Soccer Days

Evan really loved his soccer team and the season!  I know he is sad that practice and games are over for the moment, but he is also VERY excited about playing basketball and baseball in the coming months!

 I finally (sort of) got a goal in a picture!  Every time he scored, I would get so distracted cheering for him, that I would completely forget to take pictures

 going after it!

 and, what the season is really about...the trophy!!!

 he is kind of obsessed with his soccer trophies : )

 gracie spends her time at the games playing on the bleachers...

 practicing her skills...

 and, of course, hanging out with big brother every time he gets a break from the game

Halloween Shirts - Photo Attempts

I might consider it my life mission to get a really good picture of my kids together. About once every few months, I am mildly successful.  As of now, October is not a month of really good pictures of the two of them! 

 Take 1. Gracie is naked (she is always naked...side effect of using the potty for both my kids.  for some reason once the clothes come off to use the potty it takes YEARS to remember to put them back on!) and both have food on their faces!

 Getting better...evan is encouraging gracie to smile.  that part was a success. he totally gets that if they smile and play nice the crazy mom will leave him alone.  but, he was a little too focused on ensuring that gracie smiled that he forgot to look at the camera!

this was their show me your afraid faces

California - Post 5 Travel Day!

After one week of sharing her toys, I think Zoe was kind of happy but a little sad to see us leaving!  I know my kids were sad to say goodbye, but they were also missing their Daddy!  

 gracie played so much that she did something she rarely if ever does..sleep in the CAR!  She took one nap after a long morning chasing waves on the beach, and she actually fell asleep on the way to the airport.

 on the plane!!!  we flew through vegas this time, so instead of having to flights around 2.5 hours, we had one just over 1 hour and one 3.5 hour flight.  The first flight passed quickly for all of us!

 traveling with e was like traveling with an adult!  he was very content to entertain himself with everything in his backpack.  

the flight from vegas was LONG!!  after 1.5 hours, i let them break out the iPads (first time they touched them on any of the flights!!!).  Gracie was distracted for about 30 minutes.  E watched a movie and was good to go for the rest of the flight!  Our only hiccup after over 11 hours of flying was completely my fault.  When we were finishing our descent (15 minutes left in flying), I asked Gracie, excitedly, if she was ready to go.  Her poor, sleep deprived mind thought I was asking her if she was ready to get off the plane.  She tried to remove her seat belt an that was all she wrote!  15 minutes of struggling with her to get her in her seat belt...along with off and on tantrums was quite lovely, but 15 minutes out of over 11 hours is still amazing!  And, I have no doubt that if I had not had confused her, we would have made the entire trip without a single hiccup.  SO, I am proud to say that I survived flying to Cali and back with two kids all by myself!  

California Post 4 - Pumpkins!!

While in California, we made it to a pumpkin patch!  Pumpkin patches are a little different in the Midwest, but the kids loved the pulling around wagons and loading them up with plenty of pumpkins.  AND, all of them handled it quite well when I told them that we were only buying one pumpkin for each of them instead of a wagon full!

the tractor was a big hit!  zoe recognized it for a great photo op and requested that plenty of picture be taken

evan really wanted to try to take it for a spin

instead of carving the pumpkins, kate and i opted to let them go after it with paint.  evan painted his pumpkin all green (his favorite color)

zoe's pumpkin was lovely shades of blue (her favorite color)

and, gracie boycotted and painted hers all different colors because her favorite color (pink) wasn't an option

they worked up quite the appetite painting their pumpkins

cousin snuggle time!  emma was ready for mommy snuggle time/bedtime, so she was a little less than enthusiastic about being tossed into the middle of the wild ones.

Cali Post 3

another day means more beautiful weather and another park in california!  i think this might have been our 4th day in Cali.  On our 3rd day, Zoe had to hang with Evan, Gracie and I while Kate took Emma to a Dr appt and Brian headed back to work.  Zoe wasn't thrilled with being left by Daddy, so we asked her about her favorite park.  I asked if she walked or rode in the stroller to the park.  She said we walked and the babies rode in the stroller.  She tried to put her and Gracie's baby doll in the big stroller, so I thought she meant she walked and sometimes she pushed her baby in the baby stroller.  SOOOO...we walked (no strollers), and Zoe (who is 3) led us to the park.  I had no idea where this park was and thought at the very least we would have a nice walk to kill some time while waiting for Kate.  But, every handful of minutes when i asked Zoe if she was sure she knew where the park was, she assured me that she did.  We kept walking and after what felt like just shy of an hour, I discovered she really had led me straight to a playground.  Yes, I am 30, and yes, I let a 3 year old give me directions.

 evan rocked the monkey bars!

 slides are always fun.   but, sliding side by side with your cousins is so much better!

so far all the girl grandkids have been obsessed with their shades.  zoe went through a phase and gracie is currently going through her phase.  emma really liked trying gracie's shades on, so it looks like she might be starting her shades phase! 

 while they were waiting on lunch, the kids played with scarves.  gracie was a gypsy

 e also wanted a scarf around his head

which meant zoe needed one on her head...and then it was time for a prom posed pic!

Cali Post 2

On the 2nd Day in California, we packed up and headed to Gilroy Gardens (think Disney World minus all the characters).  All of the kids LOVED every single second at this amusement park.  Well, Gracie didn't love the last handful of seconds we were there because she was crashing from no nap...and this caused her to be a little reckless on a pint sized  carousel.  The crazy lady behavior forced me to pull her from the ride...while all the other parents stared at us.  At one point in her tired induced  crazy lady behavior, she may have smacked her head on the pole of the horse she was hanging off of.  This led to about a half dozen simultaneous gasps from the same parents staring at us.  She also seems to have the titanium skull her brother has because it didn't phase her (or slow the onset of her crazy lady tantrum) one bit!

 riding on the "teacups"...see I told you it was just like Disney!!!  Kate and I may have peed our pants a little bit watching this ride.  Zoe, is a pro teacup rider.  My kids were novices.  So, when the ride started moving, note Zoe's position and notice the arm-bracing, death grip holds that BOTH E and G are sporting.  The good news is that all 3 kids giggled the entire time and no one threw up!  Kate waited until AFTER we got them locked in and we were behind the safety area to tell me Zoe made 3 girls cry the last time she was on this ride.

 I guess "say cheese" means different things in California because when I said it to Zoe, this is what she gave me!

This could be Gracie taking it all in, OR it could be her saying to herself, "I will not close my eyes, I will not fall asleep, I will not close my eyes..." 

 This guy was definitely taking it all in!!!

 Evan really wanted to walk and hold hands with Emma...unfortunately, his speed wasn't really on pace with the little peanut's tiny little legs!

so, he settled for just holding hands with gracie and they walked hand in hand all the way to our lunch spot ; )!  I knew that they would love each other eventually...and to permanently capture the image, i took several dozen pictures. 

evan waited ALL day to ride the fish ride! 

gracie rode it with him, and this is what she did the whole time.  future roller coaster fan.

Travel to California and California Day 1

You know those moms who seem like they have everything together?  You see them out and they look perfect, and their kids are perfect angels?  Some of the time that's us...well, the kids are perfect angels part.  I usually fall somewhat of short of the looking perfect part : ).  BUT, there is a significant number of time when we are out and about that we represent the other moms and kids.   The frazzled in public mom with the kids that could be body doubles for wild animals.  The mom that has to constantly chase her kids around the store because they won't stand by her.  The mom whose kids are constantly standing up in the cart regardless how many times that mom tells them to sit down.  OR, my personal favorite, the mom that abandons a shopping mission within the first few minutes because the children (whom she has never seen before) are pulling each other's hair and screaming at each other.  SO, knowing that this is what my kids act like on occasion,  I still had a good enough day to feel confident enough to book a flight for the kids and I to California.  Of course, in the week prior to the big trip, my kids could not find a single thing to agree upon and bickering was at an all time high!  But, after arriving at the airport a little early, running off some nervous energy, and saying good bye to Daddy, we were on our way! 

Both kids LOVED watching the planes come in.. 

 

checking out their new goodies...i packed both kids a backpack of brand new, never seen before, toys!  neither child was allowed to look in their backpacks until the plane was off the ground.  The anticipation nearly destroyed Evan, but it was worth it, both kids tore into their bags and played happily the ENTIRE flight to Denver.  Not one peep, not one tantrum, not one kick to the seat in front of them and not one seat belt struggle.  AND, NOT ONE fight with each other..It was amazing.

For a long time before the trip, I spoke with  both kids about how the first flight was for playing and the second flight was for sleeping.  We took off on the first flight right around Gracie's bedtime, and we took off on the second flight a little past her bedtime and right at E's bedtime (CA time).  Both kids listened and after a quick book to both, E was fast asleep.  Gracie needed a few songs before she was able to call it quits, but both kids slept the entire flight from Denver to CA.  This was the picture that I took when I realized I didn't leave room for me to sit : ).  No problem though, they were both so tired, neither noticed when I picked up their legs and sat in between them!  

We picked a great time to go to California!  It was gorgeous every single day.  In Indiana...it rained the entire time.  Our first day, we headed straight to the beach.

Zoe chased a few waves...

all the kids loved the big hill that they could run up and down.

pure concentration on catching those waves

kate was way more brave than me.  i stayed clear of the ice cold water and let her take the wave chasing lead with the kiddos!

Playing in the New Neighborhood!

Gracie is crazy about all things babies.  She spends most of her day caring for her babies...changing their diapers, shushing them (and shushing others when her babies are trying to sleep), feeding them reading to them and of course taking them on plenty of wagon and stroller rides

 

and what do you do when your children can't agree on anything and all they want to do is pick fights with each other???  find the biggest cardboard box in your house and put it outside with all of your crayons and markers.  apparently, this will also draw about a half dozen neighborhood kids to your house within seconds.  

one of the biggest perks about moving to indy was being close to a  lot of our college friends.  the kids and i have managed to have almost weekly playdates!  evan was trying to bounce the little girls

and, i guess my weight balances the weight of 3 small children?

Moving Day and Soccer Starts!

Evan's first day of preschool also happened to be the day that we moved into our new house!  So, he left for school from the apartment, and he came home from school to the new house!  The discovery of old things was almost as cool as checking out the giant truck that they were stored in!

 and, our little sports fanatic started his 2nd year of soccer.  his skill level has increased tremendously since his first year on a team last year!

 they play 3 on 3 with no goalie in this league, but evan definitely keeps track of his goals!

 and, he is the king of the break away.  he definitely developed some speed over the past year, and he loves waiting for the right moment when he can attack the ball and fly past everyone towards the goal.  unfortunately, sometimes, he gets going just a bit too fast and ends up kicking the ball just outside the goal.