Family Day

Tom's work had their annual family day last Friday. The kids always have such a great time. They see lots of model trains,
and eat lots of good food. Dairy Queen was there with dilly bars - I hadn't had one in so many years!

We then spent the rest of the time watching the kids playing in the bounce houses.

I just thought this was so funny. Ben kept standing so close to everyone - I guess he hasn't really learned about personal space. He was doing this to a woman we didn't know - just imagine where his head was...not good!

There was a live band so the kids were dancing the chicken dance.

Ben almost got slammed on his face here - but he loved it!

We ended with some races through the bounce house. We had a fun end to our week!

Only Dad Part 2

I came home one day last week to this!
These aren't actually body paints,

they're just regular old paints that Tom thought would be fun to use on their bodies.

It was fun -

and messy!
Only with dad! :)

These are for you, Amy!

I totally copied these ideas from other blogs. I made this subway art for the fall. I just painted a canvas with orange, red and yellow and then used my sister's cricut to cut out the words. I then made fabric flowers for the corners. Pretty simple!

I made 2 of these wreaths for about 1.50 each. I got the ideas for these from here.
It will tell you exactly how to make them. I made them for right outside the study - but I think I need to paint the walls around them - it looks very white in the pictures!

I hope you like them, Amy!

Only Dad

***I have to preface these pictures that Ben has water all over his shorts - not something else :)

I came home from somewhere to find every pillow from the couches all over the floor,
and the kids leaping amist the clean laundry onto them.

Good thing they have a dad,

because their mom would never let them do this! (Too scared of snapped necks and heads hitting fireplaces - yes - I always think of the worst that could happen.)

They sure had fun, though!

Look at the height!

Good thing for dads :)

Ben's First Soccer Practice and Game

After playing T-ball this summer Ben was ready for a change. He loves to play soccer in the backyard, so he was excited to sign up for soccer this fall. Then he found out (after I signed him up) that none of his cousins would be on his team, so he changed his mind. Too late! I thought he would like it if he gave it a try, so we headed to his first practice.
Once he realized the kids weren't going to take his ball home with them, he loved it.

They did some drills,

and just spent some time running around, kicking the ball.

I had brought Elizabeth's homework box with her crayons and other supplies with us so she would have something to do. This other little girl (the coach's daughter) kept skipping out on practice to come use all of Elizabeth's supplies. Luckily Elizabeth was nice about it!

Drew and Josh happened to be at the Y to sign up for their T-ball league so they stopped to watch Ben and color with Elizabeth. :)

So the first practice was successful, but then we had the game on Saturday. Ben started out great, the first play he went out with a few other kids and was ready to play.

That was his last play.
I guess all the kids running around with all the adults on the sidelines yelling really freaked him out and that was it. He didn't want to get back out on the field.

This time I got him out on the field,

and he was already running back to me, crying.

So, the first game, not so successful.
I guess we'll see about next Saturday! :)

Ben's First Day of School

Ben finally had his first day of school at zoo school. I was a little unsure about how he would do since he gets a little (sometimes a lot) nervous without me.
He woke up and was very excited to go to school.

Can you tell?

Luckily cousin Cooper was in Ben's class, which made it really fun for them both.

The boys were anxiously waiting at the door for a chance to go to class,

when a new school friend joined them at the door. They look a little confused! ;)
The boys both had a great day!

(thank goodness)

Last week we also had a Grandparents Breakfast at Elizabeth's school. This was the first event the PTA committee I am on had to host, so I didn't get to actually sit much with my family. Tom took these pictures for me. My dad and my father in law are in line for the coffee - can you see them? It's like Where's Waldo!!

Elizabeth and her Grandmas. She's so lucky that both sets of her grandparents live near her.

Elizabeth felt very special having breakfast with all her grandparents. I think everyone had a good time!

Visit to the Gaylord

Elizabeth's good friend, Elliott, and her sister Berkley moved about an hour away last year so we have been trying to find places to meet so neither of us have such a long drive. We decided to meet at the Gaylord to see their Alice in Wonderland exhibits.

We decided to do this little Cheshire cat search - the kids had to find all of these signs and using a view finder find the hidden word. We then wrote it down on our map. Once we found all the Cheshire cats we would find the whole saying and get a little light up necklace.

On the way we found the giant chess board, which everyone had a good time moving.

They had a brunch with Alice and Friends (which we didn't try) but we thought the giant book was cool so we had to get a picture.

We had to stop and play in the water. I was just ready for Berkley to go in headfirst!!

We had a lot of fun seeing our friends, it had been a while since we had seen them!

We also decided to make homemade pizzas last week.

They loved helping me, but no one really enjoyed eating it! (except for me :) The dough was a little dense and thick compared to delivery pizza. I guess I need to work on that!

Last but not least, can you tell what Ben is going to be for Halloween?
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!!

(he's so excited!)