One very cold field trip...

Yesterday Maddie's kindergarten class got to go on a field trip to Black Island Farms. I got to go with them.

We went here last year with Maddie's preschool class and had so much fun, we were excited to go again this year. The only problem was, last year we went in September when it was still warm and there was no snow on the ground.

Man, what a different experience it was this year.

Not that it was terrible, just cold.

There are lots of fun things to do at the farm but since everything was wet and covered in mud, it made our options limited.

The kids still seemed to really enjoy themselves though.

I was in charge of 5 kids. 2 girls and 3 boys. Remember how I have absolutely zero experience with little boys... that was an adventure.

 I found that the girls were great to go everywhere together and the boys all wanted to run around doing their own thing...  

 I love Maddie's face in this picture. She was pulling herself up to the hole only using her hands.

 Although it was super cold and quite muddy, a fun time was had by all.

A Halloween Birthday Bash...

With Brooklyn's birthday being tomorrow, and Aunt Lacey's birthday being on the 29th, we decided to have a combined Halloween birthday party.

This was the first year we have ever had everyone dress up in costumes but I hope it grows to be an annual tradition because it sure was fun.

As you look through all of the photo's, you may realize that Karl and I are not in a single picture. No this is not because we didn't get in a picture, but rather, I want to keep our costumes a surprise until after our Halloween party this weekend. This is the first year I have actually thought about what we could be enough in advance that I was able to pull something fun off. So you will have to come back later to see the big reveal.

But for now, I hope you enjoy these pictures.

I might just have a slight obsession with Zebra's right now...

 The group... minus Karl and myself

 The girls... all 5 of them.

 My girls...

 The pinata that wouldn't break... 

 Or at least it wouldn't break the normal way...

 The grab and dump method...

 The "I missed my nap" beauty. :)

 Pop pop and Nana

 The runaway bear...

 The birthday girls...

 And finally, Kate and I- not wearing our own costumes...

Thanks again for throwing such a wonderful birthday party for my lil' Zebra!

One of those weeks...

You ever have those weeks where you know you have done so many fun things that you should have plenty to blog about?

So you go grab your camera, put your memory card into your computer and then quickly discover you forgot to take ANY pictures???

Yeah... we had one of those weeks. 

We did so many fun things,

including a couple fun family parties- one of which was even held at our own house. I had our house practically spotless and clean for pretty much the first time since we've moved in. There was not even a toy out of place. I worked hard all week at scrubbing floors, baseboards and bathtubs and finding a home for all those long lost straggler items we had laying around the house. As I cleaned one part of the house, I quickly banned the children from even taking a step in those rooms. :) Anyone with kids knows what kind of a feat that truly was. But we did it.

And I didn't take a single picture!

Sigh.

Oh to have the house perfect again...

But the motivation is gone. 

Anyway, here are the few pictures I did have on my camera.

It starts with 3...

 Then 4...

 Then 5...

 Have I mentioned that I actually think it is physically impossible to get a picture of all 5 Grand-kids looking at the camera or even just holding still all at the same time?

 We got to babysit some of our friends the other night. Our kiddies get along really well and a fun time was had for all. I love that there was a whole big couch to sit on and they were all practically sitting on top of each other. Silly kids.

 We have been working on helping Aubrey pull herself to a standing position for her therapy right now. We finally found the perfect spot for her to practice...and she loves it. Even if it doesn't look like it in these pictures. :)

 I often times wonder who or what Aubrey can see that we can't...

 Here we are trying to take a self portrait. It's a lot more difficult to do than you might think when you have two little ones sitting on your lap, trying to grab your camera.

Since these are about the only pictures I have, I guess that's it for now.

Penguin face...

I know I shared this on Facebook, but since I won't be printing my Facebook account in a book, I had to post it here as well.

Just checking to see if her winter hat still fits...

Ahhh.... a sigh of relief!

After weeks and weeks and weeks of playing in the dirt...

...moving and removing wheel barrel after wheel barrel of dirt...

And thanks to a lot of loving friends and family...

We finally have grass!!!

We removed a section of our back fence to make installation a lot simpler... although by looking at my dad's face you would never have guessed :)

With so many helpers (my brothers, a brothers friend, sister-in-law, sister, cousin, Aunt, Uncle and dad) the work moved along rather quickly.

And you know what? It was actually kind of fun too.

 There is nothing like the immediate payoff that comes from laying sod! So many months of prep work and then in a matter of hours, it all comes together. And now, it finally looks like a real yard!

 And the best part of all... The sprinklers all worked! Yay!

(We only had one sprinkler head pop off as we tested them out :)

I wish I had gotten some pictures of the girls reactions when we first let them out to explore their new yard.

Their excitement and joy made every hour we spent out working in that yard worth it!

Yay for a successful days work!

Thanks again to our super awesome family for helping us make this happen!

At the nudist ranch again...

Remember this picture from our family reunion 2 years ago at the nudist ranch? 

Well last weekend we got to do it again.

And for those who may not remember, or did not see my last post on the nudist ranch family reunion you can click here... 

 It started raining just as we started to eat dinner... so the whole crew gathered on the covered porch to eat. By the time we were done eating, the rain was done as well.

 The little kids were great at talking any adult in to taking them out for a ride... although it wasn't usually very hard to convince any adult to go for a ride as well. :)

 The pinball machines are always a favorite of mine. 

 They were even able to convince Aunt B (my Grandma's sister) to go for a ride up the mountain.  

 Playing Lasso golf with Aunt B's walker...

 I like this photo progression.

First: Maryann trying to teach Brooklyn how to play crochet

 Second: Brooklyn trying to play on her own...

 Third: Brooklyn deciding her method is easier. :)

Thanks again Jay and Maryann for hosting the family reunion!