The Castle

The other day we were driving to Toys R Us with my mom and the boys (Adriana was in school) so Andrew could show Maw Maw what he wanted for his birthday and Christmas. Well on the way to Toys R Us, Andrew spotted All Saints Catholic Church off behind the building. "Look mommy, a castle" he exclaimed loudly. "I see it" I told him. Then out of no where he exclaimed "I want to take Sissy there to dance with here because shes a princess and I'm a prince. She would love it!" What a sweet little boy! I thought that was the sweetest little thing!

Jingle Bell Race

On Sunday morning the kids and I participated in the arthritis Jingle Bell Race. It was so much fun! Last year I signed up to do it (not sure what I was thinking nine months pregnant) but I was put on bed rest so was unable to do it. This year however, I was able to make it. It is a 5K run for me and a tot trot run for the kids. I organized a group for the Fit Mommas that I belong to. We had 7 of us in our group. Luckily I had a couple of the other girls to run with and they kept me running the whole time! I was very impressed with myself as I have not run that far in a long time! I'm not sure my finish time yet, but I think it was around 30 minutes. After my run was the kids run. They were both so excited and showed me how fast they were going to run! Well before the run Fred Bird made a surprise visit for the kids. But Andrew wasn't liking it and was scared. So at the race, Fred Bird was the one to tell the kids GO and Adriana took off as fast as she could, but Andrew stayed at the start line scared because of Fred Bird so Daddy had to take him on the run. They had fun and both won a medal and stuffed animal along with a few other items. We had a lot of fun and I think this will become a regular event for us. Next year I'm trying to talk Adriana into doing the mile run with me since the tot trot was such a short race. She said she would so we will have to see.

Here is a picture of all the mommas that ran together. I tried to get a picture of the kids running and wouldn't you know it, my camera decided then to die :( So no pictures of the kids this year.

Jingle Bell Race

On Sunday morning the kids and I perticipated

Visit with Santa #2

We had our second visit with Santa on Saturday. Chris was once again out of town hunting so I was trying to find something fun to do with the kiddos. Bass Pro shops have a special for the holidays where you can go get a free picture with Santa plus have lots of other activities to do with the kids. They have an area to do a free craft, which Adriana did, and another spot where they have some bow type guns to shoot, which I had a very hard time dragging Andrew away from. Looks like I will have another family member MIA during hunting season when he gets a little older. They also had letters you could write to Santa, remote control race cars you could demo, and several other activities. Each weekend they have a different craft so we may have to make this again in a couple of weeks. It was really a lot of fun and I even got a picture with the three kids and Santa and no one was crying!!!!!!
Some of the pictures I took.

Spa night

I always dread this time of year because I become a single mom to hunting season. So once again Chris and my brother, Kevin, made their way up to our property for hunting season, but not before momma got to have her night out! So Whitney hosted a Spa Party at her house the day before Chris left. It was so much fun! We got facials (which I can't even remember the last time I've had), special lotions for our hands and feet, head and foot masages, and some botox in a bottle to sample. Plus we can't forget that its never a night out until we get to have some margaritas to help us relax! We really had such a great time that I agreed to host the next one at my house in December to help relax during the holiday craziness and another in January after the holidays. Whitney loved it so much she decided to start doing them and she is hosting my party in December!
Here is a pretty scary picture of Whitney and I with our facials!

My sweet little kids!

On Tuesday night we went over to my friend Whitney's house for a pizza party with her daughter Ava. There was a lot of kids there and I always get a little worried on how well my kids will behave. Well they both played so well with all the other kids and listened to what I told them. I was so proud! But my proudest moment came when we were on our way home. Adriana told me that she would really like to invite Ava over to our house for a playdate sometime and I said "sure, we can do that." Then she went on to say that Ava could pick out a barbie from her collection and she would let Ava take it home to have. I said wow Adriana that was very nice, but what if Ava wanted one of your favorite barbies? She thought for a moment then replied that would be alright and she could have it. That just broke my heart that she could be so sweet! If you know Adriana then you know how much she loves her barbies so that was the sweetest thing that my 5 year old little girl could have ever done!!!! I just had to share my proud momma moment!

Our first visit with Santa!

So Friday Santa made his visit to the mall. I know, Halloween was just a few days ago! I thought he used to come at least after Thanksgiving. Now, mind you, I normally would not even think of taking the kids this early to see him. But they were handing out coupons that were supposed to be worth $850 to the first 100 people so I decided to head up there. I only had Adriana and Andrew because Joey stayed home sick with Chris and I was not planning on getting their picture taken so Andrew was in sweats and Adriana had a non Christmas dress on. We got up to the mall about 6:15 thinking there was going to be a huge line but there was hardly a line at all. Santa was supposed to arrive at 6:45 so I figured we didn't have to get in line yet. I took the kids up to get a cookie to make the wait not so bad. We got down into line about 6:30 and there was still maybe a handful of people in front of us. We soon found a couple of people we knew in line behind us so that helped. Of course Santa was late and did not arrive until almost 7:00. As we watched him walk by with the marching band I asked Andrew if he was going to go up and see him and he kept telling me no. No problem, good thing we started early so maybe before Christmas we will actually get a picture of the kids with Santa. He finally went and sat down and our turn came up. The people asked me if I was going to get a picture and I said no as my kid was hiding behind me scared. Adriana of course walked right up ready to tell Santa all about the present she wanted for Christmas. Well I walked Andrew over there and he was fine so I set him on Santas lap. Wow! Not even a cry. He quickly got into conversation with Santa all about the trains and trucks he wanted for Christmas. I quickly asked the workers if I could get a picture, just in case I couldn't get him on Santa's lap again. So I have my first picture with Santa with both kids smiling. Now hopefully I can get another picture with the kids actually in Christmas outfits and Joey in the picture. I don't have any pictures of it but it did turn out actually cute! I was very proud of my brave little boy!

Fall fun!

I know I'm a little late getting this post out, I'm not sure where the time has gone. I think these pictures were taken a few weeks ago and somehow I forgot about them. Anyway, this was our fun day of raking up our leaves and jumping into the pile (always a hit in the fall!) So here are the picks from our fall fun 2008 event!

Here is Andrew jumping in the leaves:

And Adriana jumping:

And Joey.......yeah, he wasn't liking the leaves that much, maybe next year little buddy!Adriana and Andrew laying in the leaves. You can tell from my kids squints that it was a sunny day out!And Adriana laying in the leaves:Joey was much happier sitting with his pumpkins and scarecrow.

Pecan picking at Great Grandma and Grandpa Weber's house

Over the weekend Chris and I took the kids pecan picking at great grandma and grandpa Weber's house. This was actually my first time pecan picking and I was actually thinking that you picked the pecans off of trees. Well we got out there and I looked up at the huge trees and asked how the heck I'm supposed to get the pecans down from there. Then I was informed that the pecans were actually already off the tree and on the ground, we just had to pick them up.....that makes much more sense :) So I had the easy job of holding Joey so he wouldn't eat the pecans or dirt and I put the others to work. The kids loved this and Adriana was racing PePaw to see who could fill up their buckets faster. Well Adriana had help from Daddy and MeMaw so of course she won. It was a fun time!
Here is Andrew picking up some pecans. Obviously from the size of his bucket he was doing good at it. Adriana picking her pecans.

Even Daddy was hard at work!Andrew was doing great until Great Grandpa started up the tractor then we lost him. Here is Andrew sitting on the tractor, boy was he in heaven!

So we had a great time picking pecans and I now have a big bucket full of them. So I will look forward to doing this again next year without the element of surprise of not knowing what I'm doing! Thanks again Great grandma and grandpa Weber!!!!!

Day out with Thomas!

On Sunday afternoon we took the kids to see Thomas the Train. I think this was probably the best day every for Andrew! If you know Andrew, then you know how obsessed with trains and trucks he is so being with Thomas was a dream come true for him. Here is Thomas the train himself. And we even got to ride on him which was even better for Andrew. I never saw him behave so well as he did riding on Thomas! I tell you it was worth all the money spent on the tickets to see how excited he was!
Here is the kids getting into the train.The kids sitting in their seats on the train.

After the ride the kids got to see Thomas up close and get a picture taken with him. Here they are in front of Thomas. Joey wasn't able to get in the picture because he wouldn't sit still long enough so its just Adriana and Andrew. They also had a lot of extra activities to do after we rode the train. They had a spot where you could get Thomas tattoos put on:There was a small train the kids also got to ride on:There was a ballpit to play in and a couple of inflatables to play on:
There was a tent set up where you could play with several different train sets along with arts and crafts to do. We spent a lot of time in this tent since there was so much to do.

Here is Andrew playing with one of the train sets.The kids all had a great time and Andrew is still talking about it. Honestly, I was second guessing myself with spending the money on the tickets, but after seeing his face that day it was worth every penny and I would do it again in a heart beat!

Thanks again for letting us visit, Thomas!

Happy Halloween!

Finally Halloween has come. I was trying to come up with a theme for the kids to be this year, but we all kept disagreeing on what to be. I tried to get Adriana to be Tinkerbell and the boys be Captain Hook (since we already had that costume) and Peter Pan, but that wasn't flying with the kids. So I finally decided I would go ahead and let Adriana pick out her costume since she was going to be my hardest. So she picked out a Cinderella dress....of course! So not what do I do? I was going to try to find Joey a mouse costume and he could be gus gus, but I really didn't want to have to buy any more costumes. So next came my second hardest, Andrew. He changed his mind hourly on what he wanted to be so I had to wait until the last minute because I knew if I bought him anything he would no longer want to wear it by the time Halloween came around. So I looked in his closet to see what we already had. A cowboy, buz lightyear, spiderman, and Captain Hook. So I asked Andrew what he wanted to be and he kept telling me a cat. Well I finally told Andrew that his Captain Hook costume was a prince outfit, which was something else he wanted to be........woohoo he bought it! So now I have a prince and princess. Let's see what Joey has, a cow and a dragon costume. Yes a dragon will do. So now we are the fairy tale family, a prince, princess, and fierce dragon! Wow we really have a theme! Now if I had some nice clothes for Chris and I and some crowns we could have been the king and queen........ha!
Anyway here is a picture of the fairy tale bunch! After we finally got costumes all on, we headed down to mainstreet St. Charles to begin some trick or treat fun with friends. We met up early with my friend Debbie and her kids Chase and Reece, and my friend Christine and her kids Gabriel and Lilly. We did manage to get a picture of my kids with Chase, but Gabriel was being a little shy and decided to stay out of the picture.So off we went for trick or treating. It didn't take long for Andrew to get the hang of things watching his big sister. Along the way we also ran into my friend Whitney and her daughter Ava. We stopped for a break and a picture of the kids. The tired prince and princess took a break and sat on the rocking chairs. And the princess giving momma her best pose!After trick or treating down on Mainstreet we went home to grab a little dinner and rest a bit before going out again.
As night fall set we got ready for more candy. Adriana was so excited and ran to almost every house. Andrew was starting to get tired and had to be dragged along the way. Maybe it was because his hands were constantly stuck in the bag of candy too. Joey was so excited and wanted to walk to everyones house. I would only let him walk when we got to the driveways, which he really wasn't liking. Although he didn't get the trick or treat down, he definitely had to smile down pat which scored him lots of extra candy.
Here is a picture of the kids ringing the door of a neighbors house.Now whats a family to do with six bags of candy? Well the Halloween fairy comes and takes it all away! But of course she doesn't leave the kids empty handed. They each got a small gift she left for them. This saves mom and dad lots of money in dentist bills:)
We had a great night and can't wait to do it all over again next year!

Adriana's school Halloween party.

Adriana had her school Halloween party on Wednesday afternoon. I was unable to attend the whole thing because I had the boys, but we did get to catch some of the fun.
Here the kids were having a race to see which team could turn their teacher into a mummy first. Adriana was getting in on the fun. Both teams won! Adriana and Andrew doing a little dancing.

Getting a tasty little Halloween treat.A picture of the class all being such big kids and eating together so well.Adriana had a great time and loved telling me about all the fun things she got to do before I got there.

Pumpkin Patch #3

On Thursday before Halloween I took the kids to their third and final pumpkin patch, Theis in Creve Coeur. This is one of the kids and I favorite pumpkin patchs. Andrew had his school halloween party at school that day which is why he is in his costume.
We started off riding the horse swings:Then we made our way over to the rope walk. Adriana sailed across it with no problems,.Andrew on the other hand wasn't quite as coordinated.But no fears because sister was there to help him out.Of course the falls still happen, but he is quick to yell he's alright.Then he wrestles down his sister for not keeping him from falling.Next they made their way over to the zip wire swings. Adriana LOVED it and spent a good twenty minutes on it. Andrew went down a couple of times but decided it wasn't for him.The tire that just goes around in a circle was a better speed for him and Joey.Hi Mommy! Look what a big boy I am!They spent a lot of time going through all the mazes, but I wasn't about to go in after them so we lack the pictures of those fun activities.
We did find a giant tire swing that could fit all three of the kids on it and they really liked it.Last we found another set of swings the kids wanted to try, you know you can never try too many swings out!
And we ended our trip with a hayride through the crops. We had such a fun day. And before we left Adriana told me she just loves going everywhere with her best friend Andrew because he is so fun to play with. Thats what makes all these trips so worth it!
So we end our tour of pumpkin patchs until next year!