Dance party

We've been having a few dance parties recently before bed time.  The kids have been loving jumping on our bed and being dancing fools.  Jon has been playing dj and introducing the kids to some interesting 80's music!

After some fort time Saturday morning, we had another dance party.  The kids were extra excited when we let them break the rules and dance on the furniture.  I'm sure we just ruined all of our credibility for the future!

Fall

This is my view every morning when I open the curtains in the living room.  How can fall not be everyones favorite season???

Fort

Some mornings are just stay in your pj's and build a fort mornings!

Part time princess

Ellie definitely has her princess moments.  She loves to be in a dress, twirl around in it and wear pretty shoes.  She doesn't like having her hair combed, but she loves it when Gram braids it and experiments with it. 

Ellie also has plenty of tom boy moments.  She loves playing action figures with daddy.  She got to be wolverine on Friday.

She also loves to make Lego creations with her brothers. She is all about building dinosaurs right now.

I love a girly girl who can hold her own with the boys!

Chalk

The boy loves his sidewalk chalk!

Party

One of the kids friends had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese over the weekend.  We had been doing a good job of avoiding that place, but now we'll be there twice in 2 months since Sams 6th birthday is next month and 6 is the magical year we picked when you have your party at the most annoying place in the state Chuck E Cheese!  Here are some highlights:

Wordless Wednesday: Service project

Kung Fu

Sams been talking about taking a kung fu class off and on for a while.  Some friends of ours are instructors and have their own place.  Sam tried out a class two weeks ago and loved it.  However, he spent a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror, playing with other kids and acting slightly out of control.  He has been asking to go back so tonight we joined a class for the next month.  If he can focus, learn something and continues to have fun, then we'll stick with it.  If not, then we'll move on to something closer to home and a lot cheaper.  This class is definitely a commitment in many ways. 

Daniel is an amazing instructor. The patience he has are amazing.  He goes through a move or a sequence with the group then works individually with each kid.  Sam did a bit better with his focus this week. We'll see how he does when it comes time to practice and if he can keep his attention on Daniel rather than the mirror, we might have a fighter on our hands.  Ben is in so much trouble!

Wordless Wednesday: Dazed (and probably confused)

Home

When we moved I told Jon about every 5 minutes how much I loved the new house.  We've lived here 5 months and I still adore our new house.  While I miss how walkable Lakewood is and I definitely miss the porch, I wouldn't want to go back after experiencing Olmsted.  I adore our house. I love that we can all be in the kitchen at the same time and not fall all over each other.  I love that its ok if more than one person has to pee at the same time.  I love that the kids have a basement. Even our currently unfinished basement is 1,000 times better than our Lakewood basement.  I love that Jon can be fixing us football snacks in the kitchen and still be able to watch the game with me at the same time.  I love that we know, and like every person on our short street.  I love that we have kids everywhere of all ages.  I love that I can send the kids out to play until bed time and know they're ok because every parent on the block is looking out for them.  I love that we can take walks/bike rides and not worry about uneven sidewalks or cars coming barreling down the driveways and not looking for kids.  I love that the kids (and us) feel safe here and are happy to run 500 feet ahead of us on our walks.  I love that we can see the stars. I love the quiet, aside from the planes and train whistles, but I love those too.  I love our home.

Outed

Happy birthday to Corrie (2 days ago)!  Its so nice to have her home for the rest of the year and get back into our normal routines of bad tv, ice cream dates and play time at Chick Fil A.  Gram decorated an awesome cake for Corrie and cooked an amazing dinner for everyone Monday night. The only down side was Gram put her real age on the cake (with candles) so Ben officially no longer believes she is in her 20's.  Fortunately, he still believes I'm in my 20's.  I'm ok with that!

Boys

Ellie had her first sleep over with Gram and aunt Corrie last night.  It was a little weird just having the boys, but I think we had almost as much fun as Ellie did.  We did a little shopping and found some super cool hats.
Zach got some new dinosaur pj's that he LOVES!

We took a long walk, had some play time and baths.  The boys made a Zach sandwich instead of going to bed. Sounds about right!

I'm glad she had so much fun, but its good to have her home...when she isn't playing with poop!

Big boy

Ellie hopped off her bike last night and Zach hopped on. Hes tried to ride his bike, and her bike, a few times over the summer, but he just hasn't been coordinated enough or capable of peddling.  Last night something clicked and he took off.  He needed help getting started a few times, but over all he did great!  I'm so proud, but I don't like this growing up thing my kids are doing!

Getting older

I have issues with age.  I don't like to think about how old I am or birthdays.  I know I'm not really old, but I still feel like their is so much I should have done by now and that makes me feel old.  Then I see friends who are only a few years older then I am, but feel so young next to them.  Its weird how your brain plays tricks on you.  

I was brought back to reality this weekend though.  A guy from high school was recently diagnosed with ALS, another has battled cancer, a friend at church is facing a possible MS diagnosis (in her 20's) and a family member had a serious health scare this weekend that I thought couldn't happen for at least another 10-15yrs.

While most people wouldn't call me old, I'm old enough to have friends with horrible diseases/medical issues. I'm old enough to get them myself.  That makes me feel old.  I know I can't prevent it or stop it.  All I can do is live like normal and deal with what ever comes our way.  That doesn't really make me feel better.  It definitely doesn't help with my dislike for my birthday.  Its one of those things that shakes you for a minute and you tell yourself to remember the significance so you can change something, help someone or do something, but then you get back to your life and those feelings that were so important and your vow to make a change slowly fades into the background.  I guess thats normal.  Its not comforting, but its life and sometimes it stinks.  Ok, now I really feel old!

Star struck

Goof balls