Gymnastics Class

Abby was so excited for gymnastics class! She had to wear a tutu which I thought was too funny.

Doing stretches on the mat.

Caleb walking across the balance beam.

Bryce walking across the balance beam.

On Monday night the kids started gymnastics class. Bryce and Caleb had taken the parent child class when they were 2 and still talk about it. So we decided to put them in a class for the fall. Abby loves being like her brothers so I decided to enroll her in the mommy and me class. Bryce and Caleb did the class by themselves this year. I was impressed by how well they listened. I was a little disappointed in the teacher that they had but hopefully she will be more interactive with the class next time. Their favorite part was the high balance beam and jumping on the spring board over mats.
Abby was super excited about getting to go to a class like a big girl. She wore her leotard and had to wear her tutu over top. She got a little nervous when class started but once she saw that all the parents were staying she was okay. They did stretches, hopped and walked like different animals and then they got to do an obstacle course. She did so well with her somersaults that the teacher tried teaching her how to do a backwards one. She did great. It was fun to see her get to do big girl things but also sad to think that my baby is almost 3.

Life Size CARS

Standing in front of the trailer.

Lightening McQueen

Fin McMissle

TowMater

On Monday the mall had the CARS there. I knew it would be crazy busy but I wasn't quite prepared for how crazy. We got there a little before 3 and it started a 3. We waited 45 minutes in line before we got up to see the cars. Luckily the kids were excited so they were being good. When we got up there the kids got a CARS bag full of goodies and then we got their pictures taken by the CARS. They all thought it was super cool! I however thought it was like Black Friday shopping with my kids but hey they had fun so that's what counts.

Bunk Beds

We have finally bunked the beds! Bryce and Caleb have had bunk beds for about 3 years now but we have had both beds on the floor. About a year ago we tried to bunk the beds and no one would sleep on the top. Caleb finally showed some interest in sleeping on the top bunk so we gave it a try. So far it has been successful! I am so happy to finally have more room in their bedroom.

Andy's Confirmation

The beginning of October we went to Norfolk for Andy's confirmation. It is hard to believe that he is getting that old! Looking at him makes me feel old, since when I met Robb he was only 2. Time flies I guess. The kids all love Andy and he has always been so good about spending time with them even now that he is older. It was a fun day watching him get confirmed.
Andy looking all handsome for is confirmation. The kids being all crazy.

Cousins

Abby and Brook. I love it that they like to dress alike for special occasions.

First Pedi

This blog is a bit out of order but I thought it was so cute so I had to include it. Megan and I wanted to go get pedicures and decided we should make it a girls day and take Abby with us. Abby was so good! She acted like such a big girl. We let her pick out her own color. She looked at all the options, narrowed it down and then picked a pretty pink color. She sat in the big chair and held really still while the lady painted her toes. The lady doing the pedicure then put really cute flowers on her toes too. It was a fun girls day out.
Megan and Abby getting ready for their pedicures.

Abby got to pick out her own color.

Looking pretty small in that big chair.

Cute toes!

On The Move

Here Caleb is still riding the mini girl bike but now he can ride his bike.

Look at that grin.

There he goes.

Bryce is getting pretty good on the spidey bike.

Bryce and Caleb got bikes for their birthday last year and didn't show much interest in them until this year. Actually, Bryce didn't even seem very interested this year until the neighbor boys started riding theirs. A couple of little boys up the street recently started riding their bikes without training wheels so the boys needed to try it too. Their bikes are a little big for them so we took the training wheels off Abby's tiny bike and they started practicing. I was amazed how fast they picked it up. We now have two bike riders. They are now riding their bigger bikes without training wheels. We haven't had any big crashes yet but I'm sure as they get more comfortable riding they will also get more daring and then the injuries will start.

Service Day

A couple weekends ago our family participated in the Southwood Serves weekend. We always end up in church listening to them talk about all the service projects they have going on and we always have good intentions to help in some way. But, inevitably life always seems to get in the way. I always end up feeling guilty when our good intentions end up with us doing nothing. So that being said, a couple weeks ago in church they announced that it was the last day to sign up to participate in the service day. Robb and I talked about it and decided it wasn't good enough to always intend to do something so we decided to sign up. We figured that we both probably couldn't do it since we didn't have anyone to watch the kids but we decided to see what was left and one of us could do it. When we went to sign up there was fall clean up projects left for the houses that Meals on Wheels are delivered to. After talking to the coordinator, we decided that our entire family could probably participate.
On Saturday morning, bright and early, we headed to church for a pep service before we started. We then headed to Judith's house for a couple hours of fall clean up. Luckily it was a beautiful day! I was so proud of the kids! They all were great helpers. They picked up the leaves that we raked, helped carry branches to the pick up and Abby even sweep the sidewalk. The lady we helped was super sweet and the kids had fun talking to her. It felt great to actually be doing something for a change instead of always just thinking about helping. The best part was we got to do it together, it was fun, and a good lesson for the kids hopefully.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

My cuties at the pumpkin patch.

Bryce searching for his pumpkin.

Caleb hamming it up.

Caleb danced to an entire song by the Munster band. He had some good moves and even had a little crowd of people watching him.

Pictures at the Patch

Abby petting the pony.

This was the bounce pillow. This was way more fun than a trampoline!

Abby in the pumpkin patch.

Bryce and Caleb loved racing down these slides.

Bryce loved these scooters!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday was supposed to be a beautiful day, so the kids and I headed to Roca Scary Farm Pumpkin Patch. It is just a small pumpkin patch in Roca, NE. I have heard that Vala's by Omaha is really cool but I knew I could handle this one with just the kids and I. It started out chilly in the morning so we all had coats but it turned out to be beautiful. It wasn't very busy at all either. The kids were excited because they had added a few new things this year, like a bounce pillow, another set of big slides and new kids haunted houses.
We started out doing the Candyland game and going to the big castle. The boys loved the really big slides but Abby wasn't so sure. She really wanted me to go down with her so I did and after that I wasn't so sure about it either. It was steep, dark and bumpy! We also sat on the tractor in the field and walked around the pumpkin patch looking at the pumpkins. After that we headed to the bounce pillow which I had never heard of before but it was pretty cool. It was like a cushion of air that came out of the ground and it was surrounded by sand. The boys had a great time bouncing on it but again Abby wasn't so sure. She is usually pretty brave about things so maybe she was just having an off day. We all bounced for a long time and then decided that we needed lunch and drinks. My plan was just to grab a quick lunch there since we didn't have lunch stuff that was packable. Mistake! I should have realized this when I saw everyone else bringing lunch. They have 4 food stands but most of them are only open on the weekend, I guess. So, we went to the only stand that was open and the only thing they had to eat was hot dogs and it was 6 dollars a meal. Yikes! Really spendy for a hot dog meal x4 but oh well. We only do this once a year.
After lunch we headed to the other side of the farm to see the animals. All the kids had fun seeing the goats walk over the bridge and bunnyville. We rode the big trikes around the dirt track, rode the twist and turn scooters and went in 2 of the haunted houses. It really cracked me up because Bryce and Caleb were determined that they were old enough to do the "scary houses" this year. Which are really just dark houses with some cobwebs and strobe lights. We walked in the first one and Abby threw a fit so Caleb was going to go through with this mom taking her son through. About 10 seconds later he came running out the front door saying it was too scary. The next one we all went in together and I was carrying Abby and the boys were clinging to my coat and were all scared, and the first thing we saw was a glow in the dark painted wall of the little mermaid. This was our type of haunted house! As we walked through there were pictures of Toy Story, Sponge Bob and other movies. The fact that it was dark and they had cobwebs hanging still made it scary to them.
We finished our visit by taking a hay rack ride and picking our pumpkin. It was cute to watch them pick their pumpkins. Abby got the first one she saw because she didn't want to have to walk very far and get muddy. The boys on the other hand ran half way across the field to find the perfect one. Caleb was set on getting one that was half green and half orange which he managed to find. Bryce had a hard time deciding and eventually got mad and just grabbed one on the way back to the trailer. We had a great day and everyone took a nap that afternoon.

Princess of the Potty

Abby is Potty Trained!!!
I am so excited about this! Everyone that said girls are much easier than boys were wrong (kinda). She is potty trained earlier than both of the boys were but it still feels like we have been working on this forever. She started showing interest not long after she turned 2 so we would start asking her if she needed to go before baths and bedtime. This summer we started putting her in pull ups so it was easier to take her to the bathroom but she would never tell us when she had to go. By the end of summer I was the one that was trained! I was trained to remind her to go every hour but if I wasn't with her or got busy she would be wet. Just in the last couple weeks has she decided that she wants to do this. We really should have learned by now that Abby isn't going to do anything that she doesn't want to do. So, I guess she has finally decided that she wants to be potty trained. The incentive of "potty prizes" has helped. Potty prizes are much cheaper than diapers so it's a win win situation. I am so happy to be pretty much done with diapers! I have still been putting her in pull ups when we leave the house but so far so good. She is getting "So Big".