good friday

we enjoyed Good Friday with our friends the Nawroths.  First, we had them over for a playdate and easter egg lunch.  Janet and I filled plastic eggs with lunch food (cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts, etc) and then hid the eggs for the kids to find.  it was super fun!  the kids really enjoyed finding their lunch and thought it was hilarious that they were eating out of eggs (or from a big pile on the table) rather than a plate.  later in the day, we met up with the Nawroths again at Holy Cross Church in Mt Adams for their Good Friday fish fry.  this has become a tradition for our families the past few years (we took greta and ella when they were just 5/6 months old and have gone every year since) and i hope it continues each year!

how did we get so lucky?

been a while.....

wow, st nick's day is our last post? can you say slackers? so much has happened since mid-december.....hopefully with joe out of town i can get around to blogging a bit. posts to come include greta's first dance recital, the rest of christmas, selma crawling, and other various adventures. but check out this picture of the kids giving each other kisses. yes, they really do love each other!!

headbands

a drawer full of headbands?  i can't think of a better post-bath activity, can you?!

more christmas....

after christmas at home and mass, we headed up to my mom's for christmas with the rest of the family. as you can see, selma was a bit tired. nothing like being right next to your new toys but feeling too tired to play with them! merry christmas!!

day 5....

....do a christmas craft. we had three christmas crafts lined up, but the kids tired (and we ran out of time before bed) after two of them. they colored and glitter-glued wooden ornaments, and then they put beads on pipe cleaners to make candy canes. selma was there to supervise and to attempt to grab and choke on every single bead that was dropped.

day 4

get a tree and decorate it. we got our tree from that same shop on monmouth street where we've gone the past few years. not much to report here. we got a tree. we decorated it. otto broke a few ornaments. the end.

took about a million pics of our trick or treaters this year. not sure this is the best one, but i wanted to get one on here. otto the monkey (remember greta the monkey), selma the ladybug and greta the princess. happy halloween!
the kids had a great time trick or treating and they loved passing out candy too! they sure took that job seriously!

carving pumpkins is always a big event around here. we waited til the last minute this year and ending up carving just before we went trick or treating. otto was big on supervising, as well as trying to grab the knives and permanent markers at every chance.

blooms and berries

shortsleeves and sunburns again for us this year at the pumpkin patch! it was another warm day (like it was last year) when we headed to blooms and berries to pick pumpkins. well, pick pumpkins, walk the sunflower maze, slide on slides, play in giant vats of corn....you get the idea. everyone had fun....selma loved the corn and actually played in it for several minutes before trying to put some in her mouth.

happy fall!

camping

we had been talking of camping for a while. not that we are wilderness folks, but we definitely did a ton more camping before we had kids. and needless to say, our two person tent wasn't going to cut it anymore. so the kids got joe a 6 person tent for father's day....he upgraded to an 8 person tent and off we went.
we decided to do a trial run at a place closer to home before venturing out somewhere. we headed up to hueston woods for our first (of many, hopefully) camping trips. it was so much fun. we hiked, we swam and played at the lake, we roasted hot dogs and made smores. the kids were dirty and sweaty and loving every minute of it. well, mostly. selma, it turns out, does not really prefer sleeping in a tent. she had a hard time, which made for a pretty sleepless night for joe and me. but greta and otto slept like champs. will we do it again? definitely. will we wait til selma's a bit older? possibly.
all in all, it was a great time. every time we take on a new adventure, i realize how flexible and resilient our kids are. and how fun. they threw rocks in the creek, stepped around goose poop at the beach, cooked their own hot dogs, and got dirt under every finger and toenail. it was nice to step away from regular life for a bit and just enjoy each other.

outside time

gorgeous weather (great light) and adorable kids. it was one of those days when everything seems perfect.

chillin'

friday was such a gorgeous day! we had both lunch and dinner outside on the deck, and the kids got lots of time playing in the yard and digging in what otto calls his "yarden" (yard/garden). selma spent some time laying on a towel on the deck, just cooing and enjoying some vitamin D.

please note how FILTHY otto is. that boy loves his dirt.

baker's dozen

from RIGHT to left: greta, joe, otto, jessica, shamus, john, and roman. not pictured: melanie and selma.

so back in winter/early spring, joe had the foresight to purchase a set of reds tickets called the 'baker's dozen' after manager dusty baker. the tickets are for 13 (get it? baker's dozen?! ha ha) sunday afternoon reds games. even though the kids will miss their naps with the 1pm gametime, it's still probably the best option for taking kids to the games. joe went down and scouted out where our seats would be, and he picked out some perfect ones. right along the first base line (foul ball territory) and the seats are covered, keeping us out of the sun and rain. for our first game this season, my brother and his family headed with us to the ballpark and we had a blast!!
the kids enjoyed plenty of peanuts and cotton candy! and the coolest thing about these tickets is that it has made reds baseball, which joe and i both love, a big part of our family. the kids have been singing "take me out to the ballgame" and "god bless america" (which they call 'american') nonstop. greta also asked joe to teach her how to play baseball, and now she and otto will play....setting out bases and hitting triples and homeruns and then pretending there are fireworks. go reds!

with this many kids.....

where do you put the groceries? look closely at my cart to see that there is indeed, no where to put groceries. the kids wanted to make joe some peanut butter cookies while he was out of town, so we all headed to the store to get peanut butter. one item. and this huge cart. but we never really take the kids to the grocery (i'm sure you can see why) so greta and otto thought this cart was fabulous.

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