Thursday, September 22, 2016

Kids Quotes and Some More Life Lately

I have been collecting a few kids quotes that made me laugh.  Evan is in the this stage where he says a lot of funny things.  I love going back on old blog posts and read Hannah quotes.  I always think that I will remember, but the truth is I don't unless I write it down.

Evan told me the other day "I love you to McDonald's, chick fil a, the ice cream place and back".  Apparently the moon is not good enough.
This is the best cheese face we get from him


He was on the swing and I asked him to please come in and his answer was "I can't hear you my swing is going really fast"

He loves to fish on the boat……he has never caught anything, but has not given up yet


I found some toys in the kids shoes basket and asked Evan "what's that doing in there?".  He replied "Maybe its just waiting for us"

We had to go to the bank last Friday and when we walked in Evan screamed with delight "It's my lucky day"……all because they had popcorn on Friday's.

I asked him to please clean up and he said "Oh why do I always have to do what you wanna do".  He is showing a little bit of attitude:)

Morgan took Evan on a little date a few weeks ago (the girls will get their turn too).  He was so excited and wanted to put on a fancy shirt and spike his hair and said "how about some cologne".  It was very sweet.  Hannah said "Oh man the little boy is growing up".

This little girl is all grown up too.  She is loving second grade.
Nora did not want to take a picture that morning

Here he is all ready for his date.  And then he chose to go to McDonald's:)



















This girl is just funny even without saying full sentences.  She is learning more words every day and she is very vocal.  She sure knows how to put her older siblings in their place.  She is a feisty firecracker and we will have our work cut with her.
She helped in the garden


















More dirty faces

Evan and Nora started preschool twice a week.  Their classes eat lunch together and the teachers always tell me how sweet they are to each other.  They act like they haven't seen each other in weeks.  They sit at different tables, but wave at each other.  Melts my heart.

First day of preschool.  Drop off went well the first day and then the next few times it was tough.  Now she just walks right in.  Evan was doing great the first few weeks and now started to be a little sad at drop off.  Maybe one day we will have happy kids all around.
Evan's first day

These two wanted to sun bathe…..this lasted for maybe 30 seconds

The kids always enjoy the building workshops at Lowe's and Home Depot.  
My dad would have really enjoyed this picture of Nora with a hammer.

We went for a little picnic at the creek
And rock throwing
It's really retry back there and cool.  The creek water is super cold, but Evan and Nora still went in
Nora is starting to get a little attached to this baby doll.  I have never had a kid that got attached to anything, so I am hoping its just a phase.  I was always happy that we didn't have to keep track of a "favorite thing" so far.

Evan started soccer.  He did really well the first time and then the second practice he was already tired of it.  He said he wanted to play a game and score some goals.
Hannah didn't really care for soccer either at age 3.  I am wondering if it is just a little too young (even though other kids seem to do just fine).  These kids are half German, we need at least one soccer player:)

I surprised the kids with this zombie on a toilet thing last week.  It has provided lots of entertainment.  If you see this thing at Wal-Mart give it a try, it is hilarious. Oh and I didn't take this picture, I just found it (and 500 others) on my camera roll right now.
Enjoying the last few days of summer with some more ice cream and s'mores


Lake days are almost over too

Brave little Nora surfing with me.  The two older kids went, so she wanted to go too.  Good thing you only go 10mph, so it is almost impossible to get hurt.  She loved it and kept saying "again"


Nora and I took a selfie at Silver Dollar City while the big kids rode some rides
Checking out grandpa's pond

Evan came up with this great idea to build an obstacle course.  So, I went on Pinterest to get some ideas and we came up with our own obstacle course.  He loved it.
First you had to crawl under these strings
Then do a somersault on the towel and hop from one wood piece to the next
Climb over the ladder and through the tunnel
Walk over the little bench and then toss the rings in the bucket.
I timed him a few times and really enjoyed that.  
And then Nora started destroying the course.  We left the course up and tried to make it a little harder for Hannah, so she could enjoy it after school too.





Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Life Lately

It's time to do another Life Lately post to finish catching up from our summer activities.

In between my two trips to Germany we squeezed in some summer fun.  We had created our annual Summer List and started checking off boxes.  If you know me you know how much I enjoy crossing things off a list!  The kids like having this list and help making decisions on what to do.  We enjoyed it so much that we just created a Fall list this week.

I love having the list on our big white board
We went Roller Skating one afternoon.  It wasn't on the list……I should have added it just so I can cross it off:)
Evan did really well on those kiddie skates
Of course Nora wanted to try it as well and the less help from me the better….she didn't last very long.
Hannah is a pro and doesn't want to slow down for pictures.

We also went to play mini golf.  Evan was quite obsessed with playing mini golf for a while, but he would not let anybody help him.  He says he knows what he is doing.  He also says "I am just going to put it a little closer" and then puts the ball right next to the hole.  So, a round of 18 holes takes less than 15min with him. 
 
Oh and we realized that Nora had no shoes when we got there.  Since it was in the mid 90's and the surfaces were too hot we looked for something in the car and found some of Hanna's socks, so that's what she wore.

Scott was really good about sending me pictures of the kids while I was gone.  Here is a random collection of those pictures.
Weekly Target trip.  Kids love the dollar section (oh and Kristin if you are reading this I promise we do our best to put everything back where it belongs:)).
I hope she was trying to call me.  
Weekly Starbucks trip
And yes Nora is wearing Christmas PJ's.  Scott helped the kids to make a sign that says "We miss you Opa" and sent it to me.  
In case you are wondering why Hannah is in none of the pictures, she was and grandma and grandpas house for a good portion of the week.  She was having a blast.  

Evan got a haircut.  Nora just sat in a chair……no haircut for her yet.
Lots of eating out….
After I returned from my trip my good friend Meike and her family came to visit us.  I have known Meike since I was three years old.  It was fun to have them here.  For me it was really nice to have a piece of Germany here and to still speak German after just returning from my solo trip.

I took Hannah to the Meghan Trainor concert at the AMP.  We had plans to all go, but it was impossible to get any tickets.  I lucked out and a friend was selling hers the day of the concert.  
Hannah really enjoyed it.  The only problem was that we had lawn tickets and she wanted me to hold her the entire time so that she can see.  She is seven and too big for me to hold her for extended periods of time.
Honestly I was surprised by how many songs I knew.  I went out the next day and bought her CD.  Yes, I bought a CD.  Scott makes fun of me and says I should just download it.  I like to have CD's in my car.
Little Miss dancing the night away

Next up was the Color of Hope Gala benefitting the Children's Hospital.  You all know that this hospital means the world to me.  I worked really hard on the silent auction committee this year and it was great to see all of the hard work pay off.  We had a record breaking year and a lot of fun at the gala.
Loved seeing Jennifer too.  We miss you guys, but we will make a trip to come see you soon!

Ice cream for all the kids.  It is almost impossible to get five kids to look at the camera.

We heard about this Facebook group called Bentonville Rocks and decided it would be fun to participate.  You paint some rocks and then hide them across town and go hunting for rocks.  
Hannah was super excited to find her first rock.
And then another one….
She was nice enough to re-hide some of them for Evan to find…..and would you know it he was super excited to find the rocks that Hannah just re-hid right in front of him.

We visited the water park, but I only got one picture the entire day.

The hospital foundation sent me beautiful flowers to say thank you for working on the silent auction committee.

We took a day trip to the roaring river water slide.  It is about an hour away and it is just one water slide, but super fun.  You slide down on a mat (unless you are Evan who just went without the mat) and walk back up and do it over and over again.
There comes Evan.
Nora went down in my lap and loved it.  She was fighting me to go down by herself the entire time, but it was a little fast (in my option) for her to go by herself.
That is Hannah going down backwards…..yes I know these are world class pictures.

Hannah asked the other day if Oma was going to come visit us soon.  I told her that she needs a little more time, but hopefully she can come this Fall.  hannah said "well if she does she can sleep on a mattress in my room, because that's what she lets me do when we are there".  Hannah always sleeps on a mattress in my parents room when we visit.  She always complained about Opa's snoring, but still didn't want to sleep anywhere else.  Sweet that she offered Oma a mattress on her floor:)

I asked Evan to step on the scale last week just to see "how big he has gotten".  He stepped on, but said "But mom I am still just three".  He thinks the scale will change when he turns four.

I am not sure why poop talk is always so entertaining to kids, but it sure is.  Evan finished his business and called me in very excited.  He said "Look mom two big ones and one little one, its like a little family"