September in a Nutshell

The first few days of September were spent hanging out with new and old friends. Jon & Nancy (our friends that live in CA) came into town to meet all of the kids our little group of friends managed to produce. The Cochran family hosted the Kruckebergs, the Larsons and Jon & Nancy. The kids had a blast being together. Of course, my daughter, the trouble maker, wouldn't let the other girls sleep. I guess excitement got the best of her, two nights in a row she went to bed AFTER midnight.  The adults spent a little time drinking and a lot of time reconnecting and playing games.  We went as a group to the Children's Museum. It was one of the busiest days there, but we all enjoyed it. Jon & Nancy, who don't have kids yet seemed a little overwhelmed but I think they enjoyed watching all of our kids interact. Cori and Kylie seemed to hit if off and they stayed together for most of the trip. Catie C. introduced Cori to Mary Poppins, which is now the only movie the kids will sit and watch. I just can't get over it, even Spencer will sit and watch.

 

Cori started school the next week.  She was excited to have a new teacher.  She is also in a new room this year.  So far she likes her classmates and her teacher.  The school has also gotten some new equipment for outdoor play.  Spencer has had a hard time being in the babysitting room while I work in the classroom.  Luckily Michael's parents have helped me out and taken Spencer on those days.  Spencer can't wait to go to school, it seems he'd rather skip ahead to Cori's class, and the kids don't seem to mind either. 

 

The kids have been enjoying the cooler weather.  Spencer is more sure of himself on the slide and playhouse and he does really well in the sandbox.  The kids made these hand and foot print stones and GG Charlotte's last summer.  I can't wait to see their faces when it snows for the first time!

 

 

 

Tea Party VIP table.



            


   

We went to Conner Prairie with Bea and Papa. They took us up in the hot air balloon. I was a little uncomfortable but the kids seemed to enjoy it. It was a beautiful day to visit and the kids were exhausted afterward.

 

The weekend of our 5 year Anniversary we spent cleaning puke and poop up after the kids came down with a bug.  By Sunday we had all been infected.  Needless to say we did not get to celebrate the way we wanted.  Luckily when our friends Jennifer, Mason, and Ella came to visit, Jennifer offered to watch the kids so we could go out for a kid free night.  She even sent us with a gift card! Thanks Jen!

 

Now we are getting into October...soon to follow.

 

Yowzas! Check out that swollen nose! I put a helmet on him AFTER the nose-dive.

Saturday Fun with Daddy (Tent building)

Trace cutters, cut out, punch holes in them.  Busy hands equal quite time!

Busy Girl

Water beads, seriously addicting! I can't walk away!

Happenings from last week..

Spencer got a serious boo boo on his face.  Spence meet sidewalk, sidewalk meet Spencer's nose.  He was hurt but was more upset that I was taking him inside to patch him up! Such a boy.  Papa taught Spencer how to throw his arms up and say "touchdown", he's prepping Spencer for the season to come.  The little dude is more and more expressive about his wants and needs.  He has also been teething this month, it's not a fun thing we are just hoping to get through it unscathed.
Cori has been working on writing her letters, she has "C" and "O" down.  Not always in that order.  We've done a few projects this week including some foam lacing "cards" I made with cookie cutters and a hole punch.  We also got water beads for a sensory activity.  Next week she has Fairy Tale Camp at her preschool.
I attempted another batch of gluten free bread, but as always it's a failed project and waste of food.  I think my oven is adverse to all things gluten free.  I may just give up bread products all together, or until Earth Fare opens this year just down the street from our house.  I can't wait to see what kind of yummy healthy options they will have.  I was also asked to take over the Preschool's Treasury job.  I'm not looking forward to the accounting part but it will be good experience for when I go back to work.  Enjoy the pictures.  I can't say enough how blessed we are.  

Peace, Love & Chicken Grease!

Mommy/Cori date.  A $1 movie at the theater and "shopping". 

Excited to brush his teeth!

Caught climbing.....again.

Time is flying!

As you can tell we are living life instead of blogging about it! It's been two years since our last post.  Here are some pictures that were taken during the school year. 

Will post again soon when I figure out how to get the pictures off of my phone.  Enjoy!

Lots to Blog About

Wow. It’s been awhile since we posted last. This post might be a long one.

July 14th through the 31st

In the second half of July, we visited Great Grandma Charlotte at the lake in northern Indiana. Cori got to try on her Big Girl’s life vest. The water was warm and we all spent a lot of time in the water. There were a lot of baby fish that would swim up and nibble on our toes. Cori thought that they were trying to tickle her.


Check out the all pink ensemble. A girl has to match! Its very important…at least that what mom says.

Towards the end of the month Cori was pushing her tricycle, tripped over the back wheel and caught her lip on the peddle. Michael almost fainted from the bloody lip that Cori had. She was right back outside in 15 minutes playing with her tricycle…still bleeding, but having a great time. She’s a pretty tough cookie.

August

In august the Larson Family went to the Indiana State Fair and it was HOT. We got there at about 9:30 in the morning and left at 1:00 because of the temperature. But the day wasn’t a wash. We had some great food, and Cori got to see horses, cows, pigs, sheep goats, chickens, bunnies and whole bunch of other animals. Here she is experiencing the smell at that Swine barn.


Here she is pointing at the Donkeys and stating, “Notice the black hair along the spine and shoulders of these specimens. The color usually represents the hair color at birth. The stripe along the spine is called the ‘dorsal stripe’ or ‘list’. The Stripe on the front shoulders is referred to as ‘vertical striping’.” What a genius our daughter is! If she’s this smart at 18 months…look out world!


When we got home we had to get in the pool. Here is Cori explaining to her mother that the life vest she was wearing was not needed because the depth of the pool and her swimming skills do not present a problem. She made a convincing argument but was overruled by mom and dad.


September

September was a fairly active month.

Cori spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Barts at Connor Prairie.
Here is a picture of Cori and Grandpa stalking some free range chickens.


Here is a picture of Cri and Grandma getting up close and personal with a calf.

Later that month, Cori and Holy made a trip out to Cincinnati to visit our family friends “The Kruckebergs”. They had a great time and Cori even got to fly her first kite. Well sort of…it mainly flew on the ground but Cori had a great time.


The following week Cori and dad got spend some time at Forest Park in Noblesville, IN.

Here, Cori is learning to recycle and "dig for gold" at the same time.


Cori and Daddy spent some time playing on the multiple jungle gyms and also rode 2 times on the Carousel at the park. She likes to ride the horses. Don’t try to put her on the zoo animals or the park bench…unless you want to get into a scrap with a toddler; and have the public watching too. If you know what is good for you…ALWAYS… choose the prettiest horse on the carousel.



October

October was a fun month. Cori and Mommy spent their time preparing for the big Trick-or-Treat day. Here Cori is breaking in her witch’s hat for Halloween. She even learned the cackle witches make, but it ended up being a cute toddler cackle. Pretty darn cute.


This was “wake up and wear what you want” day.

"Put that camera away! I still haven’t had my make-up or hair appointment."

Later that month the whole family went to go pick apples at Tuttle Orchards.

We looked at giant pumpkins and gourds, picked apples, rode a horse, ate lunch and rode another horse. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Aren’t they cute? Holly and Cori match.


Attack of the killer pumpkins. Look out Cori! They have you surrounded.


Here is mom and dad helping Cori pick apples.



I’ll feed this apple to the pretty horse that we saw when we came in.


I think I’ll sit with my hands crossed while the cowboy directs my horse. Take me to the nearest saloon my good man! I need a shot of milk and maybe a graham cracker.


In preparation for the big day (Halloween) the Larsons went to the Children’s museum and visited the haunted house. The only thing haunting about that was the line you had to wait in to get to the haunted house. Cori held Michael’s hand all through the haunted house and was remarkably not scared by any of the spooky noises or gruesome scenes that she say. It helps that the lights were on and no one was screaming and no one was jumping out at you.

October 31st came around and Cori finally got to do what she had been practicing for weeks. She got to walk around to houses and ask them for candy. Instead of saying “Trick or Treat” she would just say “treat”. She knew what she wanted and she asked for it.

Mom set up shop in the garage to block some of the wind. We had Candy, Cup Cakes and Hot Apple Cider to hand out to trick-or-treaters and their parents.



Here she is…ready to go.

It was pretty cold, so a long sleeve shirt, gloves, jacket and boots were in order.

Off to trick or treat with mom.


I’m missing an important occurrence in the Larson Family though! A week before Halloween Holly asked Michael to go up to the attic and bring down the Halloween decorations and newborn baby stuff.

The Larsons are going to have ANOTHER baby!
More to come later.


November

November was a quiet month. Holly is enjoying her pregnancy and has no issues with sleepiness, morning sickness, moodiness, or any other of those negative affects of “growing a human” as holly would say. Michael has been a doting husband and has done anything his wife has requested without regard to his perception of the request made by his beautiful wife. Corinne has been learning about being a big sister and has read a number of books with mom and dad having to do with the subject. Every once in a while Cori will go over to Holly and lift up her shirt, point at her belly and say “baby”…then kiss her mom’s belly.

Michael has been given the opportunity to manage his team at work while his boss is out. For the next three weeks. He is taking his manager responsibilities quite seriously and loves the change of pace and the new challenges the job presents.

I can’t say that the entire month has been quite. Holly and Michael recently decided to participate in the “Black Friday” shopping frenzy. Starting at 8 PM Thanksgiving day, they braved the frigid temperatures to get into to Toys-R-Us at 10 PM, stopped by their old dating spot (the Westfield Steak-n-Shake) and fueled up for the remainder of the evening. Holly and Michael camped out in front of SuperTarget from 12:30 to 4AM to get in line for the door busters (Target had some good deals). Holly and Michael then headed over to Best Buy for the door busters at 5AM and then headed over to Macy’s for more specials. They decided that dealing with Castleton shopping crowd after being up all night was not in the cards and headed home with their bargains. Michael has promised never to do that again unless it is 70 degrees out. Sitting in freezing temperatures for 5 hours is not particularly enjoyable; no matter how much money one saves.

Thanksgiving with Holly’s family and Michael’s family were great; as usual. It’s been 4 straight days of Turkey, Stuffing, Green Been Casserole, and Pumpkin Pie. The Larsons have been blessed with wonder family’s and find themselves fortunate to have been blessed with all that they have. We hope that everyone else has had a similar experience and are provided for during this holiday season and throughout the year. We wish nothing but the best for our friends, family and loved ones. Until next time…

Summer Fun!

Hi Readers! Sorry we are slacking.... We are having a great summer. Cori had tubes put in her ears in May and she hasn't had any problems since. So far we have have lots of fun at the library and sprinkler parks (splash pad - public park with sprinklers for the kids). Cori has met a few new friends and got to see some old friends as well.

We started my garden back in april and now it's doing really well. I planted way too much lettuce, and I think I'll need another planting bed next year. This is what it looked like last week, we've eaten most of what we grew but I didn't time it right and we had 12 heads of lettuce all ready at once!

We went to see fireworks on the 4th and Cori really liked the pretty colors, she clapped after every one.

Cori has learned some new words:

Cat

Dog

Shoe

Toe

UP

Book

Ball

Duck

Bye Bye

Hi

Balloon "boon"

The list continues everyday!! Speaking of accomplishments, as of last night Cori is sleeping in her toddler bed. I've been watching her on the video monitor sneaking her leg over the railing, so we decided to make it safer and give her some freedom. She is enjoying it immensely!

Two weeks ago Cori stood outside of the bathroom and told me she had to go potty, so we bought her a potty seat and started training. She continues to surprise us with her intelligence! We've accomplished #1 and #2 on the potty. So it begins, she's growing up too fast already.

Cori trying out her life jacket in our pool...

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Well it's Tax day, hope everyone got their paperwork in! Today is also Grandma Bea's birthday so Cori and I took her to lunch! This is called Rita's Place, they are a nursery and have a tea room in their gift shop. As always Cori kept us well entertained!