Fire Prevention Week

Last month we stopped by the local fire station near Jason's work for their open house. The kids had fun and Jason visited with his firefighter friends. I took pictures, of course.

Fair Time

Our county fair was last month, so of course we had to go. We prefer to go in the evening, but Jordis' squad had to cheer so we figured as long as we were paying to get in we might as well stick around. We had to get there early so the girls could get their shoe poms, face tattoos, hair glitter.....you know, important stuff.

Like how none of them are doing remotely the same thing and Jordis is looking around to see what comes next? I love it!

We ate lunch after the cheering and the kids always love getting shaved ice. It was a great day for it.

Then the kids rode rides.

I couldn't believe Jordis got on this thing. She saw her cheerleading friends on it and decided she wanted to go, so one of the girls' dad's got back on it with them. I love the little hand-holding chain they had going on.

I told Jason he better keep treating me right or I might leave him for this sexy guy.

On the way out we stopped to look at the animals and we were just in time for the turkey costume contest. Yes, I'm serious.

Welcome to Delaware, y'all!

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.

COSI

Over Labor Day weekend our friends from Michigan were here and we were looking for something to do inside since it was cold and supposed to rain. We settled on a trip to COSI since none of us have been to the new one. When I say new, it's been there at least ten years, but most people my age grew up with the original COSI. The kids have been wanting to go for awhile so they were pretty excited. It was the last Monday they were open for the season, and the final day before they closed for their annual two-week cleaning, so we were in luck.

The ball tossing maching in the courtyard was a big hit. You hold these balls up to the machine and they get sucked up inside and then spit out into the air. Then they rain down onto whoever is standing there. I was really proud of the kids because they collected balls and gave them to our friends' little guy, Baby Joe.

Of course you can't go wrong with shootable water.

And submarines are cool

(to some people....if you like feeling claustrophobic, which I do not)

Dr. Jordis loved the little-kid area...

...and the soda shop in the Progress exhibit.

Xander was fascinated with this rotary phone. It was really weird to have to show him how to use it.

Giant Lite Brite!

For dinner we went across the street to have dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse.
Three active kids made for a wild and crazy dinner hour.

And the food was good, too!

Genius

Okay, it might be a little early to start throwing out labels, but check out my kid's first test scores of the year in math, science and spelling.

(Math has never been my strong suit but I'm not sure how you can get-1 and still have a score of 32/32 when there's no bonus question.....).

At any rate, we are super proud of our little second-grader. He never ceases to amaze us.

Go Packers!

Jordis started her first activity this year.....cheerleading! She started taking cheer classes at the local gymnastics center, but we didn't feel like she was getting much out of it so we signed her up for football cheerleading with our local Optimist Football league. She was put on the Packers with 16 other girls and now she's learning how to cheer, as well as understanding when and why cheerleading is used. She was a trooper when it came to her three practices a week in August. Then she got to go to her first spirit night where we had pizza and cupcakes and painted banners for all of the games.

Her first game was a little shaky. Grandpa, Grammy, Maw Maw and Paw Paw all came to watch, and she refused to participate. People were looking at her, the pom poms were too scratchy and there a lot of pouts and faces like this.

Jason and I both had a few "chats" with her...

...and finally, after being bribed with $1, she cheered during the 4th quarter. After all the grandparents went home.

The second game went a little better. She got to be a banner holder that day so she had something to look forward to.

Nanny Mo and Mr. Brian came and she said she'd cheer as long as Mr. Brian didn't look at her.

Little did we know it would be 99 degrees that day and the girls would be spending almost half of the game sitting under a tree eating popsicles.

After a bye week we had a really good day this past Saturday. It was much cooler so we had to bring out the sweat suits. Grandpa and Ba Dee were able to come this week and Jordis not only cheered, but looked like she was having a good time, too.

We couldn't be more proud of our little girl and can't wait to see how she does the rest of the season.