Ordinary Days

Another blog I follow titles a lot of her posts "ordinary days" and I find those most interesting sometimes.  I mean, it's nice when we go out of town, do fun & exciting things together.  But, we often have MORE fun just hanging out as a family of 4, documenting our normal life.

So, this is what we've been up to...

Maggie is really doing awesome with sitting

(she still falls over, but not as dramatically)

Look ma, one hand!

Such a strong girl!

Recognize this balloon?  Yep, it's Patrick's balloon from his 6th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.  Colin ended up with it and he pretty much takes it everywhere with him.  We hardly can get him to hold still and smile for the camera, but when I told him I wanted a picture of the both of them...no sweat!  Such a stinker.

We give Chuck E high-fives, hugs and kisses before bed each night.  It will be a sad day when Chuck E loses his helium. :)

Sometimes after dinner, we turn on a CD of children's music and dance around our kitchen.  It really is a fun time.  Here is Colin dancing with sister (or didder as Colin says).  She just laughs so hard whenever Colin pays any attention to her.  It's adorable!

Cheese!

 

Video footage of one of our dance sessions.   I'm not sure what all the static noise is in the background, so you can mute it if you want.  It's about a minute long...pretty cute!

I love our Ordinary Days!

Patrick & Luke's Birthday

Brian's oldest brother, Scott, and his wife Suzanne (and family) were in town for a brief few days while waiting for their moving truck to get their stuff from Milwaukee to Texas.  It just so happened that during this time, Patrick and Luke would celebrate their 6th birthday. 

So, a party was planned at Chuck E Cheese and a good time was had by all!

Olivia enjoyed this ride (really, she had fun, just doesn't appear to be having much fun in the picture!)

 

Claire & Morgan on the rollercoaster ride

Birthday boy Patrick

Joe & Kolbe playing some skiball

JD perfecting his shot

Birthday boy Luke

Colin playing skiball.  He kept throwing the balls overhand instead of rolling them up the path.

Not nearly as effective, but still fun for him!

Andrew just LOVED this bowling game.  He spent quite a bit of time right here!

Joe & Scott winning some big bucks on "deal or no deal"

Joe & Morgan hitting the sharks (look at the determination on their faces)

Patrick riding high on the bike that goes in the air when you pedal

Colin trying to figure out the arm crank teeter-totter game.  I don't think he moved anywhere, but at least he tried!

Bang bang, take that.

Hammer fun!

King Luke with Chuck E Cheese

King Pat with Chuck E Cheese

and Maggie...well, she had fun too.  Here she is sitting on Suzanne's mom's (Judy) lap.

She is teething and is a drooling machine right now (hence the burp cloth).

She's such a great kid, getting drug all over town. 

Happy Birthday Patrick & Luke!

We love you! 

Pumpkin Carving

After the zoo, Colin got his nap, and Brian and I got things ready to 

CARVE PUMPKINS!

We were really excited to see Colin's reaction to this, as he was still a 'baby' last year at this time.  He seems like such a grown up kid now.

I drew a face on the pumpkin so Dad could have a template to carve...

Brian posing for the picture.  He was cutting off the top to get the guts out

Colin 'helping' Daddy.  He was still trying to wake up and wanted to eat his snack first.

We thought he would think the guts was cool, considering he eats dirt and likes bugs.  However, when we opened up the pumpkin...he looked inside...

said...

EWWWWW!

then ran off into the kitchen.

Great, thanks for your help, kid!

So, I got to gut the pumpkin by myself.  I always remember my mother having this job, so I guess it got handed down to me.  

Colin wanted to pick out some eyes for the pumpkin

Brian seriously carving...

Don't mess with him...

While Colin was inside, he found this pumpkin that lights up when you plug it in.  He played with that for quite a long time, taking it to multiple outlets and checking them all.  

He did it so much that I do believe, the light bulb has been dislodged from it's appropriate location, and is now floating in the pumpkin.

This is why I can't have nice things...

 

Mommy doing her carving...

Pretty sure my tongue is out cause I'm concentrating so hard.

We put the pumpkins on our front porch,

and the next day,

the faces looked all smooshed in.

Darn it!

A perfect day for the ZOO!

I don't know how we managed it, but somehow, the day we had planned for our trip to the zoo (free for Kansas City, MO residents) was a gorgeous day!  We got there right as the gates opened and spent about 2.5 hours there.  We saw a completely new side of the zoo (this time we went to Africa, last year we stayed closer to the entrance).  Colin (and Daddy, Mommy & Maggie) just had a blast there.    

Colin & Daddy at the entrance...Happy Halloween everyone!

The polar bear was, once again, a huge hit!  Colin is still talking about him...

Proof that I was there too.  I'm the one pushing Maggie in the stroller, snapping a few pictures, while Brian is chasing Colin around.  Literally.

Colin's face right after the polar bear did a huge splashing dive in the water.  He was so happy!

Colin loves to sit on these animals that are scattered throughout the zoo. 

We had perfect timing to see the sea lions perform when we first got there.  Colin thought they were hilarious.  This was one of the pups.  Still, pretty amazing to see what they can do already.

Pushing his face through the fence, he was so excited!

My favorite boys...

After the sea lion show, we rode some tractors, which Colin is getting pretty good at if he could only reach the pedals.  Until then, we will push him (sigh!)

The elephants chomping on some straw.  It was really cool to see them eating up close.  The sign says elephants weigh around 14,000 pounds.  Yikes, that's enormous!

Ask Colin what a giraffe has, and he will say "long neck!"  He was a little cautious walking up to the giraffe, until he figured out it was fake, then he was okay with it.  He thought it really was eating the leaves off the tree above. 

The gorilla, the other animal that Colin was most excited about seeing, was SLEEPING!  Silly gorilla, it was 11 a.m., time to wake up.  Colin yelled at him to wake up, but he didn't listen.  

Maybe next time...

Colin and Daddy went on the Sky Tram which went over the top of Africa.  Brian said it was pretty cool, and it lasted about 15 minutes total (there and back), so it was a nice break for our legs. 

Hey Guys!!!

While Daddy and Colin were Sky-Tramming it, Maggie and I were changing diapers and eating a bottle.  She had slept for a bit and was happy to be at the zoo.  She pretty much just chewed on some teething toys and looked around, but it seemed like she enjoyed some fresh air. 
Here's Maggie saying Hello to me!

Colin also really thought the crocodiles were pretty cool, but he was a bit scared by them.  Brian convinced him to get up close to the glass, but he was leery.  Very cautious!

Colin on a hippo!

What's down there?!?!

 

  This weird looking wild hog!  Oink Oink!

You can really spend a lot of time at the zoo, and before we knew it, it was time for us to head out so we could get Colin home for a nap.  We hustled back to the front of the zoo, and stopped by the polar bear again.  He was just as playful as before, and got Colin laughing again before we left.

We had a wonderful time and are so glad we had beautiful weather.

I just love the fall!