Arbor Day State Park

I took the kids down to Nebraska City on Tuesday afternoon to see my parents and my mom wanted to take the kids to Arbor Lodge State Park to see the Whispering Bench and also see the mansion. Samantha & Alden had lots of fun in the leaves that had fallen from all the trees in the park and they also played on the playground there. Clair didn't enjoy the trip much, because she had to stay in her car seat carrier, because it was a little too breezy to get her out that day. The Whispering Bench was fun because it's really big and the kids couldn't believe they could hear what someone said on completely the other side of the bench just by whispering. :) We also drove up the mansion and walked around and Alden kept saying "Big"!

Carving Pumpkins

After the horrible Nebraska football loss to Iowa State, we carved pumpkins at Grandma & Grandpa McKnight's house. Auntie Debra, Debra's friend Janelle, & Aunt Jodi all stayed to help! Janelle & Samantha cleaned out a pumpkin and Debra carved it into Minnie Mouse. Doug cleaned out Alden's pumpkin and carved it into Donald Duck. Alden & I cleaned out and carved Clair's pumpkin which was Tinker Bell. It took quite awhile and the kids got restless, but thank goodness that Grandma, Grandpa & Aunt Jodi helped to take care of them while we worked. They thought the pumpkins were pretty cool when we were all done! :)

Crayola Cafe & Store @ Crown Center

The next morning after the Imagination Movers Concert, we went to Crown Center and took the kids to the Crayola Cafe & Crayola Store. They had fun and we also went to the Hallmark Visitor Center and the kids got to stamp a passport showing the different areas we went to and then at the end they got to push a button to make a bow that they got to take home with them. Afterward, we started the long drive back home. Clair did not like the car ride home, so we ended up stopping in Nebraska City for a break to see my parents.

Imagination Movers!!

Last Thursday, we went to Kansas City to see the Imagination Movers in concert. The Imagination Movers is a show on Playhouse Disney in the mornings that the kids love to watch. Their music is pretty catchy and doesn't drive Doug & I nuts, so we decided this would be a great kids thing to go to. The "Movers" (as Alden calls them) are four friends who decided that there needed to be more of an influence from music and guys for preschoolers than the "Wiggles" (who they didn't really care for). They describe themselves as The Beastie Boys meets Mr. Rogers! :) 3 of them are dads and use their own real life experiences to write songs. Such as: "I want my mommy" which is a song about how they hope their kids will sleep through the night soon! They solve problems every show and the kids help and learn how to figure things out. The kids had a great time! Samantha eventually went over to the isle that we were sitting on and started jumping and dancing with another little girl. It was cute! Alden danced in my lap most of the time, but he did have fun. (The=We left Clair with Great Aunt Debbie and she did great too. We went back to Scott & Debbie's house on the outside of KC in Liberty, MO and stayed for the night. Debbie was great and cooked supper and breakfast and cookies for us, and she had a cradle & crib all set up for Clair (actually she just became a grandma to Charlotte about 2 months ago so they were really set up for her, but Clair was able to use them)!

No Cavities!!

Samantha had her 6 month dental check up last week. Daddy the dentist cleaned and counted her teeth and found that she had NO CAVITIES!! Alden was fascinated by Doug working on Samantha's teeth, so he watched VERY CLOSELY (as you can see by the picture). He even got in the dental chair himself so daddy could look at his teeth. Clair got her turn in the chair too, and wasn't very happy about it! (Nothing against daddy, I just think she mainly didn't want to be woke up!)

Pumpkin Ridge

On Sunday, we drove to Nebraska City to go to Pumpkin Ridge. We visit this pumpkin patch each year. There's nothing fancy about it, it's just a simple pumpkin patch. That's why we like it. This year, the pumpkin patch was further away from the farm because of crop rotation, so we got a ride on a hayrack down to the pumpkin patch. My dad -Nebraska City Papa - went with us this year, so we got a family photo. It was a really nice day, but it was super windy. Clair didn't really care for being out in the wind too much. She cried most of the time, probably because I kept her all wrapped up in a blanket. The kids really enjoyed the hayrack ride and picking out their own pumpkins to carve. Afterward, we went up to my parent's cabinet shop and visited my mom. And my aunt Lisa & cousin Kayla and aunt Susie & cousins Tyler & Traci came by to see everyone too.