Apple Picking, Track Meet, Soccer, and Bowling!

Can you say busy week! Yes, we have been at it again! Last Wed., we satrted out by taking a small goup from church to go apple picking. It turned out to be an excellent day for it! There were around 15 of us that went. First we toured the apple plant. We saw where they packed the apples, and then where they made the cider. Our kids were a little young for that part. They all got to sample some cider which I don't beleive any of them liked. After the tour, they brought us up to the apple orchard and gave each of the kids a bag to pick their own apples. This part, the kids loved! They had wagons to use there, so we pulled the kids up to the trees where we were supposed to pick the apples. They each filled their bags, and then grabbed an apple to eat on the way back to the farm. When we got back, they went to feed the animals and play. There was a sand box type thing with trucks in it, but instead of sand, it was filled with huge corn kernals. I think every kid under the age of 2 tried to eat atleast one. They played in there for a little bit then went in the hay maze and down the slide. It was a cute place, but there really wasn't a whole lot to do so we didn't stay too long.

On Friday we had a track meet at the school. Toy has been running track for a little while now and enjoys it. I think having all of us there made her nervous though because everytime she ran by us, she was crying. She's going through those early teenage years and is very much a crier (like her mom). Anyway, I was able to get a couple of pics. She didn't finish too good (hard to see where your running with all the tears), but she finished, and that is all that counts. The championship meet is this week. I asked her if we come to watch her, is she going to cry again, and she said no. We'll see.




Saturday was Toya's and Jordan's soccer games. I had to bring Toya to hers about 30 min. away, and my mom brought Jordan to his. Toya's team had not won a game yet, but they did a excellent job and got their first win this week. The team they played was undefeated until now! The team was very excited, I think they needed that.





After the games, we came home and made lunch. One of the bowling places in town was having free bowling for a few hours. We went last year and enjoyed it, so we went this year as well. You can't do too many things for free now a days. I think we all enjoyed it. The kids had one lane, and the adults had the other. Me and the kids went, Auntie Sarah, Uncle John, Grayson, Auntie Jess, Grammy, and Justin (John's nephew who they were babysitting). Grayson beat everyone! Yes, you read that right. He used one of the ramps and got the highest score. He loved it and couldn't wait for his turn. They also had a bounce house and other activities for the kids.

Well, that wraps up this week! You can tell the weather has changed, because this is what we have been doing this week:


Tomorrow we have a small group going to pumpkinland! We were lucky to be able to go since when we called for an appt., this was all they had. We are looking at another great day for it too. I hope you all have a great week! Enjoy!

Yet another Circus and Goodbye to Eden!

So, this past Thursday, we went to yet another circus! This time it was the Barnum and Bailey Circus. This is the third circus we have been to this year. I would say this was the best, but onlt because of the animals. We got to see elephants and tigers! We were greeted by the protesters at the entrance to the show. I haven't been to a Barnum & Bailey Circus in so long that I had forgotten about the protestors. Once we watched the show, I found it interesting that they were only protesting the elephants, but it was the tigers that I thought were treated badly. I guess I didn't remember them hitting the tigers with whips. I am not a animal activist by any means, but I really found that to be very disturbing! The elephants from what I could see were treated quit nicely. Anyway, the kids had a good time and besides the tiger act, I was impressed. Here are a couple of really cute photo's of Gray with the kids. He loves to hug them and kiss them (or anybody for that matter). You'll have to excuse the red photo's, I think that my battery was not fully charged so it made the quality of the shots red? Anyway, they are still cute!



On Friday, my sister and I threw a babyshower for one of the daycare workers at the gym we go to. We love Eden, and the kids love her. For some reason, our gym has a hard time keeping workers, but Eden has always been there on time everyday and goes above and beyond her job. She doesn't just like to play with the kids, she LOVES them. She is philipino (I believe) and doesn't speak very good english. She seems to understand it fine, but just does not speak it well. She is 36 and is having her first baby! She is due next month, and we are very excited for her. She has no family here and only a few friends. Her friends threw her a baby shower, but all she got was some clothing. She had no big things for the baby (crib, bassinet, carseat, swing, nothing). I was laying in bed one night and thought how nice it would be to give her a shower from us mom's that use the daycare. I talked to my sister, and the planning began. We went to all the mom's in the daycare and asked them to either bring their own gift, or give a donation so we could buy her some of the big things she needed, most of them chose a donation. We hatched the plan and Eden had no idea. On the day of the party, we had the guy at the front desk get her out of the daycare to "fill out some paperwork, and then pretend he couldn't find it". While he was doing that, we snuck in the back way and set everything up. She never had a clue! All the mom's snuck in (their kid's were already there), and we yelled surprise. She started crying and got everyone else crying. We were able to get her a brand new pack n play with the bassinet, changing table, mobile, and accessories on the side, we got her a carseat, stroller, snuggli, swing, playmat, diapers, plus a couple other brought clothes and a gift card. Here are some pictures from the party, and a slideshow:

I also wanted to share something kinda neat that happened last week. My girls have been going to speech for a while. Usually they work together, but about a month ago their speech therapist decided to seperate them. She had been saying that she wanted to find a couple of kids for the girls to work with, but didn't have anyone yet, so they worked alone for a few weeks. Last week, we walked into our appt., and there were two boys sitting there. I didn't pay much attnetion, until she came out and said to me "look who I found for your girls". I looked up and relaized they were identical twin boys! They are the cutest things! I asked their mom how old they were, and she said 3 1/2. Their birthday is a month before the girls. So, now, each of my girls works with one of the boys. Isn't that neat! There are 4 sets of twins that go to our gym daycare too. Three of the sets are the same age, my girls, a set of fraternal girls, and a set of identical boys. The other set are fraternal girls, but they are babies and mostly go at night. Anyway, just thought that was neat!

I also wanted to update on my weight loss, or lack thereof. I have literally been told by 5 different people this week "wow, you look like you've lost weight". While I am flattered, I am embarrassed to say that I had not...until today when I was down 1.2 lbs. I have really struggled with this, but am happy that I am atleast keeping it off for now. I am happy to report now that I have hit the 50 LB. mark!!!! I hope to keep going now that I seem to have made it out of the rut. I'm nto getting my hopes up though. I guess for people to say this, it means that I have probably lost in. I will check that on Friday to see, out of curiosity. Anyway, just wanted to update that. I also wanted to let everyone know that I have a weight loss tracker on the right hand side. If you don't see that go down in a while, it means I'm struggling! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post! Have a great week!