LegoFest 2012

In July, I got a flyer in the mail advertising a Lego Kids Fest in Austin.  I knew we wanted to go but was unsure of the cost.  Thankfully, Gigi and Mr. Don made it an early Christmas present!

The boys, especially Reef and Jonas, were in love with the whole thing!

Our session was from 9-1:30.  This means we planned to live dangerously and skip both naps for Poppy!  I was worried it wouldn't be enough time to see it all, but it turned out to be more than enough.

We pushed past the crowds and hit the Ninjago area first.  As you can see, Lachlan, was still enamored with the fact that these were statues made of real legos!

 Poppy made friends with this Lego guy while her brothers jumped in the bounce house.

 Deep in concentration in the green section.

 The giant pile of Legos.  The noise here was deafening!  All those people digging through all those legos!

 She was a little tired and overwhelmed.  Sometimes you just have to lay down in the middle of the floor.

 Jonas was intense about racing his car.

 At this point, Lachlan, Poppy, and I headed to the duplo area where she could be a little more destructive.  The big boys and Troy spent some time building and then took tons of pictures with the statues.  Don't know what kind of faces these are!

 In the rocket ship

 Of course, with the super heroes.

 Then they found us at the duplos.

 One last group shot at Batman.

 And one last round of Ninjago spinners.  I'm not really sure about the draw of these, but I will tell you they are on everyone's Christmas list now!

 After a long morning of Legos, we treated ourselved to Gourdough's.  We can't come to Austin and not get donuts! I wish we had a picture of their faces when they first saw the size of these!

 Serious eating going on here.

 The aftermath.

It was long trip, and Poppy fell asleep about 15 minutes before we got home, so she was a little grouchy the rest of the day.  But it was so worth it!  Thanks, Gigi and Mr. Don!

Kiddie Park

The same day as our garage sale, Lachlan was invited to a birthday party for his bud Corbin at Kiddie Park.  We've never been there, and Beth was so sweet to inlcude all 4 of my crew in the invite.  Troy said he could hold down the fort at the sale (are we surprised?) if I wanted to take all the kids to the party.  In the end, Emily volunteered to keep Poppy (thank goodness!), so I just had the boys.  They had a great time riding the oldschool rides.

 Lachlan and Lyla didn't love this one.

 But she was all smiles on this one with Jonas.

 Reef loves hanging out with Jude.  He has prayed for him literally every day since Jude's latest foot surgery.  The birthday boy is just behind them in the superman shirt.

 Lachlan took a popcorn break and rode the shooting planes after everyone else.

 An attempt at a group shot on the carousel.

The rides were topped off with lots of party treats: popcorn, animal cookies, lollipops, cotton candy, cake, AND ice cream!They had a great day!  Thanks, Corbin, for a great party!

Missions Garage Sale

What is this pile of junk, you might ask?  Well, it's our garage after collecting churchwide donations for our missions garage sale.

 And did I mention it took over the porch too?!

It was definitely a long month, and we were thankful to reclaim our space when it was all over, but we made $3000 to go toward next year's well-dig trip with Living Water!

Aquatica

We spent a lot of time at Sea World's new Aquatica this summer.  Before they closed for the fall, the dads took a day off to check it out with us.  I wsa thankful Lachlan didn't mind being left behind with Poppy and a babysitter.  He doesn't really love the water like his big brothers.

Our first stops were the dolphins and the shamu coaster since the water park didn't open till 11.

 We were able to ride this ride throughout the summer since Lachlan is also tall enough for it.  It was nice to not have to worry about who was watching the babies, though.
Jonas and Isaiah chose to ride with the daddies.

 Reef and Ethan were stuck with the mommies.

 The ride splashed down into the stingray tunnel.  Pretty cool.

 After the stingray ride, we were off to try some new ones.  With 1 adult per child, we were able to try out some double tube rides.  Jonas loved them!

 We took a break for lunch and swam in this activity pool.  Kristin and I took turns with Troy and Josh at checking out ride that none of the kids were tall enough for.

We finished off the day on some single tube rides while Kristin, Josh, and Isaiah rode the stingray ride again.   The first one was in pitch darkness and I definitely worried about Jonas as he came down alone.  He said he hated it but wasn't crying and raced back up to try the other one!
What a great day!  Can't wait till it's warm enough to go again!

Random Summer fun

As summer drew to an end, I tried to do better about taking pictures of our summer happenings.

We spent a lot of time swimming at John and Babette's this summer.  What a blessing they are to us!

Jonas and Reef have really taken off in their swimming.  Reef is improving on his freestyle and backstroke and is teaching himself the butterfly!

Jonas lacks Reef's confidence but can swim about halfway across the pool!

 Lachlan has mastered swimming on his own in his puddle jumper.  He still hates to get his head wet and won't jump off the side, but still...See Poppy in the background.  She can't wait until she's big enough for a puddle jumper!

 Another summer fave was jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler on.

 He got bored with it and enjoyed the water table instead.

 This girl won't let her Sunday clothes keep her from getting dirty!  She loves to point!

 Hunting for acorns.

 Running down the slide.

 Caught stealing Cheerios.  She was very proud of herself.

 And then this happened!
Notice the one shoe.  She loves shoes but can't always be bothered to find both!  This a frequent sighting at our house.

 How many Gibbins can you fit in the Big Red Car?  They were determined to get a picture of everyone together!

We had a blast this summer, and at times were way too busy for my taste!  While we are sad to see it end, I am looking forward to cooler temps and a more stable schedule!



Lachlan: 3 years old

Well, this is the best 3 year photo your gonna get of this guy!  I had planned to do a "photo shoot", but it never happened, and, to be honest, probably won't!

Big things have been happening here since Lachlan turned the big 3 years old.  The day after his birthday I asked if he wanted to wear underwear that day since we had no plans.  To my surprise, he said yes!  After a couple accidents that day and the next, he's been doing great!  Pooping was a big thing again this go around, but he conquered the fear after only a week.  We are all so proud of him and so glad it's over!

With the potty training came the promised conversion to the big boy bed.  The rail we have only fits on the white crib, so we tried no rail for a couple nights, but he claimed to be falling out.  So, we've added a mesh bed rail, and he's doing great.  We are so lucky that none of our kids have pushed the boundaries and climbed out of their beds!  I'm sure Poppy will be pushing those boundaries, though...

He is sleeping okay, after a bout of crying for us in his room for hours.  He sleeps from 7-7 and 1-3 on a good day.  I can pretty much count on the nighttime sleep; it's the nap that sometimes ends early.

As far as stats go, he weights 30lb 5 oz (37th %) and is 36.8 inches tall (32nd %).  I thought he was taller than that...

These last few months have been challenging with Lachlan.  He used to be so easygoing all the time.  And sometimes he still is.  But when he is in a mood, it isn't pretty.  Hmm, sounds like another of my children....He has also entered a major whining and crying phase.  And did I mention the screaming!  All.The.Time.  I honestly think the screaming/yelling/talking loudly may have to do with persistent fluid in his ear.  We go for a follow up next month on that.  Until then, we are continuing to pray for patience until these "terrible 3's." 

Lachlan is my only child who suffers motion sickness; it's even worse than mine!  On a road trip, he can make it about 2 hours before the vomiting starts.  When we're driving in town, it's sometimes less.  I started medicating for trips to Sea World and may even have to start doing it to get the Dr's office and the Zimmers house!  Poor guy!

Some his favorites at 3 years old: Cars, especially the bad guys; favorite food: treats and chocolate; pizza; my Mr. Funny shirt; Mr. Men books; swinging.
Least favorites: swimming and being hot.  He is really just so sensitive to the bright sun or extreme heat.  His swimming tolerance improved greatly with the purchase of a puddle jumper life jacket.  Can't recommend those enough!
Lachlan, we are loving watching your personality develop and can't wait to see how you change this year!

Lachlan's 3rd Birthday party

Now that he's 3 and really understands the "party" concept, we decided to throw Lachlan a real party this year.  I suggested a Cars party, and he thought it was a great idea.

Now, I'm kind of the "ideas man" in this operation.  Troy is the "get it done man".  He did such a great job!

We (mostly Troy, though) worked for days making the box cars look just like the movie characters.    We had a race track to go with it.

The party kicked off with a bean bag toss into the tire.

This is where she spent her time.

And this is where the birthday boy spent his time!  He couldn't be bothered playing the bean bag game when Miss Colleen was available for reading.

We convinced them all to get in their cars, at least for a minute.  Lachlan took great care in assigning each friend a character.

These boys were the hardcore racers.

Isaiah traded his car in for some swing time.

After they tired of racing, we headed inside for cake.  We did cake before dinner because it felt too early for pizza.  But it's never too early for cake!  It's pink because that's what he picked.

Love that Corbin was assisting with that candle-blowing!

The rest of the food spread.  There were apple cars, a cucumber car, and a stack of chocolate donuts that looked like tires.

These racecar bears were in the goody bags.

After dinner, it was time for present-opening.  Miss Colleen didn't disappoint with a bag full of dinosaurs!

Of course the little ones had to try out the cars!

I think Lachlan had a great day!  He still talks about his party and his next one!