Here is another of Parker's latest drawings. We love to ask her about the pictures so she can explain everything. For this one: Mommy is on the left, then Parker. Graham is sad because no one is playing with him and Otis is licking Graham's foot. Daddy is on the right, wearing a hat to pretend that he is a cowboy.
Here is a bonus video of how these kids spent the entire ride home from school last night. You may want to turn the volume down...
And a tidbit from Parker, the other night as we sat down for dinner, she looked at her plate and said "ummm, Mommy this looks good. You are a good cooker. Do you want to be a cooker when you grow up?" I tried to explain that I already am grown up but then I had to try and explain what I actually do for work and that was a little lost on her. Sweet girl!
In a "game time" decision, we signed Parker up for a fall Pre-K soccer program. It does not have formal games, just weekly sessions where they scrimmage at the end. Greg was participating in a charity bike race on the first session, so I took Graham and Parker to soccer. She really did great! A little shy at first, but followed instructions very well. Every time they were told to run for any reason, Parker had a big grin on her face. The scrimmage at the end threw her a little, she just didn't quite get it or why she had trouble getting the ball. But we talked about how it works and practiced on Sunday, so hopefully next week she will get the hang of it!
Until Graham fell asleep in the stroller, this is what it was like: crazy hair, blue marker all over his legs and arms (from an incident at home) and tangled up in the ball net
The kids' school was closed for two days for Rosh Hashanah, so we were talking about making a trip to St. Louis. Then, I decided to plan my high school's 20 year reunion for that weekend, so it was a sure thing! We planned our flights for Wednesday evening, thinking Graham would be tired and sleep most of the way. That didn't exactly happen, but both kids were amazing anyway! We were delayed out of Philly and stuck on the plane a little longer than planned and they both handled it very well. On Thursday, we got to hang out with Charlie while Jack was at school and Annie was at work. We took the kids to a park near my parents house so they could use the splash pad.
That evening the Claytons came over and we had a BBQ dinner and just hung out.
On Friday, we went to Purina Farms. It was a nice little visit! Parker and Charlie got to milk a cow and we enjoyed the dog show, which even managed to capture some of Graham's attention.
That night, we had Serra's pizza for dinner and walked over to the Holy Spirit (a.k.a. St. Blaise) Parish carnival. Parker loved all of the rides and Graham even got to ride a couple.
Saturday was the reunion. After I got the crazy idea to start planning this thing, I had to recruit some friends in St. Louis to help. Rachel did an awesome job lining up the restaurant space. We had about 40 people there. Unfortunately, I came down with a virus and was feeling pretty bad by that night, so we didn't stay late. These girls have been my close friends for 24 years!! Amazing and wonderful.
Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids for us on our evening out. They met the Claytons at a park for a little playground time and al fresco dinner. We spent the night downtown and so even got to sleep in the next day.
On Sunday afternoon, we all headed over to the Claytons for a Charlie & Parker birthday celebration. Charlie just turned 4 that week and Parker's birthday is coming up. The kids loved their mini DQ ice cream cakes!
It was windy so hard to get candles to stay lit.
On Monday, everybody (except the retired guy) had to work, so Greg and I took the kids to the zoo. We were only there for 2.5 hours, but it was such a nice time.
On our last night, we snuck in one more visit with my girlfriends and their kiddos. Terri hosted us with a delicious chili dinner and it was nice to have more time to catch up (although never long enough). Here is a picture of most of the kids. Ellie, Ben, Luke, James, & Nora Besmer (missing John). Owen, Aiden, & Dylan Blatz. PJ & Cadence Mackey (missing Madison). Rachel was there but her kids, Jacob & Annabel Rackers, were not. As you can see, Graham did not want to stay in the picture.
Such a great visit, with lots of fun stuff crammed in. We hope to be back in early December to meet baby Clayton and celebrate an early Christmas!
A visit to a park that has an ampitheater, which of course ended up being more of a draw than the playground.
Graham eating a popsicle
Tickles from Daddy, one of their favorite things to do!
We took a visit to the beach on Lake Ontario. Greg and I were impressed with the beach and surrounding park and will definitely do this more often next summer. Both kids loved playing the sand of course, and Parker loved going way out in the water with Daddy.
