2012/10/22 Monday: Fun at MSI

 

 

2012/10/21 Sunday: Kangaroo & Optical Illusion

Samantha poses with the icon of her ancestral homeland, while holding baby B.

Refraction is crazy, right?

2012/10/20 Saturday: Getting Ready for Guests

The kids watched TV while I folded a huge pile of laundry.  I had to get it all put away so our guests could sleep on the bed that night.  Nick put up a painting I've been wanting up for months.  I finally got my DIY canvas project on the wall.  Unfortunately I didn't finish the new bookshelf/ kids' room reorganization, so their room was chaotic.
  We picked up Debbie and Samantha that evening for a weekend visit.  Shortly after this picture was taken, Gigi pushed him off the bed.

2012/10/19 Friday: Fall in Our Neighborhood

 

2012/10/18 Thursday: Me at Book Club

I went to book club, and Nick put the kids to bed.  It was awesome, but I didn't take any other pictures that day.  The book was "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie."  The title is really misleading, I think.  It's a mystery book, and I really liked it.

2012/10/17 Wednesday: Super G to the Rescue

 

2012/10/16 Tuesday: Autumn Playground

After story time at the library, we head over to the park.

2012/10/15 Monday: Double Date Night

We had dinner with Nate & Sarah.  We ate at Lou Malnati's, our favorite deep dish pizza source.  Of course the food was good, but the best part was having time with such great friends.  Together, we make a witty and fun group.

2012/10/14 Sunday: Birthday Cakes are Second Rate

Who in their right mind would choose a birthday cake when they could have homemade cream puffs?  No one.

I am so lucky this year for my birthday.  After saying goodbye to my dad in the wee hours of the morning, I got to have some of my favorite people over for dessert, and they even brought the dessert.  Nate would open his own pastry shop, but he's too busy performing surgery on children.  As a result, very few of you will get to experience the joy that eating one of his ganache covered creations is.  Nate & Sarah were our neighbors and friends in St Louis, but now live much farther away.  It's our good fortune they have family in the area to bring them close every once in a while.

2012/10/13 Saturday: Guess Who's Coming to Birthday Dinner?

My Dad stopped by for a quick visit.  He parked his truck in Indiana, and the kids and I picked him up and brought him to the house for the night.  Nick cooked a delicious birthday dinner, which both served to celebrate my birthday and give my dad a home-cooked meal.  We had great steaks and his famous butternut squash soup.  We finished the evening with ice cream and birthday candles.

And we have a picture with all of us in it, courtesy of the tripod Nick gave me for my birthday.  He was at our house from about 6:00 PM to 5:00 AM, so it was a fairly short visit.

10/12/2012 Friday: We Turned Our Back for a Second

My friend Jamie, who has much more fashion sense than me, agreed to meet me at the fabric store to select some decorator fabric.  Our three-year-olds were a little hyper, and for some reason the store didn't have any carts available at the time, so we couldn't just buckle them in the cart.  We resorted to having them sit on a couple of chairs at the pattern table to watch a show on my phone.  The decorator fabrics were about 10 feet away, so we could keep an eye on them and look at some fabric.  

It didn't last long.  A minute later Miss C cried out for help.  We looked, and her whole body was through the gap in the back of the chair, but her head wouldn't fit.  I guess she hadn't liked the show and was trying to escape.  Her chin and forehead were caught in the gap as we started to assist her and coached her in climbing back up in order to be free.

 

And this is Miss C's family that night.  It was colder than it looked.  Then we went to Chili's.

10/11/2012 Thursday: Perfect Family Afternoon

Gigi especially loved the baby chicks.

We went to Johansen's Farm, which is a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and amusement center.  I loved it.  It's not that I am so interested in baby goats and train rides, but watching your kids have fun is better than having fun yourself.  It was a perfect afternoon-we had great weather, thin crowds, and happy kids. 

Having the time of their lives in the bounce house.

We rode their train ride multiple times.

We are really enjoying Nick's research year.  Even though he still works really hard, he is able to make time for special things for our family every once in a while.

10/10/2012 Wednesday: Thrift Store Score

Henry is now the proud owner of a fire truck bed.  It was a steal at a thrift store.  They love climbing on it.  Gigi climbs up the front of the truck and dives through the window over and over again.  The downside is they do fight about who gets to drive.  Jamie was my accomplice in getting it set up.  I wanted to have it all washed, dried and put together before Nick got home so he couldn't say no.  It almost worked.  We were taking apart the old bed when Nick caught us.  Too late!

10/09/2012 Tuesday: Have You Seen Henry?

10/08/2012 Monday: New Level of Mischief

I thought I heard Henry washing his hands.  I was wrong.

10/07/2012 Sunday: Super Henry

Since we get to enjoy church from home on Conference weekend, we lounged around in our pajamas longer than usual. Henry added a cape to his Thomas pajamas for some dramatic effect.

I try to tell myself that Georgia is still a baby, but it's hard to deny she's grown so much.  She brought me the cape, had me put it on her, then ran away to play.  Babies don't do that.

10/06/2012 Saturday: Planking in Underoos

Miss C was over at our house, and took off her clothes.  So somehow Henry thought that meant he should take off his clothes too.  Wild running around followed.  The Currans came over for dinner, then Ben and Nick went to the Priesthood session of conference.  While they were gone, the kids played and watched Thomas.  Jamie and I watched a very special episode of a British miniseries that the rest of you will probably watch in January.

10/05/2012 Friday: Play Group Ice Cream Social

Play group was supposed to meet at a park, and then go for ice cream at a local parlor.  It ended up being too cold to enjoy the park, so we invited ourselves over to Mandi's, who lives across the street.   Then everyone else did the same, and it turned into a real party.  Instead of bundling up the kids again and reconvening at the ice cream parlor, Mandi was gracious enough to let us turn her house into an impromptu banana split factory.  I appointed myself to procure the supplies at the nearby Aldi.  Luckily, they had a jar of sprinkles (containing six different kinds) on clearance, because they haven't had them in a while.  Sprinkles were a huge hit with the kids.  Henry was upset when he got down to the banana in his cup of ice cream.  He was so upset, I took back the cup and gave him an ice cream cone.  I didn't know kids didn't like banana splits, because I think they are the best.  For the most part, kids just wanted ice cream and sprinkles.  They didn't want the chocolate sauce or whipped cream, just the sprinkles.  Therefore we have proven children have no taste, QED.

We had the children sit down along the wall while they ate ice cream, and kept them confined to the dining area.  Since Mandi has wooden floors, the mess seemed pretty manageable.  The school-aged kids were there too, so we had a grand total of 18 kids, plus their mothers.  It was a bit crazy, but still easier than moving those 18 kids to a second location and trying to contain them there.

10/04/2012 Thursday: Fall Zoo Adventure

 

 

10/03/2012 Wednesday: Running In His Sleep

 

10/02/2012 Tuesday: Little Pumpkin

 

I thought we could push back dinner a half hour so we could spend some quality time at the park.  Big mistake.  While the park was fun, the price was too high.  I ended up with two little monsters for the rest of the night.
Henry wanted to pull Gigi's wagon with his bike.  It didn't work, but it was cute to see him try.