The Outdoor Campus

On November 2, I was crazy enough to, once again, suggest that we get out of the house and enjoy the nice weather. I wanted to check out the walking trails behind The Outdoor Campus. We had been on them twice before, but in the dark, as we were attending their annual Halloween Hike (we have gone the last two years). After this year's hike, I got kind of curious about seeing it in daylight. My suggestion was met with a little resistance, but I somehow managed to get everyone on board.

We found some milkweed on the trail, and enjoyed checking it out.

Now we know where to go in the summer to get some monarch eggs and/or caterpillars.

"Okay, I'm smiling -- now can we go home and watch a movie?"

I was surprised at the number of trees that still had yet to turn.

My lovely family.

Sitting here on a cold December night, I am particularly glad that we made this little outing. At this hour, the trails are covered in snow, and we are awaiting a blizzard that is to be followed by a couple of days of sub-zero temps. Brrrr...

Halloween!

I know I am a little late in posting these, and so I may be forgetting some of the details, but looking back, I think Halloween '08 was pretty much perfect; it was a really great day.

We started out by going to the HS group's Halloween party, where the kids played games, got tattoos...

...and decorated their own cupcakes. Here's G getting his cupcake all sprinkled up.

The kids were sent home with two goody bags a piece. Here's Norah with one of her goody bag treasures. There was just enough down time to get nice and recharged for trick-or-treating that evening.

We started out with dinner at Qdoba (mmmmmmm...) then took off into the neighborhood right at dusk. The weather was great -- in the 50s.

As is obvious, Norah was a bat (she said her name was Noraluna), and Griffin was Mike from Monsters Inc. Thanks again to Diana -- those Monsters Inc. costumes are the gift that keeps on giving!

Noraluna spreads her wings.

Leaves!

On October 30, we had a high temp around 70 -- perfect weather for making leaf piles! Of course, jumping, leaf-throwing, and other hijinx followed...

Norah Schools the Zoo Kids

Here's a clip from our trip to the Omaha Zoo in August. It was a very cool moment where one of the gorillas was observing the humans as they observed him. Norah was annoyed that one of the kids kept referring to him as a monkey, exclaiming "It's not a monkey -- monkeys have tails!" Although she could have made her point in a little nicer way, I was tickled, and proud of my four-year-old for knowing how to distinguish monkeys from apes.

The Dentist

These pictures are from spring, but I thought they were worth sharing. Not long ago, I finally figured out how to get them off of my cell phone. It was Norah's first dental appointment, and she did wonderfully. Usually for the first appointment, they consider it a success if they are able to count the teeth (at least at our dentist). I really like that gradual approach, plus, unlike some pediatric dentists I have heard about, I can go back with the kids...and take pictures!

Not only did N get her teeth counted - she got a full cleaning!

Look ma -- clean!

G had a good cleaning, too, but he's an old pro by now. I think he looks uncomfortable in the pic, but he was fine, and chatted away with the hygienist. When I went in for my own cleaning a couple of weeks ago, she asked, "How's my guy Griffin?", and said that he is one of her favorites. Awwww...

Bunk Beds

Last weekend, we acquired and set up a bunk bed set for the kids. They were very excited, and (so far) are actually using them!

Norah aids in the installation.

It seemed automatic that Griffin wanted the upper bunk and Norah wanted the lower one. The lower is a full-size -- quite a big bed for a little girl.

Here's G up in his bunk with his current set of "guys". So far, none of them have fallen overboard. Not sure about my camera angle in this one -- I assure you that this is not a Craftmatic© adjustable bunk bed. I tried straightening the pic, but that made it a little fuzzy.

Horses and Apples

Here are a couple of the outings we've had with our homeschool group in the last month or so.

In late August, we got to hang out with some horses at a local stable. We learned a lot about horses, and, among other things, got to check out a hoof trimming (kind of gross, but cool). As you may notice in the above photo, Norah brought her beanie horse to show to the horses there.

We got to pet a lot of horses, too!

Earlier this week, we visited an apple orchard. The kids were each able to pick three apples to take home.

We got to see the apple washer and cider press, and everyone got to sample cider, too!

Legacy Park

A couple of Sundays ago, seeing how many of the leaves had already turned and were falling, I decided that we needed to do a little family outing to a park, since there probably weren't a lot of warm weekends left. The guys were not too thrilled with the idea, but Norah was up for it. We went to a nature park that just opened, and is not too far from our house. As is usually the case, I took a lot of photos...

We had a good (and long) walk. I didn't know if there was a loop to walk (there wasn't), and so we ended up going quite a ways up the bike trail before deciding to turn back. I knew that N would poop out before we got back to the car, and she did. Luckily, a ride on my shoulders wasn't too difficult, and she was pretty thrilled by it.

Norah's Advice

One night last spring, Eric kicked the wall in his sleep; Norah heard it, and thought he had bumped his head on the wall. Since then, practically every night, when she tells him goodnight, she'll say "Don't bonk your head!" I don't know if she picked up on how cute we found it, or just decided to start dispensing advice, but that is what she has been doing -- usually when saying goodbye to someone. I wish I could recall each bit of advice she has given, but I have written some down, mostly when my sister, Suzanne, and her daughter, Rachel, were visiting:

To my mom and Rachel as they were leaving our house: "Don't let any bugs in the car!"
To my mom and Suzanne as they were leaving: "Don't run into anything!"
To Mom, Suzanne and Rachel: "Don't let any dog bite you!"
To Mom: "Don't be hurt by any bad guys!"

It might seem that N is a tad on the nervous side, but she really isn't -- I think she just feels like she should come up with something to advise, and I find it very cute.

Nine candles!

Is it even possible?

G was lucky enough to have three days of birthday fun this year. On August 31, exactly a week prior to the big day, we had a party with four of his friends (and their siblings) at the spray park. That was the last day that the spray park was open, so we got as close as we could. It was just a low-stress get-together, with cupcakes and juice, and was lots of fun!

On the eve of the big day (Saturday night), we had Ripley and Afton over for dancing and cake. Then on the actual birthday, the four of us went to Journey to the Center of the Earth, and, of course, worked some more on that cake.

He got, among other things, a very cool Wall-E arm.

So many candles!

A cake-y smile...

A particularly prized gift, an elasmosaurus from Aunt Suzanne.

Snippet of Griffin and Norah's conversation...

Here's a good starter post:

The kids were having a great time playing downstairs, and Griffin came to get me, saying he had to show me something on the couch. I came down and was instructed to look at a hatching egg -- a pile of pillows was the egg, and Norah was the hatching chick. It was very cute. A few minutes later, after more of the same, Griffin informed Norah that he was ready to go on to something else, and she implored him to continue...

G: Okay, but only one more time.
N: No! A bunch of times!
G: Okay, but only for a bunch of times.