Eating Out

With Ethan working such long hours and me getting more and more pregnant every day, I'm finding my motivation to cook dinner waning.  The kids' behavior has also needed some encouragement for improvement so I decided we would implement a new tradition (at least for the time being) of going out to dinner on Friday (or Saturday) each week if the kids' earn it (or rather, don't lose the privilege).  Its been going well so far.  A week and a half ago we ventured to Waffle House.  

We pretty much had the run of the place, but there really isn't seating for a family of our size in the joint.  Luckily, the kids finished eating quickly and were entertained by the juke box.  Jonas got to choose a song to play.

He took his time, but finally decided on Party Rock Anthem.  Then the dancing began.  It was hilarious.  Bolton and Levi (Eliza joined in after a few minutes) in particular were really getting down.  Yes, we are those parents who let their kids run amok in public.  Sorry. :)

This girl is the family's... slowest... eater... but when she was fin.all.y. done with her waffle we left the diner back to its peaceful (albeit less entertaining) atmosphere.

This tradition has been helpful on several counts.  I don't know if we'll continue with it for long, but for now... well, it works for us.

Come and knock on our door...

...We've been waiting for you...  Where the kisses are hers and hers and his... Three's company too!  I love my two little buddies.  We have a nice relaxing time while the boys are away at school.  Aren't they cute?  Eliza often asks me to take pictures of them, sometimes I oblige. :)

In case you hadn't noticed, we chopped Eliza's hair again.  Ethan and Bryant were getting haircuts and she was sure she wanted her's cut too, so we went for it.  I forgot how much I loved it like this!  She is so beautiful.

When I'm pregnant I have a tendency to have morbid thoughts... the other day I thought, "If I die, my kids won't have very many pictures of me, especially not with them." So you'll see a few more pics of me and my sweet ones.

This day Eliza and Bolton were going to the "ball" and had to get all dressed up.  Eliza was so funny.  We have a strict sleeves policy at our house, when she took her sweater off the top of her dress I told her she needed to wear it, she told me, "but at the ball there is a sign that says 'no sweaters.'"  Then when I put Bolton's tie inside his vest she informed me there was another sign at the ball that indicated that the tie was supposed to be on the outside of the vest.   Made me giggle.

Ramen Noodles are a favorite round these parts (don't judge me!) but the multiple spoons is a novelty... Can you count how many he's using?

Yep, that's right... there are four of them!

Not to be outdone by a 4 spoon little brothers, Eliza needed her picture taken too.  The funny face is her contribution for fun.

Jackets aka Labor Day 2012

Labor Day weekend was  a wet one in Kentucky.  Oh, how I love fall!  The kids were eager to play outside, but somehow over the course of the past year or two our jackets have dwindled and disappeared... so when it came time to play outside in the rain the resorted to...

Yes, those are my jackets.  Well aside from Eliza's, her's is a tiny 2T jacket.  So for Labor Day we were talking with Jonas about fun things we could do and we mentioned all sorts of ideas.  He asked what I thought would be fun and I told him that what I think is fun no body else would.  Ethan chimed in, "Yeah, she likes things like sewing and shopping..."  So a couple hours later Jonas asked me what we could go shopping for and we started to brainstorm.  When I mentioned jackets, he got really excited.  And from then on until we hit the road (after Bolton's nap) he would ask me incessantly, "When are we going to go shopping for jackets?!?!"

So the family headed to Burlington Coat Factory for the first time ever.  Suffice it to say, we liked it!!  They don't have Ross Dress for Less in Kentucky (crazy, right?!?) so we are happy to have something to fill that void.  We ended up coming home with jackets for everyone and a bunch of other things.  The kids were excited to wear their new jackets to school the next day...

Bryant asked permission to act like a nerd for the photo... he's got it down pat.  Jonas is by far the most concerned with his looks of our boys.  He tries on clothes all the time and changes his clothes at least once a day.  Good thing he's so dang cute, he doesn't have too much to worry about.

Funny side story... as we were in the store, I was buying some extras for the boys, Jonas wanted a neck tie, Levi an umbrella, Bryant some new running shoes... so as we were getting close to finishing up Jonas says, "I love shopping!" and Levi adds, "Me too, I'm getting an umbrella!!" and Bryant rounds out the conversation with, "I'm still a normal boy."  It was hilarious!!!

However, when we were finally out the door (seriously 3 hours later!) Bryant said, "I can't believe we were there for 3 hours, it only felt like 30 minutes!"  

So, no, it was not spending time with my family at our awesome reunion... but I've found recently that shopping is like therapy for me.  That's a good thing to know about myself... I'm going to have to keep an eye on my spending habits. Yikes!

Cross Country Update

Cross Country continues... although not for Levi.  Bryant and Jonas are doing well and improving each week in their determination and endurance, if not speed.  This is such a neat program they offer in Kentucky and it is a BIG deal.  There are a lot of school involved in each race.

The first "official" race was held September 1 in Shelbyville.  The race was 1 mile long.  It was HOT.  These two kids were whining, crying, etc. the entire time.  Poor Ethan had to endure wrestling with them as well.  In fact, Levi refused to walk all the way to the car, stopping as we turned a corner to get to it.  By the time we got the others loaded up and Ethan headed back to get him, the police were there. Someone was worried about the little boy crying on the ground.  One of those (many) awesome parenting moments.

Bryant finished the race in 8:16:14 and ended up in place 96 of 148.  Considering the first timed mile he did at practice was only a couple weeks prior and 10:04 we were super impressed!!!

Jonas finished his run in 11:02:61 for 141 place of 148.  The heat and the course were really quite new for our runners and I was so proud of them.  Their daddy was beaming with pride as they crossed the finish line.

 Race #2 was held in Goshen, Rumble in the Jungle, on September 8.  The race was 2000 meters, so 1.243 miles (or so says the internet).  We didn't realize there was such a difference in the distance between the two races.  Here they are before the race with a friend from their team.

The other kids did better this time.  Thank goodness!

Ethan still had to endure the wrestling...

Bryant finished the race in 10:14:61 for a placement of 160 out of 214.

Jonas finished in 11:29:10, finishing at 202 of 214.  He was really proud of himself that he didn't walk at all during the race!  We were really proud of him too!

Our 3rd race was held this past Saturday, September 15.  It was our home meet and I don't have the official results from the race yet.  But the boys did great!  It was a 1.1 mile course and extremely hilly.  Ethan ran the open 5K in the morning and the hills really took it out of him.  Considering he has only run maybe 8 times since we moved here I can't say I was terribly surprised. He said his time was about what his times were when he started running cross country in high school and came in last every race.  Poor guy... it was still about 10 minutes faster than I've ever run a 5K!

According to Ethan's watch, Bryant finished his 1.1 miles in 8 minutes, 18 seconds.  For a placement of 30th out of I don't know how many (Bryant thinks maybe 45?)

He was excited he got a horseshoe to take home for running so well!

Jonas had a lot of time to wait until his race.  Luckily, Bolton kept him busy...

I love the way the younger elementary kids warmed up.  Spinning and running, can't be beat.

 

In an effort to support our team's event we let the kids each get a snow cone.  Eliza really liked it... so did her chin.

The boys K-3 lining up...

Pushing through the pain.

 

We don't know what his time was, but he was really excited he got a horse shoe to bring home as well!

We are so proud of our runners!  They are working so hard and doing such a great job!

Phone Picture Dump

I just went through all the photos on my phone and found too many fun ones not to share... so going back to July through today I give you my Phone Picture Dump...

The day the kayak arrived!  I got some great shots before I went to get the real camera. 

I think they're excited.

I know you can't see my face, but I just wanted to document how "skinny" my bump once was... :)  I'll try to get a new one up soon (I hit 30 weeks tomorrow! Yowza!)

Silly boys.

I took the kids in for well child checks for Eliza's birthday.  This was how I kept Bolton entertained...

Formal attire at our house. :)

Batman dropped by to watch some TV, it is his favorite thing to do these days.

And Batman's girlfriend stopped by to practice her curtsying skills.

I get a lot of quality time with my two wee ones right now.  Here we are at the doctor's office, again.

I don't know if you've heard, but the new Our Best Bites cookbook is available nationwide at Walmart, Sam's Club, Costco... we were excited to get our hands on one and sent a photo to their I Savored the Seasons contest. Oh, I bought the book too, and it was worth the trip to my dreaded Walmart.  First thing I made, Naan Bread.  It made Ethan's night. :)

 Today Bolton was scooting around the house with his favorite mode of transportation...

And there you have it.  Photos from my phone from the recent weeks/months.  One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment round these parts!