Butler's Orchard

Yesterday we took the boys to Butler's Orchard to pick pumpkins and enjoy some fall fun! It was their 29th Annual Pumpkin Festival. This is our third year going and it was a lot of fun! Jason's friend from work, Bob, and his wife Missy joined us as well! It was a cool, rainy morning but the rain was light and didn't last long. It worked out well because it wasn't too crowded. We enjoyed a hayride to pick pumpkins, a tube slide, rubber ducky derby, jumping in the hayloft, playing in a wooden train, feeding goats, and a straw maze (a big enclosed "maze" made out of hay bales). The boys also got balloon animals (a dog and a mouse) and we all enjoyed a yummy lunch. Kyle loved everything! Max particularly loved the wooden train, tube slide, and straw maze. He loved that the straw maze was basically like being in one big tunnel and he's very into tunnels these days for his cars and trains. He was also really excited about his hot dog for lunch! It completely wore Max out. He melted down toward the end of our 2 1/2 hours there and he took a nice long nap when we got home.

Here are more pictures from our day: Butler's Orchard

Painting

Today was a cool, rainy day so we decided to stay at home. By 11:00 the boys were getting restless, and so was I, so I decided to get out the paints and let Max have his first experience painting with paintbrushes. We tried fingerpainting a few weeks ago and he wanted nothing to do with it. Kyle was the same way when he was younger. But I figured since this didn't involve touching the paint (necessarily) that he'd be more interested and boy was he ever! He loved it and did NOT want to stop. He made some lovely paintings and got really into it. I stripped him down to his diaper, which turned out to be a good move since he had it on his arms and legs by the time we were done. Kyle did some painting too. It turned out to be a fun morning!

Happy Birthday Christian!

Today was Christian's 5th birthday party at Bowl America. Christian is Kyle's friend from his preschool class last year. He had a great time and a little reunion with two other friends, Matthew and Michaela as well. Michaela even brough Kyle a "present" - a picture she had made of the two of them together. It was very sweet and they were all very excited to see each other! They had a great time bowling, eating pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream, and playing games together! This is the third bowling birthday party Kyle has been to and even though it's 6 months away he's decided he wants his next birthday party to be at the bowling alley.

Karate Kyle

Kyle has recently started taking karate lessons. He had 3 interests this year - soccer, swimming, and karate. We told him he could choose one to pursue and he chose karate. So we signed a contract for the next 9 months and so far he loves it! He attends class twice a week and the schedule is very flexible. He can attend any two classes a week and they have evening and Saturday classes so Jason and I take turns taking him. This past Thursday we all went (Max too) and afterwards we went to McDonald's for dinner. Max enjoyed watching Kyle and eventually wandered off on his own to spin in circles and run around in the big open space behind the chairs where the parents can sit and watch. Kyle has learned a lot already in the 2 weeks since he's been attending classes. He's learned resting stance, attention, blocking, kicking, and punching. They do warm up exercises, obstacle courses, drills, and even play games. It's a very fun class that teaches karate skills at his level as well as respect and discipline. They also have to promise to not use karate on family, friends, furniture, or pets! :)

A funny story about the video: towards the end of the obstacle course you'll notice Kyle goes across the "bridge." It was actually a tunnel that the kids were supposed to crawl under. Kyle was the only one that used it as a bridge and he did it all 3 times he did this particular obstacle course, oblivious to the fact that it was supposed to be a tunnel. It was cute and pretty funny!

Happy Birthday Xander!

Last Saturday we went to one year old Xander's birthday party. It was at a park with a huge playground about an hour away. They had lots of yummy food, bubbles, a cute little dog, and the playground was a hit! The boys had lots of fun. I didn't get any pictures of the birthday boy, but here are a few pictures of our boys enjoying the day!

Outdoor Fun

We've had some really nice days the last couple of weeks - not too hot - so we've been spending a lot of time outside. We've been on lots of walks, collected bugs and worms, climbed trees, played ball, had picnics, and played in the sand table. The boys love being outside and so do I when the weather is this beautiful!

Preschool - Year 2

Today was Kyle's first day of preschool in his four year old class. He has a new teacher and a class of 15 students. He knows a few kids from last year, but there are also many new friends to meet! He was very excited to go back for his second year and this year he gets to go three days a week. Max was a little confused by the quick drop off and pick up - he wanted to stay and explore (inside and out), but hopefully he'll get into the routine quickly and understand why we go there and that we're not going to stay and play. Max and I are planning to do a Romp N Roll class once a week, library discovery room and storytimes, as well as MOPS twice a month while Kyle is in preschool so hopefully we'll all have a fun year doing some new things!