whobody went to the UNI dome?

Last weekend, we had another family fun day. We loaded the kiddos up in the car (I packed their panthers stuff) and we started driving. We like to surprise them with things like this. :) It is amazing how they are already getting good about knowing where they are!  They are getting better at guessing too!

 

We went to the last home UNI football game of the season.  The kids have never been to a game at the UNI Dome before, and they thought it was SO COOL!

 

 

 

The hardest part about taking all 4 kids to the game was, of course, carrying Cruz.  It didn't help that we had seats near the very top of the dome...so lots of stairs to climb!  The other thing that made it hard was that he was SO EXCITED that he was hard to carry!
The kid can't help but clap and wag his legs when there is so much excitement in the air!

 Our pictures from the "high" seats turned out terribly... :) but here is one of Nash's new smile for the camera. For real, I have like 20 pictures of him like this in the last 2 weeks.
 Not quite sure where he came up with this one.....

 

 

Now, a picture of Lola and I. She was the one who really got INTO the game....well, the cheering part at least. Keaton intently watched the game...it was serious business...he was just kind of in a daze the whole time.
Nash just spent the whole game scheming on how to get us to take him to go to the bathroom or get treats......

 

 

Now some pictures from our 2nd half seats...we found a bunch open and conquered them.  Only a few steps down from the entry level...MUCH easier to carry Cruz to.

 

 

He looks pretty serious here...but he LOVED the game. Seriously. LOVED it! We didn't even want to take him...but the babysitters were booked...so we did....and we will again (if the babysitters are booked).  He really was great!  Now, if only he could walk!

 

 

These are the last few pictures I have of Cruz and his baby hair and mohawk :( We got it cut into a big boy cut this past week...he looks SUPER cute...but much older.  Not sure how I feel about that one.... my little baby is almost ONE!!!

 

 

Of course, Nash couldn't help but crawl ALL over....

 

 

 

 

 

Another great smile by Nash!

 And, again!

 

 

 

I tried to get them all together for a better group shot...Nash would NOT participate! Oh well.... We had a great time. As always...the way home was a challenge.

 

Of course, Cruz fell asleep instantly...and then Nash yelled and sang for about an hour until he woke up Cruz...and THEN Nash fell asleep.

 At least they all slept good once we got home. 

 

We loved another family fun day and we hope to make it to a few UNI basketball games this winter!

 

whobody had a sleepover?

 Whobody spent the night at our house last weekend?

 Here...let me take off her disguise...it was CORA! (my niece)

(sorry Tessa...Nash told me that Cora wanted to wear these....)

Last weekend, Cora spent the night at our house...and the kids had SO much fun with her. 

 I will quote Jason when I say "five is a lot".... but it went well. 

She is such a good baby and we had no problems at all...with her, at least.

 

The hardest part was that she is at the age where

she just lays on the floor and contently plays...

and Cruz is at the age where

he attacks ANYTHING laying on the floor....

 

We tried to keep the 2 separated most of the time.

 

 Lola had lots of fun holding her little cousin.....and actually drew her lots of pictures!

(The blurry blond stuff in the bottom of the above photo is,

of course, Cruz's mohawk.)

 

I wanted to include some of Lola's pictures...because I think that they are SO funny!  First...at the top, she calls that her 'fancy writing'...it says

 "From Lola to Cora....Hey! You might ask me why

my hair is colored!"

(and when she read this to me, she read it with a lot of SASS!)

 

 

 The second picture is of a rainbow (her favorite thing to draw right now) and it says..."Hmmm, where is that pot of gold?"

 

 

Lastly, a picture of Lola holding Cora and Nash "holding" Cruz!

(sidenote: We figured out last night that Nash only weighs 6 lbs more than Cruzie....and Nash was just as big as Cruz when HE was one!)

 

We had lots of fun having Cora stay overnight....the kids can't wait to have her over again!

whobody played in the leaves?

I  know. I know.

 

It has been a few weeks. Way too long. I totally agree.

 

It is just that I just keep moving this to the bottom of my 'to-do list'

and it hasn't gotten "to-done".

 

So...I am back at it today. Nash is watching Elmo...and I am playing on my computer.

 

Life has been good lately. The last few weeks of harvest went fast, and now Jason has been in for supper and bedtime every night for almost two weeks...which helps me out A LOT!

 

The adjustment to having him back home even went better than normal...

 

 The weather has been unusually nice for November, so we have spent lots of time outside...getting the yard ready for winter...and yes, decorating for Christmas.

(Pictures to come soon...)

 These pictures are from a day that the kids raked leaves and then played in them all afternoon and into the night. Even Cruz enjoyed it!!!

 I just love when they play together nicely and sweetly. THIS is not always the case. Lately, I feel that my kids have not been the sweetest, kindest, or most gracious little kiddos. Not sure how I am going to deal with that. 

 

It is so hard to be going into the Christmas season...and gift shopping...when I feel like my kids are acting like spoiled little people.  (sigh.) 

 

 

Oh well...always something to work on in the parenting world, right?  Hopefully, now I have broken the blogging seal...and I will get back to writing more again. We have been very busy....and I have lots of great pictures to share and stories to tell!

 

 

 

 

Hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

 

whobody tricked and treated?

Well...the little boys are down for their nap (at the same time!) so I thought I better take a few minutes and get our pictures up from trick or treating!

 

We had lots of fun.  It was cold..but not raining...so the weather was great for trick or treating.  I fed the kids an early dinner, and then we headed out on the town. Daddy met us uptown...and spent almost an hour with us doing the walking portion of the trick or treating.  He ran after the older 3, and I pushed this little penguin...

 

 Cruz actually had fun in the stroller. He just thought it was great to be outside and see all of the people! Not to mention...about everyone we met had to wiggle his feet and tell him how cute he was...

 

The kids did great this year. They are old enough to walk to the houses by themselves and everything, so we could just hang out on the street.  Our biggest issue was Nashity Nash would try taking more candy than he was supposed to...something I should have 'covered' before we left, I guess.

 

After a few houses, I grabbed a quick picture of all 4 kids...they obviously were ready to rumble, because I couldn't get them all to cooperate...I think they thought they were going to miss candy by taking that 2 minute break!

 

 

 

Did I mention that they RAN everywhere? Funny!

 Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

 

 

They just loved it when people just left their candy bowls on their front step....they were trick or treating with their own kids! (I wonder how much my kiddos would have taken if we weren't there...)

 

 

Yep! Still happy!

 Traditionally, we end at Andy & Mindy's house...and go in for a few minutes.  We always try to snap a picture of our kiddos together....

 

When we got home, we all dumped our candy together on the table...WOWZA!

 

I let them each pick 3 things to eat...of course, Lola and Keaton chose grandma's popcorn first! I think that is SO CUTE!!! Something different, I guess. Nash, however, chose a cookie and candy...and then after I put him to bed, he yelled for me THREE different times to tell me that "I a little bit hungy"....so I took him a piece of sausage, then a banana, and then a slice of cheese! I guess all of that running made him "hungy" and not tired.

We had a great night! I was so glad Jason was able to join us for a part of it... we sure like having him around.  Now...I can finally take down the Halloween decorations...and move more towards the Christmas ones! (No...I won't decorate for Christmas yet...I promise.)