Busy Day...Kuiper's Farm and Grandma's House

 This morning I woke to smells...the smell of roasted garlic, the smell of chopped onion, the smell of roasted peppers, Terry was making salsa. Caleb saw that and immediately heated himself up an enchilada for breakfast. What a strange choice. He also was savoring cilantro. It was an interesting breakfast choice.

 Kendall, chose a better breakfast, in my opinion, a bagel with cream cheese. I chose to join Kendall for breakfast. She was in a pretty silly mood.

At about 9:00 a.m. my mom called wondering where we were. Today was the big fantasy football draft, that my brother-in-law Mike puts on. Terry of course, headed over there as the sun began to shine, and Rachel and her girls were kicked out of the house. So, I put the bikes in the car and we headed over to my mom's house to spend a day with family. Kendall decided to try out her new bike. She rode at a very slow pace...Tessa (now 10 months old) can crawl faster than Kendall chose to ride her bike. It was pretty hilarious!

 



 Next, we decided to head out to Kuiper's Family Farm. I received an e-mail last night that announced the farm was open for apple picking a week early. Last year, we waited and ended up picking apples on a horribly cold day, so I decided that a hot day might be better.

 My mom decided to accompany Rachel and I, and squeezed into Rachel's minivan right in between Tessa's and Caroline's car seats. The adventure began with a bumpy wagon ride out to the orchard. The orchard was empty, in fact, we were the only people on the wagon.

 Clifford also came to the orchard with us. Kendall is the star of the week, this week in kindergarten and she had the privilege of taking Clifford home with her this weekend. I am very thankful we are first, because of course Clifford slept in Kendall's bed, and has been everywhere with us, and I can't imagine how scummy Clifford will become in the months to come.

 Apple picking was a huge success. Caleb loved trying the Gala apples that were in bins. Apparently, they needed to be picked earlier in the week. They were delicious. We were able to pick Cortland and Jonathan apples from the trees.

 Overall, the apple crop is not what it normally is. The apples are pretty small this year due to the draught, and the orchard lost 40% of their normal crop because of a freeze that we had this spring.

This problem didn't deter my kids, but will cause the apple picking to be totally finished by the end of September.

 We ended the evening having delicious Chinese food at my mom's house. The kids had a great time together! It was a fun day.

 

 

 

Dinner With Isaac

 My mom was babysitting Isaac today so after school she went to our house for a play date. My kids were thrilled to see Isaac playing on the swingset when we arrived home. We played for a while; Kendall even made it across the monkey bars three times. She was pretty excited! Next we headed to colonial. No surprise there, it seems to be our favorite restaurant as of late. Caleb was hilarious, because our waitress said that she was going to push two tables together. Caleb wanted nothing to do with that, he decided instead that he would sit at the second table all by himself. Isaac and Kendall both wanted to sit by my mom so I ended up having a whole side to myself. It was very roomy!

 

 The kids were pretty well behaved coloring on their placements but they are waiting for their food to arrive. You just never know with kids how much food to order, Kendall will sometimes eat an entire kids meal all by herself and other times eat next to nothing. Today Isaac and Kendall both ordered pancakes for dinner between the two of them they could have shared one kids meal and probably would have had half of it left over. It was a total waste to buy two. Wish I would've known that before we ordered!

We of course had to get ice cream for dessert. Caleb and Kendall both got the yummy gummy with M&Ms and worms in it. Isaac had a scoop of chocolate with whipped cream. Unfortunately, later that evening Caleb had an allergic reaction all over his back again. We are going to take them to the allergist again and have a retested I wonder what is going on. This is becoming pretty common. Hopefully we can figure it out and get it taken care.

1st Day of School

 Today was the first day of school the kids woke up at 6 o'clock rearing to go. They were so excited, Caleb especially,  because he knew his teacher from Town Hall meetings that he attended last year at Munhall. Caleb had a wonderful day at school today. He likes the kids in this class and saw his kindergarten friends at recess. I think he's really can enjoy first grade.

Kendall was also very excited to go to kindergarten today. She felt like such a big girl as she got her lunch box out of the fridge. It was only 7 o'clock, she didn't have to leave until 8:20. After school I asked Kendall how her a day was. She stated that her teacher was very mean. I was disappointed to hear that, because I know she has a very nice teacher. She went on to tell me, that her teacher was mean because she had to go to the bathroom at the end of the day, but her teacher said no it was too late to go. Kendall ended up having an accident on the way home. She also had a difficult time at lunch. She didn't ask for any help and wasn't able to open up some of the containers in her lunchbox. This caused her to be very hungry when she got home. Kendall also didn't know how to get milk, so she didn't have anything to drink at lunch. She looked like she was going to cry as she told me this. I feel like kindergarten is  such an important year, and I'm sad to hear that she had such a sad start to it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Peck Farm

 We had a great day at looking at the butterflies. Kendall loved watching them, and really hoped that one would land on her.

Caleb was adorable. He wore his compass and carried around a map of all of the butterflies to refer to. He did a great job finding just about all of the butterflies on the map.

Kendall of course, wanted a picture of her by the flowers which she thought were beautiful. We had a fun day!

Ready for Kindergarten & Karate

Kendall got to go to school today and meet her teacher at Munhall. She was thrilled to get to go and was so excited as she walked through the door. Kendall made herself right at home of course and headed straight to the play area.

Caleb decided to join in the fun. He had just gotten back from his classroom where he had dropped off his supplies and met Mrs. Bennett. He was happy to play in the drama area as well. I think he was excited because although Kendall has a different teacher then Caleb it is in the classroom that he went to for his kindergarten

Kendall immediately found the high-heeled shoes that she slipped on her feet when she went into the play area. She also found white sent to love someone up to her altos and the ugliest apron that you can imagine. She of course thought that she looked beautiful and pranced around the classroom going clickety comp clickety-clack as she introduced yourself to her new classmates. I thought it was hilarious!

Caleb is continues to make wonderful progress in karate. Today he did an awesome job with his blocks!

He is making gains on his kata as well. There is one turn that continues to be tricky for him, once he gets that down, he will get to move up and test for a new belt! He has been so well behaved and attentive in karate. I am proud of him!

Gia's Birthday Party

 We went to Gia's birthday party. She turned four years old today. The kids were very excited to see her!

 Kendall is now asking to have her hair done in two Princess braids. She thinks that it is very beautiful looking! I am glad that she wants me to do her hair finally. This is been a long time coming, I am so happy that she is not fighting me anymore.

 Caleb really enjoyed the bubbles at the party. He blew them all over the place. I think that he had a good time, I brought food for him in so that he could have something to eat. He seemed okay with that this time and didn't complain that it was not fair.

Terry got to the party a little bit late because he was playing golf at pheasant run with my dad. Kendall was so surprised to see him! She hung onto him and just seemed very very happy. It was sweet to see. The party was a lot of fun I am glad we were able to go!

Mt. St. Mary Park

 Yesterday we went to Mt. St. Mary Park with Rachel and her girls. My kids loved pushing Tessa on the swing. It was very sweet, although we had to tell them many times to not push too high.

Next we walked around the park. Caleb, Kendall, and Caroline loved the pond area, and played there for a long time. Wish Caroline would have cooperated and had her picture taken. Oh well, there is always next time!

Kendall's 5th Birthday

 Kendall was so excited for her 5th birthday. She started planning it on August 16 of last year, and had decided that she wanted to go to Jump Zone. So, our original plan was to play at Jump Zone, then go to a local park, for cake and presents. Well, our plan changed due to a very rainy day. Luckily, there was a dry spell at the beginning of her party, so we did cake and presents first, then jump zone. It actually worked out wonderfully because the kids had more time to play.

 Kendall had a huge list of who she wanted to invite to her party from her class. She ended up choosing Avery and Sydney. I encouraged these two girls, because they both will be going to Munhall, although Sydney will be a year behind in school than Kendall. She has a September birthday. Kendall's birthday was all thing girly. She chose a care bear ice cream cake (her idea so that Caleb could eat it too!), Hello Kitty plates, and princess goody bags.

 Caleb and Kendall did an awesome job staying dry at the park, really all of the kids did! That was a big worry of mine, and it ended up being no big deal.

 On Kendall's actual birthday, we went out to eat with my parents. Kendall of course chose Colonial, her favorite restaurant.

She chose a sundae with m&m's and worms with chocolate ice cream for her birthday treat. She was thrilled when the waitstaff sang to her.

Touch a Truck

 We went to touch a tractor with Caroline and Tessa. Caroline was very slow to become brave, and watched most of the time. I think Caleb's big goal was to figure out how to honk the horn on each truck that he got to sit on. I am sure everyone there just loved us! The lines were very slow, and it was super loud. Not sure if we will go again, but the kids got to sit in a digger, ambulance, fire truck, police car, garbage truck, school bus, and a few tractors.

Coco Keys

 Terry went to Put-In-Bay for a camping trip, so I took the kids to Coco Keys for the waterpark, and we stayed one night at the hotel. They had a great deal going on, for $99 you could play in the water park for 2 days, spend the night at the hotel, and it included breakfast.

 The kids had lots of fun playing there. I think Caleb's favorite part was the basketball hoop, while Kendall loved all of the slides.

 The only snag we ran into was Caleb had a horrible stomach ache that night. We went out to dinner, and he was acting fine at that point. We all ordered, the second the food came, he started crying, because his tummy hurt too much to eat. Poor baby. He curled up into a ball, and fell asleep. I hate that he gets these tummy aches. It is so sad to see.

 Luckily, he felt all better for breakfast, and took it upon himself to order himself and Kendall juice while I was getting my food. He had 3 plates of food for breakfast, so more than made up for the skipped meal.

 Caleb did such a great job swimming in the big pool. He chose to not wear a life jacket, and paddled all over the place, including in the deep end. I am proud of all of his swimming progress!

 I think the best part of this trip, was the fact that they got along so well the entire time. They played nicely, didn't fight at all, it was wonderful!

 On the second day, they went down this slide over and over together. They would let kids go in front of them, to make sure they got to go down it at the same time.

 The kids then played in both the hotel pool, and Coco keys until mid afternoon. I loved that they were holding hands walking up the stairs. So cute!

Ira

My mom babysat Ira, and so we took advantage by going over to play with him. He is such a cute baby! He is also such a stinker. This little 9 month old, is like a speeding bullet getting into things. He can army crawl across the room in a flash, and find something that you thought was childproof, and get into it. Cords, cabinets, anything that should be off limits were an adventure for him. If you told him no, that just caused him to speed up. Hilarious! He is going to be a handful when he is up and running, but what a great personality. He was all smiles, and loved his cousins!

Swimming with Colin and Avery

 Caleb was refusing to play with Kendall, and she sighed to me and announced that she had to have someone to play with, so we stopped over to Avery's house. They tend to be home, and don't mind improntu playdates. Yeah for awesome neighbors! Avery and Colin had just gotten a new pool for their backyard. The kids had so much fun paddling around in it.

The girls, thought that the more floatation devices they had, the better. So here they have a little animal tube, a big tube, and the pool tubes. They had a fun time together.

Isaac

We always love when Isaac comes into to town, and a playdate is inevitable. This day, we went to Wheeler park for a picnic in the park. Afterwards we went out for ice cream. The kids had so much fun together.