TUMBLING CLASS

Also last month, the boys started going to a Mommy & Me Tumbling Class. And all I can say is that they LOVE it. Well, Luke loves it. Grey pretty much just runs around, screaming, and being disruptive to the class.

Every class starts with stretching.

That's the teacher, Miss Heather, with Luke and his little friend Lucas Keller.

Each class consists of a little tumbling, then off to the back room to swing on the bars and walk on the balance beam. Both boys Love the back room, especially the balance beam. Then they come back up front to jump on the mini trampoline and work on some other tricks.

Here is Miss Heather trying to round everyone up to work on back somersaults.

Luke's up first.

After his turn on the ramp mat, he then gets a turn at the roly-poly thing. Another one of his favorites.

Then it's Grey's turn.

Luke really likes Miss Heather!

And he loves practicing and showing off his new tricks...

especially HeadStands.

WHO SAYS LITTLE BOYS CAN'T FLY

One day last month, the boys would not listen to me (so what's new), and kept jumping on the couch. So I came up with the Great Idea, of putting all the pillows we own on the floor in front of the couch, so they could jump on them.

Love how in every single shot, Grey's eyes are shut.

But most of all, I love Grey's hair.

Doesn't he look like a cute little Troll doll?

FIELD DAYS OF THE PAST

The middle of September was busy for us - first Luke's birthday and then the following weekend we attended the "Field Days of the Past" Festival. It was located about 45 minutes from us and is a Festival that celebrates and honors all things Agricultural, Steam Powered, and Timber/Lumber related. Even though it was a very overcast day, we took our chances, loaded up and off we went for a day of Family Fun!!

The whole thing was absolutely amazing with how it is all set up. It's located on someone's farm, and everything on the site that was vintage or antique was part of this person's collection... Some Collection!!

There was very interesting entertainment.

Right next to the singing hillbilly pioneers, was this stock car. Had to get a pick of Marc with his boys.

While we were on this side of the property, Luke kept seeing this little Barrel Train go by. He INSISTED that he and Grey NEEDED to ride on it. So the next time around, we got in line and put them in their respective barrels.

This picture was taken 2 seconds before Luke had a total Meltdown, to the point, they had to stop the train so that I could get him and Grey off. They had been riding the train all of maybe 10 seconds.

Next on the Agenda was the Tractor Pulls. I wasn't sure about it because of the noise, but Luke did really well, and Loved watching them, as did Grey. The Turbo powered ones were up first.

But I think our favorite, was this Antique Tractor driven by "Pappy".

Eventually we happened on the event that got Marc the most Excited... the Lawn Mower Pull.

Marc SOOO wants to start doing this.

We also spent time in the Old Sawmill section. It was really cool to see how that old machinery operated. Got some cool pictures of Antique Signage...

But this was the best "Old Sign" photo...

Our Boys!

We will definitely be going back next year. We know what to expect and will be better prepared.

SPOT & ROBOTS

This year, Luke's pre-school class has a class pet - a stuffed Dalmation named Spot. Each week, one child is responsible for taking Spot home with them and taking care of him. He comes home in a tote bag with his own journal, so each child can record his stay with them. Well, the week after Luke's birthday was his week. On the second day he was home with us, I made sure to take Spot with me when I picked Luke up from school so that Spot could go to the playground with his care taker.

Spot seemed to enjoy playing with Luke, Lucas and Miss Kayden.

He also enjoyed nap time with Luke. All in all, poor Spot didn't get a whole lot of looking after during that week, so not so sure Luke is ready for a real pet.

Also this particular week, Luke was all about expressing his creativity with his Legos. These are the "Robots" he designed and built.

Love how they are all pretty much the same with only slight variations.

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND - PART TWO

Sunday morning, following our Birthday Camp-"In", the Birthday Celebration continued. Today was Luke's actual Birthday.

One little tid-bit that I forgot to add in the previous post, was that I had downloaded "Night-time" outdoor sounds onto my iPod, so when we were in the tent and sitting around the "Fire" we could listen to either the relaxing sound of crickets or a crackling fire.

Anyway... I did not make or buy Luke a Birthday Cake. Instead, Marc made him some Special Birthday Pancakes, which we added the candles to.

The "Special" came from the Whipped Cream topping. Marc shared a little extra shot with the Birthday Boy.

Luke is demonstrating how Big and Strong he is now that he is Four!!

Do you think the sugar from the "Special" topping has kicked in yet? And this is right before a Major Meltdown.

Then it was time to open Birthday Presents.

First up... something he asked for a couple of times... a Firetruck.

Then it was on to something he asked for about a Million times, and Repeatedly showed us in a catalog... Hunter Dan with his Truck and Hunt Camp.

Marc had fun setting up this mini Kill scene.

The Birthday Camp-"In" weekend was a Huge Success and, I guess, exhausting.

Later in the afternoon, found the Birthday Boy sound asleep in my bed.

A BIRTHDAY CAMP-"IN"

The week before Luke's 4th Birthday, Marc and I decided that the boys were probably old enough now to go Camping. We got this idea when we visited the Hunt Camp, and thought that it would be the perfect spot to camp. So for his birthday, we decided that that was what we were going to do - go Camping!! Well as the week went along, the weather wasn't looking too promising, and we were starting to doubt our decision. A couple of days before the weekend, we thought it was best to go with Plan "B" - a Camp-"In".

On Saturday morning, I started moving things around in preparation of setting up the Indoor Camp Site. The boys were pretty excited with the new furniture placement. They enjoyed watching their shows from the comfort of their Camp Chairs.

As soon as the tent was set up, Luke had to try out his new Sleeping Bag.

I even served them lunch on their plastic "School" trays.

In the afternoon, Marc kept them preoccupied outside while I finished setting everything up. I wanted Luke to be able to walk in and see everything ready for his Birthday Camp-"In".

The Camp Site

Campground Sign

Just in case you weren't sure where the tent was located. Do you like the additional little artwork that Grey added to the signs?

The HoBo Bags with Name Tags

Didn't want Max to miss out on his 4th Birthday.

Mini S'mores Station

Also had the necessary Trail Mix

Seating for around the Camp "Fire"

The Camp "Fire"

Our Sleeping Quarters

Twinkling Starlight

Right after lunch I had Marc run me up the road to pick these Wildflowers that I had seen. I thought they would be perfect in the Blue Speckle Ware Coffee Pot. Unbeknownst to both of us, it was Ragweed. Needless to say, Marc was sneezing All. Night. Long.

Our Camp Site

The Birthday Boy

A Mini S'more... Graham Cereal Square, Mini Marshmallow and a Chocolate Chip

The boys enjoying them.

These customized water bottles, along with a flashlight, were in the HoBo bags.

After the Camp Site had been visited and inspected, we headed down to the Lake for our Annual Balloon Release for Max.

It was as if Max was saying "Thank You"!

Marc had made a Fire Pit that afternoon, so we introduced the boys to the joy of Roasting Marshmallows. They really didn't find as much "Joy" in it as we did, so our time as a family sitting around the fire was short lived.

So we headed inside to enjoy our Indoor Camp "Fire".

Luke liked hanging out in the tent with the lantern and his flashlight.

We had given Luke a movie for his birthday, which we allowed him to open that evening. We set up the little TV inside the tent so that they boys could watch it, and Hopefully fall asleep.

Yeah Right. Even though neither of them had had a nap, and they had been playing hard all day, the few marshmallows that they had eaten, kept them going strong. I finally had to put Grey in his bed so he would calm down and go to sleep, which he did, pretty much immediately. Luke eventually fell asleep and stayed in the tent until about 4:00 in the morning, when he called out saying he wanted to get in his bed.

Marc and I both felt this was a pretty good test run for the real thing. Not sure we would have made it if we had REALLY gone camping.