Small Fry Tri

For the second year in a row, the kids were participants in our town's Small Fry Tri.  It's a mini-triathlon event for kids ages 2 to 6 and is so fun!  First they run a quick race, then they hop on their bikes and ride, and then for the "swimming" portion, they run through the firemen's water hose sprinklers!  I mean, really, what kid wouldn't think that's the most fun thing ever?

Thomas, that's who.  Our little guy was not about to let go of his Daddy to participate in some race.

Katie Wynn, on the other hand, did awesome this year!  She was in a heat with five other kids her age and she took her place at the starting line, eager to go!

She took off running and was so fast I didn't get a picture of her!  Then came the jumble of all the kids trying to get on their bikes at the same time.

It took her a minute to get going, but soon she was off.

I raced to the next stop where she would ditch her bike and run through the sprinklers so I could be ready for a picture.  Her friends arrived on their bikes shortly after I made it there, but no Katie Wynn.  That's when I looked down the path and saw that at the 90 degree turn, she'd fallen off her bike and was still there with it tumped over.  Talk about breaking a mama's heart!  I raced to her as fast as I could!  She was being so brave and fighting back tears.  We got her bike back upright and even with all of her friends done, she got back on her bike and finished the ride.

She was all by herself for the sprinkler run but she still gave it all she had and finished strong!  I was SO proud of her!

She earned her finisher's medal and was proud to wear it.

Rocky the Redbird was in attendance for the event and Thomas thought he was cool until I got close to him.

The kids insisted on wearing their registration tshirts after getting cleaned up at home.  Katie Wynn had to wear her medal too, of course.

The medal was even worn to church the next day!  I have a feeling that's one trophy I won't be able to accidentally "lose" anytime soon...

Hopefully next year Thomas will be ready to give it a go too!

End of School Celebration

Near the end of Katie Wynn's first year of Pre-School, we began receiving notices about the field trip to the farm they'd be taking at that parents were encouraged to attend.  It was suggested to bring lawn chairs, blankets, snacks, sunscreen, and anything else we might need to enjoy the day.  I honestly had no idea what to expect!

I'm glad I was able to attend the field trip with her, as nearly every child there had at least one parent present (and some had little siblings too - wish I'd brought Thomas!).  This "farm" that we spent the day at was the home of an upperclassmen.  It was farm-ish in that they had a few horses, but mostly because they had so many BIG tractors!  Thomas would have been in Heaven!  Katie Wynn and her friends sure were.  

I learned that this family hosts this celebration every year and their farmhands park the tractors and stand by them to help the kids climb into them and play.  They're allowed to push buttons and honk the horn.  (LOTS of honking that day.)  Also around the property were bounce houses, a huge blow up water slide, a police car to climb in, horses to ride, games to play, and a pinata for each class to bust open.

For my girl, I think it's safe to say the tractors were her very favorite part.  

The best I could get...and I tried really hard!

Katie Wynn wanted absolutely nothing to do with the big water slide, so she and I played corn hole and jumped in the bouncer while her friends checked it out.

For lunch, the school purchased lots of pizzas.  We were near the end of the line when they ran out of plates, so we got a whole box to share. :)

So many friends to play with, so many things to do, and the girls needed to take their chairs off for some quiet time.  They were cute out there just sitting and watching the road.  :)

After lunch we watched Addi Clare ride a horse.  Katie Wynn, not surprisingly, had zero interest in doing that herself, but we enjoyed watching.  

The face of someone who is NOT getting near a horse.

The farm celebration ended around 1:00.  By then we were hot and sweaty so our little group drove straight to get some ice cream.  It was a fun day and I'm really glad I was able to spend it with my favorite girl!

Girls' Weekend

Every October, the men in my family go on a boys' retreat where they spend the weekend fishing, golfing, cooking out, playing cards, and probably other things I'd rather not know about.  And they leave all the kids home with us girls.  For the last couple of years, the kids and I have stayed with my Mom at her house and had a girls (plus Thomas) weekend.  This year our weekend without the Dads was full of fun!

Friday night we ate outside at a pizza restaurant.  While Mom stayed at our table and waited for our food, I took the [antsy] kids on a walk to a nearby boardwalk on the river.

Photography by Katie Wynn

Photography by Katie Wynn

It was a fun adventure and the kids were great eaters at the pizza place.  The next morning, after Mom made us all pancakes, we hit the road headed to the pumpkin patch.  We went to the same one we visited two years ago and loved it again.  We played tether ball, fed animals at the petting zoo, slid down an enormous slide, road a train, picked out pumpkins, and so much more!

We brought a picnic lunch with us which was definitely the way to go.

After lunch, we took a hayride to the pumpkin field where the kids got to pick out two pumpkins each.

Here they are with the pumpkin ruler from this year and two years ago.  My, how they've grown!

2016

2014

2016

2014

Later that afternoon, after some much needed naps at home, we conquered the world!  In puzzle form.

Since Mom and I were too zapped to do anything for dinner, we dined in at a fancy little restaurant called Wendy's.  The kids loved it, and we all enjoyed playing with the prize from their kids' meals!

This picture of Thomas makes me laugh every time.  And that's "homework" he did on his hand, in case you were wondering.

We made it to church the next morning and afterwards, I got possibly my favorite picture of the two kids together ever.  

We had a really good girls plus Thomas weekend, but we were still pretty excited when the boys arrived back home!  Now, when do all the Mamas get to go away for the weekend? :)

4th Fall Olympics

What, you thought there were only Summer and Winter Olympics?  Well around here, we have Fall games.  And we call them the 4th even if they're the 1st, because the Gold Medalist turned four!

Are you lost?  I'm talking about Katie Wynn's olympic-themed birthday party!  

Before I can go any further with this post, I must give a HUGE thank you to Beth and Patricia for taking pictures for me.  They were awesome to click away during the sweltering heat and got some great action shots of all the kids (over 700 of them combined!).  All photos in this post are credited to one of them.

The week leading up to Katie Wynn's party was SO busy, so I feel like it was thrown together very haphazardly at the last minute.  Late one evening, I stood at the kitchen counter and quickly painted signs for each of the six events.  

I did, thankfully, purchase a lot of decorations and supplies from Oriental Trading in advance.  The day before the party, Matt worked to construct each of the events and I baked the birthday cake.  Thanks to Anna and Lala for separating all the M&M colors for me!  (Pop quiz: guess which color had a LOT more than all the others...it held true for both bags that we separated.)

Not my prettiest cake ever, but it tasted delicious!  Three rings were vanilla, two were chocolate.  

We woke the kids up from their naps and got them dressed for the Olympics right before our invitees arrived.  Shout out to my Mom for making their shirts the morning of the event!

I really wanted this to feel like a real sporting event that our guests (participants) were coming to, so I fashioned our lemonade stand into a Registration Booth.  I had originally planned on having cute t-shirts made to hand out (like you would get at a 5K) but waited too late to get them done in time.  I did make bib numbers, though, so each registrant was able to pick theirs up from here.  On the invitation, we requested $4 donations to charity (Special Olympics) in lieu of gifts.  Those could be dropped off here too. 

In all honesty, I had a good little panic after our guests arrived when I realized I didn't really have a plan for the Opening Ceremony.  I was suddenly so mad at myself for not ordering the inflatable torch on Oriental Trading that I didn't think I would need.  Grrr.  But what are the odds that one of my mom friends had her daughter's paper torch craft project from pre-school still out in her car?  Winning!  We lined the kids up, handed one the torch (birthday girl didn't want to carry it), Matt hit play on the Star Spangled Banner, and we walked them around the yard and up to the edge of the patio.  

Truth talk: I've never seen an opening ceremony for the Olympics.  What the heck happens at them?  At ours, I gave a few little "Who's excited to play games today?!" cheers to the participants and that was it.  The original plan was to have Anna and Wyatt help take groups through the different events, but since they weren't able to make it at the last minute I didn't really have a plan B.  Panic started to set in again but our friends and family totally stepped in and helped out.  This was an all-hands-on-deck party if ever there was one.  

The original plan was to have Anna and Wyatt help take groups through the different events, but since they weren't able to make it at the last minute I didn't really have a plan B.  Panic started to set in again but our friends and family totally stepped in and helped out.  This was an all-hands-on-deck party if ever there was one. 

The Long Jump consisted of a line drawn in the grass (yard spray paint) and a board that I'd marked out four feet of measurements on.  I should've known that my older nephews and niece could jump farther than that.  Oops.

The High Jump was a last minute addition since Katie Wynn had just gotten the new trampoline as her birthday gift and it was going to be out in the yard anyway.  We just let the kids get in and jump around for this event.  And it was the event that was pretty much impossible to photograph. 

Matt constructed our Balance Beam out of a 2x4 and three blocks of wood.  We had no time to paint or pretty it up, but I'm pretty sure the kids didn't notice.  :)

For the Hurdles, Matt string pool noodles between two yard stakes about a foot off the ground.  They were perfect - cheap, easy to make, and didn't hurt the kids or break if they accidentally hit them.

One of my favorite parts of the whole event was during the 20 Yard Dash.  My group of three were the first to do it.  I got them in position at the starting line while my brother and nephew held up the finish line ribbon.  (See?  All hands on deck.)

I blew my whistle and they were off!

They ran as hard as they could!

Soon, they were approaching the finish line and then...

...they slid under the finish line tape as if they were sliding into home base.  

All three of them!

It never occurred to me that they hadn't ever seen a real race and wouldn't know to run through the tape!  As you can see from the picture of me in the background of the photo above, I thought it was hilarious.  Still do, actually.

And because I can't leave a perfectly in tact finish line alone...

The rest of the Olympians were properly coached to go through the tape instead of under it.

I purchased colorful rubber balls to use for the Shot Put and each participant got to choose two to throw.  Some of these pictures may look funny because in order to make it harder for the bigger kids, I made them throw theirs through their legs.  

Here are a few pictures of some other fun happenings going on at the same time as the events.

After the games, this silly girl enjoyed getting cold drinks out for everybody.  Did I mention that this took place on possibly the hottest September day ever??

Here is something I love about kids: they're instantly friends.  Look at how they're all gathered around this little table talking while waiting for the cake.  These are friends from school or church, and some of my friends' kids and they're all different ages but who cares?  They're all just hanging out.  Or maybe they all just want cake.  Whatevs.

This girl that had been running around playing all afternoon reverted back to her shy ways when we started singing Happy Birthday to her. 

It took a couple tries but she got those candles blown out! :)

And finally, you can't have Olympic Games - even Fall ones - without handing out medals.  All of our participants got to stand on the "podium" to receive their Gold Medal.  Honestly, I was surprised at how excited all the kids got about this part!

As our guests got ready to leave, Katie Wynn loved passing out favors to them.  

It was super hot, a little chaotic, and I panicked a couple of times, but in the end, it was a super successful party and the birthday girl had the best time ever!  We were all exhausted when we crawled into bed that night but the memories made were totally worth it.  

Four Years Old

Twenty-four days ago, my baby girl turned FOUR years old!  I feel like I'm still adjusting to being a parent in general, so how have four years sped by so quickly??

She was all giggles the night before her birthday.  We had been counting down til this day for SO long and I'm not sure any of us could believe it was finally here.  This girl loves a birthday!

She also loves taking turns with the camera, so I had to let her take mine so I could take hers.  :)

Just like last year, we woke her up the next morning with balloons!  She had randomly woken up at 4:00 during the night and ended up in our bed.  That doesn't happen often at all but we quickly adjusted and brought the celebration to our room.

I hope we are able to continue this birthday balloon tradition, but I tell ya, it's hard to get helium in balloons the day before and keep them hidden from your kids (while secretly praying the helium lasts)! And it will only get harder as we add more balloons to the count.

As luck would have it, Katie Wynn's preschool was closed on the Friday for her birthday (teacher in-service, I think).  So I surprised her with tickets to go see Disney on Ice that morning with her best buddy Addi Clare!

Last year's Disney on Ice show was all Frozen, but this year they did short snippets of four different shows - Tangled, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and The Princess and the Frog.  Tangled was the only movie she had ever seen but she at least knew who Snow White and Cinderella were.  

When we got home later in the afternoon, she had lots of surprises.  Her Lala and Poppa had arrived for the weekend and her Daddy had her gift from us set up in the backyard!  We made her cover her eyes while he carried her out to it.

This picture cracks me up.  Poor Thomas just wanted to get in with us!

Somehow Thomas managed to get dirt all over his face while we jumped on the trampoline.  Typical boy.

Mimi and Poppy joined us for dinner too so she had all of her grandparents around for her special day.  She loved blowing out four candles on her cupcake!

Like most kids, her favorite part of the day was probably getting to open presents.  She got lots of cute new things - shoes, a watch, bathrobe and nightgowns, water table, and the coolest mermaid tail blanket made by her Lala.  

Her birthday party wasn't for another two days, which was such a long wait for her!  In between celebrations, she and Thomas "helped" me make her official birthday cake.  Those kids can smell a cake mix beater from anywhere in the house!  :)

I'll be back next with all the fun pictures from her birthday party!