Wednesday, October 22, 2008

An update

Just wanted to let you have a peek into our world right now. It's going on 8:30pm. In 19 1/2 hours we are going to be leaving for a 16-hour trip to Florida. The pile of things we are taking keeps getting larger and Larger and LARGER. It's unbelievable.

Well, we can't be unprepared. I mean, come on, we've got three boys under five. We have to have the means to take care of any situation. And believe me, we've got some pretty wacked-out scenarios cooked up in our head, with all the stuff we're bringing.

Just keep us in your prayers that we make it down to the Sunshine State all in one piece, and excited to be on vacation.

P.S. You know I'm just kidding. We'll be fine. I am thrilled to be going...but a few prayers never hurt anyone ;)

It never gets old

It will forever make me laugh to see the boys imitate someone they look up to. Case in point: Ben is using the "big boy potty" when Charlie sees what's going on, goes on in to the "little potty," lifts the lid and attempts to do exactly what his brother is doing. The problem is, he's wearing one of those onesie-type shirts that are buttoned on the bottom, so as best he can, he copies his brother. Sorry, these words don't paint the picture I'm wishing to portray, but it was so cute and even though things are getting hectic around here they continue to make me smile.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Email me


Charlie just loves getting forwarded jokes.

Feast your eyes on this...

Ben's class is studying the fall and a squirrel is one of its characters.

"Falling Leaves" by Benny

Now is when they begin the reading process, starting with the first initial of their name.

Louie's class is studying sunflowers now. Tomorrow they head to the farm.

This is from the transportation unit they did. The local firefighters came to school to visit.


These are some shots of the famed artists themselves.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Fresh Air

The week is quickly turning cold and this day was predicted to be the nicest. Even though we have oh-so-much packing to do we decided to get ourselves some fresh air by heading out to Sharon Woods.






Amen!

I guess I never caught onto the cadence that is in the bedtime prayers we say. Charlie is our little music man. He hears music everywhere he goes and he bobs his head along with the beat. Prayers are not left out. He folds his hands together and there goes his head--bouncing with the words we say so he feels like he is participating with us.

And when we say "amen" he claps his hands together like the end of a production. In a side note, Ben used to all the time (and still does occasionally) say "amen" at the end of a story instead of "the end." It cracks me up.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Long Lost Katie

Yes, Katie still lives in Cincinnati, but now that she's a nurse we don't get to see her all that often. We were very excited for her to go to the zoo with us!

This was the first time we were at the zoo for feed the giraffes. They eat three pounds of a mixture of raw carrots and sweet potatoes. The boys each got a sweet potato stick.


Charlie didn't realize that you were supposed to let go. He held tight as the giraffe had it strong tongue wrapped around it, pulling. I was holding the kid so there wasn't much I could do. Finally I set Charlie down so the poor giraffe wouldn't be teased any longer.

Lexi & Grandma Alice joined us too, and the kids actually asked if they could have their picture taken on this fall display.

They're making a lot of changes at the zoo, and the boys thought it was cool that the elephant looked like Bob the Builder.

They have a great time with Lexi, their surrogate sister.

Charlie had no qualms about getting right up in there with the goats.

And it is true: goats will eat anything. Here this sweet lil' thing is eating my sweatshirt.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Unphotographable

There's a site where people submit things that they've seen that leave them so flabbergasted that they are unable to take a picture of it. Sometimes they're bizarre, others are ironic, but almost always funny.

Now I can laugh about it, but at the moment I was more seething than flabbergasted. I was in the bathroom getting ready to take Louie to school this morning when I heard a strange noise. Louie was talking to me, heard it too, then yells, "Mom! Look at that!"

Apparently, Ben must have dumped his cheerios (luckily, dry) onto our new kitchen floor and Charlie, with a big ol' grin, was stomping around on them a la Lucy when she was stomping around on grapes. Cheerio dust was everywhere. And I guess it's not that big of a deal since it was dry cheerios on our new kitchen floor because it wasn't harming it all too much, it's just that we don't have the trim down yet and it was being pushed down into the crevices (thank goodness for the dustbuster!). Deep down I feel that if I keep referring to the new kitchen floor, the boys will take it to heart and realize that, "Hey, maybe I shouldn't get more food on the floor than in my belly." It's a pipe dream, I know.

P.S. Please don't let Kevin know. I haven't told him yet.
P.P.S. Can you tell how excited I am about our new kitchen floor? Everyone who sees it says that it makes it look like a brand new kitchen.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Pumpkin Carving Day

When my brother Joe and I lived together we started a tradition where Joe, Erin, Kevin and I would carve pumpkins together. This eventually grew and expanded to include other family members and friends. Last year we ran out of time and had to put it on hiatus, but this year we revived it!

Lou, as with most things, was very serious about the carving of his pumpkin. He worked very diligently to make the design and then saw out the pieces.

Benny was excited to begin carving, but asked Daddy to help him to a lot of the work (i.e. scoop out the guts). Aunt Erin and Grandma are in the background wishing Kevin would also help them get the guts out.

Charlie opted not to carve pumpkins just so he could have free reign over the toys that he normally doesn't get first choice of!

Kevin was holding court with the other guys, patiently waiting his turn to carve his pumpkin.

Uncle Nate was a big help in guiding Louie with his pumpkin design, and helping with the sawing on the more difficult areas.

Lou and Ben helping Grandpa put candles in the pumpkins.

It's not so easy to see how great all the designs are on the jack-o-lanterns! I wish there was a setting on the camera for "carved pumpkins."

My Favorite

Something I'll miss in a few sizes is the footed-pajamas. I love that my baby is all rolled up into one nice warm package. One of the (many) things that keeps me up at night is worrying whether or not he's cold, since he will not keep a blanket on his body. This nice style of pjs lets me know that he's as snug as a bug in a rug!

Not to be left out, Louie and Benny asked if they could have their pictures taken in their jammies, too. So excited to have their photograph taken! Let's see what happens when Mommy and Daddy attempt to get the all-important Christmas card picture. You may have just seen it.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

HallZOOeen Day

A nice, warm Saturday in October and we head out to the zoo with Daddy to wear costumes, get candy, ride rides, oh, and maybe look at some animals. They got to pick out something to wear from the oodles of costumes Joey and Johnny gave us when they outgrew them.

Take a good look at this picture, because this is the most you'll see of Ben in this costume. I don't fault him, though. It has a big plastic cape that was really too much for an 80-degree + day. Charlie is Superman, Louie is a vampire, and Benny is a knight.

When you come into the park you get tickets for special treats. At the first booth we came to they boys picked out mini-pumpkins. Charlie wasn't nearly as excited as his brothers.


Throughout the day there are shows that the animals put on with pumpkins. Luckily the boys weren't overly interested in seeing it because the crowds were insane and they might not have seen much anyway. Personally, it was just nice walking around on a sunny day with our family.

Taking a cue from Owen, Benny showed us around the park using the map.

To end the day we took a ride on the carousel, or as they call it, the SCARE-ousel. I'm not sure if you remember it (Lou's never seen it) but when the ride started up Louie was trying to see which one of them was going to win the race--a la Mary Poppins. Turns out, they all won.

Benny's growling right along with his tiger ride.

Charlie, like his engineer father, is trying to figure out how this all works.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Burger Farm!

What a beautiful day to go to go pick out pumpkins! Burger Farm is a place that I went to when I was a kid and it was neat to take the boys. Of course, as with everything, it's bigger, flashier, and more exciting. Ok, not so much flashier (it is a farm), but there are a lot more things to do than I remember! Grandma Alice and Lexi invited us out there, and Angela came out with her kids, Luke and Caroline. The kids are all about the same age and were thrilled to be out on this gorgeous day playing in anticipation of getting a pumpkin.

When we got there we looked at all the animals (baby chicks, ponies, goats, cows & hens). Then went through Pumpkinland. It's a building you walk through to see different fairytale scenes set up with characters whose heads are pumpkins! These characters moved and sang. The boys were pretty freaked out by this. There were a lot of rides and other booths (one where you can get upclose and personal with snakes and the like), but those are only open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Here is a picture of the kids outside the maze. See the smiles? They weren't there a few minutes after we got in it. Turns out they don't like mazes. It didn't help that if they took a wrong turn there was a scary witch or spooky clown.

Little did I know that there was an actual Mr. Burger. He was great! He came out and played with the kids, helping put on the puppet show that the kids thought was hysterical. He even led the boys and girls in a song about "Mr. Burger's Farm" and all his pumpkins. It was pretty cute.

All the boys and girls got a lil' hug drink and a cup of popcorn while they sang songs and watched the puppet show. Afterward we got our pumpkin bag from Mr. Burger and hopped aboard the hayride out to the pumpkin patch!



Thursday, October 9, 2008

Another Art Gallery

Do you recognize this person?? Louie painted me playing on the playground at his school!