What season is this?

Yesterday was the first day of Fall, my favorite season. And look at what we where up to today! A snow cone party at our friend Avrey's house. I love it! But I hope we don't skip Fall and head straight into winter. Good old global warming! --emily

Pre School

Today was Jake's first day of Pre School. He had a great first day! He knows most of the kids and the teacher already, so it was an easy drop off. My friend is a stay-at-home mom but in her past pre-kid life she was a school teacher. She decided to take in a few kids, plan appropriate curriculum, and work with our kids for a small fee. It is a dream! This is a great opportunity for Jake, and I am so excited too! --emily

Celebrating Jacob's 4th Birthday

Oh my goodness what a fun afternoon! Jacob invited a few friends over to celebrate his birthday with him. Our clown, aka Kelly, made balloon animals. He actually did a pretty good job considering it was his first time. We also played kid party games. We had a blast.

I had to post this picture because of the funny story that goes along with our pinata fun. The story goes like this: The kids have all had a couple of chances to whack at the pinata and it is a solid structure. The kids finally break through it with much force when my sweet neighbor informs us that the strings hanging from Spiderman are "pull strings" and each kid is supposed to grab a string; and one lucky kid has the string that actually opens the pinata. What the heck? I have never heard of such craziness! What ever happen to the good old fashioned kid games like hitting the pinata 'till all the candy flies all over the house and you are dodging them like bullets as they fly toward your face. Everything is so safe these days. I see why a lot of safety precautions are put in place, but come on. Someone tell me that they still make the "whacking" pinata!

Okay, so moving on we ate homemade Spiderman cupcakes and opened gifts. Jacob had a great time opening his presents. What kid doesn't enjoy new toys and games? He received some very fun and thoughtful gifts. Thanks to all! Look at that smile. It is very hard to capture a true smile from Jacob.

It was a very fun day. We're glad that many of our friends and family could join us. Jacob is one year older and wiser too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! We love you son. --Love, Mom

Discovering Food Storage

Yesterday the boys and I helped my mom clean up and sort through some of the rooms in her house to decide what to donate or throw out. I am really proud of my mom for her new attitude. If she didn't need it, she tossed it or donated it. I think it was quite freeing for her. She has a cupboard above her fridge that is blocked by cool old jars and tin boxes, so the cupboard isn't accessible. Yesterday we cleaned it out! This cupboard was filled with food storage items that weren't properly stored for 20 years or longer. There were bags of beans, rice and noodles just stacked on the shelves, not in air-tight containers. In my mom's defense, she wasn't the one who put them there. There is no way they are still edible, so I rinsed them off and let the kids play in them. It was like a day at the beach. They tossed it, filled buckets with it, played in it and had a great time. It is the simple things that bring joy. --emily

Boeing Classic

Every year, the golf course in our neighborhood hosts the Boeing Classic, which is a PGA tournament on the Champions Tour. We thought it would be a fun family activity to attend the tournament. The golf course is only a 10 minute walk from our house.

Emily took Jacob and Andrew to the opening of the tournament on Friday morning. The festivities began with a fly over of a Boeing 777 jet.
The jet flew pretty low and was an impressive sight. Our neighbor forgot that the jet would be doing a fly over, and she thought we were under attack. No, really. On Saturday we all went together as a family. We had a great time. Jacob had been looking forward to this all week. When he dressed himself in the morning, he put on his miniature golf shirt.

Here the boys are watching the action on the 9th green, our favorite spot of the day.
We took this action shot from the 10th fairway. We don't know who this golfer is.
Here Andrew is giving me a hug as we watch the golfers get ready to putt on the 10th green.
We finished the day at the 18th green. After this picture, we moved closer and were seated right next to the green. Andrew kept babbling when the golfers were trying to putt, so one of the officials asked us to leave the area. What a great family activity. We all had a great time, but Jacob was disappointed that he didn't get to play golf. We may not have been clear enough when we told him we were going to the golf course.--Kelly & Emily

Dinner!

I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I had an extra moment so I made brownies that where baking while I prepared the rest of the meal. I switched the brownies out for enchiladas and the boys and I where playing while we waited for dinner to come out of the oven when Jacob said, " Mom what did you make for dinner? It smells like you made yummy chocolate soup. Did you make chocolate soup?" No, I didn't make chocolate soup for dinner, but that sure sounds good.

--emily

Cleaning Grandma's Bus

Every year before school begins all the grandkids help Grandma wash and clean her bus. It is a great tratition and the kids love it!

Jacob's job was to clean the windows. They were very sparkley when he was done.

Andrew's job was to close the big bus door. Look at those muscles!

Here they are washing the outside of Grandma's bus. The kids have such a great time being so close to the big bus. Jacob was such a great helper; he just leaned over and helped Andrew. I was expecting Jacob to snatch the hose from Andrew followed by Andrew's shrieking scream. But not this time.

Thanks Grandma for a fun bus filled day! --emily

Watering Fun

This all started with watering the pumpkins. I got the hose out because the pumpkins where looking hot! Jacob and Drew came in the yard as soon as they heard the sound of the water! I luckily stopped them before they got their clothes soaked. I sent Jacob to run up and grab the swimming suits.

We quickly changed and had an impromptu, backyard water extravaganza! The boys were spraying each other, filling the dump truck, and making awesome mud puddles. We even had a neighbor friend join us in our crazy fun.

This is Jacob's new camera pose! He always asks, "Was that scary?" He also wants to check out what the picture looks like on the camera. Today we took a few extra because he didn't think it looked scary enough. --emily

Railroad Days

Today as a family we went to the Railroad Days parade. Jake and Drew had a good time monkeying around with their cousins, catching candy and watching the decorated cars. After the parade we walked around to see what the vendors where selling. Jacob was on the hunt for a small squirt gun. We searched all morning with no luck. It was cute he even brought all the money from his piggy bank in a Ziploc bag. We might have to hit the dollar store next week. --emily

Cat & Mouse

This last week my mom joined the boys and me on an Ikea adventure. There are so many fun thing there! Anyway, we were in the kids section and a stuffed animal caught Jacob's attention and he had to have it. So grandma offered to buy it for him because that is what grandmas do. But my mom, being the awesome person she is, had to make sure Drew had something also. So Drew and I browsed the stuffed animal section. They had dogs and alligators--all kids of fun animals but Drew had to have the mouse. So here they are--a cute little brotherly pair. The cat and the mouse! --emily