Girl Scout Corn Maze

Megan's Girl Scout troop had an outing today at Kroll's Corn Maze in Waukegan.

Krolls Farm Corn Maze

This day also earns an elusive patch. Our troop was scheduled at 2:00 for a hayride and an adventure in the corn maze. It was a wonderful day, 80 degrees and sunny. Megan brought her friend Hayley and we picked up a fellow trooper, Mary. We met up with 2 other girls from the troop and off to the maze we went. It only took us a little over an hour to complete the maze. I am so glad one of the other girl's parents came with, because if it were up to me to find our way out, I would still be in there. I have no sense of direction, and in the middle of the day I couldn't even follow the sun to help get us out.
They also had a petting zoo, and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. It made me realize I need to crack the whip on the older kiddies to pick out some costumes.

Corn Maze

Girl Scout Campfire

Megan's girl scout troop had a campfire this evening. This little get together earns a patch for her vest. (That makes Daddy happy) :) We met up with all the local girl scout troops at Camp Oakarro at 6 p.m for the girls to toast marshmallows, make s'mores, tell campfire stories and sing songs. Megan knew girls from a few different troops, so the social butterfly floated around from friend to friend.

Tae Kwon Do Daddy

Well, since Bill has been taking Megan to her Tae Kwon Do classes, he has gotten involved in it and has signed up as well. I keep telling him he is going to hurt or pull something. I guess Max, the twins and I are in trouble now, since we don't have any self-defense moves against the two ninjas in the house.

Girl scout registration

Megan and I just signed up for her final year of Brownies (with her as a Brownie and me as a parent helper person thingy). Next year she will be an actual Girl Scout. She is excited about it. Bill is just wondering how many patches she will get this year (they are like Pokemon in our house, he has to catch them all). The troop leader even told me she is waiting on a patch from the Labor Day parade and to tell Bill to relax because it will be there soon. He has become obsessed with filling up her vest with patches.

Max weighs in

Well I figured since Max is 4 1/2 now, I should get him to the doctor for his 4-year-old shots. He was a little concerned about the shots and that they might hurt. He remembered that I had to give myself shots when I was pregnant and that I didn't cry, so he sucked it up and laughed when the nurse gave them to him. The nurse had to ask me if he was laughing or crying. It was comical, I was proud of our big boy! He is 44 inches tall and 44 pounds, that puts him in the 80th percentile for both. I think we have our linebacker.

2 Birthday parties to go to

As the new school year starts off, here come the birthday invites.
Max and Megan were both invited to Jesse's birthday party at the old Zion Ice Arena from 1 to 4. Since there is no longer any ice on the rink, her dad rents a big inflatable jumpy thingy and everyone brings bikes, scooters, bats, balls, and lots of energy.
They also had cotton candy, popcorn, pop, pizza, and ice cream. Keira sampled the cotton candy and I think she thought it was delicious. Connor enjoyed watching all the kids whiz by him in the stroller on their bikes or scooters.

The 2nd party was for a girl in Megan's class, Elaina. This party was at her house and just the girls from class were invited from 4 to 8. When we were driving to her party, you certainly couldn't miss her house. There was a huge inflatable rock climbing wall and a moon walk right in the front yard. In the back yard they had a boxing ring set up with the huge gloves you put on. They had bumper cars set up and guys riding up and down the road on unicycles. Unlimited cotton candy and snow cones for everyone. I was thinking this is a bit much for an 8 year old party, then I found out her dad owns the entertainment company :)
So I dropped her off and she got a ride home with one of the other girl's moms. I know Max was a bit disappointed that he couldnt stay at that party, but I told him that it was going to be all girls there and he might catch cooties.

Golf day

While I was out running around attending birthday parties and hauling my 50 kids around, Bill was spending a nice relaxing (child free) day on the golf course doing some sort of scramble thingy with his dad, Leroy and Todd. They were doing a golf outing for the church. From the sounds of it, I guess they golfed a decent game.

Based on an email Bill just got from his dad, it looks like they won. Each of the foursome won a free round of golf. Wow, the guys really must have carried my Bill on the course :)

A Day at The Farm

We packed up the whole fam and jumped in the van with Mingma & Papa and away we went at 6:00am on our way to Indiana. We spent most of the day visiting with out of town relatives. We all walked over to a local restaurant and had some lunch. Well, most of us had lunch; they never did bring Bill's dad his lunch until it was time to leave. They claimed they couldn't fit his chicken in the broaster with everyone else's. After lunch, we went back to Aunt Wiletta's house to spend time with Ron, Jen, Shannon and Riley that were here from Florida.

After visiting time was over, we drove on over to the farm for Mingma to plant flowers. We noticed the chestnut trees were showering nuts on the ground, so the kids and I gathered buckets, gloves and sticks to collect them. There was a little blood shed, but it didn't stop anyone from picking them up. For those who have never picked them, they are encased in a very spikey shell.

When we were done picking, it was time to eat and hit the road home. All the kids passed out and slept most of the ride home. The twins woke up a couple of times, but went back to sleep. They traveled quite well. Max and Megan were watching a movie, passed out and never regained consciousness until we got home.
Here are some pics.

Day at the farm (clicky picky)

Open Gym Night at OLH

I didn't know what to expect volunteering for the first school funtion of the year, but it really wasn't too bad. I took on the kitchen duty, while Megan played with her friends in the gym. She spent most of the time on one of the little butt scooters or running around like a freak. My time was spent selling pizza, pop and popsicles to the starving group. They do this function every month for the kids to burn off some steam after hours. They break it down into two sessions: PK-4th and 5th-8th, so the big kids dont trample the youngins. There were no incidents, fights or problems; everyone had a great time.

6 month checkup

It's so hard to believe that the twins will be 6 months old tomorrow. Where did the time go? Connor is trying to be mobile and Keira is so good at being cute and possibly just a tad bit spoiled at times. Definitely a daddy's girl.

They went to the doctor today for their official weigh-ins.

Keira - 15 lbs 15 oz and 25 1/2 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for both.

Connor - 14 lbs 9 oz and 25 3/4 inches long. He is in the 5th percentile for weight and the 25th percentile for height.

They are both doing excellent for their age frame.

It won't be long

The past couple of days Connor has been showing us that he has lots of interest in crawling. He actually can get his knees going for a couple of strides, then he collapses. Look out pets, here comes Connor.

Maxisms

Today I asked Max if he gave his picture money to his teacher. He in turn told me "My teacher wasn't there today, she had a Daycation."

It seems like it was just yesterday, he was telling me that he needed me to roll up his "feetsleeves" (pant legs)

Or when it was looking like it was going to storm, we needed to get our "rainbrellas"

Or every night when the sun is going down and its not quite dark yet, it's "bluedark."

He is full of them. The hits just keep on coming.

Laid back weekend

I think this is the first weekend in quite a while, that we did just about absolutely nothing. Nowhere we had to be, had to go, wanted to go, or needed to go. I wasn't sure how to handle it:) I kept thinking I was forgetting something.

It gave us some time to get things adjusted at home. We put up a 2nd crib in the twins' room, since they no longer can sleep with each other without Wrestlemania breaking out. We finally got our entertainment center put back together and back in our bedroom, now that the crib is gone. I missed playing Xbox from the comforts of our bed. Maybe next time this kind of weekend comes up, I'll clean. :P

Welcome Baby Matthew!

Congratulations are in order for Bill's cousin Lori and her husband Tom. They are the proud new owners of one baby boy, Matthew Thomas. He was born at 12:00 a.m. today and came out a 9 pounder. He already has a good start at catching up to Connor.
Congrats also go out to the beaming new grandparents too!!

Happy First Birthday Maddie!!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!! We all wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We love you and miss you!! Happy 1st Birthday!!

First FSA meeting

I attended the first FSA (PTO) meeting at Our Lady tonight and I couldn't believe we actually had 14 people show up. This is quite a change from the past couple years at Beulah Park, when it was just the 4 officers and the principal. I just see so much more dedication with these parents and I am glad to be a part of it. I now have to juggle my time between school thingies, twin thingies, work, and whatever else is thrown at me. A mom's work is never done...

I see you

I think Connor has figured out how to be cute :)

Tae Kwon Do Girlie

Megan officially started Tae Kwon Do this evening.
She came home practicing her new moves on Max. I am not sure if I should be concerned about that or not. It certainly won't hurt her learning a little self-defense.

When are you too old to stay out all night?

I think that is the question Bill was asking himself this morning/afternoon.

After another round of neighborly bean bags, I think the recycler man is going to wonder why so many empty bottles, cans, misc... were in our container this week.

I really dont think he would question it, there are still more baby food jars than the other stuff in there. That is a good enough excuse right there :)

I think it was sometime after 3 am when we finally went indoors. I am still not sure how he got up for Church at 7:30, but he managed. He also manged a 3 hour nap in the afternoon.

How is he going to contend for the championship bean bag competition this weekend?

Waukegan Air Show

Max, Daddy, Papa and Leroy all went to the Waukegan Air Show to enjoy some aerobatics by some old war planes. I guess they also got to see "a bathroom with an engine behind it" as Max stated to me.

Max's First Day of Kindergarten Kapers

Today was Max's first day of Kindergarten Kapers (Pre-K) at the Zion Park District. He has a new teacher this year and only one of the girls from his class last year is in this class. I asked him what they did today and he told me that he couldn't remember. Must have been fun :) Once I drilled him for information, I found out they colored, cut things and played. Next year at this time, he will be in the real deal Kindergarten. Time sure flies by.

Ooh...Shiny

Ooooh...Shiny

Connor just loves this thing. He just stares at it and his eyes get so big. Keira would rather just try eating it.

BBQ

After the parade, we came home and lit all the citronella candles, torches, and PIC burners we could find and layered the whole family in about 10 coats of Off. We fired up the grill and had Rob, Laura and their kids and Kareen, Bryan and their kids over for dinner. Everybody brought a dish and we all had a good time. Everyone ate too much and the kids were all happy to play with each other. Max loves it when Timmy and Zach come over to play. There aren't very many boys in our neighborhood, so when they come over, he is always so excited. Keira and Connor spent most of the time inside, so the bugs wouldn't carry them away. As you can see Keira was showing her big blue eyes in this shot.

Bryan is our Mr. Fixit, so he earned his meal by putting a new light in Megan's new room. He thought this job was pretty easy, so I guess next time I need to make his jobs a little harder to earn a good meal :)

Labor Day

We battled the mosquitoes in 85 degree weather at 1:00 in the afternoon (which is just about unheard of around here) to watch Megan march in the Labor Day parade with her Girl Scout troop. She was throwing candy as she rolled on by in her Heeleys. The Zion Labor Day parade is the biggest one in the state of Illinois. They claimed over 10,000 spectators attended this year and there were over 100 different entries in the parade. I think the first entry in the parade should have been a mosquito fogger.

Labor Day Parade

Room shifting

Well now that the twins are getting bigger and really can no longer share a crib effectively, we decided to move them out of our room and into Megan's room. Megan has moved on to the basement. She always enjoyed sleeping down there on my days off because it's quiet and it's usually a "Max Free" zone. (I am sure it has nothing to do with the big screen TV) We moved her bed and some of her stuff down there and I think she will enjoy it. When her friends come to play, she always goes downstairs anyway. She is just getting all grown up and already asking for a phone line, a cell phone, an email address, etc...

The real kicker that made me feel old was when we went shopping earlier in the day, she bought a Tiger Beat magazine, so she can hang the posters on her walls.

The twins moved into their own room and so far are sleeping in a crib and the Pack 'n' Play. Connor doesn't seem to mind the Pack 'n' Play yet, but we are going to get him a big crib too, so he doesn't start thinking his sister gets preferential treatment (even though she is a princess).

Amusing

I found it amusing today that Connor is already starting to aggravate his big sister Keira.

They were both playing and rolling around the living room floor, Keira started crying so I put her pacifier in her mouth. Connor rolled over to check her out, reached over and stole her pacifier out of her mouth. He then proceeded to put it in his mouth as she lay there screaming. It starts already, I can hardly wait :)