I had a nice birthday this year. Jenny and Flip had us over for dinner and Lisa & Will had a brownie bake-off for our dessert. The kids always have fun at Aunt Jenny's house. They even swam in the pool that evening (even though the temperature was only in the fifties!) Crazy kids.
I also had a nice dinner out with my friends on the Friday before my birthday. I like this photo:
Monday, November 21, 2011
My Birthday
Busy, Busy
At the end of September, we spent a nice fall weekend at the cottage. Here's the kids having a little breakfast before starting the day. We went to the Apple Barn for our (almost) annual apple picking adventure. Here's the first of the day:
And a quick shot with Dad:
......and me:
They always like to go on the hayride, even though it's not really much of an adventure.
After we finished filling our bag with apples, we went back to the main area where the kids played on the old firetruck and we waited in line for freshly made apple doughnuts.
This place was a madhouse. It's like they have a license to print money. They literally had a line to get into the store. It was like a nightclub. Once a few people came out, they'd let a few more in. Crazy.
That weekend was also the fall Open House at Queen of All Saints. We made it back in time for the kids to show off all of their work. Here's Megan with her friend, Sarah and teacher, Mrs. Ernst.
Here's Jake in his classroom:
And, of course, the best part of open house is the snack table in the cafeteria.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Jake
Jake is at an age where he says some pretty funny stuff. I occasionally write it down on a little slip of paper if I think of it so that I can transfer it to the blog at some point. I've just come across a few of these little slips, so now is as good a time as any to document them! This photo was from one Saturday afternoon when Jake and I went to the used book store and browsed for about an hour. He wanted to show off his new books to dad and proceeded to lay them out on the lawn.
Back in the summer, I had the kids at Sauganash Park to play with their friends. I was sitting on a bench with Patti, when her daughter Ava came running over asking for ice cream from the push cart vendor. Patti said, "No one is getting ice cream. It's too close to dinner time". Ava said, "Jake is getting ice cream". I said, "I'm not getting ice cream for Jake". She said, "He's getting it for himself". ?????
Apparently, he had a dollar in his pocket. But the ice cream bar he wanted was $2.00. So he asked a big kid at the park for another dollar and the kid gave it to him. Geesh. Afterward, Jake told the kid thanks and he followed up with "no problem, little man". Jake was feeling like quite the big shot at that point.
Jake and Megan were playing house and I kept hearing him say "Mom". I said, "What?" and he said "If I need you, I'll say 'Real Mom'. In the game if I said 'pretend mom' that would be weird." He looked at Megan and said "Then, you would say 'awkward'." (that was in a sing-songy voice)
Jake wanted me to read him a book so he brought it downstairs. He got distracted with something else and when I said it was time to go up to bed, he said "Really? I brought my book all the way down her for nothing? Really?"
He had a play date last week with his friend Simone.
He was pretty excited about it for a few days before. He told Mimi and Papa "She's cute". He also described her to me with a comment that "Her hair is kind of like the sun". On the day before she was due to come over, I picked him up from school and as we were leaving he asked what kind of snack she would like. She said, "I'll take a sandwich". He said, "I can't make you a sandwich, but I can make you sweet potato pancakes".
Monday, November 7, 2011
Fall Soccer 2011
My little athlete was in a fall soccer league and Darin was his coach. This picture is kind of funny because if you look closely, his teeth are a bit blue. I had forgotten that it was picture day, when I packed blue gatorade for his game. And, of course, they don't take the pictures until after they play. Oh well. Here are a number of action shots:
Here's Jake playing goalie (with proud dad in the background):
He had a fun season, but I think he still prefers baseball.
Labor Day Weekend
We spent Labor Day Weekend at the cottage. Friday was a pretty laid-back day. Before we made it over to the beach, Jake entertained me with some accessories. The day was a little overcast, but the water was comfortable. Here's Mimi and Megan taking a break from swimming:
The boys had some fishing time. This was right after they left the dock. When Jake gets bored with fishing, he prefers to drive the boat.
We had rain on Saturday, so we were a bit cooped up. Darin and I took the kids to play with the Tomich's that evening just to get them out of the house. On Sunday, we met the Cleavelands at the Walworth County Fair.
We started out in the kiddie area. This was the first ride we did together and it was pretty lame. I couldn't get that thing to spin at all.
The Tilt-A-Whirl was a crowd favorite. They went back for more on this one.
Megan, Lili and Pierce went on the big swings. Jake didn't really want to participate in that one. He rode trucks while they were on this ride.
They all wanted to ride the Haunted House ride.
When they came out of that ride, Jake said, "That wasn't scary at all".
I made them stop for a group photo. As much as it annoys them now, they'll thank me someday!
And then here's one of the 4 of us (Yes, I'm wearing Jake's Batman hat....I have a small head):
And finally, I got the whole group together before we left (after spending a small fortune):
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Jake's 1st Day school
Jake had his first day on August 29. Being a new school for him, he was a little nervous (as you can see from the photo). That first week was a little bit of an adjustment. Jake wasn't happy because not everyone knew his name. He had come from St. Cornelius, where he was the big man on campus.....buzzing people in the door, high-fiving big kids in the hall, etc. By the 3rd day of school, I was walking him in (after him complaining about people not knowing him) when we hear this shouting from across the parking lot, "JAKE! JAKE!". He glanced over and turned back with no response. I asked who that was and he said some kid in his class. What the heck?! This little arrogant kid. It didn't take him long at all to adjust. And, yes....he is quite popular already.
Back to the Cottage
We went back up to the cottage on the 26th of August (talk about a full schedule, huh?!)
Darin got in a nice lake swim (while avoiding the bees near the pier) before we went out on Nuts Largo for the day.
The kids were practicing their balance.
And so were Jenny and I:
It was a pretty low key day. We sat around on the back of the boat, catching rays. Jake said his favorite part of the day was when he played his question game. It went something like this:
"First question. What is your favorite color?"
"Second question. What is your favorite dessert?"
It went on and on that way. Ahh, the simple things. :-)
August 25 was busy, too!
After the first full day of school, we went to Jenny's to celebrate Papa's birthday with dinner, cake and swimming (of course)! Everyone was excited for cake:
Here's Larry and his "Mini Me":
And the Collings kids with dad:
Busy Day!
August 24th was a busy day for Megan! It was her first day of 2nd grade. She had a half day of school, and then had a date with Mimi and Aunt Jenny for a trip to the American Girl Store (a late birthday deal).
She got the Bitty Twins (Grace and James) from Mimi, and Jenny got her the fancy double stroller. Wow.
After lots of looking around that fancy store, we had lunch in the cafe. It was the full-on birthday celebration with cake and all! This was one happy girl.
Cubs Game
I took Jake to his first Cubs game on August 22. It was a beautiful night. We were lucky to be at the game, because ironically, the power was out at home for a couple of hours! I got Jake a hot dog from the vendor - which he thought was pretty darn cool. When he was through with that, he said, "When is the pretzel guy gonna come over here?" I explained that we had to go up and get the pretzel. Since he was actually watching the game, he said, "Can you just go get it. I'll wait here." Sorry, buddy - can't leave a 5 year-old in seat by himself at Wrigley Field! He started to get tired at around 8:00, and when I asked him if he wanted to go home, he said, "I kind of want to go because I'm tired, but I want to stay and watch the game too. I don't know what to do". We left during the 5th inning. He's looking forward to his next game.
End of the Summer Cottage Fun
During the last week of summer break, the Swanson girls joined me and the kids for an overnight. Jenny was kind enough to host a day on the boat. The kids all had a great time (so did the grown-ups). We went to Harpoon Willie's for dinner, then back to the cottage for a campfire and smores before bed.
The next day, we rode around on the pontoon boat and went to the beach on Pleasant Lake:
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