Be a Light

This song has helped me today. We came home, made challah, let the kids have seconds on grape juice, lit candles, opened presents, and let them take too long in the bath (yes, with bubbles tonight). What can you do?

Over the river and through the woods

Sunday it was 70, which was amazing, so we took a bike ride through the "forest park" by our house:


Well, two people rode. One locomoted on his Spiderman scooter.


It was just spectacular. Hard to believe that in a month, everything will be cold and brown til spring!

Pumpkin Party

Trucko went to his friend Gabby's pumpkin patch party this weekend. She was turning three.

He got his face painted with a pumpkin.

He got to be a witch with two of his favorite ladies.

He got to ride a pony named Lightning (as in, yes, McQueen).

Plus, pumpkin decorating, pizza and cupcakes and general preschooler mayhem. A wonderful party!

Cheertime

The local high school sponsors a cheerleading clinic each fall. The girls have 2 hours of practice where they learn cheers and a dance on a Friday afternoon. Then, they come back for the home football game and get to cheer on the sidelines for the first half. This was Noodle's first year doing it, and I am certain we will be back. So fun! And what a group of amazing high school girls to put this on for the little ones.

uh-MAZE-ing

Nothing says fall in the midwest like a corn maze. The Liberty Corn Maze in Liberty, MO, is the largest corn maze in Missouri. It's about 45 minutes from our house

Truck made it through one (of the 4) maze and declared it boring, so I took him next door to the pumpkin patch. Couldn't blame him. At his height, that's a whole lot of, well, corn.

The big kids did three mazes, for a total of almost SEVEN MILES. Like I said, a LOT of corn.

The Truck

Nametag compliments of the big sister!

Pump it up

Trucko's 1st party at Pump It Up:

J.Lo shades

What?

J.Lo shades, circa 2008.

I wasn't thirsty anyway

The weekend that Trucko was born, his big brother played in a baseball tournament. The day we came home from the hospital, big bro was at the ballfield with some wonderful friends who shuttled him around, fed him McDonalds and gave him a perfetly normal day. Since then, Trucko has attended a LOT of his brother's games. This season, he actually sits and watches and even sometimes cheers (yelling "DAT'S MY BEN!" is common). But sometimes he doesn't.
W
This is from the day he took my entire water jug and used it to wash his trucks. Each truck had its own "cup." Oh, Trucko.

Back to School

KINDERGARTEN
Loves: Reading, writing, playing school, playing dress-up, princesses, makeovers, playgrounds, climbing.
Plays: soccer.
Dislikes: dogs, cats.


4TH GRADE
Loves: The Hunger Games, Legos, math, Minecraft, my iPad.
Plays: Baseball, soccer. Dislikes: ketchup, sandwiches.


PRESCHOOL.
Loves: snacks, moving things, kicking soccer balls, hitting baseballs, "Old McDonald" (with pigs), dessert.
Plays: Nothing yet.
Dislikes: rules.

WoF

Last weekend, we took the kiddos to Worlds of Fun. It's your standard amusement park, and we had never been. We packed in a great day of rides, funnel cakes and humanity. We went on the Viking Voyager - a log ride with a big drop - and the ride snaps a photo as you're coming down the big drop. Ours was priceless. So much so, that I think we may have to go every year from now til whenever and ride in the same order (we were all in one log) just so I can get an update picture each year.

Adventures in T-Ball (and so on)

Since 2008, I have had a child on a baseball team. First, t-ball.

Noodle, 2012.

Squash, 2008.

Then, coach pitch (where the coach pitches the ball to the kiddos).

Squash, 2009.

Then, machine pitch (my personal favorite thus far, because the ball is pitched JUST perfect, leading to more hits and more ACTION).

Squash, 2010.

It lasts for 2 years.

Squash, 2011. That's the machine!

Finally, kid pitch. I think that's as high as it goes. We started it last fall when my big guy was 8 and have completed 2 seasons.

Squash, 2012.

There's no end in sight. Both kids love playing. I am sure the Truck will too, since by the time he's 5, he'll have attended more than 100 of his siblings' games. And to tell the truth, I like watching the games. We've actually gotten sitters a couple times this season so that we can both go to the big guy's games (and leave the little ones at home).

Nine

Impossibly, my little tiny baby, born at Kaiser West L.A. on a hot July day is now nine:

I remember before he was born, I was lying on the couch watching TV one night, thinking how nice it was going to be once the baby arrived -- we would just lie on the couch together and watch TV. HA HA HA HA HA. That has happened exactly never, in the past 9 years. We did watch some Olympics opening ceremony last night.
In other random news, his sister has been riding ponies around a neighboring cul-de-sac:

And the Truck has been eating cupcakes every chance he gets:

Oh, and his best birthday gift was Ticket to Ride. Mom and Dad have been playing it every night after he goes to bed. Our new favorite game:

Sticky Wicket

My little sticky wicket. He hates to have his face dirty or his hands sticky. And he loves to yell "mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!"

1,700 Miles

We are back from our trip to Colorado. We drove to Grand Junction last week - a mere 845 miles away. Clearly, drive-able. Except that we've never driven it before. Back in our one- and two-child days, we would fly to Denver, then drive the 4 hours over the mountains to Grand Junction. After our California odyssey and Florida spring break trip, that seemed silly. So we planned to drive the MERE 1700 miles round trip to Colorado for a week to visit Daddy's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew.

We left on a Friday afternoon at 2:30 PM. We stopped for dinner (IHOP in Salina, Kansas; CLASSY) at 5, then pressed on to Hays, where we stopped for the night around 7:30. A dip in the hotel pool, I took the big kids out to Dairy Queen while Dad put Truck to bed, and by 9 PM, we were all asleep. The next day, we were up early and headed west!


We got to Grand Junction around 4. The next week was cram-packed with fun. Lots of cousin time, grandma time, treats, swimming and sun.

Please don't touch that.

Oh, yes, I will have another popsicle!

Rafting on the Colorado River.

After a great week, we hit the road home at 5:40 AM, and rolled into our driveway at 8:30 PM that night (and that includes an hour we lost due to the time change) - we were ROLLING.



Goodbye, Colorado!

"I'm in a magazine! Watching the Muppets!"

Said our little Noodle, upon seeing this article. A couple weeks ago, my neighbor Kristen invited us to a driveway-movie-night party. My parents were in town so I took them over, along with my oldest two (Trucko was asleep and Daddy stayed home with him). We had an awesome time. Sitting out in the evening air, drinking sangria and eating caramel popcorn, just relaxing. Love Kansas summers!

Cousin Bonanza

My sister left today after an awesome long weekend of cousin time. The big guy was at camp Thursday and Friday, so Noodle got to enjoy taking the reins as the oldest. She handled it like a champ, leading the two little guys around like the boss that she is.

Also, LOOK AT MY BABY NEPHEW:

The cuteness. He is like this ALL THE TIME. For those of you wondering whether to have a 2nd baby, this one is the perfect convincer. I don't think he cried the whole time he was here. OK, just when he was hungry, and then he happily chowed down a bottle and went to sleep. He's 10 months old and adorable.
His brother is pretty cute too. Here he is after catching his first fish:

ECSTASY.
And the best moment of the weekend:

Water fight in the backyard, followed by 4 kiddos in a tub. Cousin bonanza complete.

Best Friends

6 months after Christmas and he is still going strong with the vacuums. BOTH of them.

Troublesome Truck, Part XIXXIII

Evenings in the driveway = lots of ways for a small Truck to make trouble:

And this:

And, yes, this:

(that's Grandma in the wagon).

Back when it was warm

So, now it's Thursday, and I just spent 2 hours freezing my tail off at a baseball game where it was windy and 58 degrees. BRR. But last weekend, last GLORIOUS MARVELOUS weekend, was Memorial Day Weekend, and it was 90. To recap, there were many meals capped off with ice cream:

There was a lot of time spent with the hose:

And the water guns:

And of course, since we have a two-year-old, there was a lot of "No, No, No, dat's MY [fill in the blank]":

And finally, a trip to the zoo on Monday:

[wherein Noodle rode a camel - oh yes, she is terrified of dogs and cats, but she rode a REAL LIVE CAMEL, and she did it not only without mom and dad, but with a little girl she met 5 seconds ago in line].

We also went to Topeka for a soccer game on Friday night; to the neighborhood pool RIGHT when it opened for the season at 10 AM Saturday; back to the neighborhood pool on Sunday morning, yes, at 10 AM; and we had 2 cookouts in our backyard. Busy but fun weekend! Missing those warm temperatures now...