Halloween

Just a quick note, more to follow when the day arrives, I'm sure.

After the trunk or treat party, Amelia was enjoying her candies. "I sure like these coconut ones" she remarked.

If you are the first to guess what the "coconut ones" are called, I'll mail you some!

Jonny's Belly Button

Every time Jonathan sees me feeding the baby, he pulls up his shirt and holds his belly button (an outie.) He seems to think that is where the milk for the baby comes from. Once or twice, I caught him encouraging Simon "suck my belly button." A few days ago, I noticed him "feeding" a glow in the dark lizard from his belly button.

Amelia's Theme Parks

Ever since we went to DisneyWorld, Amelia has been talking about her own theme park, Disney Love Heart. She encourages me and Jimmy to make up rides to put in her theme park.
Some of the rides include "Lava Girl's Flamethrower" (a big slide shaped like Lava Girl, where you slide down her arm and out the flame thrower she is holding) and "Turner's Big Spin" is one of those towers with the room that spins up and down and gives you a view of the park. It is shaped like a bolt and the nut is the spinning room that goes up and down. Most of her rides are okay for pregnant women, she says. This was an issue on our last vacation.

Two nights ago, she started talking about "Hershey Lovers." I thought this was her version of Hershey Park. I was wrong. She asked me and Gary to play Hershey Lovers. "What's that?" we asked.
"Well," she explained, "Mom and Dad sit on the couch and then we pretend that babies are popping out of her tummy"
"?!"
"Well, we don't really pop out of her tummy, we hide around the room and pop out."

HIking Mary's Rock

Gary decided to take the day off on Monday, Columbus Day and since the weather was nice we decided to go on a hike. Gary chose a nice hike for us to the top of Mary's Rock in the Shenandoah Valley. It took about an hour and forty minutes to get there. It was a pretty drive, out through the more rural parts of Northern Virginia. The leaves on some of the trees were just starting to turn colors. Most were still green.
We ate lunch in the parking lot near the trail head. Much to our surprise, Jimmy's soccer coach and his teammate pulled up next to us and started on the same hike! We saw them again once we reached the top.
After cleaning up lunch, and inserting babies into carriers, we started off: me with Simon on my front, Gary with Jonathan on his back, Amelia with a really big stick, and Jimmy empty handed but raring to go.
The hike started with a lot of steep up hill. It would have been harder in warm weather, but we were blessed to have a nice cool day and lots of shade from the trees. Jimmy lead the way the entire way. He was full of energy. That is good. Amelia was excited for the first half mile and she was not far behind. Simon and I came next, with Gary and Jonathan bringing up the rear.
The trail we started on eventually met up with the Appalachian Trail. I had always heard of that trail and was fascinated when Gary told me it is 2000 miles long. I think we were on it for 1 mile. I guess that only leaves 1999 miles left to explore! It is a very well maintained trail, through beautiful forest and rock. I don't know what kind of trees there are, but they are not like the evergreen forests I hiked in as a kid. A few of the trees were starting to turn color for the fall, but I think that they are a few weeks away from peak color.
Once we got on the Applalachian Trail, Amelia lost her steam and started complaining. Everything was stupid. She sat down many times and refused to get up. She dragged her feet and whined. I lagged behind with her, trying to jolly her along.
"Think of the pioneers," I said. "They liked to sing when they walked. What song should we sing while we walk?"
"I don't want to sing," she said. "This is the worst day ever!"
Thus inspired, I made up a song for her entitled "The Worst Day Ever" This song is not directly a rip off of Sponge Bob's Best Day Ever Song (the kids love to check this cd out from the library) but it is close.
It's the worst day ever! It's the worst day ever!
We're on a hike and it is so long! Chon chon chon cha cha chon chon chon (no, it doesn't mean anything, it just fills space in the song)
And this is our worst day ever song!
Chon chon chon cha cha chon chon chon!
It's the worst day ever!
The worst day EVER!
No, it's not a master piece, but it did get her to the top of the mountain.
Once at the top, the kids thoroughly enjoyed climbing all over the very large rocks at the top of Mary's Rock and we really enjoyed the spectacular view of the valley.
It may have been Amelia's worst day ever, but it was the best day I've had in a long time.
The thrill of reaching the top is evident on Amelia's face. There were lots of great rocks for the kids to climb on.

This is us, at the start of the trail.
Here we are where the original trail meets up with the Appalachian Trail.
Jimmy had loads of energy, as a 6 year old should. He always ran ahead, and here he is having fun on a big rock next to the trail.
We have a book called Donald Duck, Mountain Climber. It's Jonathan's favorite. I asked him if he was a mountain climber and he said "Yes!" and then I asked (or Gary asked) if he could think of any other mountain climbers. We expected he would say "Unca Donald" (he calls Donald Duck "uncle Donald,") and were surprised (and pleased) that he responded "Daddy!"
This is me and Amelia. We are probably singing Amelia's song.

Jonathan's Birthday

Last week was Jonathan's birthday. He really looked forward to it for a long time. He knew what he wanted: a bike and an Elmo cake. Here's the family with the birthday boy and the much desired Elmo cake. He doesn't really know anything about Elmo, but he liked the Elmo pinata at Gary's company's picnic last week and has been excited about him ever since.

We didn't get a picture of him on the bike yet, but here's one of him in his Tigger suit*, opening his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This is what he chose with the money that Nana and Pop sent for his birthday. Thanks!

*He calls the tail of this suit his "bouncer" and the first time he put it on, he spent a while going in circles, trying to get a hold of it. I wish I had made a movie of that!

Jousting part 2

Here is Jimmy pretending to joust. Notice the powdered sugar on his nose, which the kids enjoyed while watching the joust.
Jonathan was so disappointed that he did not get to ride the horses, so I took a picture of him with some horses.

Gary's post pretty much says the rest.

National Jousting Championship 2007

Yesterday we attended the National Jousting Championship in Aldie, Virginia. It was interesting, even if it wasn't as dangerous or swashbuckling as we previously imagined. It was a competition of speed and skill, with horseback riders ("knights" and "maids") riding at top speed and trying to spear three rings, as small as 1/4 inch in diameter!



Hopefully we'll attend again next year.

Procrastination

This is the family, right before we broke our pinata. It's a Mickey head that the kids and I made from free Harris Teeter balloons (our grocery store) and papier mache. It is painted to look like Toodles from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It was intended to be for a pre- DisneyWorld vacation celebration. But we left early and didn't have the celebration. Then it was intended to be a welcome home/ease the vacation let down activity. But that didn't happen. Then it was going to celebrate the end of summer vacation. Then it was going to be for the first day of school. Then it was going to keep the kids busy while I was in labor. Then it was going to be a welcome home from the hospital thing. Then one Friday night, I was tired of waiting for candy, and I said, "Let's just break it open tonight." So we did.

Family Photos

No one is looking the right directions, but they look cute anyway! I think Simon has a sweet face.
I think Gary has a sweet face too!

This is a bonus from the hospital! I forgot to post it at the time.

Nice try!

Today, I got out the camera to take pictures of the kids to post on this site. (Hopefully I find the cable to connect the camera to the computer and actually post them:( )
Jonny kept asking "Can I take a picture Mommy?"
After repeated "no's" I finally said:
No matter how many times you ask, Mommy does not change her mind. Mommy might get mad, but she will not change her mind.
Jonny thought for a minute and then said "Can I take a picture GRANDMA?"

Amelia's Art

Amelia was feeling artsy the other day. She painted a picture of each of the family members. She made the kids big and the grown ups bigger. Each person has a huge hand. That was so that after she carefully cut around each person, she could tape them together holding hands. She also painted a picture of baby Moses for her family night lesson. (Yes, it has been more than a year and she is still teaching us the same Moses lesson every time.)
So she didn't finish her project on Monday. So Tuesday morning, she cut out her pictures and taped them together. It was really cute! I commented on what a nice, happy family picture she made. Then I noticed that she included baby Moses in the group. I asked if Moses was in the family. She said "That's not Moses. That's another baby, just in case."

Still the Scientist

When Jimmy came home from school one day, he noticed my Avent Isis (pump)on the counter next to the sink. A huge grin spread across his face and he exclaimed :What kind of science experiment is that?!
(Amelia explained it to him.)