But Bradley wore a Cyclones sweatshirt when I sent him outside to play in the backyard in the dark one evening (a favorite activity these days) so we were reasonably loyal to Nathan's sports teams.
Bradley has been such a champ lately. He wanted eggs for breakfast one Saturday morning so he cooked them himself! Nathan even has him crack the eggs himself now.
Juliet is getting naughtier and naughtier as she gets more mobile and we all love it so much.
There is great delight as she climbs the stairs now.
A little boy in Eleanor's class at school seems to have developed a big crush on Eleanor. We like him because he's a sweetie and because he obviously has good taste, Eleanor is about the best there is. His name is Campon Cool and while Eleanor is a little embarrassed by the attention she also seems to like being adored. She asked for a play date with him when they had a long weekend and so I messaged his mom and asked if they wanted to meet at a playground on the really nice, warm day of that weekend. We went to the school playground and everyone had a blast running around together, until Eleanor went to go get a drink of water from her water bottle she had left in the car. There was an outfit change and she took off the long sleeve shirt she had been wearing over her little tank top. She then ran over to me and asked me to tie up her shirt so her tummy would show. I told her no, I was holding the baby and she was fine as she was, but Eleanor was quite insistent. So Campon's mom tied up her shirt for her. Hilarious.
We get a lot of Campon art these days, here's a sampling of one day's worth. Lots of heart drawings.
The playdate was particularly tiring for sweet Patrick. Please note that he is his father's son and has fallen asleep while resting his hand on a kitty belly.
We got to go to my parents' neighborhood fall festival again and had a marvelous time.
My folks with the cutest little baby witch there is.
A magic show!
More magic. It's quite the fancy neighborhood fall festival.
We got to do a hay ride around the neighborhood to see a very spooky decorated house.
The whole crew!
And an official picture in front of the lake. It was a gorgeous afternoon.
Our church had a little photo booth area for about a month and my children willingly lined and posed cutely with props for as many photos as they would take. How do I bottle this up for our next family picture session?
My Dad has been coming over quite a bit to help out with the kids and we took all of them to the park one day. Juliet loves the slide.
Swinging girls!
They have been working their jump rope skills lately. My Aunt Diana sent us fantastic, heavy duty jump ropes. Kid don't jump rope anymore, it's so crazy!
The big kids didn't have school and I made the error of taking Bradley with me to the library on my usual weekly trip. At the school library they have a 3 book limit which has apparently been holding Bradley back a bit. This is how many books he got when he went to the public library with me.
And we even got in a short trip to the Museum at Prairie Fire, which Juliet is enjoying more and more.
Followed by watching The Legend of Ichabod Crane at home. The kids were giggling and squealing so loud, it was more fun to watch them than the show.
Sometimes weekends are more exhausting than school days.
Patrick with another cat to help him fall asleep.
It's amazing to watch how Juliet lights up when Bradley and Eleanor walk in the door from school every day. She loves Patrick but she's with him pretty much all the time. When Bradley and Eleanor walk in the door she knows she's going to get a fuss made over her.
Eleanor insisted on wearing a summer skirt and a t-shirt to school one day, despite it being quite cold. I asked her multiple times if she was sure about the skirt and warned her she might freeze a bit. She was undeterred and threw on a winter coat and went to school. I waited a bit to ask her about it when she got home and she smirked and said she had been fine, not cold at all. However, she asked about the forecast for the next day at bedtime and when I told her it was basically going to be the same she chose her warmest fleece pants and a long sleeve shirt to wear the next day. Silly girl. I'm not into fights over clothes, I may warn a little but once you're in elementary school you can wear whatever you want.
Raising Juliet to love kitties! Lucky kitties.
As a special fancy treat, I took the kids to Burger King for dinner one night while Nathan was gone on a work trip.
They played for a very long time and I don't know what came over Eleanor but she started aggressively cuddling Bradley. He was confused but so so very happy.
The sweetest thing ever. I have no idea what came over Eleanor, this is highly irregular these days.
We've had a few cold snaps already so whenever it's a nice day I'm pretty insistent on getting outdoor time.
Juliet already knows the joy that is finding a good chewing stick!
More swings! Never enough.
Reading with Grandma Kathy! Juliet kept whacking the book, which the boys couldn't stop laughing over.
I was relieved when Nathan got home from his work trip because Juliet had started pulling herself up in the crib the night after he had left.
For a couple days the baby girl didn't have to wait very long for me to come running in after she had woken up. Don't fall out, baby!
We were very happy when Nathan came home and lowered the crib. Whew.
Shopping with Juliet is always interesting. I thought she was going to be so happy in this fancy cart when we went to Price Chopper.
Nope. Lasted for ten minutes and then this is how we shopped. Baby leaning back as she stands on my stomach.
In perhaps the cutest event of the year, Bradley begged to take Patrick to school for show and tell. I talked to his teacher about it at conferences and she said yes! The boys were so excited and there was a countdown to the big day.
The video of the cuteness.
Half the point of Patrick being there was because Bradley wanted to play with him at a recess. How sweet are these boys?
And then we left from school early so we could go to the Trick or Treat event at Nathan's office.
Juliet grabbed a bag of Swedish Fish at one point and the only thing she wanted to do with it was hit it as hard as she could against Nathan's face. I thought it was hilarious and tried to take a picture. Lucky Nathan!
And the next day was a princess themed birthday party for Patrick's friend/girlfriend Mabel.
There was face painting, Eleanor approved of the fun party.
And then that afternoon, Patrick was taken to Worlds of Fun by his wonderful grandparents. We're very happy he got a short nap in the car on the way there, we packed a lot of fun in just a couple days for this little guy.
Apparently this ride was a bit scary and Patrick had to hold on for dear life.
The park was decorated for Halloween. My parents got an annual pass, it will be fun to have the older two get to go the next time!
Obligatory Dippin' Dots treat.
Group picture
And I included this photo because Patrick scrunches up his whole face like this whenever he's being really cute and I love it so much.
Nathan and Eleanor had a Daddy Daughter Halloween Costume Dance together that night through Girl Scouts. Nathan considers himself a genius for convincing Eleanor to dress up in Seahawks gear with him.
The next day was our first experience at a Trunk or Treat through our church.
We didn't really know what to expect and it was really fun!
And we even got our neighbor Addison to come with us. Patrick was so happy to have her there and didn't leave her side the whole time.
Then we came home and carved pumpkins!
Addison helped. And note Bradley with the carving tool. Oh my.
He did carve the design into his pumpkin all on his own, which was rather impressive.
And then it was bath time for baby buns! Oh these sweet little cheeks.
The next day my dad watched Patrick and Juliet so I could get a workout in. He does this every Monday now, it's wonderful.
Patrick often has a little helper wherever he goes. Lucky boy. He loves it though.
Reading with a baby who mostly wanted to grab the book and whack at everything.
Playing on the stairs together.
This baby - she found the dangling button to this Halloween decoration and it was all that mattered. It's hard to leave her unsupervised for more than a minute anymore.
Nursing while petting a kitty. This happens not irregularly.
Halloween night! The kids sure got good use out of these costumes this year. Juliet was a witch, Patrick was Gekko, Bradley was Charizard, and Eleanor was a kitty. Please note the whiskers on Eleanor's face, I drew them on with eyeliner. I told her not to worry, I wouldn't put any makeup on her eyes and then she told me she actually wanted it. So she got eyeliner and mascara too. She loved it so much. Things have changed from dance a couple years back when she cried because I had to put makeup on her!
The cute witch stayed at home with me while the big kids went trick-or-treating. She doesn't like being held for long now and just wants to crawl around, not great on a freezing cold night.
I found out at Patrick's preschool parent teacher conference that everyone else in the class knew the letters to their name and most of them knew how to write it so we bribed him with a piece of candy to practice and he learned in about 10 minutes. He writes his name on everything now, it's adorable.
Juliet. Left alone for one minute. This is her face when I tell her that she's naughty pants.
More bike time! The kids have been riding so much since learning how and Nathan even got a bike so they could all bike together. They were out for about two hours straight one weekend and I think everyone was exhausted that night.
Patrick has a new name. Zoom Scott!
Their off-roads course in our backyard.
Daylight savings. I'm told October is the easy one where we gain an hour but these kids were destroyed. I started reading books to Patrick and then Eleanor came in and joined us and they both fell asleep. I don't remember the last time Eleanor took a nap.
And then they were in great spirits to cheer on the Seahawks that evening!
More Grandpa park time!
This baby is such an imp. Chewing stick!
And she's just little. 16lbs at 9 months old. 14th percentile!
She got a flu shot which made her feel very icky but pirate Patrick (preschool theme day) made her feel lots better. Although she did throw up on me later this evening. Poor baby.
More tired Patrick. He goes so hard in whatever he does.
Patrick is such a dear. He's been singing the B-I-B-L-E to us on repeat and it's my favorite thing ever.
And also practicing his songs for his preschool Christmas program. I tried to correct some of the words and he told me to "just let him sing."
We decided to include Juliet in on the family bike rides by putting her in Eleanor's basket. It could work!
Can you tell that she's shrieking with glee in this photo? There are constant shrieks of glee from this baby, she is not a quiet one. I love it.
So excited for sister swing time.
Eleanor picked the most boring version of The Nutcracker to read one afternoon. Poor Patrick.
And Nathan's dad sent us an indoor 'smores stove which was happily put to good use.
Juliet is so advanced. She loves playing Don't Break the Ice with Patrick.
This sums up their relationship quite well.
She is into everything. She's lucky she's so cute about it, the kids laugh as they try to protect their creations from the rampaging destructo baby.
Apparently they told Bradley sufficiently impressive stories leading up to Veteran's Day. I had no idea Veterans did so much for us! Heroes, every one!
Trying to read a book to Patrick. Baby is crawling over him and the book.
Bradley had an eye doctor appointment and I allowed myself to be talked into a celebratory blizzard after he had to get his eyes dilated.
The other morning Bradley snuck a kiss on Eleanor's cheek during morning cuddles and she was outraged so I told him to smooch my cheek instead. "But I like to smooch cute, chubby cheeks!" he told me. So the next morning he was given Juliet and happily smooched on her instead.
Me: Are those the chubby cheeks you love to smooch?
Bradley: Yes.
Me: And mine aren't chubby enough to smooch?
Bradley: Nope!
Me: What if I ate a lot and made them chubby?
Bradley: Well, you also have to be cute ...
Lego creations! Bradley's designs are often way more fun then anything in the official instructions.
My new favorite picture of the kids together. This was on a delayed start morning for school.
Eleanor allowed me to beg/bribe her into letting me tie a string around her loose tooth and doing the shut the door trick. Her friend Landree performed the honors, it was quite the memorable playdate.
The video. This was the best $2 I ever spent.
Juliet in her new winter coat. Thanks Aunt Abby and Uncle Michael!
So exhausted after her adventure outdoors.
Eleanor has been begging to do yoga with me so I got her her own yoga mat. And then we discovered a great kids yoga channel on youtube and they even had Pokémon yoga! The boys got to watch as long as they tried to do the yoga. And of course if something is going on then Juliet is in the middle of it.
Climbing stairs while Daddy watches over her. So much joy!
And so much love for Daddy.
This is constant now. Our house is never quiet.
Apparently this tired both of them out.
Bradley has been insisting on chewing on the flosser sticks after getting ready for bed and Juliet was deeply intrigued by this the other night at bedtime.
Meanwhile, Nathan had a guys' night out at a Wilco concert. Apparently they were only told to leave the concert once for talking too loud during it, so I know they had a very good time.
Juliet is mostly better about eating now but I still get this reaction to solids a lot of the time.
Swings however, swings we love.
And the slide. She tries to climb back up on her own when she gets to the bottom and she screeches in delight when I pull her back up to the top.
Juliet also is crazy for piggie-back rides on Bradley. If you look closely she's holding a chunk of hair and also has a death grip on his ear. Ouch. Bradley is a very good sport.
More outside time in our backyard! Patrick likes to throw himself at the swing and try to jump up and hold onto it while it's in motion. It works at least 50% of the time. The other times he gets hurt. It seems fairly ouchie, but he does it on repeat.
Meanwhile, Juliet sits and crumples up leaves as quickly as she can. She refuses all chewing sticks now, leaves are the most fun thing.
And rocks. She scooted all over on the front walk and was delighted to find rocks to play with.
She's just a bit of a menace. She saw Bradley giving Patrick horsie rides and wanted to get in on the fun. She's holding wads of Bradley's hair here while Bradley chants "ow" and Patrick laughs.
Patrick thought he could play with a toy phone and sit down near Juliet and nothing would happen. Patrick is a silly boy sometimes.
Patrick is so sweet, we walked Home Alone and Home Alone 2 recently so there's been a lot of talk about robbers coming to our house (despite me telling the boys that the main thing they should worry about is identity theft and credit card fraud) and so both Bradley and Patrick have been setting stick traps for intruders on our back deck.
Also, we play a lot of Slamwich now and I always tell Patrick he's going down and he responds with "I'm going to beat you like a fool!" He's quite good now, I'm very proud of him.
Wonderscope, the Children's museum, had a special donut day so we made a trip today. Best museum outing ever!
And Nathan's dream finally came true and I went axe throwing with him. The last time he wanted to go I was 36 weeks pregnant and was adamant that it was a terrible idea for me to go. He was insistent, so I had to call down the worst snow storm/blizzard Kansas City has seen for 20 years in order to get the event cancelled. True story. Going for free as part of a work even was much more fun. Especially the part where I wasn't pregnant this time.
Nathan won our lane's competition, no big deal. I was okay though, I made it to the semi finals.
I also managed to break an axe, which is apparently an accomplishment in its own right. Such a fun night! Love that we're getting in some regular date nights again. Can't wait for the Burns & McDonnell holiday party!
I'm pretty hardcore.
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