Some Traditions Must Be Kept

Meet Grandpa Heinz. :) Had to get a pic of him with his bread, butter and honey. He has it for breakfast and lunch every single day, and he is just over 90 years old. :) Guess there must be something to that diet!!! :) He came into our lives the same time as AJ...so that would be 23 years ago. He spoils my Grandma rotten. As he should. He has been a wonderful Grandpa to all of us, even though he had no kids of his own to practice with. :) He taught me how to ride a bike and was there along with Grandma for many milestones. He also spoils us rotten.

Every summer when we went to visit them as kids we would have a box full of donuts waiting for us at the kitchen table before the sun was up. This was such a rarity for us and such a treat we looked forward to. Naturally I shared this little story with the kids about Pops aka Grandpa Heinz.

So...Brad and Grandpa went to get donuts on our first morning. :) They loved 'em. Could there BE any more sprinkles!? :)

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

We had been hoping to visit my grandparents in Wisconsin this summer, but since that didn't work out, we told ourselves we were going in the fall, no matter what. So, we booked our plane tickets to enjoy some time with them and Mom as well. It was her fall break, so we planned our visit for her to be able to come with us. She went a couple days ahead so that she could help them get ready for us. And what an amazing help she was!!! Plus, we like any extra Nana time we can get. :) We made it a bit of a quick trip, so that Brad took minimal time off and also so we didn't wear anybody out too much with our lively kiddos. :)

It was Lorelei's first plane ride since she was one and she was super-excited. Of course, both of them were! It is so fun to hear all their comments and see what gets them excited. They loved that we took a bus twice along with a tram...so much transportation in one day. :) And how did it go??? AMAZING. Makin slept. I could not believe it. Miss Lorelei sat by the perfect lady. She asked her tons of questions, colored with her...you name it. Completely in shock with how well they all did. What a relief! :) On the way to the car I asked them if the plane ride was fun. Lorelei responded with, "Yeah!!! Well, it wasn't actually fun. Cuz we had to wait and wait and wait..." :)

Happy Birthday Papa!

Hope you had a wonderful day and sorry this video is so late!!! :)

Make-Us-Smile Moments

Silly faces before bed. Brad had to work some nights so we have to do something to keep us sane. :) These guys love silly faces lately.

Lorelei had been asking for a girls night for a few weeks. My goal is to have one once a month, and this time we had a fun time around the house. I let Lorelei stay up a bit late and we had our at-home girls night. We painted finger and toe nails, colored in coloring books and read books in the tree. Just love how special that one-on-one is and cannot wait for more nights just us girls coming up. :)

Brad and the kids are working on a cardboard boat. The kids have loved painting it. Hopefully we will have an updated picture at some point... :) If not, its still fun to get it this far!!!

Smiley-faced sandcastles. Enough said. :)

Our "Almost Fall" Hike

You may remember in the spring the kids and I made the 30-40 minute drive to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve. It is amazing and I could not wait to go in the fall and see how pretty the trees would look. Well, I was pretty sure most of them would still be green, but since a few are starting to change just a bit, I wanted to make sure and get a trip there with the nice cool weather we have had this week. Plus, Lorelei was supposed to find 5 fall leaves to bring to school on Thursday.

Brad was switched back to the maintenance shift aka nights at work. They are very short-staffed on that team. So, we are trying to make this a GOOD thing and get him plenty of sleep, along with some amazing fun family time during the day and we had an absolutely wonderful time together today. Based on this day, this whole temporary nights thing could be fun for a bit! :)

They LOVED looking for leaves, following the dirt trails and trying to skip rocks. Lorelei always has her eyes out for paw prints and we lucked out finding some prints that were in the cement! :) And of course, pet three friendly dogs along the way. :)

We took a break and ate our packed lunch along the trail, and soon after finished off a wonderful morning spending a while at the playground. Makin did make it a long ways before needing a lift! :)

We plan to go back in a couple weeks to see the full fall foliage! :)

First Pumpkin Patch Trip Of The Season

So I'm pretty sure we may be going close to once a week to a pumpkin patch! :) I just love it. If I lived closer we'd go three times a week! :) Jen invited us to go along with her and the girls on Monday, since they were off from school for Columbus Day. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

The kids were a little excited to go. :) We moved their car seats into the Furr's car for the trip.

Makin climbed the ladder to the bounce slide and was three steps from the top when he chickened out and the girl had to retrieve him! :) Going to tell big sis to wait up there for him next time. Too crowded (remember schools out!) to try again this time. Lorelei had a blast going down a few times and also bouncing a lot with her friends in the bounce house. Those pics just never turn out! :)

Hayride and pumpkin time! Makin thought they looked like a pretty fun obstical course to run through. :) Also had a fun snack break at the car. :) Kids loved riding in a LONG wagon they provide there for kids and pumpkins! :)

So fun seeing the different characters etc. And cannot miss another chance to pet a giant turtle and gentle horse.

Loved picking out their own pumpkins!

Big Boy Bed!

 Thumbs up (for him that means pointer finger up, he he.) for a big boy bed!

I was waiting a few days to see how it went and cannot believe how easy it has been! When Lorelei switched she fell out of the bed for quite a few nights before she adjusted. Makin has yet to fall out! He loves it.

Big sister loves how easy it is to read to her brother. Love, LOVE this. :)