Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Goings On...

Hi there!  We’ve had some fun activities the last month and I’m sure some fresh pictures here would be appreciated. 

First we worked in a visit to the pumpkin farm.  We didn’t get to do our usual Saturday visit with the hayride and kettle corn.  But, we did get to the farm for a quick pumpkin picking. 

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So many options, they couldn’t decide which pumpkin to choose!

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Both kids picked pumpkins that were too heavy for them to carry.

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We had to take our usual photo measuring how tall they kids were this year. 

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I’m glad we take these photos.  It’s so much fun to look back and see how the kids have grown over the years.  Abby is a foot taller and Gavin is almost two feet taller than they were in 2010.

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Abby was pretending to be a kitty with little “Meows” and all. 

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There’s our little punkin head!

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Every year we ask someone to take our photo on the hayride.  This year we opted to take our own family photo and this is how it turned out on the first try.  We love it!

October 19 I took Gavin to the OSU v. Iowa game.  He enjoyed it more this year because we didn’t have to climb all of the stairs up to C-deck. 

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Unfortunately it was a rainy morning.  We took Abby to spend the day with Grammy and then Gavin and I went to campus for the game.  Our first stop after the shuttle was to visit daddy.

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Daddy was excited to show Gavin their freshly painted, new SRT truck.  The vehicle is an MRAP formerly used by the military.  OSU was able to get this vehicle for free through a government program.  It’s caused quite the buzz around town.  People have been yammering about a militaristic police department etcetera.  In reality, the vehicle is replacing another older SRT vehicle that needed to be replaced anyway.  It’s used for special events such as football games and will be used for applicable emergencies.  No one finds this type of preparation or equipment important until such an event takes place.    

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I was happy that we spent the money on the ponchos at Disney this summer.  Initially I was sticker shocked on how much they cost.  But they’ve paid for themselves.  Good sturdy plastic has held up and will be good for plenty more rainy occasions.

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We hung out with Brandon until the team crossed from the hotel to St. John Arena.  Gav had his hand out and ready for the coach.

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The coach saw Gavin and kept walking.  Yes, he kept walking and didn’t come over and give him a five.  Just as I thought to myself, good grief Coach, couldn’t give a six year old a five?

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The coach came back and got him.  I barely caught this because I had just lowered the camera when the coach walked by.  Good call on coming back, Urban.  That would have been pretty rude.

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We went to the Skull Session and had some lunch where it was warm and dry.  Gavin didn’t want to go to the Skull Session because it’s loud.  This year it turned out he didn’t mind getting out of the rain and we sat up so high that he didn’t find it to be too loud either.     

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By game time the rain had stopped.  Everything was soaking wet but at least it wasn’t still raining.  Our seats were much better than last year and we weren’t surrounded by obnoxious people.

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Gav didn’t get too excited about the game until well into the second half.  Then he started cheering and yelling.  He participated in O-H-I-O. 

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It wasn’t a pretty game but the Bucks won!  Gavin had much more fun this year, rain and all. 

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I had to include this picture in the blog.  Our babysitter got a puppy.  He’s a cute little Cockapoo named Bowey and the kids love to play with him.  I love that they get to enjoy a puppy for a couple hours and I don’t have to keep said puppy to train and care for.  This is kind of like getting to snuggle with someone else’s baby and then give it back so I don’t have to get up all night long with it.  J  Anyway, this picture was too adorable not to share with everyone.

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The little gal doesn’t nap.  She never has been much for napping.  She goes and goes until every now and then she ends up like this.  She lies down on “her” chair and zonks out.  We try and wake her up before she sleeps too long or else her little brain resets and she won’t want to go to bed.  We can tickle her feet, lift up her arm and let it drop, play with her hair, and she won’t wake up.  She hits her sleep wall and she goes into a little hibernation.     

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Gavin is still having a blast with Cub Scouts. 

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These photos are from October’s pack meeting.  They did a team building exercise, made s’mores, and received their awards that they’ve earned thus far.  The meeting was at the shelter house and it was quite dark.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get the photos of him receiving his awards to turn out.  Thank you to everyone who supported his pack by purchasing popcorn.  We are grateful for your help.     

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Gavin recently went to a friend’s birthday party.  He had so much fun playing with his friend’s from school.
Abby was the happy helper at preschool the day of their Halloween parade.

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She actually calls herself a “handy helper” because on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse there are handy helpers who do things around the house. 

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Being the happy helper affords you the benefit of being the first in line when the class goes somewhere.  For example, she got to lead the Halloween parade!

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The little girl standing next to Abby is one of her little buddies at school.  She is always bummed when her friend isn’t there. 

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Last Wednesday we carved our pumpkins.  Etch this into your memory because for the first time in six years Gavin put his hand into a pumpkin and grabbed out the goo on his own. 

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Gavin helped for the majority of the time we carved the pumpkins.

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Abby, not so much help.

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When we were finished, we had a Minion from Despicable Me 2 and a Frankenstein.

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The kids were so excited about trick or treat.  There was quite a hubbub on Halloween because of impending bad weather.  Trick or Treat was moved up by 30 minutes on the front end and shortened by 30 minutes on the back end. 

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Brandon took the kids out while it was still warm and we had a break in the rain.

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They went with Gavin’s friend from down the street.

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The boys had fun collecting their goodies.

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Unfortunately it started pouring before the kids could get back to the house.  They ended up getting a bit wet.  Fun was had by all anyway and we were glad that trick or treat wasn’t pushed to another day
Last weekend the Cub Scouts had their fall campout.  The den meeting was all about getting information for the campout.  Gavin was excited and he wanted to go on the campout so badly.  Their den leader asked the kids what they need to bring to a campout.  All kinds of things were being called out by the kids.  The leader asked about what they should sleep on and what other things they need to bring for bed time.  One answer the kids gave made me remember how young they really are.  The boys wanted to bring their stuffed animals.  They couldn’t seem to imagine a campout without their favorite stuffed animal.  I can’t describe how that moment made me feel.  I always think of Gavin as such a big kid.  He’s so independent and does so many big boy things compared to when he was a baby.  I forget sometimes that he is six.  He’s only six.  The demands we place on kids at home and especially at school are huge.  Sometimes I forget when Gavin can’t do something I’ve asked or gets his feeling hurt even if I think he shouldn’t  be upset that he’s only a six year old little boy.  It was just one of those moments I guess.

Gavin didn’t end up going on the campout.  The weather was cold and wet.  There was a question of what to do with Abby because we figured she probably wouldn’t have much fun.  Brandon had taken the day off so he could take Gav to the campout.  Instead, Brandon created a campout at home.  Wait until you see what he came up with:

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First, we all colored Disney campout coloring pages.

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The kids set up their sleeping bags at the campground.

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Brandon made fish out of paper bags stuffed with newspaper.  We turned their golf clubs into fishing poles and we went fishing!

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Next the kids painted rocks.  We were going to make them into little rock friends but had to wait for the paint to dry so we didn’t get to add the eyes. 

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S’more time!

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Who says you need a campfire to make s’mores?

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We followed some tracks looking for animals after s’mores. 

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Brandon found animal prints online and printed them out.  Each set of tracks led to a different creature.

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I turned on the light so I could get a picture of the big foot tracks up the stairs.  Big foot was located in Gavin’s room!

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We had spooky story time around the campfire!  The kids loved it!  They are still asking Brandon to re-tell the stories from the campfire time.  Brandon created the campfire himself using construction paper and paper towel tubes.  He put some of the flickering LED candles inside to make it glow.   

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Abby took a turn reading a scary story too.  She was adorable.  She memorizes the books we read and then she takes a turn “reading” them to us. 

After stories I went to bed because I had to work in the morning.  Brandon and the kids camped out in the living room and stayed up late watching a movie. 

As you can see we’ve had plenty of fun and kept plenty busy.  We are trying to make the most of what limited time we get to spend together as a family lately. 


Hope you’ve had a great weekend!  Until next time…

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