Our favorite day

We always look forward to our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and this year was no exception. Luckily it was a beautiful day because Jordis also had a football game. In two separate cars the kids, Jason, my mom and I headed out. We made sure the camera was working and the fun began.

After a few runs on the zip line, my mom and I left for a few hours to get Jordis changed and to her game. Xander enjoyed chatting with the baby animals while we were gone.

After the game Jason went home to sleep since he had worked all night and Xander spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the ladies. Our first order of business was lunch. It was a healthy affair.

With full stomachs we were able to continue on for the rest of the afternoon. Here are some highlights:

And the obligatory annual photos I make the kids take.....

We left tired and with goodies, a successful day indeed.

It's that time

School supplies

New backpacks and lunch boxes

New fabric napkins to pack in lunches (because we are all about recycling and not making extra trash in this house).

Ridiculously expensive name-brand shoes that I swore I'd never purchase

Two adorable kids wearing new outfits

One really sad mom who doesn't want her baby to be old enough for school
(definitely no picture of that)

Two kids who couldn't wait to tell us about their first day

Happy Back to School Xander and Jordis!

Summertime

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a month! Can you tell I got a part-time job? It's definitely making my summer go a little faster than usual since I'm not here 3-4 afternoons a week. We've definitely been keeping busy.

The kids and I have had a few slumber parties on the sofa bed. The first time we watched "Because of Winn Dixie" and the second time we watched "The Karate Kid" (the original one). I let them eat popcorn on the bed which they thought was pretty cool. One night we also made chocolate covered bananas. They were yummy!

One day, right before school was out, Jordis and I took our neighbor on a little tour of some of the finer points of south Columbus. She is from Michigan and we've been discussing a little field trip since last year, so we finally made our way out.
We started at Schiller Park.

Then we stopped for goodies at Pistacia Vera. How I love their macaroons. Jordis had a delightful lemon sugar cookie. I forget what Nancy sampled, but it looked equally as tasty.

Next was a trip up High Street to the North Market. We checked out all the booths, grabbed some lunch to go (yummy mashed potatoes and mac and cheese from a local eatery) and continued north. Oh, and Jordis always has to take her picture with this cow whenever we come to the market.

Our final stop was the Park of Roses. It was a few days before the annual festival so the roses should have been at their peak, but it had been so hot at the time that they were looking a little pekid. We enjoyed them anyway. It's always fun to take someone there that has never been. You'd never know that such beauty existed in that busy stretch of High Street without someone showing you. It's definitely off the beaten path.

We've also had some creepy summer storms....

...made homemade donuts....

....been to the park.....

...and discovered silly string.

There's still 35 days until school starts, so I'm sure we'll have some more summer fun in the weeks to come.

Easter

Jason worked all night so he was in bed for the Easter morning festivities. We cared a lot more when they were smaller but now we prefer sleep over revelry, so I told him he could miss it if I didn't have to get up at 6:30 when he came home from work. It was a good trade-off and the kids didn't seem to mind.

They showed him what the Easter bunny brought and we bought them life jackets to wear on our boat once it's built, so Jason still got to watch them get excited about something.

As has been the case all spring, it was rainy on Easter, so no outdoor pictures of the kids this year. In fact, I couldn't get a good picture of them together to save my life. When one was ready the other wouldn't cooperate.

Jordis cute and ready with signature head tilt. Xander not ready.

Xander finally cooperative, Jordis not so much.

Xander still photogenic, Jordis decides to be present.

Like Xan's tennis shoes? He hates dress shoes and I figured it wasn't worth the money to buy him any to wear for two hours before he outgrows them. Trying to pick my battles.

After church we picked up Jason and went to my mom and step-dad's house. The kids had an Easter egg hunt before lunch.

Then the boys played Wii while the girls cleaned up the kitchen.


It was my mom's birthday weekend as well, so she opened presents and then we had dessert and played some Go Fish.


We left and paid a visit to Jason's parents as well. They got the kids each a great collection of books, so they were excited and also had something to entertain them in the car on the way home. It was a nice relaxing day with family.

CoCo Key

Jason took the week off when Xander was on Spring Break, so we decided to take a little trip to an indoor water park about an hour from home. It was actually my idea, which means I must have really needed a getaway because I'm not a huge fan of water. They were offering a great deal though that included two full-days at the water park, an overnight stay in the lodge, t-shirts for the kids, two arcade passes and a board game to keep. The lodge was beautiful and I'd like to stay there again sometime whether I went to the waterpark or not.

The kids were super excited when we got there and couldn't wait to go to the pool. They had on their new "croco-dude" shirts my mom and step-dad brought them back from vacation.

Tried to get them on the waterslide at the same time, but it never worked very well.

All day long this giant bucket fills up with water and then dumps out all over. You get a warning, but if you're in line for a water slide there's no getting out in time.

Xan was too short to do this properly, but he was able to get across as I coached him through some creative maneuvering.

We really enjoyed the water park, especially in the evening when a lot of the people who were just there for the day had gone home. We took a rest, got pizza for an early dinner, then went back down for more fun before bed. In the morning we ate breakfast in our room, then headed down to be early in line so we could get a table and chairs for our beach towels.

The kids love arcade games so they were excited to earn tickets before we left.

Look at this girl pull the handle. Watch out Vegas!

After leaving the water park we went to lunch at Bob Evans. Better yet, the kids got to eat for free with the coupons they get every year for their birthday.

So glad we had a good time!