Apple Orchard (oh, and Go Sox!)

The kids and I went to a local apple orchard with a couple of our neighbors this afternoon. Everyone had a great time, and were worn out by the time we got home. Hannah & Griff had been running with me since dropping Abby off for school at 8:30am, and they were SPENT by the time we got home from the apple orchard at 3pm. They wanted nothing to do with a nap, but were crabby as all get out. We got them down to bed pretty early tonight, so hopefully they will be refreshed by tomorrow morning.

Abby had lots of fun running around with her friends, but I think she liked the apple donut she had as a snack the best! We came home with some really good Honey Crisp apples. I'm hoping to make some apple crisp out of them, but they are so tasty, we may end up eating all of them before I get around to baking with them.

I took a ton of pictures - below are some of my favorites (Abby & Hannah were not much into getting their pictures taken, so most of them are of Griff). Ignore Griff's fat lip - he took a pretty good spill right after we got there, and walked around with a bloodly lip for awhile.

Picture Round-Up

Below are some pictures from the last few days that I thought you'd like to see. All is well here. We've been having great weather, so we've been spending most of our afternoons outside. We know the COLD is coming soon enough!
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Abby wrote her own book the other day. It's about a ballet student who loves to dance on stage. She drew, colored and wrote the entire story. I helped her spell the words, and she worked on sounding them out. She was very proud of her final product, and couldn't wait to show it to Mike when he got home from work.
Sibling love! Hannah wasn't up from her nap yet. And did you notice Griff's first professional haircut? I've been trimming it up, and over last weekend, I tried to trim the back. I did a horrible job and had to take him in to get it fixed! He did really well while sitting on the chair, and he and Hannah both enjoyed the sucker they got for being so good!
Griff LOVES spaghetti, as you can tell!
Hanny enjoying her spaghetti dinner, too, although not with as much enthusiasm as Griff!
"Helping" me clean the truck over the weekend. It was quite dirty, with all the goldfish, graham crackers, and water bottles thrown about! I'm sure it will stay clean for another week, max!

School Picture

We just got Abby's school pictures back. They turned out really cute. I scanned it in.....not the best scan-job, but at least you can see it!

Fun Playdate

Abby had a friend from school over today for a playdate. Breeyen and Abby had a great time playing together all afternoon. She is a really sweet girl, and I'm not surprised Abby likes her. According to Abby, they play together everyday at school, and they are each other's best friends. I'm SO glad that Abby is making friends quickly at school and we don't seem to have any of the issues we had when she started preschool last year. She really is loving school, and talks about everything she is learning and doing. She is participating in class and answering questions (so she says), and she brings a TON of stuff home in her Friday Folder. So far so good!

Enjoy the pictures from today.....

Abby and Bree decorating cookies. Bree isn't that much shorter than Abby, she is just on a shorter stool!

Finished cookies, and the princesses and fairies they made and decorated earlier in the afternoon.

Bree so wanted to "hold" Hannah and Griff, and she asked me to take their picture....surprisingly Abby agreed (!)

And Hannah & Griff this morning before dropping Abby off for school.

A Rainy Saturday

It was a dreary day today, and after being cooped up inside all day, we all went outside after dinner to burn off some energy before bed. It was still drizzling, but we needed to get some air! Below are a few pictures. I was planning on taking more, especially of the kids splashing in the puddles, but one of our neighbors came out with her kids and we ended up talking, so I didn't get as many shots. Enjoy! (and yes, Abby is wearing a very old witch Halloween costume with her rain boots :-)

Update on the Kiddos

Taken this morning, on the way to drop Abby off at school. They all just looked so darn cute, I couldn't resist taking a picture!

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Thought I would give a brief update on all the kids, for your reading enjoyment :-)

Abby

* Is LOVING Kingergarden. Has made a couple of friends and has already asked if they can come over for playdates. She tells me repeatedly that she "can't believe how lucky she is that she gets to go to school every day to see her friends and teacher." Let's hope she keeps the enthusiasm!

* Started ballet on Monday, and said she liked it. She didn't want to do gymnastics this year, but wanted to try ballet. We'll see if she continues to like it.

* Loves the new Barbie movie, The Diamond Castle. She sings the song from it continuously ... from the moment she wakes until she goes to bed.

Hannah

* Has a new favorite word: NO! or No No No or Nooooooo. She can't get enough if it.

* Gets great joy from taking things she knows Griff loves. His cars, his blanket, his paci, and then running around the house with it, playing keep away from him. She usually gets the reaction she wants, which is Griff crying at the top of his lungs.

* Word to describe Hannah lately: Fiesty.

* Still is not sleeping through the night (going on 2 months now...yikes), but is at least only waking up 2 times a night, and crying for 5 minutes or so. We're making progress, but it's s.l.ow.

* Loves apples, and will eat the entire thing.....core, seeds, everything. Strange, but true.

Griff

* Loves the car cartoon on TLC - not sure of the name. He asks for it the minute he wakes up in the morning. Then smiles the entire time it's on.
* Loves to cuddle with me at night. He crawls up in my lap for book reading, and would probably sleep there if I let him :-)
* Likes to take walks outside, pushing his huge dump truck the entire way, collecting leaves as he goes.
* Eats more fruit than anyone I know, and LOVES pork tenderloin!

Happy Birthday, Mike!

It's Mike's birthday today, and Abby and her friend Lindsay were busy helping me make cupcakes this afternoon. They were "princesses in charge of sprinkles", and I think you'll agree they did a great job!

And let me introduce the little spit-fire in our house:

She drove Griff to this.....By taking away his train.....
(and to explain the naked babies.....Griff spilled water down the front of him, so I took off his shirt. As soon as Hurricane Hannah saw that, she had to pull off her shirt, too)

We Have a Kindergardener!

First day of school for Abby....and she couldn't have been more excited. Mike and I both dropped her off this morning, and we pulled up right when her friend Lauren pulled up, so we all walked in together. No tears for Mike or me (!), and I'm hoping when I pick her up at lunch there were no tears for Abby, either.