A rather calm first week of Fall

So, despite the fact that fall means the start of the school year, I do love it.  Maybe not as much as some folk (eyebrow raise to Jessica Worst and her Halloween obsession and Michelle Schwantz and her pumpkin obsession), but it's still nice to settle in to the school year.  Isaac is SO cute right now, I just want to eat him up!  Somewhere I have pictures of Noah and Sam in this cute outfit too.  I had to squish him in there before he got too big!

 We transformed the living room into a race track for a few days with some masking tape.  There may or may not have been dirt lines revealed when I removed the tape, don't judge!

 Noah is enjoying the soccer season.  His team is currently 0-4, but he is improving and enjoying the game.  And when you get to have ice cream at McDonalds afterwards, who can complain?!

 Sam had his first bee sting initiation.  We seem to have a lot in the backyard and since we play out there all the time, eh you get stung.  But he handled it better than most and the "get a sucker if you get stung" rule seems to be helping.  Thank goodness no one appears to have allergies.

 Highlight of the week for Noah: his All About Me poster presentation.  He was pretty darn excited.

 Highlight of the week for Isaac: Food.  It comes as no shock that the kid remains in the 90th percentile for weight at 6 months old.  He's now 20lb 10oz, which is bigger than Sam was at one year.  He's 27.5" long, which puts him in the 75th percentile for length.  So we started up the veggies...

 First bite of sweet potatoes - not so much...

 But eventually he decided it was good stuff.

 He's also in love with his feet.  Seriously, LOVES playing with his feet.  We went for a walk yesterday and he fell asleep (yep, he's sleeping in this photo) while holding his feet.  It's pretty impressive when you consider the amount of chunk he has on those legs.  

So, that's our week.  Just enjoying the boys and our wonderful life!

I'm a (gulp) soccer mom?!

We had another great week here in Roselle!  We've settled into our new school year schedule.  Bamma always brings something fun to do.  Noah came home singing a song about acorns, so the NEXT DAY, Bamma was prepared with a cute acorn made from chocolate, nilla wafers, nutter butters, and peanut butter chips.  Awesome!

The other highlight of the week was, tada, Noah's first soccer game!  He's taken soccer "classes" before with the park district, but this time it's for real with uniforms and everything.  Too exciting!

Looking good in warm ups!

 It was a sunny day, perfect for soccer!

 Excited goal kick!

 Yep he jumped after every time he kicked the ball.  Too funny!

 The rest of the cheering crew, Uncle Josh and Uncle Bob with Isaac.  I can't recall how many years our families sat thru countless soccer games, now we sit for the next generations' turn.

 The game also happened to coincide with this guys 6 month birthday.  Happy Half Year, big guy!

 It was a great game, even if they lost!  How can you feel sad with happy faces like these!

 Later that day the boys and I tried out a tin foil river with soap boats.  Pretty fun stuff!

 Yay for science!  Or perhaps Yay for splashing, either way it's good!

 Sam's infatuation with the cowboy boots continues.  His sense of style is very, um, unique?  This picture is going to serve well as blackmail fodder!

So onward we march to more exciting things in our busy lives!

Giddy up!

Well, we had a BLAST of a time at the annual Tri-State Rodeo in Fort Madison, IA.  But, before to I get to that, let me again present.... Fat Baby.  Yep, he lurrrrrves eating.  We've switched to some formula and the kid regularly downs 8 ounces (an amount neither of my other two ever reached even at 1 year old) without stopping and cries when it's done.  And now we're starting up solids and he's more than happy to be included at the table...

So, after dividing the two older boys for the car ride (for the 3, 235th time thank GOD for Bamma and Bampa), we made it out to Fort Madison Iowa for our 10th rodeo in 11 years.  Obviously we haven't had kids for all that time, so the experience has certainly changed over the years.  Andrea happened to have some black cowboy boots for Sam and he wore them pretty much non stop the whole weekend.

Saturday morning brought the parade and candy catching.  We gathered up on the side of the street and waited..

Look at this adorable crew, wouldja!

Even though we only get to see the Richmond girls a few times a year, our kids always find a way to play together.  It's just adorable.

Comparing our youngest ones.  Isaac at almost 6 months, Lydia at 17 months, and Leo at 14 months.  How different could they all be!?

Saturday night my mom stayed back at the hotel with Isaac while my dad came with for Rodeo fun!  It was hot, but we had a great time watching the bronco riding, the mutton busting, and the calf roping!

Sam and the ever present cowboy boots.  Yep, batman shirt and cowboy boots, wow.

Something about this picture makes me think of when they're 15 and sharing cotton candy.  So big already! 

I think the cotton candy was probably the highlight.

Evie and Sam stood most of the time to get a good look.  The Rodriguez boys proved to have the lowest rodeo stamina, and we busted outta there by 9:30pm.  But it was still a great night!

 Sunday morning we gathered back at the Krogmeiers for some lazy play time before heading back in the car.  Sassy pants Lydia shows us who's boss.

 And pantless boy Leo makes a run for it mid-diaper change!

We gathered all the troops for a picture.  Getting them all together in one spot was a bit challenging.

 I still can't believe that we have THIS many kids.  They are all so dang cute!

 Yep, still with the boots.  I'm sure that bike ride will go well for the boy who just learned how to pedal and now is wearing boots and riding on grass.  

 I love Leo's, "look at me guys!" face.

 We ended the weekend with a stop at Dairy Queen.  I am SO blessed that my parents help out so much and were willing to join us on this years' trip.  

And, what was Mike doing while we were gone?  Working and.... brace for it... making a Hello Kitty cake for Francesca's birthday.  Pretty sweet, isn't it?

So, we're all recovering from the fun weekend and ready for fall to fully set in (with some cooler temps).  Stay tuned for Noah's first soccer game and other crazy odds and ends!

First day of Kindergarten and other first adventures...

Well, here we are after the INSANITY that was the start of the school year.  It was a bumpy patch here, but we all survived and adjusted.  We tried to maintain our easy going family mentality with some fun things like.....mustaches!

 And our very own Pinstrosity (aka Pinterest fail).  My kids love painting.  Finger painting?  Oh yea.  Koolaid scented finger painting?  For sure!  But, did the Pinterest post mention how badly their hands would get stained, NO!  I had visions of the kindergarten teacher raising an eyebrow as Noah started the year with blood red hands!  

 Fortunately some time in the pool cleared it up (eventually), crisis averted!

 We finally decided that Isaac was due for a trim.  Auntie Kim is our traditional first haircut specialist.  Noah got his first haircut from her when he was just about to turn 1.  Sam got his at 9 months.  Isaac is 5 months.  Wow, first haircut at 5 months.  That's just silly.  But he did well!

 Then, cue dramatic timpani music.... NOAH'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!  I was at work (which was probably a good thing).  My parents came and Mike was here.  So Daddy and Grandpa walked him for his first afternoon with Mrs. Stephan.

 This is the picture I received at work.  It made me almost bawl.  How did my first one get so big?  He looks so confident and happy.  I love it!

This picture I did not see while at work, which is probably a good thing because I definitely would have lost it.  In this shot he looks so small and vulnerable.  This is the moment that both Mike and Noah independently told me they almost lost it.  But, as Noah put it, "we pulled it together."

 The PM time slot has been a bit of an adjustment and we had some pretty cranky evenings this week.  But I think he's settled in now and looks forward to going each day!

 I captured this moment with the 3 minions one day just before bed.  Despite having some tough evenings with Noah being tired and Daddy being gone as he's switched to 2nd shift, they still have smiles for the camera and for each other.

 Isaac is just moving all over the place.  He's a roller baby as Sam puts it.  He rolled so much the other day, his bib became a cape!

 My parents took Sam and Ellie up to the lake on Friday, which was good as a bad storm moved in.  Ellie HATES storms and would have been hunkered down in the bathtub.

 Mike, Noah, Isaac, and I headed up on Saturday morning.  We really noticed how big Isaac is getting when we tried squeezing him into the life jacket.  It claims it's suitable up to 30 lbs, but we're doubtful on that.

 On the island we celebrated Brad, Kate, and CJs birthdays.  We found a bow and arrow set for CJ that has arrows that whistle loudly when fired.

 Isaac got passed around and discovered where his larger stock originates...

 Noah and I got some tubing time in.

Noah got really brave when he was riding with Maggie and even stood up!

 My cousin Apryl, came in from Arizona.  The kids were excited to see her!

 We tried out some cereal with Ike.

 First bite and.....

 Not so sure on this mom.

 As expected, most of it ended up on his face and bib.

 Playing with mommy's phone, Isaac gets his first selfie!

 Apryl brought some AmEx swag.  I love it, "shop small" right?

 We continued the week of firsts with Isaac's first real dip in the lake!

 There was some kid launching by Deewee and Brad.

 And Sam spent the better part of the afternoon in his "batman mobile" as he calls it.

 Isaac took a nap with Bamma and then woke up SUPER happy to hang with his cousins.

 Apryl and Maggie did some skiing this weekend.  I love this shot of Apryl as it has the house in the background.  And, she looks freaking fierce!

 Sumo baby here, "oh, I was supposed to play ON the playmat?  Oopsie!"

 As my parents get ready to put the house on the market, I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to Decatur Street.  It's a beautiful house, but it mostly represents all the great time I've had up there with my boys and our extended family.  I know, however, that there are many more adventures to be had on Diamond Lake, no matter where we stay!

 On our trip back home today, we stopped by Papa's house for a quick dip.  The batmobile came in handy as none of the adults really wanted to get in.  And Papa took an ingenious extra step and set up a rope system for Sam so we could easily reel him in.  Fun!

So, there was our week of firsts as we say goodbye to summer and hello to new adventures!