My, How I've Grown!

I will be doing our "Thanksgiving post" shortly, but I wanted to pause and record just how much Christian has grown in just one year! Here are his preschool pictures from last year and then, this year. (Yes, I think he looks good in green, hence, the two green shirts!)

This year, Christian has "Mr. Joey" for school and, boy, he just really loves him! He's very patient and great with the kiddos. Christian is doing a great job learning how to write his letters. (I've tried to teach him in the past, as Emily was writing them before she even started her first year of preschool, but he just wasn't ready and I think it had to do a lot with his speech development; which, he is now doing FABULOUS in!)

Mr. Joey tells me that Christian is such a good boy in class; a good listener and friend to all. (I actually asked Christian the other day if he picked on his classmates at school and church like he picks on his sisters at home. His reply: "My not a bully at school and church. My a good boy there." (He says "my" instead of "I".) Hmmmm.... Well, at least he's good when it counts! Christian still would rather be home with Mommy than at school, but, once he gets to school (most days!) he does just fine.

We're so proud of our big boy and how much he's grown this past year! We love you, Christian!

Leaves Part II

Sunday afternoon yielded some decent weather! We bundled up and headed out into the leaves. Emily got her jumping in at last! (And Cubby got to do the lifting this time :-).)

Where did Emily and Christian go???

Happy children...and did you check out Emily's smile?? Yup, her other front tooth is OUT!

Pile-O-Leaves

Friday yielded a very nice afternoon...at least until about 3:30 or so when it got colder...But, before then, Christian, Kari and I got ourselves outside, raked up the TONS of leaves that had finally descended from our tree and had a ball jumping in them! (Well, the kids did--I just snapped a few pictures and helped them up into the tree!)

Christian got very brave and after a few tries with Mommy's help, jumped all by himself! (Kari "jumped" by getting lifted out of the tree and placed in shoulder-deep leaves--she loved it!) Oh, and the helmet was just as a result of her riding her tricycle beforehand and not wanting to take it off for the leaf-jumping festivities.

Emily has yet to jump into the leaves as she was still at school when we did this and by the time she got home the weather had turned and has stayed too chilly since (ah, Nebraska!). But, knowing Nebraska weather, it'll turn around and be beautiful once again next week and I know she'll be excited to get out there!

Happy Fall!

Shake, Baby, Shake!

Since I've gotten some of my energy back during this second trimester, I've been able to get back into exercising on a regular basis. I normally just run (b/c it's the best way to get the most exercise in the least amount of time!). But, since I'm only going to be able to run for another month or so (before, due to past experience, my belly gets too heavy for comfort), I knew I needed to pick up something else!

Enter Zumba and Body Combat classes! Our YMCA offers classes at a lot of different times--evening classes have been great since I can go after the kiddos are in bed! Now, Zumba is an incredibly popular class and, I must admit, once you get the hang of the routines, a lot of fun! Most of the "regulars" have Zumba skirts and the better you're shakin' it, the more your skirt jingles! They're cheap to buy and I was actually able to tell a difference in how my hips were moving when I wore it to class last night.

Now, whether or not I'll get to wear it to class again, will depend on if I can tear it away from my fancy little Miss Kari! It's pretty and shiny so naturally, she loves it! Kari got very upset when she had to take it off for her nap. What can I say, this girl loves to dance!

All I Want For Christmas....

.....is at least ONE of Emily's front teeth! Yup, she lost one of them this week! This is definitely a soon-to-be-seven-years-old's smile! Congrats' to you, Em! We love you!

Bad Guys Beware!

Meet Nick Fury, the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D (the group that put together the Avengers--like Iron Man, Thor, etc...) Yeah, Cubby had to fill me in on all of this!

This guy is ready for anything. Gotta' get somewhere fast? He's got skates. Need some food (or to poke a bad guy)? He's got a fishing pole. Up for a game of baseball or hockey (or, again, to fend off bad guys)? He's got a bat and hockey stick! And lastly, he's got his Star Wars blaster just in case a rogue alien is threatening the planet.

Christian is a real crack up. We just love his big imagination and even bigger heart!

(By the way, Christian informed me on the way into the house that, as Nick Fury, he'd forgotten his eye patch--boys and their comic book knowledge! Incredible!)

Pre-K Party

Here we are at Christian's preschool Halloween party! I volunteered to coordinate the festivities this year and it went great! Christian stuck with the whole "spider" costume theme and went as Venom (or maybe it's just the black Spiderman?? I don't know). It was a little easier to manuever in than his other eight-armed costume.





Our "crafts" included making doorknob-hanging spiders, and just letting the kiddos stamp it up a bit!


Afterward, we went into the gym for the games! We played pin-the-nose-on-the-pumkin, used the parachute to launch black and orange paper balls into the air, goblin-goblin-ghost (duck, duck, goose), and we threw plastic spiders onto a "web" and counted how many stuck. Good times!

Aren't they a cute bunch??

Christian and Maren throwing their spiders.

After gym time we went back to the classroom and ate our treats. It was a fun little party and all of the other parents sure did a great job of pitching in so I was able to enjoy the festivities as well. Gotta' love those preschoolers!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween turned out to be one gorgeous night! We loaded all of the kiddos up on sloppy joes and Cubby, Mandi and Trenden (our neighbors) took the kiddos out for a fun evening of trick-or-treating! (I was lucky enough to get to stay home and man the door--I'll be real, my feet were killing me from being up on them all day!)

They were out for over an hour--and Christian, my Candyman, was the one who was ready to be done! both Emily and Kari couldn't get enough of the fun! (Needless to say it does not help to be pregnant and around a TON of Halloween candy!)

Happy Halloween!