Legos

After a weekend with lots of time devoted to building with Legos, the final products were a police station, space ship, lots of vehicles, and one happy little boy!


While Nicholas was busy playing Legos, Claire entertained herself with her hair clips. I asked her how many she could put in her hair at the same time and she worked hard to find out!


Random family photo that turned out pretty good so I decided to post it!

Pumpkin Patch

We found a pumpkin patch this year that had lots of fun stuff for the kids. Nicholas loved exploring in the tunnels underneath the giant hay mountain.



We're at the very top of the mountain here, even though you can't tell from the picture.


They baby cows were a big hit, too!


Claire had fun playing in the corn.


The kids and I took a ride on the cow train.





We also wandered through the corn maze and found our way out!


Nicholas and Claire had fun dressing up and going trick or treating! They got lots of comments about how cute they looked. Of course Nicholas wasn't too happy about that because "spiders are scary, not cute!"

Random Pictures

Posing for a picture outside at the Children's Museum


Everyone say cheese!


Mmmm... Making brownies is so much fun!


These two love to be silly!

World's Smallest Pancake

Yep, that little dot in the middle of the plate is the world's smallest pancake!

First Day of School

Nicholas started pre-school this week and he loves it! He has a wonderful teacher has made some new little friends. He plays with one boy a lot and when I asked him what his friend looked like he said, "he has tangly hair except he's a boy". I guess he thought since his mom has "tangly" hair he needed to make sure I knew boys could have that kind of hair, too.


Claire started a mom's day out program this week. She goes once a week on one of the days that Nicholas is at school.

Michigan

Last week Nicholas and I had a 48 hour play date in Michigan with some friends who moved there recently, along with some other Indy area friends. We met when our oldest boys were newborns and have been getting together for play dates ever since!


The first day was very windy, which resulted in some really big waves!





Nicholas had a great time waiting for the waves to roll in.


Oops! Not fast enough!


Here are the four original children of the group-Nathan, Issaac, Alex, and Nicholas.





Someone worked hard to make this huge sandcastle. When they left, Nicholas and Alex decided it would be a great place for a picture!


And the moms of the group-Taryn, Rachel, Shontel, and Noelle.


Here they are digging for treasure.


Nicholas really enjoyed the water and playing with his friends.


Here come the scary sharks!

Time with Family

John's parents (Grandad and Grandmom) and sister (Aunt Lily came for a visit last week.


Grandad brought Nicholas a travel Lego kit that belonged to John when he was young.


Claire got a new baby doll from Aunt Lily!


We spent the day hanging out,


playing together,


and reading stories.

Reading Tme

Claire and Nicholas both love to read books. Here are a few cute pictures capturing them in the act.

Fun in the Water

Nicholas and Claire have been enjoying play time in the sprinkler on these hot summer days.






I think they were coming up with a plan to get mommy wet!


The water table also provides hours of entertainment.

Visit to Ohio

We traveled to Ohio recently for a family get together.

Nicholas and his cousin Rion enjoyed getting re-acquainted as they played and picked berries.




Uncle Paul took us to visit his farm while we were there. Nicholas was excited to get close to a big tractor!



The highlight of the farm tour was seeing the baby cows.



We also enjoyed lots of time in the pool over the weekend.



Nicholas was super excited to wake up Saturday morning and find that his cousin Kate was there! He'd been looking forward to seeing her for a long time! We sure do miss our family and treasure the times we get to spend together.

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire turned two a few weeks ago and we celebrated the weekend before by having Grandma, Grandpa, and her cousin Kate come to visit. Although her expression doesn't show it, she really did like her cake!


Nicholas and Kate had lots of fun playing together. Claire joined in whenever they let her. She didn't understand why they kept getting mad when she knocked down the towers they built!


These two little monkeys (and our neighbor) climbed the tree in our front yard. That was no easy talk since there were so many branches to maneuver.


Helping to deflate the air mattress was something they all had fun doing together.


They also had lots of fun playing with Grandpa!


One more picture after we said goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa, and Kate. Nicholas was very sad when they left so we made a paper chain to help him count the days until we will see them again in Ohio. Claire asks about Kate at bedtime as she names all the people she can think of who are going to bed, too.


Some friends of our came to visit one evening and drove their motorcycle. Nicholas was very excited to try it out!