Oh, the Joy of Clearance

So what do you do when you go grocery shopping and happen to stroll by the Halloween costumes and notice that they are 90% off...

....Well, you buy some for your kiddos to dress up in of course!

We got two princess dresses, a cowboy outfit, and Captain America. Here are a couple pics of them enjoying our treasures from today:

Fall Festival 2010

We decided for October 31st to go to the Annual Fall Festival at our church - Freedom Christian - again. They manage to make it bigger and better every year. In a large heated tent, they have games, balloon animals, bounce houses, candy, a petting zoo, and this year they added pony rides and a small carnival ride. And the best part is that it is free!

They also take your picture for free and give you a copy to take home.

Aiden is dressed as James from Thomas and Friends. Mikaela is an angel.

Aiden was very excited. Don't you just love that grin?

The llama looks innocent enough as it grazes on the grass, but don't be fooled. He was a real party animal - he ran through the large tent startling people. The funny thing was most people who saw him, actually thought it was someone in a costume at first!


Aiden's first pony ride!

An angel on a pony :)

Poor Aiden wasn't tall enough to get on the ride (he and Daddy went inside to play some games instead), so Mikaela rode with her friend Allison and her sister Miranda (who, by the way, had the most creative costume there that night in my opinion - she was the lady from the Progressive commercials - Flo - with bright red lipstick, apron, Bump-it, and everything.)

Mikaela decided she wanted to ride the big horse too!

Another pony ride - this time it was a carriage behind one, and Mikaela decided to invite Aiden to join us.

Puppet Show to the tune of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" but with the words changed to "Don't Worry, Trust Jesus."


Looking forward to next year!

This past weekend, we headed up north to Andy's parents' trailer at Sandy Shores. Last year we were able to go visit a man who had his own private model train track that we were able to ride. He went by the name of Frosty. Well, Andy's dad was able to secure us another ride for the weekend and Frosty gave us a hearty welcome for the second time.


Here he is driving the train with Mikaela in front of him and Aiden directly behind him.

Mikaela with cousins Grace & Caity.

The Weller girls had to take a ride too, since we didn't take advantage of the offer last time.

That's me, Amber (Nick's wife), and Cathy (Bob's wife), with Aiden (and Bob) as engineer.

We were able to go inside the caboose again too. It's very interesting to see what the bunks, woodstove, and other things were like inside.

Aiden enjoyed the map. The pushpins represent visitors from all over the nation.

The best part - Frosty does all of this for free. He just enjoys sharing his love of trains with anyone who would like to know more. Thanks, Frosty!

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Bookshelf & Pinewood Derby

Tonight was the Pinewood Derby Race at Freedom Christian. Mikaela and Andy had been working on her car for a few weeks now, and Mikaela was very excited to see it race! Thankfully, it won a couple of the heats and she was smiling from ear to ear.

Unfortunately, she didn't have one of the fastest cars in her age group, but she still got a trophy for participating. I wish I had brought our camera to the actual event so you could see the set up. There were cameras set so the action would be broadcast on screens for everyone to see. The racetrack could tell automatically when a car passed the finish line and the winners of each heat were then posted on the screen so everyone knew whose car finished first. Way different from the way I remember it when Todd competed in Boy Scouts!

On another woodworking note, Andy finished the bookshelf he made for Aiden. It is stackable and if we ever need another layer, he can make another one. I think it turned out really cute!

1st Day of School

Mikaela asked last Friday if we could start school early even though all the other schools in the area don't start until after Labor Day. We had our books, so I really didn't see why we couldn't! So Monday morning we headed outside for our photo shoot and promptly held our first lesson afterwards. She loved it, and didn't want to stop. I hope she keeps her enthusiasm throughout the school year. She is such a little sponge! (And Aiden was very excited too.)

1st Soccer Practice

Here are a couple of shots from soccer practice. Andy decided to coach the girls this season, so that's why he's out there with them! :)

Just Swinging Around

The kids really enjoy the swing that Papa and Grandma brought out with them.

Our neighbor offered up a free baby doll bed for Mikaela to have. As you can tell from the picture, she doesn't like it very much...oh, wait a minute...she loves it.

Mommy, can you make my chair lay down? I'm tired.

Here's the garden. It's getting big!

Swim Party at the Kreigers

Both this weekend and last weekend have involved one of the kids' new found favorite things to do - swimming! Last weekend we were at Andy's boss' house for his annual pool party. That was nice because the kids were able to get their feet wet, literally and figuratively, for this weekend when we got to go swimming with our good friends the Kreigers. Their little boy was born only one day earlier than Mikaela so they are practically the exact same age which has been fun to watch them grow up together.

Here are some pictures and videos from today:

Aiden was very proud of himself when he jumped into my arms over and over. He also thought that Eshton's swim goggles were pretty cool so he wanted to wear some too.

Eshton and Mikaela

Mikaela has become braver and braver by the water. Thankfully, the Kreigers pool has a shallow 3.5 foot side so she didn't have to worry when she jumped in - she would be able to touch the bottom. However, she's still getting used to the idea of letting her head go under the water. I think with some more practice, we'll have our own little fish on our hands :)

Eshton, on the other hand, is a little fish. Elena said that they have been in their pool pretty much non-stop this summer so he is very used to jumping, diving, and even doing tricks like somersaults and everything.

And this little guy loved being there so much today that he literally cried when we had to go home. He would have loved to have stayed there all night playing cars with Eshton if he could. I promised him that we would come back again someday. He was so tuckered out that when we sat down to supper tonight he told me, "Mommy, when I'm done eating, I want to go to bed."

But before we did that, we made sure to try out Mikaela's "new" soccer shoes and shin guards that we borrowed from Eshton. In a few weeks, she'll be starting off player soccer with AYSO, and Andy has volunteered to be her coach. I'm sure we'll be posting some fun pictures of that soon. Her first game will be Sept. 11th. She is very excited. Aiden was disappointed that he didn't have special shoes and special shin guards, and he's already voiced his disappointment that he won't be playing soccer on a team either. Unfortunately, he's going to have lots of moments of jealousy because he will always be younger than her. How do you explain this to a 3 yr old? :)

Well, I'm off to bed, I think. I love the tired feeling from a fun day in the sun and water. I only wish summer could be all year long! :)

Camp Out...Well, Sort Of...Camp In?

So we're hoping to set up our real tent soon in the backyard at least, but we decided to do a "camp out" tonight with the kids sleeping in their sleeping bags and in their playtents. When Daddy suggested it earlier in the evening, he acheived "The Best Dad in the Whole World" status in the eyes of his kids! :)


We also made sandwich pies for dessert tonight with a little twist. Instead of dusting with powdered sugar, we used cinnamon sugar (Andy's idea...don't want to take the glory all for myself ). Dee-lish!


And here are the kiddos ready for bed....I'm not sure how long it will take them to fall asleep, but we'll find out...

Scavenger Hunt Day at the Library

Today we headed over to the library for a scavenger hunt! Here are the kiddos in front of the bears statue outside the library. We must visit them every time we come :)

Here they are at the last "find." We were supposed to go into the Children's Reading Garden and find three small gnomes hidden somewhere. If you look behind them, maybe you can see them...

At the end, they each received a prize filled with crayons, a drawing tool, a tattoo, watercolors, and bubbles in the shape of a guitar, and a little critter. They also received free books for visiting. All in all, a great time...