whobody loved homecoming?

I finally got all of my pictures gone through from September....

so last week was catch up week for me in my photos...

and this week, hopefully I can catch up on the blog!

Of course, one of the kids' favorite weeks 

of the year is homecoming week!

They love to dress up and all of the 

exciting things they do at school.

(However, it does cause some unneeded stress 

coming up with the perfect outfit for my kids...)

I was able to (luckily) catch a picture of them before each school dress-up day.

monday: neon day

tuesday: cowboy/cowgirl day

Seriously...how cute are Lola's boots? right? 

and the red tank top is one we have had for over a year...and she wouldn't ever wear it until I told her it looked like a cowgirl shirt...now she wants to wear it all of the time!

of course, little cruz ship had to wear the hat too.

wednesday: hawaiian day

 thursday: throwback day

(poor lola had to stay home sick with a tummy bug that day)

friday: eagle pride day

(I am including lots of pictures of this day...seriously, look at Nash in each of them...he was having one of those bad mornings...he didn't like where I put his face tattoo and he just couldn't get over it....
he is in all of these pictures behind the kids crying.) 

 It makes me laugh now...but he was making me crazy that morning!

We had a lot of fun dressing up for homecoming week! 

It is getting to be a little less stressful because the kids are getting older and are 'getting' into it more (and coming up with their own outfits).

We went to the Homecoming game

and had a great time! 

They actually started it early because of an incoming thunderstorm...

so it didn't even last past the little boys' bedtimes!

I really love to get the kids into the excitement of "school spirit"!

whobody has new glasses?

One of the nights that I had the kids at the football game, 

our babysitters (Blake and Alicia) came over with these 

awesome glasses. 

Nice, huh? 

The younger 3 just kept on taking turns (and fighting over) wearing these glasses. 

Keaton, the mature one, just giggled and watched them (and the football game). 

I guess we know what type of glasses to look for if any of the kids ever need spectacles...

I'm pretty sure Blake had to scrub his glasses with 

soap and hot water when we were done with them. 

They were full of skittle juice and rainbow sour candy.  

 Cruz actually looked the funniest in them, but would take them off the instant I would get my phone out to take a picture...

he would take the glasses off and say "cheese!"  

Too funny. This was the best one I got of him! (but he looked the funniest!)

The kids all LOVE football games. 

Keaton loves the football.

Lola loves the social event.

 Nash loves the candy and going to the bathroom by himself with K or L.

Cruz loves the popcorn and gatorade.

It is not easy to take them by myself...but it is usually worth it. 

Cruz is much more tolerant of a later bedtime than the others ever were at this age. 

And really, Keaton is actually getting to the age where he is getting into cheering on his team...and I want to encourage that!  

I feel like there are really a lot of times in our life, that the big kids have to give up things on account of the little kids. We can't do things in the afternoon and we have to keep things pretty 'young' when we do things as a family. The older 2 do a lot of GIVING when it comes to their little brothers (and soon to be their littlest brother or sister).  

So, I have decided that these football games are a chance for the younger two and ME to give to the older ones.... It isn't easy, and trust me, 

by the time we leave, it is TIME TO LEAVE.  

This is me just trying to seize the day.  It would be much easier if during the times that Jason was in the field, we would just stay home all of the time. 

But then I feel like we would  miss out on a good 4 months or so, of the year, just keeping it easy. I don't want to do that either!

That being said, we are going to the game tonight...

BUT, for the first time, I did get a babysitter for the younger 2. 

(Trust me, hard to find a babysitter on a Friday night around here.) 

I think that with the cold, the youngest 2 will have a lot more fun 

in the warm house with Rachel. 

I am looking forward to it!

Well, I hope you enjoyed our football game pictures...wish I had more! I am usually too busy chasing kids and managing popcorn dispersal...

I just thought these pictures were too funny NOT to share!

whobody had a birthday party?

Unfortunately, Nash's birthday is during soybean/corn harvest. 

In fact, he was born at about 6:00 pm, and Jason drove home after we were settled into the hospital that night...and he combined soybeans! Dedication. 

(And, the need to get things done when the weather is fit.)

That dedication makes it tough to plan a birthday party for our 

October baby. 

Poor thing. 

So...it is generally understood that his birthday party will be on the first rainy night around his birthday.  This year, that was on Tuesday...not too shabby...only a few days late.

Planning a party at the last minute has its downfalls. 

*My parents and grandparents couldn't make it, they were already in Florida...

*I didn't even tell my brother...who lives 4 hours away :) long drive for a Tuesday night pizza party planned at noon...

*My sister had a meeting 

(luckily my parents had a little birthday party before they left 

that my family all attended)

*Cousin Mason had a football game...so he and Nancy were at that.... 

SO....celebrating Nash's birthday party this year was our family and Grandpa and Grandma Reimer, Rod, Cagney, and Devin! 

 There were more there from our immediate family than the guests! :) 

Nash didn't seem to mind though. He still had a great time. 

He loves to play with his cousins...and blow out candles. 

It was lucky we had the party when we did, because the guys haven't 

had a break in harvest since! 

We had a pretty simple night...but Nash enjoyed every minute. 

We ordered a few pizzas and sat around and chatted while the kids played. 

Then came the time for the birthday candles.... he loves this part. 

Then, the presents. 
He was very happy with every single present. 
(of course)  
My favorites were the ones that Keaton and Lola gave to him.  
They both wrapped up things from their 'treasure boxes' in their rooms. 
Items that they have either earned, won, or purchased with their 'gotcha tickets' from school.  He was very happy with every little trinket....(and the big toys too).

Cruz very much enjoyed the Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship. 
 He sat there for probably 20 minutes pushing the cannons in and shooting them and then laughing...and pressing the button that plays the song. 
Too cute!

Nash had a wonderful birthday and is very very proud to be FOUR! 

(He tells everyone we see "I had mine birthday. I four now!")

He is my new favorite 4 year old.

whobody carved their pumpkins?

On the night of Nash's birthday, we decided to just completely fill the day with pumpkins and carve them too! (I figured I might as well as long as I had an offer of help from my parents!)

SO...as soon as the kids were up from their naps, we dug into the pumpkins. 

 (For the first time ever this year, I cut the bottoms out instead of the tops...for the record, I loved this...made it a lot easier to empty and even nicer to carve.)

Keaton and Lola were very good and digging in and emptying their pumpkins. It seems that Nash woke up on the wrong side of his nap :) so nothing really went well. I didn't want to take pictures of him crying while carving pumpkins on his birthday...so we only have pictures of him with the finished product.  Thankfully, my best babysitter, cartoons, entertained him while the rest of us worked.

Lola LOVED the guts of the pumpkin and desperately wanted to do one of those pumpkins where the guts are coming out and it looks like the pumpkin is throwing up. I choose my battles...and I chose to fight that one. GROSS! :)  She ended up with a rockstar pumpkin instead.

This shot was actually a zoomed in shot of Cruz that was in the bottom corner of a picture of Lola with her pumpkin guts. He was an excellent sport and enjoyed 'carving' pumpkins....turns out he tried to lick the pumpkin too....

Hmmmmm....not so good. better keep on doing it though....you never know when your tastes may change. (We eventually took his pumpkin away from him...and let him watch the cartoon too.)

Here is everyone with their finished products! Thank goodness Nash just let me use the cordless drill for his. Very easy...and quick. At that point he really didn't care. He really didn't like the pressure of carving pumpkins and picking out the perfect face to carve in there. He either wanted very intricate designs...or deathly ones like skulls. I am not a pumpkin artist...so I don't do intricate...and I DEFINITELY don't do the deathly stuff. YUCK. We talked him into a 4, since it was his birthday. Thank goodness my parents were there to help. My dad did most of the carving and my mom did the cleanup. It was great!  We ended our evening with supper out at Thoma's!

Cruz:  Isn't he sweet? I swear his pumpkin resembles him...

Lola: Posing with her pumpkin...the rockstar.

Keaton: The sports fan...he would have loved for me to carve a panther in there too...but had to settle for just the letters.

Nash: 4 years old today.... Thank goodness he made it through the pumpkin carving.

Our finished products all lit up outside! Happy early Halloween!

whobody had a pumpkin-y birthday?

This year, Nash's birthday fell on a Saturday. 

I felt a lot of pressure to make it special (since Daddy was in the field and we were unable to have a real birthday party for him on the day of his birthday.)

I had heard from a few friends that Pinter's Pumpkin Patch in Decorah was an excellent place to visit. So, I called my parents and asked if they wanted to go with us...you know, to spend quality time with my kids. (Okay, really, I also wanted them there for 'back-up'.)  They agreed and we picked them up on the way!

It was a very chilly day...I should have brought hats and mittens...but I didn't...and the kids still survived. They had a blast...especially Nash, the birthday boy!

First the group picture (looking into the sun) taken right when we arrived!

The kids also grouped up for me while playing on the tires!

The kids LOVED the tires...Lola wasted no time and quickly made some new friends (notice, they are, of course, boys).  Keaton followed Cruz around and helped him up and down and through the tires. He is seriously the best big brother ever (to Cruz, at least.) Look at how he is picking him up! 

Cruz thought the tires were very funny!

This is the birthday boy showing me "four" with his dirty fingers after playing on the tires.... happy kid.

Cruz loved the animals...and, even though there were warnings posted everywhere about not sticking your fingers through the fence, he did it anyway! 

(It's almost like he couldn't read...)  No worries...no one got bit.

Nash even got his hand on the donkey...very exciting!

The kids had SO MUCH FUN on the bikes and pedal go-carts. 

I think they would all say this was their favorite part!

My helpers...(my parents) both took their turns pushing the kids around in the tubes.  Notice my mom and Cruz are pushing Keaton....and my dad is pushing Lola and Nash.  They had so much fun! (Well, at least the kids did....)

There was this huge-bouncy-blow-up-pillow-thing that we bounced on at the end of our trip. (If we would have been smart, we would have done it right away to keep warm!)

Nash loved the hillbilly music area!

We didn't have near enough time to do everything. Next year, I will try to get there earlier.  We kind of had to rush the kids through everything, because we needed to head to Mabe's for lunch. (This pregnant momma gets grumpy when she is hungry.)  

We had a wonderful morning at the pumpkin patch. It was the perfect thing to do on Nash's birthday....and a great way to spend our last day with 'grandpa sheryl and grandma piano' before they headed to Florida. Funny, I totally put them to work that day...made them come to the pumpkin patch, push my kids around, and then later on they helped me carve pumpkins. I think they kind of like it though....I know my kids had a BLAST! It was the absolutely perfect thing to do for Nash's birthday!

and yes....I  know that the bottom button on my coat is not buttoned....