September Randoms

So I am falling far behind and thought I 'd do a quick randoms post to catch up a bit, so here is the rest of September in pictures!

We went to Clovermead with the ladies from church . . .actually the older kids were in school so it was just Karter, Konnor, and I.  You get a very different (in a good way) taste of Clovermead when you do it at your 3 year old's speed. It was nice!

I like the intent looks on the three boys faces. (the pictures are taken through two sets of screens so not real clear, but you can still see their interest!)

Karter  at home

Karter with the white cat. We have two cats right now and interestingly enough neither has a name.  It's almost like we are preparing to not get too attached.

Karter and Cita (sounds like Seata)

Karter and Konnor playing

Jonathan was preparing lettering for his work truck and parts of the stickers made excellent finger nails. We had fun with this!

Karter too . . .

Kade played in his first soccer tournament . . .no wins . . but he had fun and learned things. They will be virtually the same team next year, so they should be well prepared then!!

We had a tea party shower for Emily . . 

Everyone was looking good . . . :)

Emily and Kate dressed up as Emily and Evan for one of the games.

And that finished off September.

Konnor at Seven Months

So Konnor is already seven months and I'm not the only one who can't believe how fast it has gone.  He is doing not so babyish things and plus there are new and tiny and cuddly little babies around which makes him practically a toddler.  But not quite. He's our baby and we are sure enjoying this stage where he seems to be learning something new just about every day. 

Goofballs!

At seven months, Konnor:

• is crawling. He was moving around just a bit at six months and worked on perfecting the crawl all month, and he sure has it down pat now.  
• is climbing. I didn't think that they should do crawl and climb in the same week, but now that he is moving, he just climbs up on things and gets into trouble. I have found out that my house is not as babyproof as I thought!
• has moved to the bottom of the pack n' play.  He has slept on the upper layer you can add to the pack n' play until this week b/c I walked in and found him up on his knees looking over the edge. 
• almost has his third tooth. It is peeking through just a tiny bit!
• spent about 4-5 days being sick -- feverish and GRUMPY! (understandably). We did lots of snuggling and very little work during a few of those days.
• loves Karter. Karter is VERY in Konnor's face. It actually drives me a little crazy sometimes b/c as good as he is at making Konnor laugh, he can also make him cry quite well too.  But Konnor does seem to enjoy him.
• is a major mommy's boy . . . to the point of me getting called out of church b/c he is inconsolable. And yet he is still a friendly little gaffer. It doesn't really make sense!
• is sitting well and going from the crawl to the sit  and back.
• grabs everything.  He is very studious and I am going to have to make sure my floors stay somewhat free of small objects.
• plays with toys fairly well. He still does the exersaucer a fair bit and I am glad for that. He is still enjoying the jolly jumper too.  I put him in the bumbo occasionally and he just crawls right out:)
• sleeps pretty bad . . .especially at night. He generally has two naps a day and then in bed around 8 or 9 which seems like a ridiculously low amount of sleep to me . .  especially b/c often those naps are very short!
•  has a fabulous laugh! and smile:)
• is getting harder and harder to take pictures of b/c he heads straight for the camera
• is eating more and more solids. He has had quite a few varieties of baby cereal (rice, brown rice, mixed, oatmeal, barley . . .) and he has had bananas, avocado, cheerios, and lots of yogurt.  Veggies are next on the menu. I am doing this a little backwards from the way I did my other kids . . .mostly due to lack of planning. Hopefully I don't regret it! He eats fairly well, but I wouldn't say he is super pumped about food. Generally he eats cereal for breakfast and after supper and yogurt or banana for lunch.
• is an expert at finding his soother and getting it where it needs to be. He loves it and so do I!
• is really getting more hair now! We call him Fuzz.  It's especially great after a bath.
• loves it in the bath. We have him in his seat thing now and he likes to just chill and splash.
• seems to be good at getting stuck in awkward spots like the lower level of the exersaucer, or under the desk, or chairs, or between stools.  
• loves nursing.
• is displaying a temper already! I always laugh when kids do it at this age b/c it just seems funny to me.
• has the softest cheeks.
• is super loved.

Back to School 2015

Not a one of us was looking forward to this "Back to School" thing. I suppose a part of it might be that we were just coming off of vacation and school seems pretty structured and rigid compared to the carefree life of holidays. Nevertheless, the calendar said we had to start school, so we did.

Of course the big change this year is that we have a high schooler. Ya. We have a HIGH SCHOOLER!  Crazy stuff.  In some ways it doesn't seem too different b/c he takes the same bus, but it feels kind of strange to not have all your school kids in the same place.

Kevin, though not excited about school in particular,  was somewhat excited to be going to PRC.  His least favorite part was the uniform .. . though 6 school days later, I think we made it through a morning without a comment on it.  It is not the uniform in particular that he has issues with - it is how it fits - too big, too baggy, too long -- basically too different from what he is used to. But it is growing on him . . .and he'll be growing into it too!

Next funny story, that has to be recorded b/c other wise I'll never believe it to be true.  When Kevin came home from school the first day, his first words were, "I am so sick, I think I'm gonna throw up.""  After he laid down and cooled down (it was a super hot day), I peppered him with questions. How was it? Did you like it? What did you do at lunch? etc.  Do you care to know what he did at lunch?  Well he tells me, "I walked around for a while, and then we went to the library and read books."  I nearly fell off my chair.  WAY TOO not Kevin.  So he was a little lost for the first week, but I think he is slowly but surely finding his way. This has been a good experience for him for sure!  The minor niner takes on real meaning all of the sudden.

Kade had a good first day of school - same classroom, same teacher, same friends. No big deal.

Kylie came home announcing that she hates school. This girl does like her play time and this school thing sure cuts into it!

 So the first day was not met with such great enthusiasm. Since then we are all settling into routine slowly but surely. It is starting to feel like the new normal . . though I personally could go for a four day week or perhaps 4 months of summer vacation.  

B/c it was such a hot first day of school, and b/c we were still kind of in vacation/beach mode, we cleaned up quickly after supper and headed for Port Burwell for one last hurrah.

It was a beautiful night and a good end to the first day of school.

Sandhills!!

On Labour Day we had a year end summer hockey picnic held at Sandhills. We are quite familiar with Sandhills having gone many times when we were kids, but also a couple times with our own kids. But it had been a while and we were excited to go back!

It didn't disappoint! This is such a fun place to visit for the day.  The big sand hill is of course the highlight! It is quite the workout getting up there!

But oh so fun coming down!!

Here is Kade at the top with Lake Erie behind him.  This is the first time we (they) ever ventured down the other side. It is quite steep  . . . but it is sand . . .so I guess as long as you fall carefully you should be okay!! (that's what I was telling myself as I took the long way around with Konnor in the stroller)

The view from the top.

This is the beach side  . . . .looking up.  This is the "cliff" they climbed down.

There is not much of a beach here b/c the water comes pretty much up to the cliffs, but it is not super busy and so there is enough room to kind of put your stuff.

The waves were huge this day which was SO MUCH FUN!  A little nerve wracking at times but with the beautiful temperatures and the waves we could have stayed in for hours.

Carrie held on to Kylie's hand pretty much the entire time b/c the waves were so strong they'd knock you right over if they hit you right. 

Jeremy didn't make it down without a little sand in the face . . . faceplant perhaps??!!

I took this picture from near the top . . . that is the kids  in the water and Darwin and Carrie by the shore. Gives you an idea how high up you are when you are at the top.

The sand is really beautiful here too. And there is clay.  We didn't get to do that this time, but that was another highlight I remember from when we were kids.

This was a great way to end our summer. Our only regret was that we didn't come a bit earlier and that we couldn't stay later:)  Good times.