Our trip to Florida--Oct. 9 to 13

We survived our trip to Florida! We took so many pictures, the best way I could think to get them on here was to put them in slide shows, so you'll have to watch each one! Here are the first pictures of us getting to Florida:

And here are some pictures from different days, just showing some of the views from our beachhouse:

Homestead Harvest Festival

October 7th: We went to the Homestead Harvest Festival in Hilliard. This is our 2nd year, it's a small festival so it's a lot of fun! Here are Daddy, Drew, and Katie outside the caboose that you can walk through at the park.

Drew, Katie, and Alex waiting for the hayride!

Getting on the hayride...as you can see, Alex is already not a fan of the hayride.

Riding around on the hayride. You can see the field of scarecrows behind us. Alex spent the enitre hayride exactly as she is in this picture, except for the part where she was sobbing!

A close up of sadness. Poor thing!

I am happy to report that Alex perked right up after we got off of the dreaded hayride. And then even more once we decided to check out the sno-cones, seeing as though it was 91 degrees and the sun was just beating us. Not very fall-like! Here are the kids and their crazy father enjoying their sno-cones. When we got the first sno-cone, Alex started yelling "I want to lick it. Lick it, lick it!" (Can you tell we spent too much time at the ice cream store this summer?) So, here's a short video of her "Lick it!"

Drew and Katie posing with a scarecrow...this is post sno-cone as you can see the grape evidence all over the fronts of their shirts!

Checking out the scarecrow competition...some pretty interesting scarecrows, but the disco plaid dude was my favorite so I made them pose by this one!

And, the pony ride. Last year Katie wanted to ride the pony then freaked out at the last minute and wouldn't ride...at least they refunded us! This year, she had quite the time on Chocolate Chip!

Drew rode Domino. He said it was pretty cool. Here's a little clip of the pony-riding:

Just chillin'

September 30th: Katie and Drew made a "nest" of couch cushions and pillows. After Drew and Rich left for swim lessons, Alex and Katie took over the nest and found some very comfy spots to watch Dora. Here's Alex in her comfy spot...

...and here's Katie's spot. She likes to sit right in the middle!

And here's a view of them both, they don't really care much for Dora, do they?

October 5th: Alex found a new comfy spot later that week. I guess she sees us sitting on the couch with our feet up on the ottoman...she just doesn't realize she's not quite long enough yet!

Doesn't she just look so comfy? "Someone, bring me the remote!"

Fall Cookies

9/24/07: Despite the 93 degree day, we decided to pretend it was a beautiful fall day and make our fall cookies anyway! Here are Drew and Katie with their decorated cookies...yes, they both seem to have more icing on themselves than what made it on the cookies!

A close up of their masterful work!

Alex

9/22/07: Just a funny naked Alex picture. Well, in a diaper with a Dora backpack!! Close enough!

Katie's 1st day of preschool

September 13th: Katie's first day of preschool was today. She was so excited. She is going in the afternoon session and spent all day asking "Is it time to go to school yet?" We got there and she just hopped on out and walked into the school all by herself (there is a drop-off line!) without looking back! Such a big girl!!! She had a lot of fun at school and can't wait to go back next week! She was so excited before school that I had a hard time getting her to stand still for a picture, so these were the best two that I got!

Just some pictures

September 3: I took the kids to get haircuts a few weeks ago and even though Ali is at the same age Katie was when she got her first haircut, they told me that Ali didn't have enough hair to cut! So, I gave her a little trim while she was eating her snack. Hoping it will help it grow a little! Here she is after her haircut, with her hair all combed and not wild like usual!!




September 9th: Drew being goofy. He wanted to take some pictures with the camera, so I snapped one of him before he started playing and I just thought it was cute, a natural smile which is unusual for him! Though he told me he smiled great for his school pictures and he only had to have his taken once while some of his friends had to have theirs taken twice! We'll see when they get here!!



September 11th: Another sad photo of Katie sleeping in an odd place, in the middle of the day. If she would only nap! But these are good days for early bedtimes and she catches up eventually! She was having a particularly rough day, and was sitting in this spot b/c she was not being nice to Ali. I walked away and came back to find her asleep. That always explains her behavior it seems!








September 11th: Despite her quick nap, she was still a crankpot and didn't want to eat dinner. So I told her the UPS guy had brought her Halloween costume just before dinner and if she ate dinner without fussing, she could try it on. I don't think she's ever eaten so well! So, we got out the pink poodle Fifi costume and her crankiness dissipated and her cuteness redeemed her and we decided once again to keep her! She's the cutest darned poodle ever! We even had to walk next door to show the Footes her new costume, she was so proud!



September 12th: Little Miss Independent (aka Katie) decided just after her 2nd birthday that she no longer needed to wear diapers. I was hoping the same, or maybe even a bit earlier for Ali, esp. since she's such a better communicator than the other two were at this age. So, we got out the potty for her to check out. A major problem we have found is that Ali will not sit on the potty without taking the bowl out and putting it on her head.





Obviously, this will not work for toilet-training. Crazy baby. (Oh, don't worry...I sterilized the potty and bowl after Katie was finished with it, and Ali has obviously not used it correctly yet!)





I couldn't get a picture of her with the bowl on her head, b/c once she saw the camera she started saying "cheese" and then came to check out the camera...I think this picture is funny b/c of Drew in the background!

Closer, closer, how close can I get!

Drew's 1st U-6 Soccer Game

September 8th: Here are some pictures taken at Drew's 1st soccer game this year. In his current league, they play 3-on-3 with no goalie. He played really well, and had a lot of fun!!

Drew's 1st Day of Kindergarten!!

August 29th: Happy 1st day of kindergarten! The alarm clock went off nice and early for Drew's first day of school! He hopped right out of bed, put on his uniform, and ate a super breakfast! Here he is, after breakfast, ready for the bus!

Bob, Lisa, Matthew, and Sophie came over to see Drew off as well. Here's a picture of Drew and Matthew. Matthew got up willingly to be ready to watch Drew get on the bus at 7:26 a.m.! Drew was so happy he was there!

Here's Drew being tortured by pictures!

Had to get a picture of the cool new backpack!

And here's a short video clip of Drew climbing the bus steps for the very first time. Luckily, he got to sit with our neighbor, Evan, so that made the first ride a little bit easier for him:

We went to meet Drew at the school...to see him get off the bus and make sure he made it to the right place! Here he is in front of the school, waiting with the other kindergartners to go in with their teacher.

Another mom kindly snapped a photo of the three of us while we waited.

And here he is, home at last!! Today was not only his first day of school, but his first day of K.E.D.S. (extended day) as well! He'll go in the mornings Monday, Thursday, and Friday, and full days on Tuesday and Wednesday...so he didn't get home until 3:30 p.m.!!

As you can see by the smile, he had a great time! On the bus ride home, he got to sit with his friend, Riley, who he knows from his pre-k class last year! He said she talked to him the whole way home, so I'm sure it helped pass the time!

The whole family on Drew's first day. Katie missed Drew a lot today, and when he got off the bus, she ran and gave him a huge hug!

Visiting Grandma Helen

August 26th: We were up visiting Grandma Helen and Rich's brother, John, and his family came over to visit too. Here is a picture of Rich reading to two of our kids and 4 of their kids...from l to r...David (8), Frances (6), Rich and Katie (3), James (5), Drew (5), and Ben (9)...



Here's another picture of story time...I couldn't decide which picture was better...I thought it was hard to get 3 kids to all look good in a picture...much harder with 6 kids!




And here is Katie, holding our newest niece, Veronica (2 months)...



Drew holding baby Veronica...



Katie and Theresa (both 3) hanging out with baby Veronica.