Oliver is Three and a Half

We celebrated Oliver's half-birthday with half-birthday cookies and a special half-birthday song ("half a birthday to you, half a birthday to you...). It's fun that something so simple can make the kids so excited.

Oliver loves:

• pajamas
• ketchup
• dogs (especially of the toy variety)
• pretending to be a dog
• being with his brothers (he gets very shy when we are out places without them, not so much when he is with them)
• being without his brothers (he very much enjoys the time while they are at school)
• playing computer games
• watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

We Celebrated Fall

Now that it's December, I thought it would be a great time to write all about some of the other (non-balloon related) things that I like about October.

The botanic gardens hosts a harvest festival each year. There's a hayride, crafts, demonstration booths, and most importantly - fresh apple cider. The apple cider is why we go, but it has turned into a fun fall tradition.

Superhero cornhusk dolls duking it out

Watching the apple cider being made

Another fun October activity is a small local pumpkin "patch". We've done this for several years and it just keeps getting bigger and more fun.

Feeding the goats - it goes in the bucket and then you maneuver the bucket up to the goats, or dump it into a feed container, but normally the goats intercept the bucket.

Week in the Life - Sunday

Just a few for today - next time I do this I should start on a Sunday in hopes of getting more pictures on that day!

Week in the Life - Saturday (11/17)

Week in the Life - Friday (11/16)

Week in the Life - Thursday (11/15)

Week in the Life - Wednesday (11/14)

Week in the Life - Tuesday (11/13)

Every time I do this (or put a photo collage in another post) it seems like I have someone asking how I do them. I use the software on bighugelabs.com. It is such a great way to show a lot of pictures in one post!

Week in the Life of Us - Monday (11/12)

All year, I've been planning on doing another week in the life photo series during the fall, but fall was quickly getting away from me! This attempt was by far my lamest, but I know it will still be so much fun to look back on. Here is Monday -

We Dressed up like Ninjas

Practicing their ninja moves before the elementary school costume parade

Ninjas don't smile (at the school parade)

We weren't just any ninjas, mind you, we were the Lego Ninjago ninjas. Thus, we have the black ninja, the red ninja , the white ninja, Sensai Wu, and Nya who I am told by Oliver is the red ninja's sister.

Oliver is done with pictures, but his picture refusal pose looks a lot like a ninja pose.

Oliver's Cheetah Claws

Oliver's favorite part of grocery shopping is getting stickers from the cashier. He puts them on the palm of his hands (and sometimes on his feet if he gets enough) and calls them his cheetah claws. They make him run super fast.  He gets very upset if he doesn't get cheetah claws at the store.

One More Post About Balloons

On Saturday, we decided to try one more day of balloon chasing. We drove about two miles north and the balloons were practically raining down from the sky. We decided to chase after the wheelchair special shape balloon. It landed in a park where there were two others being packed up, and while we were there, one other came down. Someone said that 11 balloons had landed there that morning! We learned that it really isn't normal for that many balloons to head in that same direction (normally this particular park gets one during the entire week, if that). Here are some pictures from the morning.

There it is! We actually didn't make it there quickly enough to see it land., but we've never seen a special shape balloon outside of the park, so it was still really neat.

The balloon is starting to inflate, and it looks like it's trying to poke the other balloon with its star.

Then, this one decided to come land in the park, too.

Kids in a gondola.

Kids in another gondola.  This is the gondola for the wheelchair balloon. It has the door to it is wheelchair accessible. Typically you have to climb over the side of the gondola to get in, which clearly isn't wheelchair friendly.

Jordan learning the ins and outs of packing up a special shape balloon. He was kind of disappointed that there was so many people at the park, thinking that there would be more than enough people to pack up the balloons. They were all just there to look, for the most part, and all he had to do was ask and then he got his chance.

On Friday night, we set out to find a good spot to view the fireworks that they shoot off from Balloon Fiesta. We found a great spot, had a great time, and the kids decided they wanted to go back the next night! On Saturday night, we realized lots more people knew about our spot as it was quite a bit more crowded. Tonight, we could we really were pretty close to the park because we could see the tops of the glowing balloons as they finished up the balloon glow. Especially if you sat up on top of the car (the preferred fireworks viewing spot for Jordan, Jonah, and Oliver).

We Woke Up Early To See Balloons

I went running this morning and booked it eastward so that I could quickly get to my half-way point and then turn around and enjoy the balloons on my way back home. But then they all went north! I still got a nice view, though. This really is quite possibly my most favorite week of the year.

Yesterday, we went to see the mass ascension launch. It was a pretty perfect morning. It was the first time we made it in time for Dawn Patrol, where a few balloons launch before sunrise (they have special lighting systems that allow them to fly in the dark). They line up in a straight line and then launch one at a time, so it is a different look then the mass ascension and very neat to watch. I was messing with camera settings to try and get a decent picture and this was the best I could do. I'll bet if there were a few more balloons to go, I would have had it perfect!

Some more pictures of our morning:

The kids really like to collect the balloon trading cards that most of the pilots have. Skyler was getting very brave by the end of the morning and going up to the crew all by himself to ask for a card. When we got home, Oliver checked out all the cards.

It's Balloon Time Again

The first official event of Balloon Fiesta consists of pilots launching from elementary schools across the city. So, on Friday we got up early to watch two balloons inflate.

Skyler showing off his balloon trading card for one of the balloons that was at the school.

So excited they can barely keep their eyes open

They didn't end up launching, but it was still a lot of fun.

Adventures in Balloon Chasing

On Sunday morning, we headed off in search of balloons. It's easy enough to spot them in the sky, but tracking them down so that you can watch them land and then pack up can be tricky.

We saw this balloon come down, it was definitely a hard landing!

But don't worry, Jordan is here to save the day and help it stay up while the gondola is moved to a better position to hopefully get the balloon off of the light pole.

After it is all packed up, it is very important to have little boys sit on top in order to make sure all the air is out.

Jonah's First Soccer Game

If you'll remember, Jonah thought that playing soccer was way fun, the practicing - not so much. So, he has suffered through four weeks of practice and now he's onto the fun.

Oliver assumes the proper soccer watching position

Ready for action

Playing goalie. At one point, (as in, while the game was going on on the other side of the field) he told me to not take pictures of him while he was playing goalie because it would distract him from the ball. I obviously didn't listen. In my defense, I didn't hear what he was saying because he was just mouthing the words and gesturing, but later he told me that is what he had said.

Here he is in the midst of some sort of "I just blocked a goal" celebration dance.

Oliver is a Natural

I noticed Oliver's natural ability to hold and swing a golf club (at least semi-correctly) when I took the kids goofy golfing last month. He does even better when holding actual golf clubs. He was sinking it in from further distances, but he's apparently camera-shy because this is the best I could get on film.



It totally makes me want to buy him a putter and a chipper and hang out with him on the golf course every morning.

Week in Review

We started out the week hiking. The boys were not excited about this until we had walked about a quarter mile and they saw that this hike was more like rock climbing. This meant lots of fun things came out of Oliver's mouth, such as:

"I don't need mom's help. I use my strong muscles"
"I still have my climbing powers"

and, my favorite:

"Yeah, we're better than you guys are" - In response to a couple commenting on what good rock climbers the boys were.

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Jonah started soccer this week. This picture is from two weeks ago when he attended a clinic on sign-up day. He was so excited that when we woke up at around 7, he immediately put on his (now a tad too small) cleats and too small shin guards (we have ones to fit him, not sure why he didn't choose those ones, but he wouldn't switch to them because it involved taking off his shoes). His feet were not hurting four hours later when the clinic started! Poor kid, though, I didn't read the schedule correctly and had him there for the six and seven year old clinic. He didn't like being with the older kids but stuck with it. They did a scrimmage at the end and he really enjoyed playing defense. I told him that the drills and practice part sometimes isn't fun, but you have to do that in order to enjoy the game. So much so that even though he didn't really have a good time at the clinic, and thinks it's a bummer that he can't just play a game every time, he still wanted to give soccer a try.

He had his first practice on Saturday and had a lot of fun. He thought it was much more fun with just a few kids (four others) that were his age!

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Speaking of Jonah, at recess, he says he plays with Skyler, a boy from church, and a girl in his class. We asked why he plays with her and he said, "She's cute and I love her. But there's one thing I hate about her, even though I still love her, she likes Justin Bieber! She has a Justin Bieber folder and lunchbox and I hate Justin Bieber!"

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Speaking of boys liking girls, there was a new girl in Oliver's nursery class on Sunday. I asked Oliver if he knew her name and he said no. I asked her if she was cute and he smiled and nodded.

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And, on a completely unrelated topic, Skyler started cub scouts in July and has earned his bobcat badge. He was giving the badge at this week's pack meeting. Here he is pinning on my mother's pin. And, here he is getting his bobcat badge pinned on. The badge is supposed to be pinned on upside down and then turned around when the boy does a good turn. Or, you could always pin it right side up while holding the boy upside down. This made sense to Jordan and I because it was what Jordan remembered from his youth and what I remember happening to my brothers. Jordan is the cubmaster, so he wanted to do it. In reality, though, it doesn't make sense at all, because the badge is one that is sewed on, so do you safety pin it on upside down? Was an actual pin involved at some point? Not to mention the fact that a letter went out in 1990 saying that it shouldn't be happening at all and the whole "do a good deed to flip it around" thing wasn't even real. Skyler will apparently be the first and last member of this pack that will get the joy (because doesn't he look like he's having the time of his life?) of being flipped over.