The Saturday We Didn't Do Anything

Last Saturday dawned bright, sunny, and a not-so-warm 33 degrees. The temperature was important because my friend Beth was on her way over to drop off her two kids with Mike and pick me up. Because she and I had decided several months ago that running a 5k at the end of October sounded like a super good idea. At 33 degrees, we questioned that decision. But we were really glad we powered through.

We were both pretty chilly at the start of the race, but by mile 2, were overheating. Beth and I are good running partners and go at about the same pace. We had run this race together before, right after I had Declan. But I was dying from the plague and Beth had a hurt foot. This time felt better for so many reasons. It is also safe to say that we drastically improved our time!

Mike brought all five kids down to see the end of the race - and we cheered on Beth's kids as they ran the half mile race. Then we headed home so that I could take a nice long, hot shower and try to loosen up my leg muscles. Everything felt good while I was running - but standing outside for quite a while after really tightened my muscles up.

After I got out of the shower, the kids and I made a final trip of the season to ValleyFair. We met Makai's family there and rode our favorite rides one last time. We also headed out to the Great Pumpkin Fest and did a little trick-or-treating. The kids only lasted about an hour and a half before they were cold and hungry. We swung through McDonald's on our way home for a late lunch.

While we were at ValleyFair, Mike was home taking down the trampoline and working on the leaf situation in the back yard. After lunch and a very short rest time where no one really rested, Mike and Declan took a load of leaves out to the farm to get rid of them.

When they got back, Quinn, Dec, and I headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our perfect pumpkins for carving. We spent a lot of time searching for just the right ones and they were very cooperative in taking a couple fun pictures for me. They know that their mama loves photos of kids in pumpkins in the fall! Thankfully Declan picked a small pumpkin that Quinn could carry because we had quite the adventure carrying two pumpkins across the very large parking lot. Quinn and I took turns carrying Dec's - and I had hers. We were all tired and sweaty when we got to the car.

A few weeks ago, we had made a trip up to Trader Joe's (we go for dark chocolate peanut butter cups and hummus. We get other things - but those two are a good enough reason for us!) and the girls talked me into buying a Haunted House kit. It's like a gingerbread house, only a Halloween version. We decided to put that together after we got home from the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun and they did a great job working as a team to decorate it.

I noticed Dec messing with his nose during the decorating and told him not to pick his nose. He had a funny look, so I asked him what he was doing. Yep. He had stuck one of the little candies up his nose. Because of course he had. So he took a quick detour into the living room to have his dad perform some candy retrieval. Then we had a short training course on NOT sticking things in your nose. Or your ears.

We also called Grandpa J to wish him Happy Birthday, gave Dec a haircut, and gave all the kids a shower.

And yet, at one point in the day, when I sat on the couch for ten minutes, Fiona asked me why I was laying around all day. True story. Clearly we didn't pack enough into the day!

Twelve Years

Two weeks ago (October 15 to be exact), Mike and I celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary. Due to some well-advised (ill-advised?) family photos bribery on my part, we got to take the kids to Valleyfair to celebrate it. I don't suspect that is exactly what we imagined twelve years ago, but we have always wanted to have a family together and I'm pretty sure those babies who got married all those years ago would approve of where we have ended up!

We ate a quick lunch after church and headed over to the park about the time the Vikings/Packers game was kicking off. Solid plan! There was nobody at the park. Like nobody. Like so nobody that Mike walked up to Power Tower, got right on, and was the only one riding it!! He also took advantage of a very short line for Steel Venom. It was ah-mazing! And oh so much easier to keep track of all the short humans!

Before we went, the kids picked their "must rides" for the day. I have owed Q a ride on the hot air balloons for a couple trips; I had promised Fiona another round on the Scrambler; and Declan insisted we finally make a point to ride the Ferris Wheel.

Not only did we meet all the small V requirements, but we also took a couple trips on the carousel, checked out our favorite kid rides, did a family trip on the flying eagles (we aren't convinced that Bugs was really tall enough to ride solo ... but it helped out the uneven math, so we went with it), scrambled the whole family on the Scrambler, and stuffed our faces with cinnamon pretzel bites. Everyone enjoyed our inaugural Ferris Wheel trip - despite great trepidation by the blondes as we got on. There was a lot of spinning and Mike and I were about spun out by the end - but we all had a blast!

We loved checking out all the Halloween decorations in the park and made sure we boogied out of there before it turned into ValleyScare at dark. Our kids won't even watch The Incredibles because it is "too scary" (sigh) ... so we are pretty sure that ValleyScare would not fly for them. We were still able to spend almost four hours there (with no stroller, thank you very much!). And the nice thing is that it is really easy to get them to leave with absolutely no drama when the threat of zombies is imminent!

We finished the day with a visit from Auntie Tracey and Nate, spaghetti dinner, and some DQ cake thanks to Tracey. There may have even been a shared Crown and coke to toast the day. It's been a good twelve years!

Twelve years later. Not too shabby!

The Three

We had homemade chicken noodle soup tonight for dinner - made possible, in part, by 30 minutes of concurrent iPad time for the three. This sounds simple enough, but if there is one thing I'm known for in these parts, it's my stingy-ness on the screen time.

We recently solved two rather annoying issues with a single chart. Issue 1: constant requests for iPad time, which I say no to 99.9% of the time. Issue 2: dinnertime manners. Or more specifically, the sudden absence of them. Thus, they can now earn an X by their name on the whiteboard for appropriate manners during dinner. And five Xs equals 30 minutes of screen time. Woe to the child who asks for screen time before he or she has the required Xs! Tonight was the first payoff of the chart. I liked that they earned the privilege. Mike liked that they were quiet. They liked their screens. Everybody won.

This is F's "I'm almost out
of smiles" smile

Fiona told us tonight that she told a friend in YMCA after care (the big sister of one of her classmates) about her scars, her surgeries, and her button. This is the first time she has willingly shared her story with a friend. She said that she was nervous at first, but was glad at the end that she had shared. And you know what, that friend had had a surgery too! It was a great step for her to start to navigate how and what - and with whom - she wants to share. We are so glad it was a positive first experience. And ironically, Mike just leaned over and showed me that it is World Spina Bifida + Hydrocephalus Day. Even cooler.

Sweet Quinn is generally not a fan of dogs - except Yogi. Terrified and petrified are two words that come to mind. Our neighbors who walk the girls to the bus each morning have a sweet, yet hyper dog named Basil. Quinn and Basil are not BFFs. Ms. Katie has been nice enough to put Basil in a bedroom or outside for the few minutes before they go to the bus. But Basil's presence often makes Q choose not to go over and play on the weekends. This week, she has decided that she is willing to try co-existing with Basil and is doing a great job. We are all so proud of her and Bugs, Ev, and Jonah have been so kind and encouraging.

Dec has settled in beautifully at preschool. The group of kids there is perfect for him and he seems to be effortlessly making friends. He's just his goofy self and they love him for that. We are also thrilled that the boy finally has some friends his own age! His imaginative play has skyrocketed and it is the most fun to listen to the games he makes up. A few nights ago, I found him with several of his sisters' Barbies out and Spiderman was alternately saving them and "hamming" them with a hammer. We've found that Spiderman is a bit unreliable in his heroics!

Speaking of accomplishing two things in one action, you have an update on the three and I got to share the fun group photos from our family picture adventure. Again, everybody wins!

That Time Family Pictures Required Two Tries

You guys know that I enjoy telling a story, right? Well ... buckle up. This one's a doozy!

When I was gone for a week in August and then got back and immediately went on a family trip up north, the kids did fantastic. So I thought that doing family pictures two days after I got back from a week at Emerson Exchange would be a good idea and the kids wouldn't be broken.

False.

Picture day dawned extremely sunny, which we would soon learn is actually not amazing for pictures. Poor Kim had to deal with all the shadows as we walked through the woods and we had a hard time finding good spots to stand, even though the fall colors were amazing. We found out later that Kim actually had a setting goofed up on her camera as well, which made many of the pics washed out or grainy. The "funniest" part - weird lighting and a messed up camera were the least of our problems.

Declan was pretty happy during pictures, but was physically incapable of smiling in the direction of the camera. To the side of the camera? Sure. Looking at his feet? No problem. Turning in a full circle? Nailed it. At the camera? Nada.

Quinn basically refused to smile unless she had a minimum nine points of contact with me AND no siblings were touching her. Or looking like they might touch her.

Fiona full-on teenagered out on me near the end and just simply refused to smile. Instead she crossed her arms, stuck out her chin, and scowled.

Mike stomped off, muttering something about kids being broken

Yogs decided he is old and laid down in the middle of the path. Because clearly if no one else could pull it together, he didn't have to either.

So basically, it went well. Sigh.

Due to a combination of, uh, "special" attitudes and the camera settings issue, Kim wanted to do a Take 2 the following weekend.

Against all odds, we got some really sweet photos of the crew between the two sessions. But in case you think I'm exaggerating this whole thing, I leave you with this gem. From Round Two. Which went "better." Stay tuned for the actual good pictures in a future post.

**Auntie reminded me of this epic disaster of a photo shoot. I will admit as challenging as this one was, it's hard to be as bad as that one!

Bobbing for Apples

One of the unexpected fun moments at the apple orchard was the apple bobbing contest. I knew we were going to have the contest at my work picnic, but I figured that the Vs would not be interested in participating. I was wrong. There's nothing like a 90+ degree day in September to make sticking your head in a bucket full of hose water appealing.

Fiona was the first to dive in. She was pretty pumped to join the kids line and bravely put her whole face in the water. We learned rather quickly that it is very hard to get an apple when you are missing your two top front teeth. With a tiny assist from me in pinning the apple against the edge, she successfully got one. And was so proud. She got back in line two or three more times, but didn't get any more apples. She never got discouraged and worked very hard.

Mike was the adult Vanneste representative. I continued to maintain that if you wear make-up, you don't have to stick your head in a bucket of water. Apparently I didn't let him know how the contest worked (it was how many apples you could get in one minute), so he got his first one, leisurely set it on the table, and looked around. Our VP is now clear that I'm a bit competitive (he may have used the word "intense") and I "kindly" told Mike to stick his head back in that bucket to get more apples. Family pride was on the line. I think he ended up with around 17 - a respectable showing based on our rather slow start. 

I think the pictures of it are my favorite part!