Visit to Ft. Wayne

This past weekend we went to visit Todd's parents, brother & sister in Ft. Wayne. We had a good time! We went to the park to walk on a trail, explore and roll down the hill. Some of us (not me) played a little football and the kids (Taylor, Connor and cousins Dylan & Quinn) ran around the house and played. It was a beautiful weekend for the outdoors!

Unfortunately Connor closed his eyes; it was sunny, I don't blame him!

Walking the trail with Grandma & Grandpa & the dogs.
Walking back up the bank after exploring around the water. Todd almost fell in the water :)

Attempt at a family photo; Connor did NOT want to be a part of it!

I highly recommend rolling down the hill with your kids-it really brought back memories from my childhood-it was great!

Todd, Troy, Erika, Taylor & Dylan playing football in the front yard.

Picture of the cousins: Taylor, Claire, Dylan, Quinn, Connor

Visitors, Visitors Everywhere!

I have been blessed with great friends and I am lucky enough to have had lots of visitors in the past couple of days. Becca, Kim & Emma Grace visited Tuesday afternoon, Jeni visited Tues. evening and Cheryl, Jacob & Joey came over to play Wednesday morning. Emily, Izzy and Ethan were also supposed to come over but they are sick :(

Emma & Claire-synchronized babying-hands up!

Now roll to the side
Hands to our face and scrunch up our legs

Ah, all done, roll to the back and hands out!

Mommas w/ their babes!

Becca & Claire

Kim practicing for those sweet twins that will be here soon!

Jeni & Claire

Jacob hugging baby Claire

Connor & Jacob watching Thomas the Train

Welcome baby Emma!

Okay, this welcoming message is a little late, but I would like to welcome Emma Grace to the world! She was born October 14th weighing 7lbs 11 oz, 21 inches to proud parents John & Becca Wollenburg, big sister Olivia Wollenburg and proud aunt Jaylee Mills! She is gorgeous!

Shirt after a day in the life of Connor

Unfortunately this picture does not do justice to the amount of substance that is on this shirt. It is COVERED in toothpaste, brownie, spaghetti, dirt and I am not even sure what else. If he had been wearing it today, it would have also been covered in Claire's Mylecon drops that he decided to get into and pour all over the counter. He has his stool that he moves all over the place to enable him to get into things that we are trying to purposely keep out of his reach-guess I am not doing a good enough job!!! If the stool doesn't cut it, he has been known to drag the kitchen table chairs to his needed destination. The toothpaste is from him getting into his bathroom yesterday and squirting toothpaste all over the counters, in his mouth and using every tooth brush in the bathroom. As much as it sounds like I don't watch my child, he can escape and accomplish these mischevious tasks in under a minute. I have decided that he needs to be handcuffed to me in order to divert disaster. Apparently this little munchkin is as lively and vivacious as his mommy and daddy were at his age :)

Trick or Treat

This year, like last year, we went trick-or-treating with the Hutcherson Crew in her brother's neighborhood. Taylor & Aidan enjoy going around together and they were super cute this year b/c they were both Star Wars characters. Aidan was Darth Vader and Taylor was Jango Fet. Connor had a lot of fun this year too. Last year he was kinda pokey and a little scared-this year he was excited and RAN to every house. AND he liked to keep taking candy out of the dish. The houses where they left the bowls out were hard to pry him away from. Then, at one house he left his half-eaten licorice stick (which he called "candy-lish) in the candy bowl. Whoops, sorry about that.

Unfortunately though, we didn't get over to see Grandma & Grandpa and Mamaw and Papaw because of our busy day of partying, dinner and trick or treating! We will next year for sure!

Claire in her Halloween gear from Grandma & Grandpa Mann

Taylor w/ out his helmet-he gave it up after a while!

My monkey boy!


Taylor & Aidan

Connor, Taylor, Izzy, Aidan, Emma & her friend

trick or treating. Me and all my babes! Claire is under the blanket, snuggled into a sling. We didn't get a family pic except the one in a separate post from the Kelker's party. The boys were too EVERYWHERE to get everyone in one place! :)

Connor trying on Brad's fire fighter had-Brad had to hold it up because it was so heavy!

Taylor in Brad's hat and coat-in which he fell over after this pic was taken because it was all too heavy :)

Taylor's school parade & party

At Taylor's school the Kindergarten students are allowed to wear a costume of "abook or movie character" and do a parade around the school while the other students sit in the hallways and watch/clap for them. They had so much fun! Afterwards they decorated treat bags, played "pin the tail on the scarecrow" and had treats. I stayed the day with him to experience this and it was so much fun!

Kindergarten lined up in the lunchroom ready to start their parade!

The kids at Taylor's table

Taylor's second attempt at pinning the nose; the first time he got it on the white board.

Taylor's class drawing a Halloween picture.

Taylor sitting at his desk waiting for the parade to start. He was Jango Fet from Star Wars.

Fall activities 2009

To see all of our October/Fall 2009 pictures go to this link http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=957252584805%3A1757743257

We tried to do as much as we could to enjoy the fall activities while having a newborn at home. I think we did a pretty good job. We did most everything w/ in the last week and a half though. We went to the pumpkin patch, enjoyed the Childrens Museum friendly Haunted House w/ the Moose and Hutcherson families, had a blast at the Kelkers Halloween party and went trick or treating w/ the Hutcherson Crew. We also attempted to make carmel apples at home, but I bought the apples too big and the carmel ended up not working out so well. Oh well, now I know for next year! We didn't dress Claire up this year b/c she was stuffed into her sling/carrier so no one could see her anyway, but Grandma & Grandpa Mann sent her a fun hat and bib that I got some pics with her wearing.

Family photo at The Kelkers super fun family Halloween party!

My monkey getting ready for his turn at the pinata

Taylor was the last hitter, thinking he was going to break it open but that sucker was tough and had to be ripped open.

Connor & Izzy at the Childrens Museum-we didn't get any pics of the actual Haunted House

The "green screen" where the kids were projected on a TV screen-they LOVED it!

Daddy's pumpkin creations and two stinkin' cute boys!

Trying to get Connor to look for a picture is a little difficult! Pumpkin patch (obviously)

Hayride to pumpkin patch

The big hay pile is always a big hit!