I'm Late I'm Late for a Very Important Date

With You!

This is going to be another long one, but hey, you've come to expect nothing less by now right?

Ya, I know.  At least I'm posting something…that's something right..

Let's move on.

Summer ended.  It had to.  The kids would've done pretty much anything to NOT let it happen.  I saw another post from the blog I told you about last time, with a Fall Bucket List.  I thought about it.  I sorta did it.  Maybe the giant Summer Bucket List was still weighing on me.  Maybe I got stressed out just thinking about another one.  Maybe I overdid it last time.  Me?  Overdo something?  Maybe…

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!  Our INSANE birthday week came and went with more than one up-till-midnight-gotta-finish-this-one-last-thing episode.  I used to wish Aaron was born in the same week too so I could just get it all over with at one time but then something happened this year to wipe that thought completely from my mind…school…  I'll explain in a minute.  Emily's birthday came first of course and it fell on a Friday.  Riley proclaimed that he didn't want to share a birthday party with Emily this year, he wanted his own.  I tried to do the friend thing but with him having started Kindergarten at a new school 6 weeks before, I didn't feel like he (or I) was close enough to anyone to be like, "Hey!  My kid's turning 6, mind if I take your kid with us to ride some go carts?"  A nice thought.  Wasn't gonna happen.  So we made the day of their birthdays more substantial by having their fancy cake on that day instead of at the party and let that day be pretty much all about them.  Emily chose a dancing theme for her party (are you surprised?)  and I looked long and hard online for some dancing themed cake idea that I could actually do.  Dave and I gave her our presents that night and sang to her and did her cake.  She loved it.  The fact that her birthday fell on the same day she has dance class was a double win in her book.

                                                 

               

I made her that tutu for her birthday.  It was a no-sew tutu and thank goodness she loves it because I think it's just about awful!  Ok not awful, but pretty bad.  Oh well, live and learn.  I made her another one for halloween and it's much better.  Tule like this is just so crazy though, I have to learn how to sew so I can make something calmer…  *grin*

Emily's birthday was also the day of Riley's Jogathon at school.  It was a good thing because Riley was just about sick of all about Emily day and the relief of going to an event just for him was enough of a break to get him through the rest of the day.  Surprisingly, Riley absolutely fell apart at the Jogathon and I was very glad I had decided to skip The Littles naps and attend because 1 minute in, he came to me crying and freaked out.  Just too much going on for our boy.   

Speaking of our boy, his birthday followed on the next Tuesday and he asked for a Transformers Rescue Bots themed Birthday.  Have you heard of this show?  Best.Show.Ever.  Can't say enough good things about it.  It has heart, good morals, rescue vehicles and for some reason the whole transforming thing seems to satisfy the super hero in Riley.  Thank goodness.  Those super hero shows brought nothing but grief to The Littles who took the brunt of Riley's super hero powers.  He basked in his all-about-Riley day and made the most of it.  I had been so behind on his cake that at 8 o'clock the night of his birthday I was still working on it.  My incredible husband willingly stepped up and helped me with the Transformers decal-cutting it from fondant- and we finished it before bedtime.  A serious accomplishment.  

       

Why does my frosting always bubble up around the middle?  It's nice and smooth, it sits for a bit, it's not smooth any more!  Too much frosting in the middle?  Diane Clair would know…

Why, you might ask, was I so behind on Riley's cake?  Remember in the beginning of this book of a post when I mentioned that I no longer wish for Aaron's birthday to be the same week as the others' because of school?  Well here's the scoop.  Emily goes to school on Tuesdays, so she wanted to take cake pops to school with her.  Riley's birthday was Tuesday, and he wanted to take cake pops to school with him that day.  Two kids, two schools, two parties, 45 cake pops, up till midnight the night before, didn't get his cake done in time for the next day, no more wishing for a third kid in the mix.

There you have it.

Now, off to Halloween.

I might as well continue in my quest for the longest blog post ever and post about Halloween too.  I can't talk about Halloween without first addressing the best pumpkin patch in town.  We went there again this year after such a great experience last year, and this time I dragged Dave along with us.

                                      

  

 

We had a great time!

Here's some other fun Halloween stuff we did last month

 

They had 3 opportunities to dress up this year with class parties and all, so Emily and Aaron picked different costumes from our dress up box to wear each time!  Riley was dedicated to being a skeleton this year.  He has wanted to be one since he was 3 but when the time came, a super hero always won him over.   Until this year.  He LOVES his scary costume!  Aaron wanted to be a train so I found an example online and made one for him to wear out of cardboard.  Dave helped me with the all important accents and although Aaron wore it for all of 3 minutes while trick or treating, he loved the idea enough to make it worth it.  And our little girl?  A dancing flower of course!  I made her a flower hat and mini cape and a tutu and we called it good.  Did I mention she loves to dance?  *grin*

Honestly I could go on and on (too late?) posting pictures of the kids-I love to take them and post them and Instagram is my new best friend for that reason-but I'm sure you've had enough.  I'll try and update our Shutterfly page in the next couple weeks and put them all up there for anyone who wants to see more.  I hope your Halloween was lots of fun and that you've been enjoying this beautiful Fall we've been having!

Ok. Can't refrain.  I leave you with one last picture.

Summer!

Past summers have flown by and maybe we do 3 "summer things" before its over.  This year, I didn't want that to happen.  It was time to make the most of summer and it was time to have more fun than ever.  I came across a  blog that I absolutely love (www.katherinemaries.com if you're wondering) where she made a Summer Bucket List.  A list of things they were going to do that summer and every single one sounded like incredible fun.  I followed her lead and sat down with the kids to ask them what they wanted to do this summer.  I put a few of my own in there too.

Hopefully you can read that.  We didn't get everything in but we DID get most of it. I will admit by week 4 of summer I was totally exhausted and had to slow down with the fun but I can honestly say this summer didn't pass us by.  We fit in everything we possibly could and it was a nice long summer!

Here are a bunch of pics from all the fun.

We started off early in the year with a camping trip in May

Swimming lessons started in June

 

Make Banana Splits

(their first ever)

Read Bedtime Books Outside

Play with Shaving Cream

(a big favorite)

Take a Bath Outside

Play in the Pool...ALOT!

(both in our backyard and going to a real one)

Make Root Beer Floats

(another first)

Ride the Train at Idlewild

(this was Aaron's and he loved it)

Go to the Lake..A lot

Go to the Movies

Climb a Tree

Water Balloon Batting Practice

(my Dad asked specifically to be involved in this one

and we were lucky enough to have my Uncle

Jess join in the fun too)

Eat Dinner (have a picnic) at the Park

Go to the Drive-In Movies

(a first for the kids-they saw Despicable Me 2)

Go to the Zoo

(the only picture I had of them at the zoo was

this one from the playground that's there

*grin*)

Go to the Train Museum

(another must for Aaron-he was in heaven)

Go to Wild Waters

(proclaimed to be the best day EVER by the kids)

Go on a Fairy Walk

See a Waterfall

(this was a poor excuse for a waterfall and not 

what I had in mind but hey, the kids loved it)

We also made a fort outside,

played with water balloons,

went out for ice-cream,

and went out for breakfast

PHEW!

There were a couple things that came up last 

minute that were a lot of fun too

Bowers Mansion Pool is open again and they

had a fun night where they kept the pool open late 

and then showed the movie Yogi Bear in their park.

The kids had so much fun and honestly, Yogi Bear wasn't THAT bad

*grin*

One very cloudy and stormy day,

the kids and I decided to lay on the hammock

and watch the storm.  That led to taking some fun pictures together!

It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. 

There are still about 6 things on our Bucket List that we didn't get to and I hope to get a couple more done soon but all in all,  I'm VERY happy with the fantastic summer we had and I think the kids are too.

The biggest thing that we did this summer was move!  That's right!  We finally got approved on the house we made an offer on back in March.  The process was ridiculous as we got approved back in June but when it went to the second, they found that an incorrect amount had been submitted to the first and so we had to go through it all again.  We were approved on a Wednesday and we moved just 3 days later.  I hadn't packed a thing as there was no guarantee we were going to get approved and since our lease was up in 2 weeks and the rental would need to be cleaned and the kids were starting school we decided it was best to cram it in ASAP.  We never could've done it without our parents help and Matt and Rebecca too!  It was, honestly, an awfully hard move and the two weeks that followed were the most stressful of my life while not having just given birth! 

My little helper...cleaning tile grout at the rental

Bye House!!!

We LOVE our new house!!!

 As I mentioned before, Riley and Emily started school!  Riley started Kindergarten-a big deal for both of us, and he goes everyday afternoons only.  He absolutely loves it.  The schedule is really hard for me to do with the other two napping while he's in school and there are often tears from 2 littles that don't want to be woken up from their nap to go pick Riley up from school but all in all it is going really well.  

 Emily is off to school as well!  Dave and I have talked about how she should probably start going to preschool a couple days a week but she REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to take a dance class.  We took a trial class over the summer and loved it so she started preschool once a week  morning only and then takes dance once a week also.

Her first day of preschool

To say she LOVES dance would be an understatement.  She is in heaven.  Her teacher is wonderful and every week they rotate between 4 different dance types so she is getting exposed to some great stuff.  Her favorite is ballet of course and tap.

Dave and I ended the summer with an evening on the beach 

at Lake Tahoe watching Shakespeare Festival perform 

A Midsummer Nights Dream

One of our clients gave us tickets and it was a very interesting take on the play 

I almost forgot 4th of July!  That could be an entire post in itself-we had so much fun!  My sister in law came to town with her family and the kids had a blast together.  

They started off by playing with water all afternoon

Eating Dinner

And fireworks of course! 

This was the first year they all stayed up and watched them

Now we are busy-me unpacking the house and Dave work work working.  Someone asked him how he liked his new house the other day and he said, "I don't know, you'll have to ask my wife and kids!" It's true, he's hardly ever home.  I always forget how busy September is at work.  This too shall pass.  Riley and Emily's birthdays are coming next week and Emily wants a ballet birthday of course. Riley wants a Transformers Rescue Bots party-also no surprise.  Have you ever seen Rescue Bots?  Best. Cartoon. Ever.    This was a really long post and I rambled... a lot.  Oh well, it's been awhile.  

*grin*