Center Grove Orchard

I had originally planned to attend a union meeting in Des Moines on Wednesday this week, but it got continued.  Mom needed a ride back to Ames, so we decided to head back anyway for a few days to let the boys enjoy some time with Mammie and get some things done around the house in Ames.

Despite being freezing out, we decided to take the boys to Center Grove Orchard.  After a brief stop at Walmart to buy some gloves, hats, and a new coat for Henry, we hit the road!  Center Grove was a blast.    The boys had the place mostly to themselves. 

The boys each got to pick one treat from the store before we left.  Henry chose an apple.  Sam picked fudge with M&Ms.  No surprise there!!

Super Hero Halloween Party

Henry got invited to his first Halloween party by a girl at day care this year.   It was a superhero party, so we dug out Henry's shirt and mask from his birthday party earlier this year.

Upon arrival Henry saw Ava had Hawkeyes all over her yard and loudly announced Hawkeyes and Red Sox are yucky.

Henry had a great time playing with Ethan, who came as a ninja.  The kids made capes, broke a piñata, and enjoyed cupcakes.

Henry picked out a mask for me too, so I got to be a Chinese dragon.

Had a fun night with my little guy. 

Camping With Little People - Part 3

After a particularly rough night for all of us Monday, we decided it would be fun to do a little indoor camping.  

We started off with dinner in the tent.  Hot dogs, chips, grapes, and applesauce started our camping adventure.

                      

Next we got out a new game and played Pop the Pig.  Henry thought that was pretty funny.  

                                

Sammy made us some trail mix before we started our next game.

                   

                    

After our snack, we played Hungry Hungry Hippos.  Still just as fun as it was back in the day!  

         

          

After our games, we made some s'mores and settled in the tent to watch Wonderpets.   Sammy requested a bedtime snack of celery.

            

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Not bad for a week night!

                  

Charlotte Turns 2

Sunday we made the trip down to Shenandoah to celebrate Charlotte's birthday.  Hard to believe this little lady is two already!

Henry was excited to see that Charlotte had a pinata again this year at her party. He was up front with all the kids.  Heather asked him if he wanted a turn.  He promptly announced to the entire room that, No, he didn't want a turn because he doesn't like pink bats.   He did get over that eventually and took a few turns swinging at Curious George.

The boys had a great time celebrating!

Can't wait to see this little lady again in a few weeks for our date at the pumpkin patch!

Fun with Friends

I'm ready for a nap after another fun fall weekend!  Sarah came Thursday night so we could attend the Nebraska Court Reporters Association convention.    Henry quickly introduced Sarah to all his birds.   Once I reclaimed my friend from my child, we relaxed a bit and enjoyed a bottle of wine.

    

Dave's flight was delayed but he made it home and woke up early to make us a fabulous breakfast to start the day off Friday.

     

                           

After breakfast we took the kiddos to day care and set off to do a bit of shopping.   We made a quick stop at the mall for vitamins, which ended up being amazingly productive.    Stopped by The Buckle (where I'm quite certain I haven't been since 1996!) and got to listen to some random guy was walking through the mall belting out tunes with the MUZAK.   Pretty entertaining!

Next we went over to Charming Charlies.  We we walked in, a ton of corporate people were huddled up in the front of the store.  Turns out Charlie Chanaratsopon himself was there!    Crazy.

Having recently discovered the deliciousness that is Qdoba, we had to stop and grab lunch.  Despite being the only women in the entire place for the first 20 minutes we were there, we had a tasty lunch and Wong got her cilantro rice fix.

Next we decided to grab a drink before going to the movie theater.  When I say "a" drink, I should clarify that we got one ... to share.  Apparently the Chocolate Pretzel Pitstop is a popular drink at Quaker Stake because the bartender had enough Frangelico to make one drink, which he split in half for us.  We each got half a chocolate salted rim.    We enjoyed some people watching and solved the mystery of whether our bar-mates were a mom and son or a bit more intimately involved.   (I'm absolutely positive the U-Turn I made to verify the facts on this mystery was completely legal!)

                               

Dave cooked us another fabulous dinner and we called it an early night since we had to get up early for NeCRA Saturday morning.
We enjoyed a fun and education morning at NeCRA with two sessions lead by Karen Teig.  After the seminar we zipped over to BWW so Karen and Sarah could get their Hawkeye footbal fix.  Nebraksa fans might be even more annoying than Hawkeye fans :)

                   

We stopped for Orange Leaf on our way home.   Sarah enjoyed her traditional garbage bowl.  I chose to honor our missing partner in crime by enjoying a fruity FroYo with Nerds.   Missed you, JJ!

                     

We opted for a relaxing evening in and picked up some breadsticks from Fazoli's on our way home.  I'm quite certain this experience will ensure Sarah never lets me have any direct impact on ICRA's financial planning!    Math is hard.

Thanks so much for the fun weekend, Sarah!   I hate that we live so far apart but love our time together.

 

Big Boy Words

Sammy has really been talking a lot lately.  I was smiling, listening to him talk last night, thinking how stinkin' cute it was.

"Mommy, thirsty!  Chocolate milk, please?"

"Mommy, Larry superhero!"

"Larry is talking to me!"

"Mommy, come and sit!  Play trains with me."

The cuteness was overwhelming.  

Ten minutes later ...

"I am mad at you!"

"Mommy, go away!  I don't like you."

"Stay away from us, Mommy.  My iPad!"

That was fun while it lasted.

Henry demonstrating "mad face" since Sam was too mad to cooperate.

Adventureland!

The boys and I went to Adventureland a few weeks ago to meet up with a photographer to get some fall pictures done.   The kiddos were so good!   They had never been to Adventureland before.  Total troopers!  They never complained and had a great time looking around.  Can't wait to take them back next year and actually go on rides and eat funnel cake!

SMILE, SAMMY!

 I love this one with the red background.   I was off chasing Sammy around the barn during this picture.