Normal Life

Different day - same story: kids running in circles.

Field Trip and McD's

On Wednesday, Micah's class had a field trip to a local apple orchard.  Jackson was with his grandparents, but Hannah got to tag along.

After the field trip, we went to McDonald's for lunch.  Hannah showed off her strength and determination by making it to the top of the play structure by herself!  (And then doing it again and again...)  After she gets up the first step, you can hear her shout, "I did it, Mommy!"

Two-Wheeler

Micah can ride his bike with no training wheels!!

Balloon A-Fair

We met the Oysters in Ravenna tonight for the "Balloon A-Fair", and it exceeded my expectations!  The weather was sunny and beautiful.  The kids were delighted.  And the kettle corn was delicious. :)

Hannah likes to pick out her own clothes.  You should have seen what she wore to dinner on Friday!  It's a good thing she's cute enough to pull it off.

Hannah was singing softly to herself: "Bye-bye, balloons.  Bye-bye balloons."

The coolest part of the evening was when a hang glider came whizzing over our heads to land in the field in front of us!  I've never seen a hang-glider land in person before.  It was awesome!  (It was a surprise and happened quickly, so I didn't get a picture.)

Micah and Carter did a few rides together.

We love you, Oysters!

Aa

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "A".  With the big boys at school today, Hannah and Jackson and I had a lovely time together.  We bought some fruit and veggies at a little market, commenting on all the different colors and types.  We played in the backyard.  (Jackson was the most enthusiastic and helpful stick-picker-upper I've ever seen.)  Then we talked about the color red and the letter "A".  Jackson dutifully repeated after me, "A, /a/, apple."  Hannah sealed her lips.  Ah, well.

Normally Jackson turns away from the camera, but today he gave me this great smile!

Birthday and First Day

Friday was both Micah's first day of preschool and Hannah's 2nd birthday.  Hannah is still too young to realize what happens on birthdays, so she didn't  mind that we celebrated her birthday by taking Micah to school, going to the rec center, and shopping at Walmart.

Bonus excitement: Ally is in Micah's class this year!

 Daddy came home a little early, and Micah was overly excited to give Hannah her presents (and help her open them and play with them and generally be up in her face unless he was physically restrained).

This raincoat from the Frahers was extremely well-timed.  We had an intense rain and hailstorm just before we left to go to Chick-fil-a for dinner.

 On Saturday afternoon we had invited our Bible study to come over for ice cream sundaes.  Hannah loves ice cream so much that you can't even say the words around her unless you are prepared to give her some right now.
On a side note - our Bible study is pretty amazing.  Everyone was planning to come over at 4:00.  At 1:30, Scott decided to get burgers and hot dogs in case anyone wanted to stay for dinner.  I sent a text out to let people know, thinking I would get some grapes or carrots to go with our burgers.  Oh, no, just a short time later they showed up with potatoes, beans, buffalo chicken dip, salad, and veggies.  It was awesome!
Thankfully the sun had come out, so the kids could be crazy outside.  It astounds me every time we get together how well the kids play with each other.  We had 9 kids, ages 2-6, and everyone was (mostly) happy!

"Why did they put fire on my ice cream??"

that's better

The Hays gave Hannah a new dress.  Oh, the cuteness!

Now It's Fall

Meghan went back to school yesterday, which means I get my boys back.  I don't get to keep Carter, though.  He's starting kindergarten tomorrow!  It was a nice treat to at least have him for a couple of days.

Caring for  four kids is easy (when they're all watching tv).

I worked this summer on clearing out part of the basement to make a space for big kids.  I wanted Micah to have a place where he could do puzzles, games, or arts and crafts without having a 2-year-old interfering.  It has been a big hit.  He loves going down there to work on "projects".

Today the big hit was an "old-fashioned" pencil sharpener.

Jackson was sleeping, and Hannah kept herself busy coloring upstairs with me.

Labor Day Weekend

Three-day-weekends are the best.  Just knowing that you have an extra day coming makes Saturday and Sunday feel extra special.  Saturday morning we just did the usual errands and such.  But Saturday afternoon we met the Hoffmans at the zoo, then went back to their house for pizza and fun.  It's pretty remarkable how well all four kids play together.  Although, while I was changing Hannah's diaper, we had this conversation:

Me: [referring to Sammy who was walking around us, pushing a baby stroller]  Who is that, Hannah?  That's Sammy.  Can you say "Sammy"?

Hannah: Sammy

Me: Good job!  

Hannah: Sammy!

Me: Yes, that's right, that's Sammy!

Hannah: SAMMY!  NO!  No, Sammy!  MY stroller!!

Me: defeated sigh

On Sunday afternoon we had popcorn and a movie (Toy Story), then the kids played dress-up.  There were lots of interesting fashion choices.  This one is a combination of Cinderella and "the man with the yellow hat".

Then on Monday we went to the Labor of Love Run and family celebration at church.  I was really excited about this year because we had decided to have Micah try the one-mile fun run, and a bunch of his friends were going to do it, too.  In the past Micah has showed great stamina for running long periods of time.  However, on this occasion he just didn't have it in him.  I admit, I was pretty frustrated that he gave up so quickly.  But I tried to just enjoy walking (slowly) with him and tried not to be too jealous of our friends who were actually running with their kids.  (Ok, I'm still a little jealous, but I'm trying!)  

After the "fun run", I did the 5 mile race.  I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but since I didn't train very well I can't complain.  Despite our poor running performances, we still had a fabulous day!  There was a prediction of rain, but the sun stayed out for us.  The kids had a great time with all the inflatables and games, and we just love spending time with great people.

what I thought the race would be like

what the race was actually like

Micah, Eleanora, and Hannah in the bouncy house