Fall Activities and Bradley Lost His First Tooth!

We had a cold but clear day a couple weeks ago and because I am a far better parent when my children are outside, we bundled up and played in the driveway.

Can you handle these cute faces?

Patrick still doesn't think shoes are necessary, even when it's cold out. I don't remember why he is upset in this picture, I think Bradley had said he couldn't be Pikachu and that was tough news.

Our new church has a children's Christmas program and I am so excited about it. I was asking Eleanor about the songs they were learning and we discussed how you had to wait until 3rd grade to have a speaking role. She said, "Maybe I could be Mary! ... but I wouldn't want to be naked." I took a pause and then asked her why she would be naked. She said, "Because they're the first people?" It took me a second and then I asked, "Do you mean Adam and Eve? Different story." She was relieved no one would have to be naked, I was relieved to have it cleared up, and I think it's very good they're going to be focusing on the specifics of the first Christmas at church for the next while.

Bradley got to be Star of the Week in his 1st grade class and enjoyed the experience thoroughly. Here he is with the giant sign he got to decorate and fill with information about himself.

Bradley made the mistake of complaining about having to change from his comfortable sweatpants into uncomfortable khaki pants for church (they still have an elastic waistband for the record) and I filled him in on some of the history of women and what they have to do for fashion and beauty. He thought it was hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing, maybe I shouldn't have been mock yelling at him as I told him about foot bindings and corsets.

Patrick and I have mock yelling exchanges on a regular basis these days and we both find it hilarious. Usually it starts with him being super crabby about something and yelling at me that he just wants to cuddle with me. Then I yell back in a crabby voice, "Good! I just want to cuddle with you too!" That usually makes him perk up and get a little smile on his face so I continue to crabby yell things like "I just love you so much" and "I want to cuddle with you forever!" and that gets him out of his funk. Nathan worries about my parenting at times, but I figure as long as I'm enjoying myself and only pretend yelling at the kids then I'm doing okay.

We made our annual trek to the Louisburg Cider Mill one very chilly and muddy day.

Fortunately we all had such a fun time we didn't mind the cold.

This is a corn pit - kind of like a sand pit, but with kernels of corn. We were fans.

Cool spider web rope nearby.

I made a trek over to the main building to retrieve hot cider and donuts for our crew. I don't want to share how many donuts we got, just let it be known that we finished all of them and each person had at least three.

Eleanor made some friends so we hung out at the corn pit together while the boys tackled the corn maze!

I'm told it was very muddy and very cuddly. I think I'm going to frame this picture. Nathan gets so many good husband and father points for taking pictures like this.

Eleanor found a game of corn hole to play (everything is very themed at the cider mill).

And then the air pillow was finally inflated and the kids spent maybe an hour jumping around on it and sliding down the sides and climbing back up.

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I'm really happy that we're having another child so I can stick her in photos like this. No child wished to be the pumpkin so that got to be my spot.

And that afternoon we went to the Brewfest at the Arboretum with grown-up friends! So much outside time on a beautiful fall day!

The men were classy. And it was only a little embarrassing to go to a beer themed event while visibly pregnant, I didn't even have a sip of beer while I was there so Nathan had to use my taster glass and get double samples of all the beer. It was tough for him but he stuck it out like the champion he is.

Cute couple picture. This is our third year we've gone to the Brewfest, we enjoy it a lot.

We recently found a bunch of pictures from Aunt Abby's wedding last year. I can't believe how cute these kids were in their wedding attire.

Nathan loves his siblings and they love him back.

I can't believe how adorable Eleanor was as a flower girl. She was so tiny and so so happy to be in such an important role.

It was freezing outside for the group pictures, perhaps if you look at Eleanor and Patrick in this photo you can figure that out.

Cute flower girls with the bride.

Family photo. Is it subtle that Nathan held a potted plant in front of Eleanor because her dress was so short? She was wearing little shorts underneath and we saw a lot of them over the course of the evening.

We thought we had taken care of Eleanor's inclinations towards graffiti after the bench incident but then we found crayon on the front window and we had to get a little more serious about monitoring her artistic endeavors for a while. What 5 year old does this? I wouldn't exactly call her repentant but she at least knows it's not allowed now and she gets in a fair bit of trouble if her "alternative art projects" are discovered.

Fortunately, no matter how much trouble she gets in she always has an adoring little brother following her around and pretending to be her puppy if that's what makes her happy.

Patrick is our little baker buddy and comes running into the kitchen whenever he hears the mixer going. Imagine his delight when he was over at Grandma and Grandpa's house and he found out that Grandma has a mixer too! The fact that she was making cornbread instead of cookies was a bit of a disappointment but we must all make allowances from time to time.

Fortunately, I had banana bread baking plans for later that day and Patrick was a great help.

We went back to our favorite donut place with friends and Patrick was a maniac running around in cold weather in shorts and a tshirt.

I credited this to his meltdown followed by nap on the couch when we got home. But it turns out that he may have been in the beginning stages of fighting a case of croup.

As all people do when they have a tired child, we took Patrick and his brother and sister to the rather impressive fall festival at my parents' neighborhood. How about these cute matching Pikachus?

Eleanor was in her fairy costume and got fairy eye face painting and she loved it so much.

They had a cute tractor ride around the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Patrick became a tiger.

He was super scary and had a great roar.

Meanwhile, Bradley became a pumpkin.

The face painting was a big hit. Too bad we had family pictures scheduled for the next morning and had to wash it all off about two hours after these photos were taken ...

We took the boys on the tractor ride too.

And I'm pretty proud of getting a picture of the kids with my parents in front of their lake. It was a beautiful evening.

Eleanor was understandably emotionally scarred to have to remove fairy face paint so Nathan took a picture for her to remember it by before we had to scrub it off in the shower.

The next morning we did our family pictures early so Bradley could make it to a Down Syndrome event and Walk with Wil, his buddy from school and a fellow cub scout.

He had a blast, if you bring bouncy houses and fire trucks to anything you're basically assured of a successful event.

Meanwhile, Patrick and Eleanor played with hand-me-down toys brought over by our neighbors.

And this happened. A typical Saturday morning.

Patrick seemed extra tired at naptime. I thought nothing of it. My children all have good appetites and still run around like maniacs while they are sick, they're generally just a little crabbier than usual.

 And look at how cute this is! Sometimes tired just means cuddly.

But so tired.

We carved our pumpkins early because we were trying to prepare for a weekend away in St. Louis.

Eleanor carved a kitty pumpkin, Patrick did a monster, and Bradley made a pikachu.

And then, when we were supposed to leave for our trip ... everyone was sick. Patrick had croup and the other two came down with fevers. No trip for us.

Patrick woke up from his nap and came down to cuddle Bradley on the couch. So many cuddles for sick kids.

Fortunately, the kids weren't too upset to miss the trip because of all the shows they got to watch.

We cuddled and read a lot of books.

And Nathan was very excited to get to snuggle up, watch Jumanji together, and then play the board game.

Bradley about lost his mind when the game opened up like it did in the movie. We put on some jungle sounds in the background and successfully made our way through the game!

We also took advantage of sick children stuck at home for a favorite Halloween tradition, dressing kitties in costumes.

The boys were moderately interested but it was Eleanor who was most excited to be involved in kitty dress-up. Nathan had some commentary on this but we made him take pictures and I think he secretly loves it.

Princess Layla! And a Patrick in a doll house in the background.

We found a space invaders themed game from my childhood and the kids had fun playing with it.

Nathan really took it upon himself to make sure the kids got the rest they needed to get better, he's a true champion when it comes to snuggling small children to sleep.

The kids got better just in time to make it back to school without missing any days and were my eager helpers when I signed up to bring a healthy snack for their Halloween parties. Jack-o-lantern cutie oranges!

I was busy with other members of the family.

Halloween night came and the kids bundled up to go trick-or-treating.

We stopped by a friend's house about five doors down from us. Yes, my children just barge in to people's homes when trick-or-treating.

Bradley's friend Caroline stopped by our house after we had finished trick-or-treating and picked him out to go out for more trick-or-treating. Then Bradley talked her into coming over to our house for candy and Scooby Doo shows. I think they both had a fabulous evening.

A reasonable haul of candy for our sweet crew!

We thought the kids were going to be wrecked the next day but they did really well. Patrick had a great playdate with his friend Mabel and showed off all our kitties for her.

And then he put on music and danced around wildly with Mabel, jumping off of couches and throwing himself on the ground. Until he said "let's be married!" and then things changed a bit.

So stinkin' adorable. Mabel's mom was ringing the doorbell at the end of this video and she got to see some of the dancing.

The kids have been adorable about sharing candy. It might help that I tell them they can't have any unless they share.

We had to reschedule a game playdate because of sick kids so Eleanor helped me make some pumpkin themed sugar cookies for the occasion. She was a great helper.

It was chaotic but a lot of fun to have four excited 6 year olds get together to play a Mario Power Up game. We made it through one game before we let them loose to run around and play together.

The cool kid crew. Liam, Bradley, Nate, and Cherry.

I love how inseparable these kids are. They often have little fights and spats as they play, but I think a lot of that is due to proximity since it seems to be impossible to play more than six inches away from each other.

Every morning they run down and play together. Weekends are the best because they aren't rushed.

Playing with the little people toys I played with while growing up.

We converted the beds in Bradley's room back into bunk beds in anticipation of Patrick moving in with Bradley so the baby can have the nursery. All three kids slept in the room last night - Bradley in the top bunk and Eleanor and Patrick in the bottom. They made it till morning and everyone loved it, wish us luck convincing kids to sleep anywhere but here from now on.

And in big news, Bradley lost his first tooth this morning! It had been loose for at least two or three weeks but it finally got wobbly enough that he let me move it around and demanded that I pull it. I tried to do it as gently as possible but it hurt him a little so he shut his mouth and then grabbed the tooth and pulled it out himself. He's a champ! Both younger siblings were beyond dazzled by this experience. Patrick can't believe he will have to wait another three years for this to happen to him.