Claire has arrived!

This week Jack and Will both had hat day. Will's was "crazy hat day"and Jack's was just "hat day" to benefit childhood cancer. Will wore a hat that the bill opened and has teeth and Jack wore a lion hat. I forgot to get pictures. Darren took the boys hunting on Friday morning so they missed school. Will shouldn't have gone because he was not feeling well at all but they had a blast. Darren forgot his camera so I only have the picture I took as they were leaving in the truck.

Olivia spent Friday and half of Saturday with Hannah and I. They had a slumber party and tried sleeping in Hannah's bed which didn't last too long. We also took Olivia to Libby Lu last weekend and she had a good time. The picture of Hannah, I and Olivia is at Libby Lu. We then took Olivia to dance class on Saturday morning and to the airport to greet her mom and new sister, Claire. They made it back safely from China and Claire is beautiful. She seems really happy. We went over to my mom's house after the airport for a lunch and people stopped over to meet Claire. Hannah couldn't get enough of her. She loves babies. Jack and will arrived home this afternoon and we are taking them to see Claire shortly. They are really excited.

Avery & the Slumber Party

Jack wanted to take some pictures with his dog Avery. I opened the garage door the other day, pulled my car in, and found Avery are snuggled up in the jogging stroller. After this picture he was quickly shooed out of it! Since then I have found him in it numerous other times and need to fold it up and put it on a shelf.

As most of you know, Laurie is in China picking up her daughter, Claire and my mom is taking care of Livvy. I have her this weekend and the kids have been looking forward to movies, popcorn and a sleep-over for days now. It is now almost 10pm and I am still trying to get Livvy and Jack to sleep. Hannah is in her bed because she couldn't stay in her sleeping bag and Will was out very quickly like usual. Tomorrow should be interesting since we have to get up and go to church. What do you think the chances are of me getting a great picture of the kids together?

Burnt Waffle & Barnes & Noble

We woke up this morning and everyone was upstairs getting ready for church except Will. He usually needs to eat immediately upon waking up in the morning, so he was downstairs making a waffle. We of course did not know this at the time. So he comes upstairs very calmly and states "mom, my waffle has smoke coming out of it." I thought he just meant it was hot from being in the toaster. I went downstairs and smelled burnt plastic, opened the microwave and there it was, a black charred waffle that had melted the plate. We are very lucky the kitchen did not start on fire. I asked him what number he pressed on the microwave and he said "4", which would mean the waffle cooked for a full 4 minutes!

He was not concerned about the fire he almost started, he was concerned about the state his breakfast was in! He is such a loving little guy and so laid back. We then went over what you do if there is a fire etc.. and continued on our way to church.

I took Jack to the bookstore to meet May Pope Osborn, the author of "The Magic Tree House" books , this afternoon and he had 2 books signed. We waited about an hour and it was so nice to spend time with just Jack. He is such a different child when you are one-on-one with him. He even told me what a great time he had with me and gave me a kiss! He is very into reading right now and sounding out every word he sees. I can only hope that his love of wanting to read continues. I am not a "reader" but I sure am putting in my time reading nightly to the kids. I can skip a page here and there with Will & Hannah but Jack would have me read all night.

Hannah's cast removal

I forgot to mention previously that Hannah received many very nice cards in the mail (thank you! She loved getting mail!)but the one from my aunt Lois was so adorable that I had to post a picture. I have never seen one like it! It is going into the scrapbook.

Hannah had her cast removed the day before Halloween. I didn't tell her before we went because I wasn't sure it was coming off and I also knew that she would cry. We always wait for X-rays in the room right across from the "cast removal" room and we have heard the saw on more than one occasion. I told her what the noise was and explained to her that it is loud but doesn't hurt. Well, they took us straight into that "cast removal" room this time and she went crazy when she realized where we were. I held her as they revved up the saw and I felt terrible for her because she was terrified. I had Will with me and he was so scared that he was laying outside the room with his head covered. There just has to be a better way to get those things off. I was just as worried as Hannah that the saw was going to go a little too deep and hit the arm. Anyway, it came off, the tears eventually dried up and Hannah stopped screaming "leave it on". It was a very dramatic morning! They said that the new bone is filling in great and that we should keep her off of playgrounds and trampolines. I guess they thought I needed a reminder since I did put her up on the counter to begin with. They handed me the cast to keep. I am not sure what to do with it and it is a little weird to have just laying around. I guess I will pack it away until I don't feel guilty about getting rid of it!

Halloween -Cinderella, a Ninja and Spiderman!

The kids were so excited for Halloween this year. Will's school party was first and he dressed up for the whole class period as Spiderman. I told him all morning that he had to take a nap in order to go trick-or-treating. He gave up naps months ago which would be fine if he didn't really need one! He is ready to turn in for the night by 6:30pm he is so tired each day..not to mention very difficult a percentage of the time. Well, Hannah and Will decided that they were not going to take naps on Halloween. Hannah could have gone all night but as you can tell by the pictures, Will didn't even make it off of the front porch for pictures before his first meltdown at about 4:30 pm.

Jack also had a class party and he had a great time. The costume parade was great and some of the costumes were so creative. We headed over to my mom's house for trick-or-treating. The boys and Livvy took off running with Darren to each house while Hannah and I took our time. We didn't need any additional broken bones. Hannah couldn't believe that everyone was giving her so much candy. She decided early on that this was great and she never asked to go home. It was great to get a picture with my mom's neighbor's Paul & Mary. The kids love them and they love seeing the kids.

We had a great night and the kids slept well!

Stickers

If there is one things that the kids love is MAIL. We pick up our mail while driving through on our way home so the first question they ask as we slowly approach the boxes is "did I get any mail?" I then explain to them that unless it is their birthday or they broke their arm recently, that they will not be getting mail.

Grandma Lana sent each of the kids a Halloween card and stickers in the mail last week and since they recently each started a sticker book, this was perfect. They loved every minute of it and here are their masterpieces.

Pumpkin Patch

After what seemed like many torturous weeks of waiting to go to the pumpkin patch, we braved it on the muddiest day of the year. We had good intentions of going a few days before the 3 inches of rain, but it didn't work out. I gave the kids instructions on trying to avoid the mud puddles, water and "to make good choices" in the car for the short 1.5 minute car ride to that patch. We met up with Laurie, Livvy and grandma shortly after arriving and staying for nearly 6 fun-filled hours. I really do mean that. It is an event that I look forward to with the kids every year. There is so much to do for all ages. Just in case you did not notice, Darren did not attend. He was out of town and is not much into it anyway. The kids were sad to leave but all of their requested items to see/do were fulfilled except glow in the dark putt-putt golf. I promised Jack that next year we would go alone together to experience it.