Pigeon Roost Farms

I love all of the fall activities in Central Ohio. On Monday afternoon, we took the kids to Pigeon Roost Farms. So many great "low-tech" activities. Poppy and Nan, I think you should buy a little piece of land and start building your own slides, obstacle courses and spooky tunnels. You can probably do without the obnoxious goats, though.

Michael loved the "corn box."

Most of the slides are just this black tubing, Michael couldn't get enough.

Luke's new best friend, a fuzzy caterpillar.

Climbing the obstacle course in the "enchanted woods."

Love the tire dragon!

And we finished with about a hundred slide races down the hill.

Boo at the Zoo

You know Halloween is close when it's time for Boo at the Zoo. Cold this year with temps in the 40s. It didn't bother Michael in his super warm monkey costume. Our Transformer Optimus Prime didn't last too long before he needed to take off his mask and put on his jacket. I hope to get better pictures of him at one of our other Halloween events.

There's a superhero show each year. This year's featured Luke's favs Spiderman and Ironman fighting the Green Goblin. Luke is the perfect audience member. He cheers and jeers at all the right spots and laughs like a hyena at all of the jokes.

Back home, there was just enough time to play with their loot, one plastic dolphin and one plastic squid from the zoo and two monster trucks that came with their Burger King dinners. It was a good night to be a kid!

Chilly morning

It was rainy and ridiculously cold this morning. What else to do but sit on the coffee table and eat little chocolate donuts?

More Practicing

I've been on a mission to get Luke's winter gear without spending a fortune this year. I finally finished the ensemble. New coat, snow pants and snow boots in the much requested black, all found at Once Upon a Child in perfect condition. Luke wanted to put everything on yesterday and then he tromped around the living room for a while.

Home Visit #1

One of the best things about the boys' school is that a teacher comes for a home visit each year to get to know the children better. Michael's teacher Molly came on Friday. Molly and Michael raced cars while I packed for Toronto. Molly was Luke's teacher when he was 2 and she came for his home visit that year, too, so it was really neat to have her here to visit Michael this time. Michael had a great time. It will be Luke's turn in a few weeks.

Canadian Thanksgiving

We spent last weekend at Granddad's cottage outside of Barrie, ON. There was a huge gathering with 15 adults and 7 kids on Saturday night. It was great to see the boys play with their cousins Talia, Claire and Jacinta and they also got to see Grandma Sylvia's grandchildren Luke and Caitlin. The kids were adorable and there would have been lots of cute pictures except that stupid me forgot the camera!!!! After taking a couple of very lame pics with the cell phone, I gave up. I'm hoping somebody else will eventually post some pictures that I can steal.

Chris and Matt played bocce ball in the drizzly cold.

Claire and Luke really hit it off and played all weekend. Grandma Sylvia has a painted stool that says "Grandma and Grandpa's Cottage: where cousins go to become friends." How true.

Can't wait

So Uncle Christopher's wedding is on November 7th and the boys are invited to the whole shabang, reception and all. I bought Luke's winter coat and snowpants second hand this year, so I could afford to buy the boys matching outfits for the wedding. I found them on sale today for $25 each at JC Penney's and I am so happy with them. Not sure if you can tell by the photo, but they are navy blue pin stripes with pale blue striped ties that will bring out their eyes. We may even spring for some portraits in the outfits for Christmas. I did buy the shoes second hand, no sense busting the bank on shoes they will wear a couple of times and kick off at the first opportunity.

Practicing

For our trip to Toronto this weekend. Michael's officially too big for a pack n play, so he'll be bunking in a sleeping bag on the floor with Luke. We are excited to spend Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada this year!

Luke's Prayer

In the car the other day, Luke asked if the baby would be a boy or a girl. I told him we wouldn't find out for a while. Luke said, "I think I should say a prayer to God that the baby is a girl. Dear God, we have a lot of boys in this family who will grow up into daddies. I think you should make this baby a girl baby, so that mommy has someone who will grow up into a mommy like her."

It's hard to drive when you're trying not to cry!! But I assured Luke that we love boys at our house and that I will be super happy if the baby is another boy.

Rainy days

It has rained and rained and rained here, with more to come this week. Yesterday was terrible, but Luke still had soccer. Later in the day, he braved a downpour in his boots and coat. Today dawned rainy again, but it was clearing by the time we finished church (hooray for Sunday school again!). We decided to chance the weather and my stomach and drove an hour south to the Renaissance Festival. Turned out to be a lovely cool day. I didn't puke and the boys had a great time riding the rides, playing the games, watching the joust and acquiring more swords and shields.

Michaelism of the day

I posted this on FB, but I want to remember it, so I'll put it here to. Yesterday, Michael shoved too much food in his mouth, choked and spit up. "Baby in my tummy," he said.

Sunday School

So I don't have a picture, but this morning the boys started Sunday school during the 9:30 mass at Immaculate Conception. Michael's is really just the nursery, but Luke's is a religious preschool program. They both did great and enjoyed it much more than driving their parents crazy during mass. Matt and I spent mass together actually holding hands--awwww. Can't remember the last time that happened!

First Day of School!

The boys FINALLY went back to school today even if it was only for orientation. First, we went to Michael's classroom and Luke got to visit with his old teacher Molly and show Michael all of the toys. Then we played on the playground for a minute where we ran into Luke's crush Matilda who greeted us with "I'm back and I have a brother now." Then we went to Luke's classroom. Wow, 4-year-old heaven. There's an inclined tumbling mat that Luke and Matilda somersaulted down. Luke and "School" Eli dressed up like pirate knights complete with hook-hands. There's a letter writing center with letters to trace, real envelopes and a mailbox. Luke was especially impressed with the huge rubber mallets that they can use on the play-doh and the teachers promised that they will soon open up a real workbench with real tools! Morning sickness mommy is too preoccupied with not puking to take too many pictures, but I got the requisite backpack and big rock shots.

Soccer!

And so it begins . . . Tiny Tots soccer started yesterday. The Easton Fields by our house were just packed with soccer parents. It was crazy. It took us a while to figure out where we were supposed to be. Finally, we found our way and Luke got his gold jersey! His coaches are two college-aged girls and they were pretty tough! Luke followed orders for the whole hour even though it was pretty hot out. He had a good time and was rewarded with a Rice Krispies treat and a Gatorade at the end of the session. He can't wait to go back, although he was happy to hear that it should be getting cooler week by week.

Michael had to stay on the sidelines, but I found him a soccer t-shirt and he kicked the ball back and forth with daddy.

because it would be too obnoxious to update my FB status again . . .

I have to post this here. I'm watching the boys play with pillows and sleeping bags on the living room floor. They are pretending to go to bed.

Michael: Goodnight Ernie.
Luke: Goodnight Bert.

Profiles

Haven't posted a double profile shot in a while. Gosh, they are looking mature to me these days!

Apple Picking

Last weekend, we went to Lynd's fruit farm for the first time this season to pick Galas and Golden Supremes. We picked 20 pounds. If I could just get over the morning sickness, I'd be cooking a lot more with them! We'll probably go back and do it again in October. I think we went through 60 pounds of apples last fall. Everyone remembers how much Luke likes apple crisp, right?

Self Portrait

Michael seized the camera shortly after the last picture was taken and got this self portrait. He looks amazingly like his Uncle Chris in this picture (you can see Chris in some of the pics on the side). You can also see his chronically beat-up forehead!

Halloween Shirts

Poppy and Nan sent a box of fall clothes for the boys. Michael immediately begged to put on the Halloween shirt and Luke followed suit, so that both boys were in long sleeved Halloween shirts on an 80+ degree day. They then slept in them and wore them the next day, too!

Cuteness

My friends Jennie, Allanya and Stephanie each have baby boys at that "pinnacle of cuteness" age of 5-6 months. I was getting out some of the boys' 3-6 month clothes to lend to Jennie and going through them made me feel so nostalgic that I had to post pictures of Luke and Michael at that age.

Luke at 5 months.

Michael at 5 months.

since most of our blog readers know anyway . . .

Here is an approximation of a conversation that just occured at our house. Not as awkward as I thought--although my guess is I'll be repeating it alot over the next few months. Picture me lying on the floor doing a good impression of a human slug as my children drive robots and monster trucks on me.

Luke: Mommy, are you sick because you have a baby in your tummy?
Me: Yes, mommy's body isn't used to having a baby in it yet. In a while, my body will get used to it and I won't be sick and my tummy is going to get very big like Nolan's mommy's.
Luke: How does the baby get out of you?
Me: [long pause] Umm, good question. The doctor helps it get out.
Luke: How? Does it come out your mouth?
Me: No. Sometimes doctors cut open a mommy's tummy to get the baby out.
Luke: Will that kill you?
Me: No. It's a special operation. That's how your friends Luke Chandler and Nolan and Mason were born. [another long pause] But you and Michael weren't born that way. Usually babies come out of a mommy's vagina. That's how you and Michael were born.
[horribly long pause while I brace myself for his response]
Luke: Look, my robot has small wheels. Is it a girl baby or a boy baby?
Me: I don't know. Around December we'll have an ultrasound that will show us what the baby looks like in mommy's tummy. Then we'll find out. Would you like to come?
Luke: Yes. I can't wait to see what your insides look like!!!!
Michael: Baby in my tummy.

Remember, NO FACEBOOK COMMENTS please for another couple of weeks.

Sleepover

Luke had his first friend sleep over last night. Our neighbor Ethan is six--a bit older and wiser, so we decided that he should sleep at our house as we don't think Luke is quite ready to bedtime away from mommy and daddy. Ethan's parents and little brother came over for dinner and playtime and left about 7:30pm. The boys got into jammies, set up their sleeping bags in the playroom, watched some videos and fell asleep around 9pm. Michael had a rough time going to sleep without Luke in his room, but he was super excited to see Ethan at our house when he woke up. Matt made pancakes and there was an early morning swordfight/blaster battle. A good time was had by all.

Performance Art Camp

This week, Luke attended Performance Art Camp with some of his friends. After a failed attempt at Vacation Bible School, I was hoping that this would be more Luke's speed. It was. He LOVED it. He spent the week dressing up in costumes, dancing, telling stories, doing superhero moves and exploring his own Lukeness. These pictures are from Friday evening's "sharing" performance.

The director of the camp was Heidi, a mom from Luke's school. She's an artist and held the camp at her house in Clintonville. She even built the stage in her front yard.

Luke enjoying a pre-show snack in costume.

Luke joking around with the muscial accompaniment.

Showtime . . .Luke popped out of the trap door and introduced himself as "Power Ranger Ziggy."

Then he showed off his Power Ranger moves on stage.

Meanwhile, Michael played in the yard and colored himself with markers.

Luke's friend Alison was a Lollipop Fairy.


Alison's brother Charlie got into the act. I couldn't get a picture of the funniest part when Charlie snuck into the house, found a large pirate ship toy and began to quietly push it across the stage through the crowd of dancing children. His mom and I almost hurt ourselves laughing.

I didn't get any good pictures of my friend Diane's two older kids, but I got a good one of her one on the way--in costume, no less.

WOW!!!

Birthday Bash 2009

Time for the annual EBC kids birthday bash! Remember last year's? We were missing our friends that have moved away and one family was on vacation, but we had a great time. It was sure hot, though! Thank goodness Karla has a waterpark in her backyard!

Check out the cake! I can't believe Allanya convinced some poor bakery worker to pipe all of the names--in birth order, no less! This includes all of the out-of-towners. Amazing.

The group shots are always an adventure. I love the family picture, except that Alyssa didn't quite make it into the shot in time!

Here's just the kiddos:

And two more on the way--soon!