Time for Apple Pickin'

Every fall, the boys' preschool has a field trip to Eckert's Farm in Milstadt for some apple picking. This year, the weather was absolutely beautiful, if a little warmer than we'd have liked. Everyone had a great time grabbing some apples, drinking apple cider, and then feeding some goats and camels.

Luke, Daniel, and Will waiting to board the wagons:

From Apple Picking

They had a ball drawing "A"s in the dirt b/c "A" is for apple!

From Apple Picking

Colin spent our waiting time on my back, which usually makes him pretty happy, but his newfound "I want to be a big boy" mentality (see earlier post!) made it pretty difficult today. He just wanted to be playing in the dirt with the big boys!

From Apple Picking

Lyndi and Daniel waiting, and waiting, and waiting:

From Apple Picking

And, finally, APPLES!!

From Apple Picking

From Apple Picking

From Apple Picking

Havin' some lunch, just 'cause it's cute--C-man has decided he wants to eat his sandwiches like a big boy now. No torn-up pieces for him!

From Apple Picking

Checking out the goats:

From Apple Picking

From Apple Picking

From Apple Picking

From Apple Picking

Overall, a great morning! It would have only been better if William had been able to go, too. Poor little guy had a rough day. He refused to get out of the car at drop-off because he wanted to go apple picking, then managed to fall off of the monkey bars at school at noon recess, necessitating a trip to the ER! Thankfully, everything was fine, but he gave Mommy a pretty good scare!

Soccer star!

William's school has a kindergarden soccer team. Before we learned Scott was going to deploy, we agreed to let him play. Boy, did I not realize what we were in for! He's had a ton of fun, but the games are a little late for his schoolnite bedtime, there are two a week, and several of them are out of town. He looks so darn cute in his uniform, tho, that it's totally worth it! He played goalie in one of the early scrimmages and managed to block a couple of shots--boy was he excited. And, you should've seen his face when the rest of the team cheered for him!!

Here he is in one of the pics I managed to snap. He's #6. Hopefully, I can get a better action shot in the upcoming games.

From William soccer

What a big boy!

All of a sudden, my little toddler just doesn't seem so little! He's entering the "terrible two's" way too quickly for Mommy's liking. He now throws fits when he doesn't get his way. He insists on walking everywhere we go (and Mommy is subjected to one of the afore-mentioned fits if I don't allow it!). He climbs onto EVERYTHING and now does it with ease, but doesn't have the safety awareness to stop himself from falling off of ANYTHING (ER, here we come!). He insists on doing everything his big brothers do and is absolutely adorable following them around the house, even when they so obviously don't want him to! He's really starting to communicate and there is never any doubt as to what he wants. One of the things he's been wanting lately is to ride in the monster truck. I haven't been very willing to attempt it, but he's been doing much better with following directions & remaining on his bottom when he knows he needs to. So, today, I let him climb in, told William to keep it in "slow drive" and stayed right on the side of him for a few laps around our street. He was soooooo pleased with himself!

From Kiddo pics

From Kiddo pics

From Kiddo pics

Of course, when it came time, he refused to get OUT of the monster truck, but that's a story for another day :)

The other thing Mr. Colin has had his eye on is the chairs around the dining room table. He's managed to haul himself up onto them a time or two, but this week, he finally figured out exactly how to do it. It's ALL he wants to do, which is of course, driving me crazy. Today, I pulled out the strap-on booster chair & his little eyes lit up. He was climbing into it before I had it completely strapped on! I let him have a snack with the big boys at the table & he couldn't stop grinning. I think our high chair may be on its way out!

From Kiddo pics

Fishin' with Grandpa Sam

While I was gone, Grandpa Sam took the boys to Wal-mart to buy a fishing pole. My neighbor has stocked the little pond right by our house, so my dad was very eager to get the boys as interested in fishing as he is. Needless to say, they took to it like..... well, like a fish to water!

Apparently, Daniel managed to actually hook the fish, but William kept insisting that "we" caught a fish, and no one had the heart to correct him! Regardless of how it went down, here is a pic of all of the fishermen and "their" catch:

From Kiddo pics

Tiger Girrrrrrls....

So, thanks to Facebook, a bunch of my college friends have gotten reaquainted. We got together in the spring for a beach trip & it was thrown out that maybe we could get together for an LSU game this fall. In true Tiger-fan fashion, all of us who were there in the spring as well as a couple more who were unable to make it then, jumped right on the idea. My mom & dad were good enough to agree to come up & take care of the boys, so I jumped right in with them! We showed up on Thursday and hit one of the local bar & grills to watch the Saints' game:

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

Me and Robin

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

Olivia, me, and Kathryn

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

the three of us again

On Friday night, we dressed in our LSU gear and headed downtown to another bar for the pre-game party. There was a live band & lots of 90s "oldies" playing, so we danced our hearts out and had a great time:

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

Me and Olivia

Saturday was game day! We had an early brunch/lunch at the hotel & then headed towards the stadium, which was within walking distance of our hotel. We hit a pre-game tailgate party at a local bar, stopped by a frat party, fought with the workers at the stadium in order to keep our "grown-up party cups", and cheered for the Tigers (who won, BTW!). It was almost like old times :)

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

Me, Olivia, and Rachel

From LSU-Vandy Girls' Trip

And, all of us with our "grown-up party cups", courtesy of Rachel. Clockwise, starting from upper right: Rachel, Olivia, Teri, Me, Kathryn, Robin, Heather, and Natalie

What a great trip!! Here's to hoping we can make it an annual thing, and that we get more of us each time!

Daniel's First Day of School

The preschools around here generally don't start until after Labor Day, so today was Daniel's first day of school. I think my little man has generally enjoyed his time with just Mommy & Colin (see the post from earlier for evidence of that!), so he wasn't too sure he wanted to start school today! He kept saying, "No, Mommy. I think I'll just stay with you and Colin." Part of the problem was that when we went to Open House to meet his teachers, Luke & Will weren't home from Seattle quite yet, so he didn't see too many people there he knew. Thank goodness once we got to school & he saw his two besties, he couldn't wait for Mommy to leave! Here are the pics from today:

From Daniel first day of school

From Daniel first day of school

From Daniel first day of school

From Daniel first day of school

From Daniel first day of school

Geaux, Tigers!

Today was Opening Day for the LSU Tigers! Everyone dressed in Tiger Gear and we took the obligatory pictures sitting in Daddy's recliner. Here are the pics from this year:

 

 

And last year, just for comparison's sake. I think Colin may weigh the same in both pics :)

From Big kid pics