Backyard Bible School

The week before last the kids attended Backyard Bible School. It's a program similar to Vacation Bible School, but different people hold it in their backyard for four days. The activities director at the nursing home where we attend story time holds it there so the residents can enjoy the kids, and then the last day is at her home. The theme was Son Harvest County Fair and this is what the kids decided to wear on the second day when they were told to try and dress up like cowboys and cowgirls. We probably could have come up with something a little better had they enlisted my help, but they felt pretty cool with these outfits so I just let them do their thing.

By the last day they had learned a bunch of songs and bible verses, which they still know, and they also made fun crafts and ate candy. I attended the last day at Ms. Connie's house and it was quite the affair. She has four acres so there was a lot of room for the 40 or so kids to run around. There was a ring toss, boomerang throwing, balloon toss, and a few other games.

At the end of the day some of the kids got to smash whipped cream pies in the faces of the teenage helpers. The rest of the kids got to "clean" them off with water guns and water balloons. Xander smashed a balloon over this girl's head.

Miss Connie has a slide on the side of her garage and a rope swing that capped off their adventurous week.

Happy Veterans Day

Sunday was our city's Veterans Day parade and it was a gorgeous day, so we decided to take the kids. Typically we don't hear about it until after it's passed, but we finally figured out it's on the Sunday before Veterans Day, and not actually ON Veteran's Day. We made sure to have on our patriotic-colored clothing.

(After looking at this picture I've decided I think Xander's going to have my teeth. If you look at them they're all angled the same as mine. I'd blame my overlapping bottom teeth on the fact that I wasn't so good at wearing my retainers, but my dad had braces too and his bottom teeth look just like mine. So my guess is part of it is hereditary. Sorry, little man. I wouldn't wish my dental history on anyone.)

The kids were excited when the Boy Scouts came by and passed out American flags to everyone.

Jordis, true to form, loved the hundreds of motorcycles that drove by at the beginning. She really enjoyed waving to them. Then when the band came she marched all over the place.

(I secretly loved the new Camaro sitting at the curb.)

Xander kept shouting out "Where's the candy?" and we had a lot of trouble trying to get them to understand what Veterans Day was all about. But they do know that they have veterans (or as they generalize them, "Army people") on both sides of their families. And they sat still for a few minutes.

Oh yeah, they got some candy, too.

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a busy time for us this year! Jason had to work during our trick-or-treat, so we took the kids to my mom and step-dad's. Their night was different than ours so by going there Jason and my mom both got to see the kids in their costumes. They looked fabulous of course.

Batman was very good at using his cape...

...and the chicken was very lovable.

I'm a party helper for Xander's kindergarten class, so Friday I spent some time there getting to meet all of his classmates. Xander has a love-hate relationship with the bumblebee.

Jordis was a hit with the staff and students, although there was much debate among the children about whether she was a duck, chicken or rooster. She made herself right at home though and was a good girl for me while I did crafts with Xander's friends.

Those kids wore me out, but it was a fun morning.

On Halloween night I took the kids around our neighborhood for trick-or-treat. Along the way we ran into some of our neighbor friends. Megan, the Angel, is Jordis' friend, and Xander sits on the bus with Lauren, the pink toothbrush. Evan, the toothpaste, is Lauren's little brother.

Xander wouldn't ring any one's doorbell, so Jordis did all the work.

They had a great time!

Then we got tired. We were only four houses from home, but Jordis was emphatic in her demand that she take a rest before we got there.

After sorting and trading, we had some candy and called it a night.

Happy Easter!

Easter snuck itself right in between the kids' birthdays this year, so we've been really busy with all three. When Xander was on Spring Break the kids decorated a bunch of crosses to take to the nursing home, so we delivered those one day last week when Xander got off the bus.

On Friday we decorated a few eggs.


Saturday afternoon Jason picked up some overtime, so the kids and I went to my mom and step-dad's. In one evening we celebrated Easter, both kids' birthdays and my mom's birthday. The kids had an Easter egg hunt when we got there.


Presents after dinner...


...then Easter baskets...

Xander had to wear his Helmet Heroes while he opened his Easter basket at home Sunday morning.

Jordis was mostly concerned with eating.


I was amazed that there was no fighting about the boutinierre and hair clip that I made for the kids, and they actually stood together and both faced the camera. It really doesn't get much better than that, it's much more cooperation than I expected and we were even early to church.

After church Grandpa, Grammy, MawMaw, PawPaw and Aunt Mo came for brunch to celebrate Easter and both kids' birthdays.

It was like Christmas morning and we are now very thankful that we don't need to buy our kids a single outfit to wear this summer.



What a wonderful Easter it was.

....life is worth the living, just because He lives.

Trick or Treat

I know it's November now, but we took off for vacation on Halloween night so I haven't had a chance to post photos yet.

There aren't too many to speak of. Neither of the kids wanted to be photographed. The only reason I got them to stand together was by telling them they couldn't have any candy if they didn't stand still and say "cheese."


Jason usually has to work on Halloween so he was looking forward to walking around the neighborhood with the kids.


It went pretty quickly. Jordis took full adavantage of her daddy being there, and just couldn't seem to do all the walking this year.


Some of the candy bars were quite tasty on the ride to Florida.

What a week!

So we've had a pretty crazy schedule this past week, but loaded with lots of fun!

The zoo is open late on Wednesdays, so after Xander's OT last week he and I met up with Jordis and Jason at the zoo. Not long after we got there and Xander climbed some inflatables, Jordis decided she had to walk, of course. Xander took advantage of this opportunity to hitch a ride in the stroller and not 20 yards from her starting point Miss Thang strutted herself face first into the concrete at the entrance to the tunnel.

The tunnel at the zoo is a great place for echoes, so not only was she screaming at the top of her lungs, but it was amplified times one-hundred. So everyone's staring at us and probably thinking we made our poor baby walk while the big kid got pushed. At any rate, she's much more cooperative than Xander where ice is concerned, and 30 minutes later we were off to the picnic tables to eat the dinner Jason had packed for us. Then we rode the train. Jordis' forehead is finally back to its normal shape now, but it's still got a bruise. She bounced back like a trooper, though.





Friday of course was July 4th. We went to my mom and step-dad's to have a cookout and also celebrate my step-dad's birthday, which was on the 6th. We had lots of good food, the kids got plenty worn out, and I got a little nap. Jason's brother and his family were also in town and staying with us for the weekend, so after coming back from my mom's we attempted to keep the kids up to watch the Delaware fireworks, which can usually be seen from our backyard. Xander fell asleep before they even started and not just asleep, but he was practically in a coma. After trying to herd three kids outside and get them all situated, the fireworks started about 15 minutes late so the kids were completely over it before they ever saw anything. Xander was the only one who actually stayed outside.





The next day we went to the Independence Day parade that, for some reason, was held on July 5th. But at any rate, it was a good time and the kids enjoyed getting all the candy that they will hopefully forget about in the next few weeks. We let them have a sucker of two while they watched and Jordi.s got hers all over. She had an orange mustache, and it was on her temple, in her hair and somehow on the back of her shoulder. They also practiced a lot of waving and Jordis seems to have learned the pageant wave.


Jeremy, Dominic, Sarah and Autumn


Jordis was mad because she and Xander had to eat out of the same bag of snacks as opposed to each getting their OWN bags.


MMMMM......candy


Jordis pretends not to look but leaves a space for her eyes to peek out.

After dinner Jason's sister and her boyfriend came over and we had a nice time sitting outside, playing pool and playing poker. On Sunday, Jason's parents came to visit, then took the whole family out to a yummy dinner at Max & Erma's. We had our fill of tortilla soup and all four kids behaved, so I consider that a succesful dining experience.

On the way home we stopped at the splash pad for the kids to play. Dominic wasted no time and Xander did surprisingly well after running around the perimeter for awhile. Autumn enjoyed herself with some help from Sarah and Jordis stood on the edge looking pretty.


Autumn gets a little help from her mom


Looking pretty


Xan loves to jump in water


Dominic and Xander give it a joint effort

The week was full and lots of fun so this week we're cleaning and relaxing. We're had all the excitement we can handle for awhile.