Kaitlyn’s school takes a trip to the pumpkin farm every year. Thankfully they were both scheduled to go on the same day and I only had to make one trip. Teague had a blast with his class and Kaitlyn was happy to see all the animals.
Teague has the cutest Kindergarten class:
Kaitlyn no longer climbs on the table, but she still has trouble sitting still at dinner. We’ve tried her high chair and we’ve tried a traditional booster seat. Today we bought her a special chair. Here’s hoping it does the trick of getting her to stay seated through a meal.
We realized we have a crazy schedule this October and Alex doesn’t get a pumpkin field trip like the other kids. We decided to spend a Saturday morning at the Pumpkin Farm.
A little late we are celebrating 4 years of Teague! On Sept 26, 2012 we flew to Korea to meet him and our lives have never been the same!
Kaitlyn has a love affair with stickers. We are working hard to remember to only put them on people or paper. Today she chose people…
Kaitlyn assures me that Madison is fine but needs a shot.
Teague and I started out making cookies and Kaitlyn joined us before too long. Teague was happy to give her a lesson in scooping out the cookie dough!
Teague loves to play market and is teaching Kaitlyn the ropes as quickly as he can.
Today Kaitlyn practiced being a princess – in her princess tent. She did exactly what she wanted – with no clothes she cut, cut, cut.
Then she lounged around and talked on the phone.
Is it any wonder my closet is always a mess?
On a side note, I learned that Kaitlyn can match at an early age. She has brought me matching shoes almost from the time she realized she was wearing shoes.
This one spent all afternoon singing and rocking her babydoll – while carrying her purse.
Every morning I get onto the boys for their messy closet. They have dragged out books and other such things. Every morning they have to clean it up. Today I realized maybe they aren’t always to blame.
Kaitlyn asks for her scissors all day long. By preschool she should have a wonderful scissor grip.
Most days these two get along extremely well. Teague takes being a big brother very seriously.
Today I got to experience my first dance class for Kaitlyn. She was very excited to go and has two friends from her school class attending. It was adorable. And the teacher is a saint – she manages to teach a 30 minute class with six 2-4 year olds.
Granny made Kailtyn and her baby adorable matching outfits for her birthday. I realized if I didn’t take pictures of them together soon, I’d run out of warm weather!