Thursday, October 27, 2011

Pledge

On the way to daycare this morning, Andrew asked if I wanted to hear him say his pledge. I assumed he was talking about the Pledge of Allegiance. He then launched into a personal pledge that he learned at school. I had never heard any of it before. He amazes me.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Thumbprint spiders

Andrew brought this home from school today. 
It's already in a frame. 

ps...those are pumpkins at the bottom.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pumpkin Farm

Apparently, we did not scare off the Berndt family last week because they asked us to go to the pumpkin farm with them today. I broke out of my pumpkin farm rut and agreed to try a different place this year. It was perfect for the kids. There was a ton of stuff for them to do and they all had a blast.


Playing around with some actions from Rita at The Coffeeshop Blog


Getting the three of them to look the same way at the same time is nearly impossible.





It's the granddaddy of all inflatable slides.


Spooky neighbors.

The closest they'll ever get to being Spiderman.


Andrew saw this and begged to climb it. It's a dream come true for a child who could climb before he walked.





This was as far as he got. Not bad for a 4 year old. 

Then they tackled the inflatable obstacle course. Andrew and Noah went through it about 20 times.

After that, we took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were pretty picked over and the ones that were left were not in great shape. 



Teamwork:




There was a great playground with fun things to climb on that were all made of wood. Bob and Larry were even there.



He was so happy to finally be able to drive the bus.


The child who ran in terror from dogs when he first came here from Ethiopia, now begs to pet cows. 

I tried to think of something witty to write for this picture but I think it speaks for itself.


Saturday, October 8, 2011

Apple picking

From the time I was eleven, I lived in southwestern MI. (I'd show you where on my hand but you probably can't see me from where you are).
One of my best friends lived on an apple farm and our idea of apple picking was grabbing one out of the big wooden bins on our way to the car. 'Those Chicago people' were the ones who paid money to go pick their own apples. Tourists. 
And now, I'm one of them. I'm one of those Chicago people who drives an hour and pays money to pick my own apples. And guess what? It was fun. Of course, there was more to it than just picking apples. There was a train and animals and cider and a hayride and a straw maze and donuts! And by the time we actually got to part where we picked apples, we were so tired and sweaty that it was not the funnest (yep. I said funnest) part of our day. 
We left early and rode with our friends Scott, Barb and Noah. The boys are becoming great friends and they love hanging out together.



The pig's houses were made to look like the Three Little Pigs.






The three of them stayed in the maze for at least 20 minutes. We had to drag them out of there.



Daniel L.O.V.E.S. Noah.


If these three ever get their hands on a car, we're all in big trouble.



Bad time for my camera to accidentally switch to manual focus.