Elliot's first field trip

I was so excited to chaperone Elliot's very first field trip! We got to ride the school bus and went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. Elliot was nervous about the bus, but of course he loved it. I had 4 three year olds, one of which was a bit of a flight risk. I think I was almost as tired as Elliot when the day was over, but it sure was a lot of fun. We teamed up with another mom and her four kids and stayed together as a group.

Elliot's first time on a school bus!

All of the students in Miss Susan's class 

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Following the leader as we attempt to keep the "runners" with us :)

Lunch 

A buffalo that was peeing.  For a long time.  These kids were CRACKING UP!

Cute, cute, cute!

Me and my boys

I read a blog that several of my friends posted on FB recently about how mom's never get in the pictures because they don't look good enough. And it really highlighted how ridiculous that is, and of course the boys will want to look back on pictures of their parents, not just themselves. So from now on, mom and dad are going to be in more pics. Here's a few of me and my sweet boys.

They are so fresh and handsome after haircuts and a bath

Cuddled and snug watching Noah's soccer game together trying to stay warm

Noah graded Elliot's workbook pages

The other day Elliot was doing pages in his workbook and Noah decided to grade it. He wrote on several pages the sweetest things. Here are a couple of my favorites.

That is wonderful

Awesome Job Elliot

Sporting KC with our soccer team!

I think it was almost two years ago that the major announcement was made that KC was having a new professional soccer team:  Sporting KC.  I remember the day because it was the same day that on my run I saw a couple of guys pushing a a GIANT soccer ball down Meyer to Ward Parkway to hype up this "big announcement" coming that day.  It is memorable, because it was the same day that Paul got attacked by an owl.  I thought the name was weird and not being a big sports person, never went to a game.  I've only heard good things about the games.  Everyone loves them, the team is actually really good and the stadium is beautiful.  So, when it was Brookside Soccer Club night, we jumped on it and went with 3 other families from Noah's soccer team.  Paul ended up going to San Antonio that weekend so he missed out, but we had a blast!

I've been to Royals and Cheifs games, but the energy doesn't even compare.  Not to mention, they WON!  The kids NEVER got bored and we stayed until the end.  Elliot was really tired though and asked to go home so he could go to bed several times, but he was easily distracted.

Paul & I are going to the last regular season home game in a couple of weeks.  It's on a school night, so I just bought the two of us tickets.  It took the boys a few days to recover from that late of a night.

Dinner at the Jazz

Kid's section

Instant fans (and aspiring Sporting players)

First goal of the night!

Elliot eye update

It's been a long time since I've updated the blog on Elliot's eyes.  The last few appointments have been good.  A couple weeks ago we went and we actually found out the crossing has improved somewhat!  I thought it was worse this summer, but it has really improved in the Fall.  We think it may  have been worse in the summer because he was just tired more often (swimming all day), as his eyes do cross when he's tired.  Dr. Olitsky did discover an astigmatism, but it's not that bad yet and he doesn't need glasses.  Woot woot!

His new laser finger beamer entertained him in the dark parking garage traffic jam 

Such a good boy was a great patient and talked Dr. Olitsky's ear off

Going for a spin

This weekend has given us some fabulous fall weather, and we took full advantage of it.  On Sunday, we took the boys out to Minor Park to see if they would enjoy mountain biking.  I wasn't 100% certain how it would go; when I had asked Noah a couple days earlier if he'd like to try riding his bike on some trails and he told me no.

We haven't been here in nearly two years, but it's a fun place that I used to enjoy coming to quite frequently.  This was the very first place I tried my hand at true mountain biking, and at one time, I lived nearby and used the trails extensively as a great after-work release.  The Blue River trails have something for everyone, with difficulty levels from beginner to expert depending on your tastes.  But even the "beginner" level for a 3- and 6-year old can pose some challenging obstacles.

Initially, I hadn't even planned on taking Elliot's bike along, figuring there would be: a) no way he could keep up on his bike, and b) no way he could keep going the entire way.  Turns out, happily, that I was wrong on both counts.  We took his pedal-less Strider with us, but not Mandy's bike.  Hers is not a trail bike, and we figured Elliot would poop out quickly and they could just walk in the woods.

Noah had no problems at all, and loved the experience.  Elliot kept up on nearly all sections, until the end, but he kept going under his own power until we got back to the car after more than two hours and three miles of biking.  We stopped to throw rocks into the Blue River a couple of times, but Noah always wanted to keep going.  We had lunch about halfway through, then crossed to the other side of the river to head back along some other trails.

Afterwards, we took the boys out for some ice cream and drove by where I used to live and where Mandy's first house was.  She and I both were more tired than the two Energizer bunnies we had with us, but we all had a great time.

First big downhill.

First big uphill

Elliot getting on it.

Keeping up with big brother

Rock break.  This is the same place we stopped and threw rocks two years ago.

They liked exploring the "lakes" they kept seeing from the trail.

Noah found a board that would be perfect for a fort, and was convinced he could take this board back with him on his bike 

Lunch!

Climbing down a steep hill.  One that daddy would have ridden down in his younger years. They couldn't even convince Mom to climb down it.

Exploring

Climbing back up

The last part of the trail on this side peters out into a railroad line.

Weekend with Claire

When Paul and I went on our weekend getaway recently, the kids stayed home with their favorite sitter of all time, Claire.  There was no time for missing mom and dad.  She kept them busy and having fun.  She emailed me some pictures from their weekend.  How lucky our family is to have Claire.  Sadly she went back to Seattle the next morning after we got back to head back to college.  We'll see her again over Christmas break.

They made ice boats and sailed them at the Nelson Art Gallery

Love the ice boats

I think shaving cream was involved here

frozen paint

Noah's first soccer game of the season

Air hockey in Claire's basement.  They were obsessed with this and still talk about it.

Glow in the dark bath

St. E's night at Culver's the night we left

hehehe

Simple Pleasures

One of my favorite things about Elliot is how he gets such joy out of the little things. Last week before heading out of town I decided to buy some cereal to make things easier on our babysitter. We don't eat cereal very often. Usually Elliot eats eggs and fruit for breakfast. I let him pick out cereal and he chose Chocolate Cheerios. Oh my gosh did that rock his world. First, he wanted to carry it. Then put it on the belt for the cashier. As the sacker was sacking groceries, he let him know he wanted the cereal. As soon as we got home he wanted a bowl. I don't know how many times he thanked me. He was so excited and it was adorable.

A couple of days ago I bought new toothbrushes for the boys. Theirs were getting frayed and usually I just get them from the dentist, but didn't want to wait. So I got Transformer spinbrushes. WOAH! Did it ever make Elliot's day. It was so funny and cute. He carried it everywhere. Thanked me countless times. He wanted his bath early and got out pretty quick so he could brush his teeth. As I handed it to him he said "This is going to be so fun!". Two days later and he's still carrying it around everywhere, and still thanking me daily for buying it. I got out my iPhone to capture him loving on his toothbrush and totally spontaneously caught the funniest moment. He wants a toothbrush birthday cake.

Schlitterbahn Labor Day 2012

We decided to spend the last "official" day of summer at Schlitterbahn. The last time were were here was 2 years ago and that time, Elliot didn't get to come.  We filled our cooler with all kinds of goodies and drinks and got there right when they opened.  As expected, it was packed.  But, we had a ball.  Elliot was a total daredevil, and just like Noah at his age, didn't really care to play in the kiddie area more than 5 minutes.  They loved the waterslides, water roller coaster and the torrent river.  Most of the pictures are of us in the torrent river, as it's obviously not possible to take them on water rides.  The kids would have loved to have gone down the slides more, but as the day wore on the lines were too long.

Noah made up a word in "noah language" as he calls it.  For every big wave that would come he'd yell "TRANZ OMEN!".  He called the small waves, fire ants, because he said, fire ants are small.  Anyway, at one point we heard another kid in the distance yell "TRANZ OMEN!" at a big wave coming and it was hilarious!  Noah loved that someone else copied his term.  The torrent river ride was also referred to as Tranz Omen.  The kids would ask after snack/reapplying sunscreen breaks to go "back to Tranz Omen".  We all called it that by the end of the day.

We had a blast and the kids were exhausted when we headed home at the end of the day.  Looking forward to going again next year for sure.