First Day of Fall

We welcomed fall with a beautiful day! You couldn't ask for a better day to spend outside.  We spent the afternoon relaxing and napping, trying to recuperate from such a busy weekend and 2 late nights in a row.  I don't know but I think that is a sign we are getting old. It was nice and that is something I like about our Sunday church schedule, it leaves us plenty of down time all afternoon. After dinner we had to get out and enjoy the day.  We headed to one of our favorite parks for a nice family walk.  I love these cute buddies! 

We had a nice walk through the woods looking for all sorts of fun things.  We saw lots of squirrels collecting and cracking nuts.  Once we pointed out the nut shells to the kids they spotted them everywhere. 

It was so pretty, everything still so thick and green.  We let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes before we headed home so they could make it to bed early to prepare for school the next day.  I am glad we were able to get out and enjoy the day. 

Prairie Days

After soccer and the primary activity we headed home so JJ could eat lunch.  We then headed over to the Prairie Days celebration.  I didn't know what it would be like last year so I sent JJ and Lucy over while I stayed home with Garrett as he took a nap.  They had a lot of fun and we wanted to go as a family this year.  We didn't stay very long but we enjoyed walking around and seeing all the different booths set up and little activities for the kids.  They got to ride the ponies and jump on the blow ups all for free.  It was such a beautiful day it was just nice to walk around and enjoy all the things they had there. 

 We stayed there for about an hour before heading to a birthday party.  We had dinner at the party and enjoyed visiting with our friends.  It worked out good that we didn't have to leave early or cut our visits short to run home and host our own get together.  I feel like it has been a while since we have hung out with friends and so it was nice to be able to catch up and be a part of that.  I had told my parents about prairie days and they wanted to come up for the fireworks.  I didn't really think they would since they were out late at the balloon glow and had already come out our way to pick apples that morning.  They called while we were at the party and said they wanted to come up and so we headed home to change and meet up with them back at Prairie Days.  The party was winding down and it worked out nicely to leave when we did. 

 There was a fun band playing and we laid our blanket out to enjoy the music.  Garrett loves to dance and would head up front to dance by himself.  Lucy went with him and sat close by to watch, he was really fun to watch.  I love the ages of our kids.  Taking them to something like this was really enjoyable.  JJ and I just sat back together on the blanket holding hands while our kids listened to our direction to stay where we could see them.  It was almost like JJ and I were on a date, just sitting together visiting and listening to music. I just love the stage of life we are in.  My family meet up with us and enjoyed the band for a little bit before the fireworks started.  The firework show was really impressive, much better then at the balloon glow.  We could also see them much better since we were so much closer.  After the fireworks the band started back up and we stayed pretty much until everything was over.  It was nice to visit with my family and hear about their fun day as well. 

Garrett's First Soccer Game

Saturday was one of those crazy busy days, you know the days when everything lands on the same day! We did our best to squeeze in as much as we could and we sadly had to miss out on a few fun things too.  JJ invited all his co-workers over for a BBQ that evening.  I got up and started to clean the house like crazy to get ready for everyone coming over.  He called about 10:30 and said that today wasn't going to work out.  Some people at work had some things come up so we decided to move it so everyone could come.  Plus it took away one things we had planned to do which allowed us to do more of some other things. 

 

I had to drop Lucy off at a primary program practice at church at noon and also get Garrett to soccer at noon.  We dropped Lucy off a little early and got Garrett there a little late and it all worked out just fine.  He had his first soccer game and was so excited to play! They got their uniforms and I think the bright orange is fun.  It is always easy to spot his team.  They are the tigers, fun name.  He is number 6.

Garrett did really well playing, we have practiced a little as a family in the backyard.  He was so excited and would clap and cheer on his team as he played with them on the field.  He was so excited he also jumped around a lot and had tons of energy, it was really funny to watch.

JJ joined us after he was done at work and was able to watch most of the game with me.  Garrett scored his first goal and JJ was able to catch it on video.  It was so cute, he did such a good job controlling the ball and kicked it right in! He then gave himself a thumbs up and said "that's my first goal!" He was so proud. I am excited to cheer him on as he plays ball, it should be fun to see him get better and better. Lucy was a little sad she missed the game but there will be plenty more for her to see.

Balloon Glow

Friday night was the balloon glow in Forest Park.  One of our favorite things to do in St. Louis! I was so sad when our ward Super Saturday (in this case Fabulous Friday) was on the same night.  JJ said that whatever I choose to do he would be taking the kids to the balloon glow.  I didn't want to miss the balloon glow so I skipped out on my activity to join the family on a fun outing.  It has rained most of the day but luckily it wasn't to muddy, we planned ahead with tennis shoes that we were prepared to get muddy.  The weather was perfect and very humid, we got a little warm sometimes by the balloon flames.

 We got there just in time to watch the balloons start to come up.  It was really fun to the kids to watch the balloons just suddenly appear. Some of them took forever to blow up since they were so big and others popped right up.

 Since it had been cloudy most of the day they were still clearing out of the area.  It made for a beautiful sunset as the balloons were popping up in the field.

 Almost all the balloons are up, it seemed like it was much darker this year.  I don't know if they started a little earlier last year but it seemed pretty dark.

 Before they put the ropes down we snapped a picture from the outside.

 Once all the balloons were up and everyone was ready they dropped the ropes and let everyone walk around under the balloons.

 Every few minutes they sound a fog horn and all the balloons light their flames at the same time.  It is a really cool thing to experience to see them all glowing together.

 Yes I took a million pictures and it was hard to pick which ones to post.  Here are a few of our favorites.  We had fun walking around and looking at all the different balloons. Many of the ones were there last year so it was fun to remember them and see them again.

 

 My family meet us down there.  They got there pretty late and had to park really far away.  We felt bad they spent so much time walking and trying to get there.  We warned them that they needed to leave early to get parking and have the full experience.  It was their first time coming to the balloon glow and they thought it was really fun.  Tyler was really scared of the balloons and the flames but seemed to warm up to them after a little bit. 

 At the end of the evening they take down all the balloons.  It was weird they all of a sudden just start coming down without much warning.  When the big popcorn bag balloon came down people were running and screaming.  It was funny and pretty chaotic.  We decided to just back up and get ready for the fireworks.  We laid out our blanket and watched the firework and had a snack.  I was glad I packed sandwiches and fruit for us since we ate such an early dinner to get downtown.  

After the fireworks we said goodbye and headed to our cars. We were driving home and just as we were about 15 minutes away from our house my Dad called to see if we made it to our car okay.  I told him we did and he then told me they just made it to their car.  I told him we were practically home and we had a good laugh.  It took them almost an hour to just walk back to their car!  That is something they will always remember, so much walking.  We all had such a good time and I am glad we decided to go.  It is such a fun event and one that we will go to every year!

 

JJ and the kids made the paper.  A lady from the St Louis Post Dispatch took a picture of JJ holding the kids up so they could see.  She was really excited about the picture, it was kind of funny.  She told us to make sure to look for it.  We don't get the paper but I looked online. Their picture was up with 8 other cool images.  I stole this from the newspaper website--Photo credit to Laurie Skrivan

Weekley Roundup

It is hard to think another week has already passed by! Garrett brought home this big drawing of himself from preschool Monday.  He was SO excited to tell me all about it and what they were going to be talking about during the week.  They traced their bodies and then got to draw on their faces and clothes.  His teacher said he really enjoyed this project and worked really hard on it.  I could tell because he was so excited to tell me all about it.  I love seeing all the fun things the kids to at school, they have such creative teachers!

 Lucy has to read for 30 minutes each night.  That is a pretty long time considering everything else we have to cram into our evenings.  I try to be creative with when we read instead of just having her sit on the couch with me and read for 30 minutes.  I have her read to me while I make dinner a lot, this works really well because I can listen to her and stay busy and I can stop and help her if she gets to a word she doesn't know.  I also have her read to Garrett a lot and he really likes that.  If JJ doesn't eat dinner with us when he gets home and sits down to eat I will have her read to him.  We try to break it up and usually we all get read to by Lucy during the evening at some point.  She is an excellent reader and right on track with her reading level. 

A side note on dinners, I have been working really hard to restock my freezer with some freezer meals.  I have been making a few in bulk separately and also doubling our dinners a few times a week and freezing half.  It is so nice on busy days to just pull one out and have it all ready to go at dinner time.  It is so nice to have cooler weather so I don't feel bad having the oven on for such a long time.  I also love that after school I don't always have to be in the kitchen working on dinner, I can sit down and focus on the kids and their homework while the dinner is cooking away.

 Tuesday we did our normal story time--books about cars.  Garrett was so excited to make a car and draw some of the family riding in the car.  We didn't all fit, I don't think JJ made it into the car.  Garrett has really been into drawing lately and is getting pretty good at it.

 Goofy picture of us in the car after story time---I am so lucky to have this sweet guy to be my buddy and keep me company.  He loves to hold my hand when we walk places and I love it.

 Wednesday was a busy day, we headed to the gym and then straight from there went to the jump place with some friends from church.  We haven't been in a while and it was good to use our punch pass again.  Garrett had a blast running around and playing with his friends.  We had to leave just a little before the open hours ended to get some lunch before preschool.  I took Garrett on a little lunch date to MacDonald's for some happy meals.  He thought he was so special eating a happy meal with me.  I think it is fun to do random things that aren't in the normal day to day routine. 

When I picked him up from preschool that afternoon I could tell he was tired and was asleep before we made it home, it is only a 10 minute ride.  He is so silly and puts his sticker from school on his forehead every day.

 Thursday we didn't have speech, finally a day with no commitments! I decided to skip the gym so we could spend the whole day just having fun.  I listed a bunch of fun things we could go do and Garrett picked going to see Grandma and Grandpa.  I called to make sure they would be home and my Dad decided to work from home so he could spend the day with us. we took over our lunches and had a nice day visiting and spending time with them.  I brought stuff over and made them lunch, I could tell my Mom thought that was a treat.  Garrett and Grandpa played outside and Garrett also helped Grandma make some cookies.  My Mom signed up to help bake some cookies for a lunch and so we worked together making all sorts of treats. She even sent us home with a plate.  I am glad we were able to go over. It has been a while since we have been out to visit and it was so nice to have a day with nothing going on. 

 Lucy has been learning about space at school.  She has come home with several fun projects from school about the stars, moon and planets.  It was fun that the moon was so big this week so we could go out and look at the stars and the moon each night. She was really proud of this project and we will have to file it away in the special box.  It is amazing how much she is learning and growing each day!

Friday morning we could tell Lucy wasn't having the best day and just seemed a little down.  She said she was fine and there wasn't anything bothering her but she just wasn't her happy self.  JJ and I headed about our morning routine together and hurried home so he could surprise her with lunch at school.  She was so happy to see him and have a special lunch with him. JJ said it was really cute and sweet to see how much it brightened her day to spend special time with him during the day.  I am glad he went, he is such a good Dad and we are all so lucky to have him!

Lucy 7 Year Pictures

We wanted to wait to have Lucy's 7 year pictures taken until her cast came off.  We took her Saturday afternoon to have them done and weren't pleased with how they turned out.  We were a little upset that it took a lot of time and effort to get down there to have them done but didn't want to pick a picture and not be happy with it.  We called and explained our frustration and they were really nice and we went back this week and had some more taken.  This photographer was much better and took so many great photos.  We knew we wanted the white background to match Garrett's on the wall so that is all we took.  We had a hard time picking with one to go with but we are really happy with the one we went with.  We are so glad we didn't go with any of the ones from Saturday because we are so pleased with this one.  I know I say it every year but when I go to replace the picture from the year before it is fun to see how much they have grown in a year.  I really think Lucy is looking more and more grown up! What a pretty girl she is!

Group Date Night

Friday night we hosted a group YW/YM activity at our house.  JJ is the priest advisor and did all the planning for the activity, it was the YM turn to host the activity. The youth in our ward don't date and some have never even been on a date.  JJ wanted to encourage them to ask someone out.  Each YM asked a YW to go with them to the activity.  We had the perfect amount of boys vs. girls that each priest asked a laurel.  They discussed who they would invite at one of the planning meetings and each was happy and excited about who they were going to be taking out.  It was fun to see that some of the guys went to great efforts to do cute things to ask out their date.  One of them made a candy bar poster and put it in her car while we were at church.  For the most part they all doubled with another couple and went out to ice cream or dinner before arriving at our house. 

 

JJ worked really hard planning this activity.  He really is trying to encourage the boys to date these fun girls.  It is so fun to date and get to know new people and that is what he wants the boys to understand.  So he really wanted them to focus on getting to know the girl they were taking out and to just have a fun time.  There were 3 activities that he planned and all were get to know you games and activities.  They rotated to each activity, the first one was to make cookies.  They were suppose to work together to make simple cookies from a cake mix.  The point is to just talk with one another and have fun making cookies.  They all did a good job and we had a lot of cookies---some were interesting and all were very creative.

 The other 2 activities were games.  As they played the games there was a list of questions they were suppose to answer.  This was to help them have a good discussion and help them get to know each other as they played.  They all had a fun time playing games together and getting to know the other youth as they played.  It was nice to have some other youth leaders there to help lead the different activities in each room.

 After they were done with all 3 activities we gathered together to play the "newly dating game".  They played a few short rounds with simple questions about each other.  It was fun to see who spent the evening getting to know their dates.  Many of the questions were ones they covered during the activities.  It was really fun to hear their answers.  It was also very sweet to see how some couples really spent the evening getting to know their dates. 

 Here is the winning couple--they knew each other the best! Ricky and Cassidy are in my Sunday school class and last week before class Ricky asked Cassidy if she was excited for the activity later in the week and she said yes.  He told her that he was going to do his best to make it the best evening for her.  It was so sweet! He was so excited to take her out, they went to eat with the YM president and his wife before coming over.  JJ and I were both so impressed by how nice he treated her and how he had made sure to dress really nice.

 Here is the group! They are such a great group and were so fun to have over. It was so fun to see them all out having a good time.  I know that for many of them it was their first date and it was good to hear it was such a fun thing for them.  JJ said that there were some YM who were a little hesitant to participate and they were the ones that had the best time.  Some of them asked him Sunday when we were going to do it again.  I also know that for some of these it was something they were really looking forward to and it made them feel really included. 

I am glad JJ put so much effort into the evening making sure it was a success.  He worked really hard preparing all of the activities.  We worked together while Garrett was at preschool getting food bought and prepared and also buying simple prizes for each couple after playing the game at the end. We also worked together getting the house all clean and organized to have people over.  We were glad to hear that everyone had such a fun evening and that is always nice to hear when you have worked so hard.

Canning Pears

A lady in our ward has some pear trees in her backyard.  She wasn't up to picking and canning all of them this year so she opened them up for the ward member to have for free. We were at the pool swimming (this was on labor day) when a friend sent us a text, so we jumped out and hurried over.  We knew they would go fast.  We picked a few and I then just let them sit and ripen in the kitchen.  I did a little research online and talked to some other people who had canned pears before.  I have never done pears before so I knew they would be different then anything I have done.  I am so glad I have so many knowledgeable people to teach me so many fun skills.  Finally my pears were ripe enough to start canning.  We waited just the right amount of time and picked an evening JJ could help me.  I don't have any canning supplies so my friend who helped me can my peaches let us borrow all of her tools--Thanks a ton!   She also walked me through the process and answered questions along the way.

The peeling process was the longest, I was glad I got a head start on peeling that afternoon. The pears were perfect and they peeled really easy which was nice. 

 I was glad to have JJ's help, it went faster and was more fun to work together.  Although he will agree that I did the most work and was much better at peeling the pears then he was. Either way I was glad to have his help.

 We were able to get 11 cans done in and finished within a couple of hours.  We love pears and can't wait to enjoy them year round. The kids enjoyed eating several of the pears before we canned them and before they were even ripe enough. I got mad at them eating my pears one day and my Mom said just let them eat them--they could be eating worst things. Very true, I am glad my kids love to eat so many yummy foods.