Fall and Friends

In October, Shiralee, Pierre, and Riley visited us from England.  This is all of us at Stake & Shake after our trip to Bass Pro Shop.  Here are some of the other things we did together.

We went a lot of places, but I’m pretty sure one of Riley’s favorite things was playing in our back yard.  The first pic is at the park.

We visited the fire station with all of our playgroup friends.

The Zoo

at the park and on the train

in the petting zoo

The zebras are Cori’s favorite.

The Pumpkin Patch

Eli and Cori both loved riding the ponies.  We were impressed with how brave Cori was, she loved it.

All the kids loved feeding the animals.

Golf Fishing

Pierre wanted to fish, so Dad took the boys to fish at the golf course.  They did golf and fishing at the same time, very manly.  Papa taught Eli to putt.

Oktober Fest

We had a double date to Oktoberfest while Grandma & Papa watched the kids.  We kept missing the chicken dance so we ended up having to do it in the living room.

The Joy of Keegan

Nick and Kira’s baby Keegan was born on July 27th (6 weeks early).  She was in the hospital for a while, so my kids haven’t gotten to see her much.  She is doing great now.  From the minute Cori saw here at Marcus’s birthday party, all she wanted to do was “holdie.”  Nick and Kira were nice enough to let her.  She was so excited she was literally squealing with delight.  It was adorable!  In the second pic she is giving her a hug.  There was also a bounce house and punch at the party, both of which Cori loved, so it may have been her favorite day ever.

Family pic from Keegan’s blessing.

So sweet!

At Marcus’s party, we took these pics of Aunt Perina with her nieces and all her great-great nieces and nephews.  I love the first one where all the little ones are looking at Keegan, so sweet.

Labor Day and ER visits

We spent Labor Day weekend in Henryetta.  It was lots of fun.  Here are just a few pics.

Eli and Marcus shared Smarties at the parade.  It was cute.  They got lots of candy and beads.  Eli was swinging his beads all around.

Eli had tons of fun with the boys!  According to Jon, he even kissed the Kubota.

On Sept. 8th we went to the zoo with the Christianson’s.  It turned out to be quite an exciting day.  First, the huge tortoises were “wrestling,” which was quite loud.  Then Cori fell out of her stroller and we ended up in the ER.  She had to have a CT scan.  She was ok, but it was scary there for a while.  It is hard to tell the difference between a baby with a concussion and a baby that is using sleep as a coping mechanism after a scary fall.  Then the next day Eli crashed off his swing face first and we ended up in the ER again cause I thought his teeth had gone through his lip.  I took him to a clinic first, but they sent us to the ER.  Turned out, after 4 hours, it was just a teeth shaped bruise.  So, we had never been to the ER and then we went twice in two days, fun times.

Having Fun with The Kiddos

It finally rained last week, so after it stopped I took the kids outside to stomp in puddles.  Then we picked up all the sticks in our yard.

We made pizzas for FHE last week.  Eli was very proud of his olive and pineapple pizza.

Cori played with the dough, but just couldn’t understand why we couldn’t eat the pizza yet.  So, she munched on cheese until her pineapple pizza was ready.

Derek even tossed the dough for his Hawaiian pizza.  Fancy!  I guess I didn’t take a pic of mine, but it was a beautiful veggie pizza.

Eli and I made a play-dough cookie monster today.  I made cookie monster and he made the cookie. 

Eli’s First Sleepover

Last week Eli spent Wed. through Sat. with Mazee and Emmy.  None of it was planned.  First he spent the night with them and then they spent the night with us.  He has stayed away before, but this was the first time he had friends stay here.  It was lots of fun!

We played play dough.  This is the city they built complete with roads, signs, a river, a bridge, cars, fish, and a snake.

We were outside for quite a while.  Among other things, the kids ate popsicles and watered the garden.

The next morning, we did a Spaghetti-O activity and they watched a movie.  Then Heather took them all to the Natural History Museum in Norman.  We all watched the youth conference performance that night and then spent the night with Renee and her kids.  That was lots of fun too, but I didn’t take any pics.

4th of July Weekend

On Saturday, Mom & Dad had both sides of the family over for a fish fry.  The Warden’s fried the fish and there was lots of good food and fun.

Eli finally started swimming by himself with floaties on, which is glorious for a Mom with two small kids.  On Friday night, we were swimming with the Gustin’s and Southward’s and he just told me to let go.  That night he swam until 10:00 and was going from one end of the pool to the other.  Then on Saturday his uncles taught him how to hold his breath and go under. 

It got pretty wild in the pool.  My brothers came up with a new game called exercise ball rodeo.  It is pretty funny to watch.  We also had some chicken fights and made a whirl pool.

David, Eli, and Marcus shooting people with noodles.

Cori was very patriotic.  It was a fun weekend with everyone home.  Besides swimming, we also played games, watched movies, and visited.

On Monday we came home and had a relaxing evening just the four of us.  Eli got some new water canons for he and Derek to fight with.  Cori and I got squirted a little too.  We had some watermelon by the pool.  The kids did some poppers, which they both loved.  Then, we watched the fireworks from our front yard.

Cori at 15 months

This is the aftermath of spaghetti and ice cream.  Cori is a handful these days, but absolutely adorable.  She likes to put on her hat and carry her purse around and say, “pretty.”  She also loves to roar like a lion and she has a growing vocabulary including blueberry, thank you, elbow, and Emmy.  She is getting attached to her soft pink stuffed dog (from Aunt Irene).  She calls it Dog Dog and gets really excited to cuddle it.

Cori cuddling with Doug and Dog Dog.  She loves them both.