Failed Attempts at a Family Christmas Card

I thought this would be so much easier than JCPenney, like last year. I was wrong! Bought the cute coordinating sweaters and tried to get Brad and I dressed to go together.

Didn't realize that with the flash my bra would show up underneath my top!

The boys were obviously not cooperating. Mom was getting very frustrated!

Logan being the pill.

We almost had it here! Needless to say, the Christmas card you'll see in the mail will not be a good one of these. I had to order one and put two pictures from earlier in the year on it. Oh well, next year they'll be another year older and we'll see :)

Perfect Fall Day

Yesterday was the perfect fall day...and Michigan State won! Dad cleared off the roof with the blower and took Jack with him. Jack felt like a big guy.

We got the last of the leaves out of our plant beds and the boys had fun rolling around in them.

Finally it was time to try bikes without training wheels. Jack did fairly well, but wasn't too sure about the whole thing. He'll get it pretty quickly in the spring I think. The twins tried it too, but they weren't as impressed. Logan just wants a 'standard'....a kick stand for his bike. Luke walked his bike into the garage and decided that he'd wait until he was 6. Too funny!

Daddy helping Jack with no training wheels.

The First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving

as told by Luke and Logan 11-10-09

The pilgrims went to a new land and taught the Indians how to grow food because they didn't know how. They had a BIG table with all kinds of food on it. They had a 'fiesta' and then they took a 'siesta'. Then the Indians all disappeared. (Where did they go?) A witch came with a magic wand and made them disappear.

The End

Ok, now they're just 4 and in the beginning of November so not very many lessons on the subject yet, but apparently my Spanish is rubbing off :)

Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween! We started our evening as we usually do down at Grandma and Grandpa Fish's house. This year we had another little boy getting ready for Halloween, my nephew Blake. Here are Luke and Logan respectively. Luke was Bumblebee the Transformer and Logan was Batman. They thought they were big stuff.

Jack had decided to be Batman first, Logan followed his lead. I was impressed that Luke went out on his own with his choice.

I realized after I uploaded this picture that I didn't rotate it first. It will take too much effort at this point so you'll have to lean. This is Sean and Lindsey's dog Tucker dressed as a rooster.

Tucker was a good boy and posed with the boys as we started trick or treating.

We went to a couple houses by Grandma and Grandpa's house, with Tucker leading the way.

Then it was on to Grandma and Pop's house. We did a block around their house.

Posing even though we don't want to slow down. We're ready to run. Then it was back to our neighborhood to finish up. We had a great time!

Fall Family Festival

The Catholic schools in Jackson host a Fall Family Festival every year where they have a 5K and kids fun run. There are carnival rides and every kind of tent imaginable. Brad ran the 5K and the kids ran the fun run. Then we stayed a couple hours and enjoyed the rides.

Ok, not cooperating to put words between the photos, so here's the narration. Brad finishing the 5K(smiling at 'Go Dad Go!), the boys pre race, and then the boys (with Dad pacing them) coming down the road to turn to the finish.

Here's a cute video of the boys finishing. They were digging in to sprint it out and had already run 1K!
I think they enjoy running just to get cool stuff :) Luke's quote at the end: (Holding up his medal) I winned the whole thing!

On to the rides after all the hard work!

Fun day! Looking forward to next year already!

Fort Wayne

Lindsey leads the way...I told the boys they had to grab a hand because we were coming to a busy road. I lost my job because the twins both ran to Lindsey. We went to Fort Wayne for the weekend to spend time with Sean and Lindsey and go to the zoo.

A pose at the zoo entrance.

We got to walk through the new 'Africa' area of the zoo. The 'chair ride' was temporarily out of order and that was all they wanted to do. We would see an animal and then they would ask 'Can we go on the chair ride now?

Along the path was a set of drums that the kids could play.

The boys all wanted to walk with Lindsey.

We finally got to go on the chair ride. It freaks me out. I especially didn't want to be on it right after it was being worked on. There's not a lot of safety features.

The ride kept pausing for some unknown reason and it made me hyper ventilate. Apparently that's the last time Lindsey will ride with me on it :)

Climbing in some dino eggs.

We didn't get to feed the goats this time. We got to brush them. Jack wasn't too interested, but the twins dove in.

Luke would have chosen to stay awhile longer.

Lindsey gave Jack a piggy back ride and it was too cute to pass up. They color coordinated very well.

We also got to go on the log ride. Not much to see on it, but still different and fun.

Saturday night we got out the Wii. The boys had a great time trying the game Punch Out. Listen for Luke taunting Logan by saying 'I'm dying you! I'm dying you!' Kind of appalling, but I thought it was funny.

Great weekend! Thanks Sean and Lindsey!

Marquette with Mom- The Drive Up

Mom came up with the answer for the 'Are we there yet?' question. This map. It was a great idea! Each kid got their own map taped, folded, and marked. When they wondered where we were we told them the number. It worked very well.

Very excited that grandma was joining us for the drive. We can't wait to see Aunt Sandy!

We made a stop in St. Ignace to stretch our legs. It was a beautiful day! We couldn't get a good picture because the sun was in our eyes.

The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake....only 3 more hours to go now!

Marquette with Mom-Day 1- Part 1

We started our first morning in Marquette by heading to Presque Isle. It's a park next to the dock where freighters come in to load up. The pictures of the freighter closer to the dock are on my mom's camera.

The boys loved picking up rocks and throwing them in the water while waiting for the freighter to get closer.

Here we are at Presque Isle. Very beautiful spot. Glad to have railings to hold the kids back from the steep drop.

Posing with the kids at another spot in Presque Isle.

Mom trying to find a stone to skip.

Mom and Sandy posing.

Sandy with the boys.

The boys loved this area. They called it rock climbing. They ran in circles for almost an hour.

...more running...

We headed to Burger King for lunch and then to this large park next to the marina downtown. Here's Luke demonstrating his strength.

Logan didn't want to be left out so he copied Luke.

Sandy showed Jack how the pulley worked.

Loved this bench! It's Luke, Jack, and Logan....FISH!

Marquette with Mom- Day 1-Part 2

I took so many pictures the first day, I needed to split them up. In the afternoon we went to the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling up there! Here the kids are checking out a large model railroad. Their response to it "Mom, we want to buy that!" Save your pennies!

They had an area where kids could 'dig' for fossils.

They had the front half of a large dump truck with toy trucks to play with. The kids could get up in the driver's seat.

Here's Luke modeling the hard hats they could wear.

An apple harves simulator.

They had one room that was a grocery store. The kids could go shopping with carts. There were items to 'buy' that were real packaging.

Luke going 'shopping'.

Jack worked the cash register and they conveyor belt really worked to move the items down. At the end someone could really 'bag' the groceries.

Luke as the cashier. I guess this is a plus to having three children. They all took turns playing the parts.

They had a whole rescue personnel area which was a big hit. The kids could try on different uniforms. Here's Logan modeling.

This was the real back end of an ambulance with a fake front on it. It did have working lights though. This was Logan's favorite spot. He stayed here for quite a while.

Jack enjoyed it as well. He had me in the back as his 'patient'. He's checking out the real monitor to see how I'm doing.

This was Jack's favorite. This was a real front half to an airplane. Jack was the pilot and he let Luke and Logan be his copilots.

Jack at the controls. Whenever I asked where we were going he told me 'Disney'.

Jack played weatherman. There was a real screen that you could see yourself on tv as you talked about the weather.

This was the human body area.

The boys climbed into the eyes and realized that the eyelids moved up and down.

These were stairs to climb up the intestines and slide down the end. No, as Brad asked too, there was no butt at the end :)

And here we are finishing up the day out cold. We ran them into the ground, but they loved it. They got the Burger King crowns at lunch and wore them everytime we were in the car. Can't wait until tomorrow!