Family Picnic and Sports.

Thursday was parent night at Logan's school.  The kids got to come and they had a pasta dinner.  I took Logan, Leah and Colin and Dennis stayed at Evan's football practice with him.

The kids did well at their games this weekend.  They were back to back so I took Colin to his pictures and game and Dennis took Evan.  I am told Evan pulled a flag and saved a touch down and had a great run too!  Colin did very well at his game and scored a goal!

  After the games, Dennis met me at Colin's game so he could take Leah home and I took the 3 boys to a family picnic for Evan's Tae Kwan Do.  The picnic was great. The had delicious Korean BBQ and the kids did water balloon fights and tug of war.  I was amazed at how much food and people were there and hopefully next year we can all go (Dennis had to go home to do one of his fantasy football drafts).

Sunday was another soccer game for Colin.  Dennis took him this time because it was really hot and right in the middle of Leah's afternoon nap.  Colin scored again and played a great game.

This morning Dennis left for NYC again.  But, I think we are pretty used to it just being me and the kiddos.  As long as I am organized and plan ahead we are able to get to all the activities and get stuff done pretty well.

Love my days with just the little two...

The Moore's Visit

Movie night...

This morning Julie's family left.  We had a great time while they were here.  The men spent most of the weekend at the GenCon event downtown (which is a gaming convention).  So, Thursday Julie and I took the kids (I only had Logan and Leah with me) to the Children's Museum.  Friday we took them to Monkey Joes bounce place and Saturday they came with us to Colin and Evan's games (Soccer and Football).

Brandon and Leah (3 Months difference in age)

Then Sunday Dennis and Phil took Colin, Evan and Alex to Gen Con for family day.  They had a blast!

It was so nice to have them visit.

Leah is 9 Months Old!

At 9 Months Leah is still a very easy, sweet baby.  She is pretty "go with the flow" and rarely cries unless she is ready to go to sleep, and even then she will just fuss.  She is great to take out and about, though she rarely falls asleep when we are out.  I try to be home for her naps or at least for one of them.

Speaking of sleep, she sleeps from about 8pm to 7am most mornings.  She takes 2 naps usually, though has recently started talking for a long time before she actually falls asleep, so they aren't always the longest naps.  Overall, she doesn't seem to need too much sleep during the day.

Leah nurses 4x/day, once when she wakes up, once after her morning nap (around 11), after her afternoon nap (around 4) and then before bed.  She is eating some table food and attempting to feed herself with her fingers too.  I usually give her some of what we are eating if it is soft enough and then will finish off with one stage 2 baby food.  She is starting to like almost all foods I offer her.  At first she wasn't too interested in fruits but I just kept giving them to her and now she seems to eat them OK.  She isn't a picky eater, but she isn't big eater either.  She will eat a little and then be done.  She is also taking the sippy cup good too.  I give her a bit of water each meal to get her used to holding the cup.  It is sometimes hard for her to hold it, but she is drinking well.

Leah is sitting up pretty good now and rolling all over the floor.  She also comes up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and also comes up on her hands and toes (like a downward dog yoga position).  She likes to chew on toys and talk.  She has said the sounds for "DADA" and she makes what sounds like "yes", but in both cases I don't think she really knows what she is saying.

At her doctors appointment yesterday we found out she is 14lbs 8.5 oz (not on chart) and 26 inches (5%), her head is 17 5/8in.  So, she is still pretty petite.  I am wondering if she is going to stay small.  Her doctor said we will have a better idea when she hits her 2nd birthday.

Her brothers absolutely love her.  They are always trying to carry her.  She is really just a joy for all of us.

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First Day of School!!!

Today is Colin and Evan's first day of school (1st grade for Evan and 3rd grade GT for Colin)!  They were both very excited to start a new year.

While they were gone, I surprised them by making some peanut butter, chocolate chip brownies.  When Colin and Evan got off the bus, Colin ran into the kitchen and saw what I made.  He said, "I knew you would make something, because you always make something on special days".  I am so glad he notices that I put in the effort to make special days a bit more special, but I am also thinking I better not forget to do something in the future!  I think I just put some added pressure on myself.

Colin 1st day of 3rd grade!

Evan 1st day of 1st grade!

Anyway, I enjoyed hearing about their first day of school.  Sounds like both of them like their teachers this year.  Colin has Mrs. Bancroft and Evan has Mrs. Schmitt.

Here is to hoping it is a great year for both of them.

In other news, my parents left this morning to continue on to Tennessee to visit friends of theirs and Julie's family is coming to town tonight.  The boys can't wait for their cousins to get here!

Chicago Getaway 2013

Thursday night my parents got into town and Friday morning Carol's family left to head back to Virginia.  My parents had offered to watch the kids so Dennis and I could get away again this year.  So, we left Friday morning for Chicago.

Friday, Dennis worked in Chicago while I enjoyed reading my book at a coffee shop, shopping along Michigan Ave., and then taking a nap in the hotel.  It was a perfect day.  And, so nice to shop and try stuff on without having kids in tow.  We then went to an amazing french restaurant for dinner.  It was so so good.  We ended the night with fireworks at the Navy Pier.

How I spent my morning...Ah, relaxation.

Saturday, we did a bit of shopping again.  We also went to our favorite restaurant in Chicago, The Purple Pig, for lunch.  For dinner we went to RPM which was opened by a celebrity couple I love.  It was a fantastic meal also!  Then we enjoyed a comedy club.  It was such a great day.

Sunday we had a nice breakfast and then headed back home.  The kids did well while we were gone.  Leah took all her bottles great (I pumped while I was in Chicago).  It was so nice of my parents to watch them and take Evan to Tae Kwan Do and his first Football game too!  We took my parents out to dinner Sunday to thank them.

I can't wait till next year!!

Modesitt Family Visits

Carol's Family has been here this week.  We have had so much fun going to the Children's museum.  It was a little bit too young for the oldest, Hope, but the little ones LOVED it!

Carol's Family.

We also took them to the trampoline park which was fun for the older kids.

In other news the boys got their teacher assignments and they seem happy with them.  Though neither of them really know anyone in their class.

One funny story...My sister Julie commented a while ago that Evan always throws out these big words and Alex, her son, just laughs at him.  Well, he just used the word "deflected", he said that his pasta just deflected at him.  How does he know these words!

Speaking of Evan, he has started Flag football and so far he loves it!  His team is the Clemson Tigers.

Summer Coming to an End and Flag Football Starting!

It is August.  What?  When did that happen?  I can't believe this summer is just about over.  The boys start school in less than 2 weeks.  I was hoping to be able to spend their last couple weeks going to the pool and doing other fun stuff, but it has been too cool for the water.  While it is beautiful, it is just not pool weather.   To top it off, Colin has had a fever the last couple days.  So, we have really been cooped up inside.  As luck would have it, today it is finally warm enough for the pool, but since we weren't able to get out the last few days I had to spend the time between Leah's naps going to the library (to return books and getting their final summer reading prizes) and the grocery store (we were just about out of diapers).

We have gone on a couple walks since it's been too cold for the pool...

The boys were not well behaved today at the grocery store.  Four kids by myself at the store is no fun.  Dennis has also been in NY this week, he got back last night.  I think that these long summer days with just me and the kids is starting to wear on all of us.  Here is to hoping we all can get our act together, so that we can enjoy the last 2 weeks of summer!  I haven't taken much pictures with the good camera recently, so it is mostly just some phone photos...

In other news....Leah is trying hard to sit up.  I have to be right there because she will topple over after a few seconds, but slowly and surely she is getting there.  She is also eating some table food now.  I still mostly feed her baby food, but will give her some bites of whatever we are eating (banana, rice, chicken, avocado, asparagus, etc), if it is small and soft.  She is also working hard to pick up some puffs and yogurt bites.  She hasn't quite mastered the pincer grasp, but she is trying and manages to still get stuff in her mouth sometimes.

Mmmm....pasta!

Evan has his very first flag football practice today!  He had a "draft" last week for placement on teams (really just to make sure teams are equally divided).  They measured the height of each kid and had them do drills to see how each kid throws, catches, and runs for placement on teams.  Evan did a great job with all the drills!

We have a busy next few days getting prepared for 2 weeks of visitors.  Monday, Carol and her 4 kids visit.  Then Thursday night Grammy and Grandpa come.  Carol leaves Friday morning.  Dennis and I spend that weekend in Chicago and then Wednesday, Grammy and Grandpa leave and Julie and her family come till the following Monday.  It should be fun, but busy, and I have a lot of meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc to do to get ready!  As well as get the boys ready for school starting.

Almost forgot to mention...there was a family day at Connor Prairie (where the boys did camp), so we all went and had a blast.  They had food and the boys had fun going into some of the old homes on the prairie.   Colin got to throw a tomahawk at the Indian village and did awesome.  He actually got it to stick in the target which nobody else that we saw before him was able to do!

This is Logan going out to lunch on Sunday.  Wearing a cape of course!  Our Mr. Independent is loving to tell us that he is big.  I tried to discipline him this week and he just smiled and said "time out?"  Like he could care less.  Then, he just strolled right to the time out chair and sat down.  When I told him he can't play outside by himself he just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "But, I'm big.".