Sunday, September 29, 2013

Let's Hear It For the Weekend

Since I'm home all day during the week with the kids, it's no secret I LOVE weekends and getting out of the house. Despite that, Saturday was spent relaxing at home while Matt worked.


Looking for a snack perfect for football season, try this: waffle fries, bacon, and cheese.

We did manage to get out of the house Saturday evening to attend a little friend's birthday party at the kid's favorite park Raccoon River. The kids had a blast eating pizza and cake and running around. They were pretty proud of themselves for climbing the rope tower at the park-something they couldn't do this past summer. Of course, no visit to the park would be complete without some sort of injury, or rope burn, in Max's case.


Climbing the rope tower at Raccoon River Park. They were so proud of themselves for climbing halfway up with no help: they weren't able to do this in July!
Elizabeth had to get in on "climbing" too!

We capped the night off with a trip to Target to get the ingredients for our new Sunday chili recipe and followed it up with an early night in bed for all of us.

Our early bedtimes paid off when we woke up refreshed on Sunday! It was quite chilly in the morning so we lounged around waiting for it to warm up a bit and got a later than usual start. We made our way up to Ledges State Park on this gorgeous fall day. The way up brought sights of golden colors. A couple more weeks and we'll be ready for our fall color hike and collecting leaves for collages. Love this time of year!



We started our time at Ledges with a picnic lunch, apples, and cookies. We got to use our new picnic ware my mother in law got at Ikea. Absolutely perfect!




We took a drive down Canyon Road and got out to explore. This is one of many hikes for the day. Elizabeth tried her hardest to keep up!



Max walking across the rocks. This ended a while later when he happily waded into the water and got completely soaked.

























Exploring the creek. The kids loved walking along the water, throwing rocks in, and even tried to catch the tadpoles!






Elizabeth loved running through the open field and hiking! She tries so hard to keep up with her big brother's!




















Welcome to the steepest hike we've ever taken. This was quite the work out/energy waster, but we all had a great time! Going down was rather nerve raking for this mama, but it turned out just fine. We will definitely be doing this hike again. Even Miss E loved walking up the steps.






















Bup DID NOT want to go in the water!













So she sat with daddy on the rock and watched!








Running through the water and getting soaked.
 My happy girl




I'm just in love with this picture. We're trying, unsuccessfully, to catch tadpoles with our hands. Harrison was very worried on of them were going to bite his feet because of how quickly they swam when he ran into the water.





Our last run through the water before we left. Leaving took a while because all of the kids needed wiped down and new sets of clothes. Our ride home was spent with one napping girl and two wound up boys, so when we got home we went right outside to do haircuts.
.
Max is pretty proud of his haircut!

Elizabeth offered her support from the window.



Our new chili recipe for the week: Beefy Corn and Black Bean chili. It was delicious and the kids loved it! Looks like it's a keeper.











There's another crossed off of the Fall Fun To Do List!! Having a fun fall and keeping busy! Next weekend we're looking forward to the Pumpkin Express, family coming into town (which equates to good times!), shopping, and a trip to the zoo! !









Friday, September 27, 2013

Week In Review September 23 - September 27

I totally ran out of time to do a mid-week update and I carry no confidence that I'll remember everything from this past week. We've been keeping busy enjoying the fall weather and doing our fall activities. We've concentrated a lot on sharing, using words, and being mindful of others....or as mindful as two and three year olds can be! Here are some highlights from the week:

Apple painting with red Crayola paint is a HUGE mess for a 15 month old!
Monday night was family night: we had our fave chicken and dirty rice for dinner, treated the kids to Cherry Berry, and a trip to Target for goodies. Elizabeth loved the ice cream!
Max felt the need to try LOTS on his ice cream....and ate a total of 6 small bites.
Harrison found something he wanted at Target (he did not get it....this trip at least)!
Airplane daddy!
Max and Elizabeth coloring in their new color books.
Apple painting with the apple paints.
Stickers are a huge hit here with the kids, so I was super excited to find these at Target. Only $3 and the kids loved coloring in their stickers. I had them use oil pastels on them instead of the markers it came with because I've learned the hard way that those are not washable markers.
Frosted pumpkin muffins.
The kids painted apple shapes with the apple paint.
It's been a gorgeous week here so that means lots of outside time for the kids! Max talked Harrison into pushing him in the baby swing....that he's about 20 lbs too big for!
Science experiment of the week: Yellow water containing baking soda and vinegar dyed red. Mix them together and you get....
"It's orange! And it fizzes!" said Harrison.
My three crazy minis. Love them!!
My fantastic finds at Dollar Tree: lots of foam shapes and stickers for both Halloween and Christmas, stickers, bath crayons, grow animal, and packs of wooden shapes for the kids to color and paint. I also stocked up on Christmas wrapping paper and stocking stuffers. They had some good stuff this week!
Leaf imprints using Crayola model magic. Turned out pretty well and the kids enjoyed doing them.
Stickers and foam shapes are easy entertainment for the kids. . 
Halloween stamps. The kids enjoy these but it can get messy with the ink pad. Requires helps and constant supervision but the kids had fun doing the stampers.