Busy, busy day!

Friday was a busy day! The kids both woke up at 5AM!! We had gymnastics in the morning where they ran themselves ragged. We got back home just in time to meet Julie and she took them to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, where they played again for quite a while.

When they got home it was just about time to leave for the water park!

Poor kids...it may be a long weekend.

Movie Day!

Well, today I got up (not near as early as I usually do with Melissa!) to go do some shopping. We got several things for the kids and something for Danny as well as some cute decorations.

This afternoon we took the kids to see their first movie at the theater...Madagascar 2!

It went perfectly for the first 45 mins or so, we had food and entertainment. But we ran out of popcorn and Caitlin was MAAAD! So I took her out to walk a bit and we decided to get a box of Raisinets (which are my new favorite treat!). We went back in and got her all settled and then Evan decided it wasn't good enough to have a handful of Raisinets, he needed the WHOLE box (he'd already had one mostly to himself and shared our popcorn)! When Danny told him he couldn't have the whole box he just fell apart and they had to leave.

After a few minutes, Caitie threw her drink on the floor and the guys had still not returned so we just threw in the towel and left (minus a sippy cup and a binkie - I didn't have enough hands to carry all of that plus my drink and Caitlin (who didn't want to be carried!).

It was fun, but we learned a valuable lesson...don't take the kids to the theater in the afternoon when they haven't had a nap!

This evening we watched Polar Express and had hot chocolate and tomorrow we are going to put up the Christmas Tree!

Yeah :)

Drumroll Please...

I forgot to tell everyone the most exciting news in our little household...

Evan is BINKY-FREE! Yes, you read that correctly. No More BINKIES!

It was such a non-event that it slipped my mind completely.

Next time you talk to him...make a BIG deal :)

Our First Family Hike

Today, we bit the bullet and took the kids hiking. I'd really been avoiding it because I thought it was going to be a disaster but Danny found our nice carrier backpack (actually meant for hiking) that we've basically NEVER used and we decided to venture out to Usery Mountain.

We left around 8:30 this morning and were on the trail by 9:20 (you know everything takes twice as long when you have kids :)

Tracy and a friend of hers decided to take the hike, too, so we have lots of great photos of all 4 of us!

We took the trail just halfway up, to Wind Cave. Evan hiked all by himself only needing a hand a couple of times. He actually stopped several times to "help" Mom and Aunt Tracy.

Everyone we passed mentioned what a big boy he was and how good he was doing.

We climbed 1.5 miles up, to 2,800 ft elevation (only an 800 foot gain)... it's very pretty up there.

At the trailhead...

On top of the world!

Climbing, climbing, climbing...

At Wind Cave...

Danny and Caitie coming down

Caitlin seemed to really enjoy the hike. Our typically noisy girl didn't make a peep all the way up and fell asleep on the way down!

We toyed with trying for the summit but it's a good thing we decided to let well enough alone because Evan was VERY tired and fell apart on the way back down. He's a TROOPER! We came across the park ranger and when he heard Evan climbed all the way to the cave he gave him a Jr. Park Ranger badge!

Halloween

We did actually find the Halloween pictures...

Couldn't manage to get Evan with his eyes open but they are still cute!

Tracy was an escapee from the asylum...she looks a little scary here! She and Evan are actually standing right in front of our house here. They had just hopped over to the neighbor's for some candy and were coming back to start some serious candy hunting!

And, just a few minutes later Caitlin was already tired of the whole thing! It was 80 and she was in a thick kitty costume...hot, hot, hot!

I wrapped up little chocolates with my business card and gave them out at each of the houses we visited. People didn't really know what to make of that!

The Cute Kitty and the Brave Fireman!

And that's about all you will know about Halloween because I can't find the pictures we took for some reason :(

Hopefully it's just a momentary loss...they were so adorable!

A Little Game of Hide-n-Scream!

Climbing and Cruising

Video of Evan and Caitie at the park on Monday. You can hear all of the kids in the background! We have been going to this park since we got to town and now that the weather is cooler there are dozens of kids here on any given day!

All the other stuff!

Well, we've been going to two bible studies for the past month and really love it. There are kids Evan's age at both and Caitlin gets a day with her 'friends' too.

The first bible study is for Mom's only, two wonderfully nice women take care of the kids while we get an hour and a half to chat and discuss our study for the week. The next session is MONEY...

The second bible study is just for the kids. It's at one of the Pastor's homes (his wife coordinates and leads it). We sing and tell them bible stories and they get to play and have a snack!

I am in the midst of the new member class at Christ's Greenfield Lutheran in Gilbert. We really like this church and I was happy to find such an easy fit without so much work! It helps of course that we just moved from one LCMS church to another but we really 'fit' here! I'm getting involved in several of the groups and events coming up over the next few months and Evan started Sunday School. They start taking them at 3 and I was sure he'd be 5 before he'd go. Despite the tears at first, he seemed to enjoy it though. We'll cross our fingers for this week!

Evan is having fun with preschool at home! We have been doing some projects that I hope to have posted over at Adventures In Preschooling later this week. He's learned a LOT about pumpkins and apples this month.

We are planning to go camping over Halloween weekend! Probably in cabins up in Williams - just west of Flagstaff. Yes, it will be downright COLD! We'll keep you updated on that crazy plan.

We are also planning our trip back to KC for the week after Thanksgiving and we'll be there for about 3 weeks.

Yeah!!!

Caitlin Takes Evan for a RIDE!

If you watch closely you can see that Caitlin is the one controlling the movement of the tractor...Evan is at her mercy!

...here's what you missed

Our computer was broken you know...All the while we were just saving up all these great pictures.

Okay, take a deep breath and dive in!

Two weeks of our life in 5 minutes or less :)

Geocaching at the Riparian Preserve

Fountain Hills - Evan's birthday was spent here riding bikes, having a picnic and playing in the spraygrounds!

The pizza place...Buono's

Birthday presents from Grandma, Papa, Nicki and Tyler! He LOVES the books and the puzzle!

 

Proof that we ride our bikes even when it's 100 degrees! This was a 3.5 mile one-way trip from our house to the coolest park on the planet! Tumbleweed

Boys being...well, boys!

Another trip to the Riparian Preserve (read the sign Evan is standing by)

Feeding Getting bit by ducks...

Notice Evan's attire...this is very typical! He's either a "fixer guy" or a "fireman guy", depends on the day.

A gift from Aunt Connie. I actually think Evan wears them more than Caitlin!

So, remember that sweet, quiet little thing that used to be our daughter? She's still sweet but replace quiet with VERY loud, goofy and a definite attitude sense of who she is and what she wants and you've got the new and improved version of our little Caitie-bug!

Uh...where's the audio???

And...we're done!                      

Happy 3rd Birthday Evan!

Oh, we did so much for Evan's birthday already and it's still one day away!



I'm at Danny's office using his computer before the guys head to the Arizona Diamondbacks game this afternoon so I'm a little short on time but I wanted to post up some photos of our weekend so far.



We still have his cake to eat and family presents to open tomorrow afternoon!


Starting Friday, we have celebrated all weekend! We went to the Arizona Children's Museum (I'll post these later since they are on a different memory card and I'm running out of time FAST!


Here are some photos of him opening presents Saturday morning. After this we headed off to Fountain Hills (about 40 mins northeast) to see the world's tallest fountain, have a picnic lunch and let him ride around the lake!

The kids also played in the spraypad but I'll put thos pictures up in a separate post!

After a much needed nap, we went to have dinner at Buono's pizza! It's a tiny little place but it was a lot of fun and the pizza is awesome!! Evan has NO FEAR of spicy foods - which he absolutely gets from Danny...he ate 4 or 5 jalapenos while we were waiting for dinner and didn't even bat an eye. He was so quick I barely got photos!

Changes in our plans for the fall!

After MUCH consideration, three in-person visits and a whole lot of back and forth (not to mention several thousand prayers asking for help in making the best decision) we have decided NOT to enroll Evan in preschool this fall but rather do it at home!

Thanks to my lovely friend (and BeCentsAble partner) Chrissy, who used to be a preschool teacher, we have lesson plans for the full school year and best of all...we will be tracking his (and April's) progress at Adventures in Preschooling!

We (Chrissy and I) have discussed MANY times how there is so much we can do for our families if only the resources were easier to track down! So, viola! We are providing this resource for everyone! You'll notice a lot of the conversation is directed to other stay-at-home moms who might want to do this but just don't know where to start.

For you, our family and friends, we will also have pictures of the kiddos and some progress reports!

Now, since we won't be spending all that money on preschool, we're planning to enroll the kids in Gymboree! More on that next week!

Evan and Caitlins Geocoins

Here are some pictures of where the kids geocoins are currently located. If you do not know what a geocoin is you can google it or go to geocaching.com.

Here is a picture of Winterhausen Germany (above) where Evan's coin is located. And Caitlin's coin is located in Smithfield, VA (below).

Moving Right Along...

It's Tuesday, library day here and chicken enchilada night!

Here are some pictures of the kids playing over the weekend and yesterday...

Evan had a ball (okay I did too!) playing with the liquid chalk I made (who knew it was so easy!)

We're running on steam (and caffeine)

Apples to Zebras and Kindermusik

Late last week Evan started getting himself all dressed and ready to go with his backpack and shoes and a hat even and telling me he was going to pre-school! We talked about it for a few days and decided to enroll him in a program this fall since he'll be 3 soon and we need to meet some other families around here.

All the churches were either too expensive or full so I figured we'd just have to skip it. On, Tuesday I ran into one of the mom's in Mom's Club here and she mentioned that her son was attending the city's program Apples to Zebras and that it was really good. I checked into it and although they were almost full, we were able to get Evan a spot. He misses the age cutoff by 7 days but they made an exception and enrolled him.

We are really excited because it works so much better with our schedule than Learning Ladder did in Missouri. He'll go from 9-11am MWF so it won't interfere with afternoon nap for him or Caitie and since it's only 2 hours I think he'll have less anxiety about it each day. They take the kids on weekly trips to the library since it shares a courtyard with the Community Center. They also run in 6 week sessions so if he really doesn't like it we just won't re-enroll him after Christmas.

Since Caitlin LOVES music so much and Evan will be occupied three days a week I enrolled her in Kindermusik. It's held in the same location as the pre-school so I don't have to run around town! This class is also offered by the city of Chandler. They do a really good job with their Parks and Rec funding here! The parks and trails are all in perfect condition, clean, well lit, safe...they offer tons of programs for families and most important children. We received the city's fall guide and there were 8 pages of offerings for the pre-school age group! We were in shock!

Croup, NO SLEEP (and my solution for that!)

Thursday afternoon when I was putting Evan down for his nap he said "Mom, I need medicine for my cold". Of course, being Mom I told him we'd talk about it when he woke up (assuming he just wanted medicine - he had even sneezed!). After nap he came to the kitchen and the first thing out of his mouth, in the most serious voice an almost 3 year old can have, he said "Mom, I want to talk about my cold now". I couldn't help but laugh...still no cold symptoms. So I asked him why he thought he had a cold and he said his throat hurt. I told him I'd call the doctor and we'd see how he felt later.

Now, you know Evan is pretty smart and aware of things going on around him and apparently IN him too! By bedtime that night he was stuffy, complaining of a headache and had a runny nose. By midnight he was coughing and didn't sleep much until 4am (then just for a few hours). He wasn't running a fever and in the morning, seemed to feel fine so I assumed it was just a summer cold.

My brilliant idea for getting us through the day yesterday was a trip to the park and a picnic lunch. The park is AMAZING! It's called 'Playtopia' and it really is a child's utopia! it's only about a mile away from our house...I can't possibly explain it so we took some photos...

Having a great time.

Where's the fire? This is a cool little area for trikes and bikes. It has speed limit signs, stop signs, parking spaces and so on. Why didn't they have this stuff when I was a kid?

The pictures don't do the park justice. It's a large park so we only took pictures of some of the playtopia playground. What's also nice about this park is that the bike trail by our house goes right to the park and it's a quick ride.

Evan was great all morning but started coughing again at nap time. He didn't sleep much for nap and I noticed his cough was starting to sound strange...a deep, hacking, harsh cough. Last night he got worse and I could definitely hear the bark in his cough. He didn't sleep much again and woke up at 6am this morning with a 101 fever.

I've had two cups of coffee already today (it's only 7:40am) and need to go buy some more this afternoon because I'm pretty sure Caitie will be sick in a day or two and I haven't slept for three nights!

Just so I (Danny) don't look like a bad guy. Kristin is taking a nap right now while I watch the kids. And no I'm not just playing on the computer. Actually I think I'm done here as my KC Chiefs are playing the Arizona Cardinals in about two minutes. GO CHIEFS!!