zoo/field trip

We had a fun trip to the zoo today. It was a field trip to go along with their preschool lesson on wednesday, but it was nice to have a few extra friends come too. I realized upon trying to enter the zoo that our pass expired at the end of last month- oops! Luckily our friend Heather was able to rescue us and get us in on her pass. Thank you!

 

The zoo is all decorated for Halloween right now. The kids had fun going through an obstacle course, a hay maze, and looking at all the fun decorations. We also stopped at the park where Katie was shown how to pile leaves up on the bottom of the slides. I love fall!

Jackson's driving

 

In Jacksons words " I LOVE SPEEDING!!!".

 

 A friend was watching jackson and katie one afternoon while bryan got some impressions of my teeth for a crown... jackson didnt want to leave and is constantly wanting to go back now.

Nauvoo

Bryan had thursday and friday off of school for his fall break and we took advantage of it by heading to Nauvoo. I'm really glad we were able to go. I wish we could have seen and done more, but Katie is discovering her independance and does not want to be held, or stuck in one spot for more than a few seconds so it made the wagon rides and tours very difficult. But the trip was still well worth it.

 

I love my little family! I am so grateful that we are a forever family!

Jackson was so proud of the rope he made and is ecstatic to have his very own "lassoo" now (also known as a "lasso" in America)

Grandma and Grandpa Burrows Visit

We have been really blessed to have a lot of family visit the last few months. We loved having bryans parents here for 4 days last week. Jackson loved them instantly, but Katie took a while to warm up. That being said, she did give them both good bye kisses. They will be missed.

 

We had time to do a few fun things with them. We had a lot of fun at the childrens museum.

Below is the only picture I got from our trip to Bloomington. I have to admit, I was less than ecstatic to drive an hour and just walk around a campus, but it was really cool and I'm glad we went. It is like a bunch of castles hidden in a forest. Seriously cool school.

We also took grandma and grandpa to the zoo for a day. Have you noticed what a cheeser Katie has become? This is what she does when we tell her to smile.

Thank you for coming to stay with us! We are so excited to go home for the first time in 2.5 years and see everyone again at Christmas.

First Day of Preschool

 

Jackson started preschool on wednesday with these other awesome boys from our ward. They are all so close in age and I look forward to seeing them learn and become great friends.

 

We do preschool once/week and rotate houses between the moms. We've all chosen themes to teach. I got to teach them their first day. They really did great. Although, I will say that I thought I had over prepared and still ran out of material about 20 minutes early. So, since the theme of the day was "Bugs" we went on a bug hunt around our block. The second hour went a lot faster in terms of covering material...  I should have anticipated that. I start to lose interest after an hour too. I will know for next time. I love these boys! Arent they adorable?

On a side note, katie is over 15 months old already! She had her check up yesterday and has finally reached the 20 lbs mark (still 15-20th percentile) and is 31.75 inches (80h percentile). She is eating pretty good finally but we do have to have a speech evaluation and hearing test because she isnt talking yet. I think the hearing screen will come back normal, she responds to simple commands we give her. I think she's just stubborn... takes after her mommy. Jackson started talking around 15 months too so hopefully it happens soon.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma Schaalje!

 

It was my moms birthday yesterday. I'm so sad we couldnt be there with her to celebrate! I/ we love and miss her very much! The kids and I took these pictures to send to her yesterday.  I love Jacksons face in the picture below. I think he was very concerned that they were saying "birthday happy" instea of happy birthday. But Katie was very proud that she was holding a sign like her big brother.

Papa and Harvey Visit

My dad and his friend, Harvey, are on a motorbike trip for a month. We were lucky enough to be a stop on their journey. They only stayed for 4 days but we loved having them here.

This picture makes me grin. I dont think I remember my dad baking or cooking... ever! But one morning he and jackson decided to make brownies together.

Miss katie is a walker now! It took her soo much longer than jackson. We no longer have to bribe her with chocolate chips (thats good parenting for ya) to get her to walk.

Luckily while dad and harvey were here we were able to get our second car up and running again... at least so far. It was acting very strange and it even had my dad (a mechanic) stumped. Luckily the idea of changing the ignition switch has seemed to work and we have been a 2 car family again since monday.

Jackson loved helping fix the car and change the oil on grandpas bike.

It started spitting one day when they were outside working so my dad poked holes in this walmart bag to make a raincoat for jackson... Jackson started crying when I went to throw it away later.

Katie's favorite part of having grandpa here? All the pepsi! haha. This little girl could not get enough and it was pretty amusing to watch her constantly patting her chest saying "please" to ask for more.

We took a short trip to the zoo one morning with bryan. Sadly there was no dolphin show, one of the dolphins had just had a baby.

We went to Bub's burgers one afternoon... this is a picture of "the big ugly". The burger meat is 1 lb after being cooked! if you eat it all you get your picture on the wall. Bryan did it, and they let jackson stand in the picture with him. I had the smallest burger there (1/4 lb after cooking) and my dad and harvey split a big ugly.

Jackson got to go for a ride on the back of grandpa's bike ALL BY HIMSELF this year. He was soo excited. They just went one loop around machester but Jackson was in heaven. Maybe next year katie can go for a ride with me and dad.

We took a trip to brown county is well. It is so gorgeous there. 

We had so much fun with papa and Harvey! Thanks for coming to see us! We love you!