What's Up?

So I know it's been awhile since I posted but life has been busy and kicking my butt lately.  I have been taking pictures but have been too tired to post.  So I thought I would just do a post and post a buch of random pictures and give you a glimpse of what we have been up to! 

*For starters, a couple of weeks ago (yep, it's been that long), I took the kids and I (by myself I might add, never again) to get haircuts.  Gracie was up first because she is an ol' pro at it.  Although she was giving me crap because she thought the lady was going to chop off all her hair and she wanted it long like Rapunzel.  I had to do a lot of convincing that she would only cut  teeny-tiny bit off.

Bub did really good though.  He sat so still and let them take the clippers to him.

 

Isn't he a handome little boy?  I need to gel his hair more often. He looks so big!

 

I think Gracie was happy with the end result though.  She was happy to still have her long hair.

 

*Gracie started ballet here for the fall.  It's been like a year since she did ballet. She has tried tap, hip hop, and jazz and now we are back to ballet.  There is no recital for this session.  She seems to like it and has her favorite dance teacher, Miss Kathy.  So far she is learning steps to "A Whole New World" which is awesome because Jasmine is one of her favorite princesses.

 

*Chuck was on vacation a couple of weeks ago and he was dying to take the kids to see The Avengers.  Of course it wasn't at the cheap show (it is now) but we went as a family to see it and were the only ones in the movie theater.  Probably because it was a random Wednesday night.  It worked out for the better though because the little ones did sit through the entire movie but asked questions the entire time.  My husband has all 3 of my kids obsessed with Avengers. They watch the cartoon on Disney XD all the time.  Gracie likes Wolverine (notice the costume she wore to the movie), Presley loves Hawkeye, and Evie is obsesses with Pepper Pots who I guess is Iron Man's girlfriend, played by Gwenth Paltrow in the movie.

 

Presley wore his Captain America shirt and his Avengers shoes!

 

*Even though my kids no nothing about 9/11, we rocked the red, white, and blue on that day.  Someday they will know.  For now I want them to be proud to be an American.

 

*My birthday is still not for a couple of weeks but Gracie took a trip to Menards and couldn't wait to give me an early birthday present......a guidebook about backyard birds!  She was so excited to give it to me and told me that is for when we sit outside and look at the birds.  (Which we have NEVER done) but she was so excited so it's sitting on our bookshelf for when we do go look at the birds.

 

*We also took the kids to see "Finding Nemo."  Again, not at the cheap show but you can't beat Disney movies on the big screen even though we own all of them!  P.S.  Gracie picked out her own red socks to wear with that outift.  We are teaching her how to match clothes but it hasn't clicked yet.

 

*We finally had a playdate with Allie and Emma.  Gracie and Allie are really turning into great friends and they had fun dressing up and accessorizing!  

*I told you we have been so busy that some nights we simply have just conked out on the couch!

 

*Today after church, we took an unexpected trip to the pumpkin patch.  The kids LOVE playing in all the little houses.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside so we took advantage.  We'll go back because 1,I forgot my camera and only had my phone and 2, the kids were not dressed for cute fall pictures with all the pumpkins.  This place is free so why not?

 

*The weather has been so fabulous lately that we have been playing outside when we can.  We hang out and Grandma and Grandpa's a lot because they have the space to store all of our bikes and things.  The little ones have been enjoying driving Gracie's Barbie jeep.  Well, Presley likes driving it.  Evie just loves riding shotgun and playing with the radio.  Would you believe that this car has a real working radio on it?

 

*Presley has finally caught on to the whole pedaling thing!  He has been riding this tricycle all around my mom and dad's house. So what if it's pink and purple....he can pedal!!!

 

*Evie is SO into playing with dolls and babies.  When she is at my mom's house, it's all about Minnie!  She loves Minnie!  

 

*We switched up bathtime last week by taking a bath in my whirlpool tub which never sees any action.  In fact, most of the time I store clothes in it.  Well I cleaned it out and loaded the kids in there.  They LOVED it.  We even turned on the jets!  

 

*My kids have discovered how to take pictures with my phone.  They take them all.  the.  time.  Here is just a couple.  Most nights I have to go through and delete them.

 

*Presley is such a character lately and is so funny to watch.  He makes the funniest and cutest facial expressions.  Here he is being cool like Daddy.

There you go, a little of what we have been up too lately when we are not at work or school.  I will do my best to keep up but don't be surprised if you see another random post like this again.

We Followed the Yellow Brick Road.....Down by the River!

This weekend the weather was absolutely perfect! Chuck was off this weekend and we had lots of things planned.  Family things.  Nothing means more to me than spending time together, just the 5 of us and doing fun things!  We don't get to do this that often. 

On Saturday, we went to Chesterton, Indiana for the annual Wizard of Oz fest!  I haven't been here in years, like since before I had kids.  It takes place in this little town and there is a parade, crafts, vendors, food, and all kinds of activities like look=alike contests, even a Toto one.  This year, I managed to get little Evie into this Dorothy dress. She fell in love with Gracie's old ruby red slippers and hasn't really taken them off yet!  Doesn't she make the cutest little Dorothy you ever saw?

We got there in time to find a good spot to watch the parade.  Little stud man there was so excited to get candy!

 

Grandma and Grandpa traveled with us too.  Grandpa had never been to the fest either.  Gracie was bummed she did not have a Dorothy outfit.  They were selling them there for $35 but I talked my mom into making one.  I have one from when I was little but it's still too big for Gracie.

 

The parade started and like any other parade, it started with the fire trucks!

 

These two stole a whole bunch of hearts because they waved at everybody who came by!

 

Evie was excited to see Glinda coming.

 

All the characters were there, even Auntie Em and Uncle Henry!

 

 

Oh, look who it is?  All the characters!  

 

The wicked witch was there and so was her cackling laugh.

 

In fact they even had a horse of a different color!  

 

Every year Roger Baum, the great, great grandson of Frank Baum, author of the book The Wizard of Oz.  He was there signing books.  I have a book or two signed by him already!

 

Everyone loved Evie's dress even though she was hardly the only girl dressed up like Dorothy, there were everywhere!  But Glinda came over to say hello.

 

Presley felt a little left out too so he got to buy a Captain America hat/mask.

 

And then Gracie got Batman.

We had fun but I was disappointed because there wasn't nearly as much Oz stuff there as there has one in years past.  In fact, it was so crowded that we didn't stay much after that.  I bought a  couple of things I saw that I didn't have but then we left to each lunch on the road because the food lines were horrible.

After we drove back and had some naps, it was time to head out to see some fireworks!  Plainfield, where we live, did not shoot off fireworks for the 4th this summer because it was so hot and dry.  So they rescheduled them for Saturday night because they were having this River Days fest going on.  So we dressed up to enjoy a cool fall night and set up our chairs.

 

It was a family affair!

 

The girls had fun with Auntie Amy.

 

The little ones finally found their love of fireworks this summer too.  Here they are standing at the fence just watching.

 

And during the finale, they were covering thier ears because it was so loud.  Monkey see. Monkey do.

 

The booms didn't stop this girl though from closing her eyes during the show.  She was pooped!

Today we went to church and then went to check out this River Days Fest.  Plainfield has never done this before and it was really fun.  It was along the river.  There is a big stretch of land that's off the main road where the old Electric Park used to be.  I heard that they want to make it into like a riverwalk of some sort.  It would be nice to do that.  It was fairly cheap too.  Evie and Presley were free.  There were no carnival rides but there was kids games like bowling.

 

But this boy was tuckered out before we even got there.  Maybe it's because he was up at 5:45 this morning....

 

We met up with some of our friends.  Gracie and Scott hit the Legoland tent and started building away.

 

These two are such great friends. I feel bad that we haven't seen them in like a month or so.  Scotty is showing off his karate moves I think.

 

Jackson and Levi were there chilling in the wagon too.

 

There was a bunch of bouncy houses for the kids to play in.

 

There was a petting zoo too with goats, sheep, a donkey, a baby cow, pigs, chickens, and bunnies.  You could pet them all and feed them too.

 

Evie and Jackson had so much fun petting all the animals.  I was laughing though because this one goat kept coming over and chewing on my 31 purse!  And then it tried to chew on my pant strings!  

One of the biggest hits today was this caterpilller bouncy thing.  You climb in his mouth and climb out of his butt.

Is this not the cutest picture?  I was so proud of Gracie because I asked her to watch and help Evie go through.  She grabbed her hand and waited in line.

There was also pony rides.  My kids LOVE to ride the ponies.  They think this is always so fun.

 

Graice rode by herself and the lady working there asked her how her day was going and all I heard Gracie say was "Well, my friend Scotty was here and......." she talked the lady's ear off the whole ride!  

 

We were hungry after riding the ponies so we got some ice cream from this cool old ice cream truck.

Evie got a penguin ice cream bar.

 

Gracie and Presley got Batman.

 

This boy loved his ice cream so much in fact that he gave up riding the train in order to sit and finish it!

 

So while Bub enjoyed his Batman ice cream, we went and took a ride on the train.  

It was really a great weekend!  I love when we can get out and enjoy this beautiful weather with family and friends.  This is what life is all about!  If only every weekend was this nice!