Fall Fun

It is middle of October already, which means it is time for our trip to Daniel's Farm.

Of course, we went with one of our favorite people: Bryan (& his family).

Daniel's Farm is one of my favorite fall traditions. There is so much there for the kids to do.  We will definitely be back year after year!

Holy Blog, Batman!

Holy, Blog Batman.  Looks like we've been a total slacker!  There are many of reasons why I've been slacking.... (1) enjoying the kids, (2) new addiction to Fringe, (3) the ever so later and later kiddo bedtimes, (4) my own stubbornness toward the blog...feeling like w/ the blog people don't feel the need to call, write or message us b/c all our life is up here, (5) pure back-to-work-at-a-new-school busyness, (6)  trying to spend more time w/ the hubby and not w/ the computer.  But...we'll put all that aside

So since we've updated only 1 time the last month....and only a few times the month before...I've got lots to share.

Summer is over.  But man...was it a blast.  This lil' man was almost 100% potty trained. 
*yes, "was" the back-to-school routine has disrupted his progress*

We took our first ever family vacation. By first ever. I mean ever. Since Cory and I've been married. The kids had a blast!

We've been all over StL trying to hit some of the parks and events.  Here is the Bird Sanctuary and a few Dodo's they've locked up!

Perhaps one of the best picture of my two goobers.

B started Pre-K! She is doing great! Already has mastered her first memory verse and is totally rocking that school!  This is the Meet-the-Teacher night!

Our traditional First Day of School picture w/ a super cranky Owen.

Here she is at her first day of school!

So...I promise to be a better blogger. Really. The blog is more for me than anyone else. I love look back at old photos, thoughts and videos of the goobers...and just reminse. These two have gotten so big and I know one day I'll be looking back at when they were two and four years old thinking. "wow...that is when they were so little."

  I wish I could just freeze time and keep them this age forever {hold the tantrums, though}.   So for that very reason...this blogger is back!!!

Summer time...

Summer time means...

excursions out and about.

chillin' and playing games while staying out of the heat.

dressin' like a cow to get free food.

being adorable...

okay...so they can be adorable anytime of the year...but he certainly is adorable during the summertime, too!

We are Floored!

It is just about a week into June.  Cory and I have been off for the summer for nearly 8 days now.  Ahh...the Perks of being a teacher.  Summers off!  So we have been sitting back, sipping our diet cokes (well, coke zero for me), and catching up on our Judge Judy episodes.

Yeah. Right.

We have been "floored" with how much work we've managed to squeeze into the first week off. I almost think we've been working harder that first week than we do while schools in session.

First cleared off the main level of the house. No more books, toys, movies, electronics or furniture.  Then, we ripped up all the 600-something squared-feet of carpet on the first level of the house. And the pad, too. Plus, we plucked up all those pesky staples holding it all down.   I hate those staples. What a pain in the tushie!  (Literally and Figuratively!) 

Here are two out of the three rooms w/out furniture and whatnots:



So bare...

Since our main living area was other wise occupied...I was on Kid-Duty.  I did a pretty darn good job keeping those two lil' boogers busy and out of the awesome carpenters' way. 

We hung out a lot in the Master bedroom watching shows, reading books and cuddling.  We learned to examine toys for leaking battery acid while we were playing on my new comforter.  We've googled solutions to this bad battery acid blunder...but we have yet had time to check out their effectiveness.

Being the Supermom that I am, I took the kids to Grant's Farm.  By Myself!  They were perfectly behave and loved every second of it.  

Owen loved the turtle.  He stared and talked at it for a good 4-5 minutes.  The turtle was surprisingly active, eating and walking around.

 We ate snow cones and pretzels and nachos.

Well, Owen didn't eat the snow cone. He wouldn't even try it.  But he sure did have a good time mushing it about and trying to feed me.

The kids loved the train ride and hunting for their animals.

 Another day we headed up to Strawberry pickin' with the neighbors.  Bethany loved it. Owen didn't. He couldn't stand that stinkin' straw in his shoes.

What a lovely girl! 

We even had time at Faust Park.  Which is perhaps my favorite park.

After 4 days of running around town; hanging out at parks, restaurants and grandmas--the floors were finished!

Then it was back to carrying all the furniture, books, games, china, etc back in the right spot. But not before installing lil' felt pads on the bottoms of things that could potentially scratch our awesome floors.

It is super nice to FINALLY have the house in order. We totally enjoy these new floors.  They were worth the money and inconveniences of waiting and running around.

Easter :::2011:::

Easter 2011 has come and gone. Overall, I would say it was a great success.

We are working extra hard for the kids to realize Easter is more than just bunnies, eggs and treats.  We want the kids to know the true purpose of Easter--the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yeah. Try explaining that to a three-year-old {Sorry--but we don't even bother trying w/ the 1-year-old}.  I think Bethany gets it. I mean..as much as a three-year-old can. She can tell us the story & it isn't regurgitation. She can actually have a conversation and ask questions about: sin, why we sin, does God sin, how does God feel when we sin, why Jesus had to die, and the meaning behind resurrection.  The part that kinda throws a wrench in the whole deal is the bunny and its blasted eggs. Yeah...she thinks the eggs are waiting for us in heaven. Ah..whatever works.

We did get the kiddos small lil' baskets and filled them up with a few goodies. We didn't emphasize the Bunny or anything...just that we are celebrating today and you happened to get goodies too, you know just in case eternal salvation wasn't good enough--now you have bubbles and jammies to take with you!

  We hid eggs in side the house after church.  The kids had a blast searching and searching for the eggs.

Bethany zipped through the house like an old pro at this game. She found tons of eggs.

Owen need a bit more guidance, as he would walk by an egg completely two or three times without realizing it.

Overall, it was a great Easter.  It seemed a little busy...but really all holidays seems a bit too busy now-a-days.  We have started to think outside the box in terms of holidays and busyness. With a lot of holidays it seems like we have so much on our plate: with things to do, places to go, traditions to follow, food to make, obligations to uphold...BUT we are thinking about toning down our holiday busyness and make sure we are focusing our attention on the true purpose of the holidays. Not worrying about all the running, cooking, prepping and whatnots that holidays typically bring. Then our kids can see the true purpose of whatever holiday we are celebrating and not fixate on the next item on our agenda. And as a secret-hidden bonus...we will be able to relax and enjoy the time with our family.

Oh...by the way...I owe you a huge apology. I managed not to get pictures of the awesome "Thank You Jesus" cookie cake that Bethany and I made.  This was the first year in ages I didn't make a bunny cake....but since I was failing to see the connection between the cross and a bunny; Bethany and I decided to change our focus.  Not only does this cookie cake taste amazing...but Bethany did a fantastic job of drawing three cross on it for us.  And Bethany's explanation of the crosses is one of the best explanations I've heard in a long time....  "One cross is for God {of course meaning Jesus} & two for the bad guys that did bad things.  God doesn't sin...just us.  God was born before us and He is good."

hehehe...Isn't she something...

High as a Kite (or not!)

Bethany has been wanting to fly a kite for a while now. So a weekend or two ago the weather was finally nice enough and it was certainly windy enough for us to give it a whirl.  

Flying a kite proved to be tricky business.

Well, not as tricky as it is to walk through a soccer net...but it was tricky none-the-less.

Cory worked long and hard to fly the stinkin' thing. 

Then he had to work long and hard to undo the stinkin' knots. Completely failing to fix this dastardly situation, we now have a knot-donning kite sitting in the garage until *I* one day when I'll have time to work on the lil'sucker!

 

Owen didn't so much have interest in the kite situation.  The playground was more his style.

Look at that teethy lil'smile.  Isn't he just a cutie-pa-tootie.  Man. I love this guy...even though he has a major case of apathy toward he whole kite-flying-situation.

 

Doing it Ourselves

We are certainly DIY types of people when it comes to somethings.  Laying floors...nope that isn't for us. We'll pay someone to do that. But to cut hair. Yup. We can handle that ourselves.   And in all honesty, the kids are way better behaved and sit so much stiller when I do it.

See Owen Before...

Owen After...

Bethany Before...

Hmm...looks like I forgot to take a Bethany after.

What can I say. I can't do it all--cut hair, change kids, cut hair, clean up oodles and oodles of hair and get pictures of BOTH kids afterwards.  I am not wonder woman, after all!