Party Party

We attended Claire's K4 parent-teacher conference last week. She is doing well and has really come out of her shell since the first day. Claire is generally shy in new situations, so we were not surprised. She is cutting properly and writing and loves to look at books.

Here is a cat she made at school.

We had many social plans this past weekend. Claire attended a swimming birthday party for a friend and Lucian and I went to a neighbor's for a party in the evening. We are really loving the new neighborhood.

We met my college friend and her family at the zoo on Sunday. It was a perfect day to be outside.

Claire loved seeing the cheetahs. She bought a cheetah stuffed animal with some money Lucian gave her.

And after that, Claire attended a beauty salon birthday party for another friend. They did hair and nails and had lots of dress up clothes. Everyone slept well on Sunday night.

Our Little Pumpkins

The weather is changing and the leaves are falling. So many leaves. We are in a fairly wooded area at the new place, so leaf collection will definitely take a bit more time. It's beautiful right now however.

Here's Lucian and Kyle juggling in the morning. Or as Claire calls it "jungle".

 We went to pick out pumpkins this weekend. The kids had a great time running in the field. We left with more than a few, including two white pumpkins, per Claire's request.

Water Park

We did a water park overnight In Wisconsin Dells recently. We didn't tell the kids, but Claire was very confused as to why I was putting swim suits and clothes in a bag a day or two prior. She guessed it in a few tries and was very excited to go, as well as Kyle.

I expected them both to nap in the car, but neither kid met this expectation. They both loved the animal sculptures and artwork. There was even a real baby tiger in the lobby you could pay to take photos with. We did not.

There was plenty to keep them occupied in the park. I think kids would swim until they passed out if you let them.

We ordered pizza in the room, but Kyle fell asleep before it arrived.

Claire is very into cheetahs lately, so I took her photo next to this print in the hall. Pretty sure it's a leopard, but close enough. This was on our after dinner walk to get ice cream in the hotel

And on the way home we stopped for lunch and caught some of the Packer game while eating. Again, no naps in the car like I had hoped. Where have those days gone?

Running Around

My parents were in town last weekend. They watched Kyle all day on Thursday and helped with pick-ups while I was working late.

We tried out the fireplace in the new house by making s'mores. It works great!

This weekend, I ran a 10K Saturday morning. My sister and I originally signed up to do this together, but an injury kept her from running:( She still showed (super early mind you) to cheer me on and take some photos. Lucian and the kids were planning to come as well, but everyone was still sleeping at race time, and you don't wake a sleeping child on Sat. when you don't have to.

The run went surprising well given how little I trained. With the move and several other things things this summer, longer runs just didn't happen. I was happy with my time and am thinking of doing the half marathon next year.

Sunday we got out to a local fall festival. Kyle was very grumpy because we didn't allow him to play on some plastic slides at the church where we parked. I spotted this lot of hot rod cars and his mood quickly changed. He was in heaven, we just had to keep him from touching anything. We grabbed some food and headed out right as it started raining.

When the rain cleared, we went out on a walk in our neighborhood. A neighbor gave us a tour of her gigantic garden/yard. She gave the kids super big leaves as we traipsed around. We proceeded to meet more neighbors on our walk and our :15 minute stroll turned into 2 hours outside.

K4 Day 2

Since I wasn't able to be there, Lucian took ample photos of the bus actually arriving on day two. Claire walked right on and found a seat. I'm so proud of my big girl.

Kyle, however, was very sad. "I want my Claire. I want to go on a school bus. I want a first day at school." Poor guy. I t will be his turn soon enough. One is all this Mama can handle right now.

K4 Day 1

Claire started morning K4 last week on a rainy Wednesday. She is taking the bus in the morning which is new and rather different. Our girl's fear of new things had us a bit worried but she was putting on a brave face all morning. 

We put on our rain gear to wait outside.

But after close to an hour of waiting and several calls to the school it became apparent the bus was not coming. We all jumped in the car and raced her up to school, which had just begun. Claire had a major breakdown as we tried to leave. Not the way we hoped to start off the school year. She says the day went fine after that, and she was bussed to her old "school" for the afternoon, where she is very comfortable. We tried again the next day, however, I had a work conflict and couldn't see her off:(

Frozen Party

The movie Frozen is all the rage with young girls, and Claire is no exception. She wanted an Elsa party for her 5th birthday. We hosted at our house with Frozen balloons, decorations and a pin the nose on Olaf game.

 We had an Anna and Elsa piñata with strings all the girls could pull to release the loot. Claire still talks about how her cousin broke the piñata open last year and how she wanted to be the one to break it this year. I thought this sounded easier:)

Kyle enjoyed a sucker or two.

My mom had sent me a "Pin" several moths ago of an Elsa Barbie cake. Claire happened to see it and was very insistent that we make that cake. I agreed. My boss happens to be somewhat of a cake guru, so when I discussed my plan with her, she insisted I not cut any corners and gave me recipes and supplies. I likely would not have made one this elaborate without her urging, but it turned out great! Claire was super excited and it tasted delicious. I'd say all the late nights were worth it.

Claire received some awesome gifts...

including beautiful dance costumes...

and a pet fish. She named her Elsa, of course.

Hard to believe this beautiful girl is 5. We had a fabulous day celebrating Claire.