Fall Break

Since school doesn't start until after Labor Day, our kids don't have much of a fall break.  We did get 2 days off and Scott took a day off to spend some time as a family.  We decided bowling would be a good option for a day of fun!

This is Eliot's first time to bowl.  He loved it and enjoyed all the kids helping him.

Elese had a good time too!

Scott was all about showing us his bowling skills.  A couple of years back a co worker to him to his parents bowling alley and they outfitted Scott with spiffy white bowling shoes and a shiny ball.

I think he's still got it!

Check out the face...he was determined to carry his own ball!

Big sister help...love the face!

They didn't have shoes small enough for Eliot & Elese so they just wore their socks.  About half way through both little ones lost interest but had a great time.

Eli turned out to be the best bowler aside from his Daddy.

I got some cuddling time when Brother Bear got tired. :)

I have to laugh at this one.  This is a typical photo of the 6 Pack...at least one person isn't cooperating!  Oh well, at least we were all there :0  We finished off the afternoon with lunch at Red Robin and a nice nap.

Fire Station Open House

Right outside of our neighborhood is the most beautiful fire station that I have ever seen.  It's so close that we can walk there rather quickly.  In November or maybe it was October, they had an open house.  It was a rainy day so we ended up driving over but it was still a great time!

They had a cute fishing for prize station for the kids 5 & under.

Eliot was very curious about the fishing!

Elese was actually pretty knowledgeable about fire safety because the firefighters had just visited her school.  Also, this is the 1st time she climbed up into the truck.

Eliot was a little scared of the truck but went along as along as big brother and sister were with him!

Out of all 4 kids Elese & Eliot were the only ones that would wear the fire hats.  Made me a little sad that Em & Eli were getting too big for that :(

Our neighbor down the street Bob is a firefighter!  We got to see his uniform and check out his locker. 

This is Jeanne our next door neighbor.  She & Elese are great friends.  Jeanne was spending the weekend with her Dad and we just happened to run into them at the open house.  Sorry about the pictures...my camera was not cooperating inside the fire station!

Elese & Eliot spent a good amount of time in the bouce house.  This was Eliot's first time to actually go inside & jump!  He always says yes but never goes inside.  We practically had to pull them out to leave :)

The slide on the side was another favorite!

As soon as Em & Eli saw the snack station they were headed right there.  Thankfully they were serving Coke!

Check out Eliot's eyes...he was super afraid of a character that was coming around.  He's at the age where those things scare the day lights out of him!

Our next stop was to check out the CPR room. 

I swear Em looks just like me here.  She was acting so silly about performing CPR...we all had a good laugh just watching her.

Eliot sat there but wouldn't touch the dummy.  He was a little weary.

One of the demonstrations was to put out a grill fire.  I was glad to learn about this because this could so happen at any time!

This was some serious business...Eliot was all.over.it!

The most fun part of the day was operating the actual hose.  All of our kids would have stayed here the entire time.

Such concentration from Eli...tongue even hanging out!

Go Emery!

I'm Back!

Well some of you have probably noticed that I haven't been blogging in awhile.  My computer has been broken for way.too.long!  Thanks to my Mom and some little computer elves, I am now back up and running!  Thank you so much Mom :)  More updates to come...

Reader's Theater

We were invited to Emery's class for a Reader's theater last week.  Her student teacher got the kids all ready with a fairy tale unit and the last project was the reader's theater.  When the parents arrived they were handed a program.  That's Emery's design on the front!  I was so proud that her design was chosen!

I had such a hard time getting a good picture of Emery.  She was so excited and nervous at the same time!  She couldn't sit still!

Olivia has become a good friend of Emery's.  She is actually a twin but her sister is in another class.

Scott met us at school to catch the performance!  I brought along a snack for Elese & Eliot...hoping to keep them quiet and occupied!

Eliot couldn't resist getting over there with big sister.  He kept looking around the room asking for Eli.  He didn't understand that Eli has a different teacher.  Emery was so nervous about him walking over to her desk...such rule follower!

Emery was a part of the 3 Little Pigs fairy tale.

She did really well.  You can totally tell she's loving it by the look in her eyes.

And he finally made it up into her lap! 

Fall Festival

The fall festival was our 1st chance to get involved at Emery & Eli's school!  Life in Minnesota has been going really well.  We are keeping busy & that's why I haven't updated the blog...there never seems to be enough time!  Moving forward I am making a much better effort to blog at least once a week.

Cute sign to welcome us to the festival. 

They had this adorable fall picture back drop all set up for pictures.  Believe it or not Elese was the only one willing to pose!  Emery & Eli were too busy trying to scope out friends ;(  On a side note...as soon as Emery saw Elese sitting on the straw she ran over and told her to get up!  "That probably has gluten in it Elese!"  Wow, I didn't even think about that!

1st stop was for popcorn!

Eliot was all.about.the.lemonade!!!  Look how intently he's focusing on the drinking.  He loved the popcorn too.

Emery & Eli enjoyed a few rounds of Bingo.

Bingo winner!  Elese was the first to win a game in our family.

The fall festival was a fun event.  It was great time with family and the kids had fun seeing friends and teachers.

Elese Goes to School

Back in Septempber Elese had her 1st day of school.  We've enrolled her into a local Luthern Church for school.  She goes Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoons.  She also goes to Lunch Bunch once a month as an extra.  She enjoyed school when we lived in Milford but only went 2 days a week.

Here she is all set to go!  She's in a "I don't want my picture taken!" stage and it's driving me crazy!

In all honesty she was very nervous about going to school.  I look back at these pictures and her face is just so sad.

On the bright side, Daddy came home from work and got to take her for the 1st day.  Scott's office is 3 miles from our home and he often comes by at lunch.  She was all smiles when she saw him pull up!

So I sent Scott with the camera and the "look"...you know,the you better take some pictures for me look!  How adorable is this picture?  Scott said that when they got there she was unsure and very clingy.

How precious is this?  My favorite picture of the year!

She finally got off his lap and joined her classmates.  Ms. Theresa & Ms. Julie are her teachers.  We are now more than a month and a half into school and Elese LOVES it!  She goes into class without a backward glance and comes bouncing out at the end of the day.  This has been a perfect fit for her and we'll see what her teachers say come conference time!  I know, a confernce for a preschooler????