It's fall!

I love this time of year!  There are so many great family friendly activities all over town and we've enjoyed taking advantage of the weather and time together.

Recently we took a trip to Burger Farm with a group of moms from church.  The hayride was a huge hit and so was the puppet show.  Jack reenacted the puppet show for a whole week... every bad joke included. We each took home a little pumpkin and we bought a few at their store, too.  We've now got plenty of pumpkins and Audrey has enjoyed playing with them as we leave and return from the house. I hope they survive long enough to carve for Halloween.

We've enjoyed time with friends at the zoo:

Owen and Levi Gould

Our whole family took a fun trip to A&M Farm in Midland.  It was a hot day in October, and we were sweaty and uncomfortable in our fall clothes.  But I'm so glad we did it.  I love being able spend time with each other - just the four of us.  I feel like we are always busy!  We like to fill up our free time with friends and family, so a quiet morning together is rare. It was great to connect and get refreshed together!

Time for the zoo!

Despite the kids' faces, we had a great time at the zoo this morning.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was so nice to go with another adult.  I've never been to the zoo when it's been that crowded.  It was packed.  But I'm so glad we made it happen! Thanks for joining us today, Dad!

Kings Island

Jacob's firm picnic was at Kings Island this year, and I was excited for about a month beforehand.  We haven't been to Kings Island in years, and knowing that Jacob really doesn't enjoy roller coasters, I thought that this would be my big chance to ride rides and enjoy the park.

The weather forecast wasn't great, but I wasn't going to let a silly thing like rain keep us away.  We arrived at Planet Snoopy just in time for the sky to open and the rain to come pouring down.  Thank goodness for a stroller with a large canopy, an umbrella, and small corners of the park with cover.

We waited out the brief park-clearing storm and then spent the rest of the night having a great time. We stayed out way past bedtime and packed in a few hours of great family time. After all of the kids' rides, I got to ride the Wind Seeker and the Racer by myself.  Thanks for hanging in there with me, guys!  I'm ready to go back.  So if anyone has an extra set of tickets and wants to watch the kids one afternoon, let me know.  The Diamondback is calling my name.

He was so excited to ride his first roller coaster

He was holding on tight

Much more his speed

Train ride with Alex

The Scrambler

Showing me that the racer was going so high!

Touch a Truck 2013

This morning we went to a Touch a Truck event put on by Springfield Township.  It was SO HOT!  Actually, had we not been meeting friends, I may have canceled our plans and stayed inside.  But I'm glad we went, because Jack had a wonderful time.

We went last year with Aunt Louie and our friends Erin and Jeremiah Lyons.  I was very pregnant with Audrey, and it was another hot day. You can check out last year's pictures here. It's amazing to see how much Jack has grown.... and I was huge!

And here are the pictures of the kids this year.  I'm glad I was able to get one of the two boys again this year!  We missed you this year, Aunt Louie!

Riding the garbage truck

Driving the garbage truck

Happy UPS driver

The Bengal's Bus!

Driving the Bengal's bus

Audrey in the firetruck

Firetruck

I was so thankful for a stroller with a large cover -- and lots of Cheerios and water!

Saturdays

The past two Saturdays have been fun family days.  With the basement finished we don't have any pressing projects to take over our weekend, which means we have time to enjoy each other's company.

The weekend before last we went to First Watch for breakfast with Aunt Christy then took Audrey's first trip to the zoo.

That trip went so well that we decided to give Aunt Christy a call again and  make our way down to Washington Park.  After another trip to First Watch and a stop at Findlay Market, we visited her apartment to check out all of her new furniture and decorations.  We walked across the street to Washington Park and checked out City Flea before making our way to the playground.

Jack really loves the playspace and can't get enough of all of the water features.  I'm thankful that our city has such a wonderful park and love that Christy lives across the street!

Family Day

THE BASEMENT IS FINISHED!!!!   This is so exciting for our family.  For the past year and a half Jacob has been working on finishing the basement.  It was a huge project that included adding new flooring, digging into the floor to move a bathroom drain, framing, drywalling, tiling, painting, electric.... The list goes on.  It looks amazing now.  The carpet came last Friday, and we just purchased the two big bonuses:  new furniture and a new TV.  We have a few more things to do to complete the whole project, but it is usable and Jacob can finally take a much needed break.

Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped Jacob work in the basement or helped me with Jack while we worked together.  So many people gave up hours of their time and energy, and now we need to have a party to celebrate.

I've got to go through all of my saved pictures to find some good befores and afters.  I'm so thrilled with how it turned out.  Thank you, Jacob.  (Every time he was completely annoyed with the basement he jokingly reminded me that this was all my idea.... now I can remind him of my great idea while he's reclining on his new couch watching baseball on his new TV.  Hopefully he'll think it was worth it!)

Last Saturday was the first time in a long while that our family was free to do only family-related things.  No construction, no grocery shopping, cleaning, or preparing for company, no showers, weddings, or parties to attend.  We took full advantage from morning to night to spend quality time together and enjoy the wonderful feeling.

We had plans to take the bus down to Washington Park, but the rain came in and so we quickly decided to try the Children's Museum.  We were able to borrow Mom and Carl's pass and got in for free.  (Thank you!)  Jack loved every minute and cried when we left.  We have to go back more often.

One of the highlights was the ball-pit area.  As much as Jack loved it, I think Jacob loved it even more.  They were both fascinated by each unique thing.  I wish I could have captured it with a picture!

Train Table!  His new favorite thing to do.

After awhile I put down the camera and just enjoyed the day.  We went out to lunch and dinner and threw in some furniture shopping, too.  We finished the night with some ice cream and a very late bedtime.

I don't know if the day was so great because it had been so long since we had done something like that, or if it was just me trying to create memories before the baby arrives.  Either way, I went to bed that night feeling so blessed and thankful to have these two wonderful guys in my life.  I told Jack last week that God must have known what he was doing when he made me his mom.  He nodded his head like he understood and gave me a hug.  What a guy. 

For those counting down with us, I'm 39 weeks along today!

What we've been up to...

So, I'm totally behind again.  I've been spending Jack's nap time working and prepping for my maternity leave, getting ready for this baby's arrival, or napping.  I can't believe that his or her arrival is coming up so quickly!  According to our due date we've got less than two weeks to go.  I'm already progressing in the right direction and Dr. Grim is guessing that I won't make it to July 26th.  I'm hoping he's right!

Rather than trying to recap each and every thing we've done this past month I'm going to give you a few highlights.

We checked out the new Washington Park last week.  It was a huge hit!

We hung  out with our cousins:

Jack learned how to eat corn from the cob:  Happy 4th of July!

I've been working to find activities that Jack would enjoy playing independently.  Here he is exploring his new Mr. Potato Head:

Jack learned about the joys of splashing in a puddle:

I can't promise that I'll be great at updating the blog after the baby comes.  But I promise to try and I'll do my best to keep you informed about this baby's arrival.  

Here are a few pictures from our last session with Leah Robbins:  Enjoy!

http://leahrobbins.com/blog/2012/06/jack-18-months/