Halloween and Soccer Fun

Will decided our family theme for Halloween would be "The Farmer and the Dell" this year. I was the dog who chased Kate the Cat, who chased Will the mouse "rat",  who chased  Brett the Cheese.  

I really had to talk Brett into being the cheese this year.  He has a reputation of being a villain at the party every year.  This was not near as exciting for him!  However,  once he added a whoopy cushion so he could "Cut the cheese"  on the side he was good to go!

Kate looked so stinkin cute with her little pink nose.

I got creative with my buffalo chicken dip making it look like a jack o lantern for the party.

All of our friends looked great for the party.  We all had a great time together.  Will ended up walking away with 1 of the awards for "Cutest Kids Costume." 

On another note,  Will finished up his soccer season in October.  He was a little slow to warm up, but ended up making great progress and loved being on his team.

Brett and I don't know a whole lot about soccer, but tried to help out with practice as much as we could.

Injury really knocked down the numbers on our team, but we powered through and had a great time!  Now we have switched gears to swim season, and look forward to another soccer season in the Spring!

Kate's 8th and Will's 6th Birthday Bash

School starts and then we immediately transition into Birthday mode at our house.  It's crazy but so much fun every year! We celebrated over Labor Day weekend again and had a great time! 

Kate and Will were showered with gifts once again.  Kate loves her Barbies.

And since Will decided he wants to be a basketball player when he grows up we thought we should get him a basketball!

We decided to have a massive water balloon fight in the backyard.  Now that Papa has brand new knees and a new ankle he can be a real threat in the war!

Brett and Will had a blast soaking everyone!

Everyone wanted to get Grandpa wet.

And the neighbors came over and joined in on the fun too!

We went with Glorious Desserts for our cake this year.  Will went with a Mario theme and Kate went with hearts and peace signs.

How is my baby 6 years old!!!

8 years........ Really!

Everyone enjoyed relaxing on the deck and having a good time.

Kate and Will decided to have a joint birthday party with their friends this year.  We made purple and blue cupcakes and had ice cream and juice boxes for the bash.

They picked Chow's Gymnastics for the party place.  They each invited 5-6 friends and 2 coaches ran the party.

The coaches set up multiple obstacle courses for the kids to work through. 

The parallel bars are always a hit.

The final station of fun was jumping off the platform into the pit.  Will and Harper had to think about it and gather up some courage before taking the plunge.  But they both did it and then loved doing it over and over again!

The party was a blast and both have said they want to do the same thing again for next year's party. I agree, it was one of the best parties we've had yet!!

Happy Birthday Kate and Will!   We are so proud of you and can't wait for more fun years to come!!!

Back to School 2014

School started up again right after we returned from our vacation.  Kate was a hyped up for 3rd grade!  She has many of the neighborhood kids in her class this year, so she is pretty pumped about being with her friends!

Will FINALLY got to join Kate at the BIG school for full day kindergarten.  Excited is an understatement describing his emotions on the first day of school.  There wasn't a single tear or moment of hesitation in that little boy.  He was thrilled to go to school with Kate!

Their excitement definitely helped me get through the "my baby is now in kindergarten" tears and emotions.  I know Kate will make sure her little brother is well protected (whether he likes it or not). 

Will loves his new classroom and all the fun toys.  Hopefully he will love the reading, counting and writing just as much:)

Will has Mrs. Miller this year.  She is Wonderful!!  He loves her so much and has grown tremendously since joining her class.

Kate has her first male teacher this year Mr. Hoover.  She was a bit nervous having a guy for a teacher (and was NOT going to let me take a picture of her with him!).  But she eventually got those butterflies out of her tummy and thinks Mr. Hoover is the coolest teacher ever!

In West Des Moines,  the kindergarteners only go to school for 1/2 days the first 3 weeks of school.  So Will got to have an afternoon play date with our neighbor friend Jordyn down the street every afternoon.  We would alternate between myself or Jordyn's mom picking up and hosting the play date each day.  These 2 really had a lot of fun together.

And our other neighbor Paxton joined in on the fun most days.  These kiddos definitely had a reality check when full day kindergarten kicked in! They would have stuck to the afternoon play dates all year if it was at all possible:)

And then randomly during the 1st week of school, Will decided to develop a huge boil on his arm.  Our pediatrician had no idea how or why he got it, but it was huge!  Finally the doctor had to open it up and drain it and Will was NOT happy about it.  But on the bright side, he got this AWESOME neon green bandage to wear and  show off to all his new friends at school for a week.

The crazy boil didn't slow him down for long.  He and Jordyn continued to have a blast playing tag, running around and letting their imaginations run wild each afternoon.

Gotta love the slides!

And random dinners at Buffalo Wild Wings!!

OH Summer How we Miss You!

Playing catch up with my blogging has me back to our last little vacation before summer break came to an end and the school year began.  The final weekend before school started we had a day of fun at Adventureland!

Brett and I both went to Adventureland when we were little kids and there are so many of the same rides still there.  It is so awesome seeing our kids smiling and giggling on the same rides that we rode some (cough) 20 or so years ago :)

Kate was an awesome big sister and squeezed her long legs into the seat behind Will to ride along when he asked her to.

Brett and I are not big fair goers.  A corndog at Adventureland was our way of providing the fair experience to our children this year. 

Kate decided on a taco instead of the corndog.  She could live on tacos I think!

Brett jumped in on the fun of driving the motorboats on the pond and had a ball re living all the fun he had way back when.

The next day we took off to Omaha to visit the Children's Museum and Zoo. 

One of the best perks of having a membership to the Science Center and Blank Park Zoo is the awesome discounts you get at other museums and zoos throughout the country.  We got free admission to the Children's Museum and a great discount at the Zoo!      Yay!!!     Anyway,  we love the Children's Museum.  Kate played nurse in the "hospital"  taking care of all the babies.  Her nurturing personality was in heaven!

Brett took some time to teach the kids the basics on how to change a tire.

And Will had a blast with all the BALLS!

We stayed in Downtown Omaha and had a great time walking the green space next to our hotel. 

We came across these awesome slides for the kids to ride.  There were some more experienced slide riders there with rolls of waxed paper.  We were a little puzzled at first but quickly realized that riding down the slide on top of a sheet of wax  paper increased your speed x10!   Little Will flew off the end of the slide and landed many feet away on his little bum!  But loved every minute of it!!  

Kate Flew like a bird off the end too!

I don't think my kids will ever get tired of riding around and around on a merry go round.

Our last day of our trip was spent at the zoo.  It was cool and rainy at times, but that kept the crowds down which was awesome for us.

When we went to the petting zoo, Will asked me if we could but this goat.  I looked at him a little puzzled and he said,  "Mom, it has a price tag on its ear.  So that means it is for sale.  I think we need to buy him."

We pet the sting rays and TRIED feeding them.  But having the fish swim on top of your hand and suck a dead fish from between your fingers was not at all on my kids list of fun things to do.  So we ended up giving our little cup of dead fish to someone else in line to enjoy the experience. 

We had a few great dinners while we were in Omaha.  Will loved his spaghetti and meatballs.

Kate loved the food, but really enjoyed the magician and balloon animals that were made at our table even more.  We were sad to see our little vacation come to an end.  I definitely think we will be heading back sometime soon.