Ha Ha Tonka and a few randoms!

We decided to go hiking at Ha Ha Tonka a few weekends ago and had a great time. Megan wants to go hiking with just Michael and I in the very near future so that we can really hike!

Here are the kids looking cute...we totally bribed them!

The girls heard the bride way before Jacob apparently!

Here is Michael and Emily jogging!

Jacob jogging!

Megan really loved hanging out looking over the lake. She is definitely our nature girl!

She's also the only one that would actually pose for pictures!

Emily had a great time as well.

Michael kept trying to ruin my pictures though...it's hard enough to get the kids posed and smiling!

Jacob overlooking part of the castle!

Another one of Megan looking over the side!

She was showing Michael everything too!

The Magic House

One of Jacob's goals of the summer was going to the Magic House so a few weekends ago we decided to load up and go on the spur of the moment! The kids were super excited and so were we. It's always a little challenging because by the time you drive anywhere it's almost nap time which we skip which can lead to a little (or a lot) of grumpiness! Overall we had a great trip and the kids were exhausted by the end! Jacob unfortunately had a little mishap with the giant ball of static. He held his hand on it but when the sensation of his hair standing up happened he took his hand off the ball and then when he put it back on it lead to a bigger than ever shock (the worker is supposed to ground it if a hand comes off but she wasn't paying attention...grrr!) The poor kid screamed his head off and wanted to go home (which we talked him out of) and complained about it hurting for the next hour or two. He's had a rough summer, first he fell into the fish water, then the finale fireworks exploded all around him (all of us), and now he gets a huge shock (the light from it was very bright in broad daytime!) Hopefully his year turns around now that school's started again!

Here they are with the story of the elves and the shoes.

Emily climbing up the beanstalk!

Emily and Jacob in the Cinderella carriage!

Low and behold they had a random assortment of dress-up outfits and Megan found a turtle one...imagine that! She loved crawling around acting like a turtle!

Emily posing in a princess chair that talks when you sit down!

All three kids had a blast pulling the cord to make the picture go into the tree!

One of the favorite features at the Magic House is the giant beanstalk in the middle of the stairway that goes up three floors!

Of course Emily thinks she can do anything so she fearlessly followed the kids into the beanstalk...

...And then hated it because she was a little too little to get around. Luckily Megan saved the day with a little coaching from me!

Emily enjoying the construction area!

Jacob loved hanging out too!

Jacob almost whacked himself with the handle because he was digging deep!

Here's the construction crew...it was definitely challenging to get them contained and all in one place to take a quick picture!

More pipework!

Jacob filling the tube with gravel!

This thing is awesome. There are a couple of different places to change the path of the items which changes everything! Basically it's hooked up to a powerful air compressor and you put in puffy balls and scarfs and they fly through the tunnels and then fly back out. This is definitely a crowd favorite!

Here is Jacob pretending to be a judge!

Megan pretending to be a judge too!

Michael saying "guilty" as a juror!

Emily of course had to get in on the action!

Future President! It was fun finding all of the various hiding spots in the desk!

Emily gazing at the model trains! I like her reflection in the window!

Jacob was in heaven! He would push the buttons and then run as fast as he could over to the tunnel areas.

All three kiddos lined up waiting!

I couldn't contain Jacob to stand with his sisters for a picture! As you can see the trains were awesome!

Bubbles!

More bubbles! This takes patience and Megan seems to have it each time...I do not!

Emily trying to make a giant bubble...unfortunately the consistency of the bubbles was not working too well!

Here's our daredevil! Emily went down the 3 story slide in the middle of the Magic House! Megan lapped her a few times on the stairs but both girls loved the slide!

Here they are in the attic of the original part of the Magic House pretending to have tea!

Megan was doing her chin ups in the Rams training room. There were several fun athletic challenges that she loved!

Jacob loved pretending to play football!

Jacob fixing the car!

Megan said her favorite part was fishing!

School Days!!!

Wow I am way behind on my blog posts! Sorry about that! Here are a few pictures from the first days of school. 

Jacob is in his last year at preschool! We are lucky because he gets to go to the school I work at and he is considered a "reverse mainstream" kiddo so other students in his class have various extra needs! We sent him in crocs (even though I knew better) because his new shoes had already broke the elastic that held the top together. Well, he had quite the tumble on the playground and everyone game me a hard time of course! I am part of the crew that tell parents what shoes are best! Whoops!

Here he is (in new shoes #2) at the end of the day in my office. He loves the end of the day because him and his friend Allie get to rule the school while Nicole and I try to work a bit longer (which hasn't been as successful as we thought because those two together are quite a pair!)

Needless to say this has also happened nearly everyday on the way home. He's having a tough transition!

Here is my second grader! She has grown up so much! As you can see her favorite colors are blue and green and she loves her new shoes! She is very excited this year to have her friends Kambry and Alex in her class!

Emily posing in front of her first masterpiece, she drew a picture of herself, Jacob, and Grandma Dierking!

Megan and one of her closest friends Kambry at the JCPS BBQ and Football game. The girls loved hanging out together and Megan was very sad when it was time to go!

Here's Emily and Kambry watching the game. Emily looks so old these days!

And our boy Jacob who is now wanting to practice football!

Here is another first day of school pic from Sue! He is always the milk helper (except for one day they make him choose something else!). The loves to roam the halls to get milk with his teacher in case he can see me and so he can wave at everyone else!

Before school!

And here is our newest family picture! We always have a picture taken at the BBQ each year!  

Here is the picture from last year!