Start of September

Things have definitely slowed down now that the summer is over but that doesn't mean we're sitting around doing nothing. During the week we're busy now with school and other little life things. So the weekends together are even more precious. On Saturday the 8th, the Akron Zoo had a Dinosaur Train themed day. Since we are big PBS kids fans, we were excited to go. They had different stations set up for the kids to learn about nature tracking and once they finished all the stations they got to ride the train for free. Our friends, Jen, Brent and Ava joined us for the fun on the gloomy, rainy morning. Luckily, this kept the crowds away and it actually ended up being perfect weather.

The kids were very excited to have Daddy at the zoo. Always a treat to do things with Cody. 

The penguins were really active and kept swimming right in front of Hazel. She was enjoying them a lot.

Penguin shot.

Photo op with Buddy.

Hazel watching the others have all the fun.

I forgot my camera so I took all these pictures with my iphone. Guess I need to work on my action shots.

Morgan, Pepper and Ava working at a station with Jen's help and my smudgy finger.

We had to keep reminding Cody and Brent to put their phones away and to stop checking scores.

They got a backpack full of some goodies after they finished. Pepper's trying to milk the cow but apparently it had run dry.

The kids and Cody enjoying the free train ride.

We all enjoyed watching Cody squeeze into that tiny little train car with the kids.

The girls trying to feed the goats. Well, Ava was successful but Pepper never quite managed to get up the nerve to actually get anywhere close to the goat.

Morgan on the other hand had no problem giving them his whole arm.

The kids working in the kitchen making up bowls of food for the animals.

Cody and Hazel enjoying the coral reef exhibit. Hazel really enjoyed watching all the fish and other sea creatures.

On Tuesday, September 11th, we took Pepper out to a dinner of her choice to celebrate her last day of summer. She, of course, chose Chick-Fil-a, which worked out well because it was kids eat free night.

They had a fireman there with little toys and activities for the kids.

The garden is still chugging along giving us lots of tomatoes and cucumbers. The strawberries have started again much to the kids delight. The watermelon are still doing pretty well; I really hope they continue on so we can try one.

On last Friday after school Sarah's mom took Sarah and Morgan out for ice cream. Then Sarah stayed with us for a bit of the afternoon to play. The kids had a blast running around being crazy.

This one is really starting to pull herself up these days. Oh, the fun begins.

I'll leave you with these two and their super hero poses.

Pepper Doodle Goes to School

On Wednesday, September 12th, Pepper went to her first day of preschool. She has been very excited to go ever since Morgan started school. She did not seem nervous at all, just ready to go.

The day before, the momsclub had a get together at Copley Park, so the girls and I headed over there to play with some friends and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Pepper was having a blast with all the little girls.

Hazel really liked being outside and the wood chips.
I was digging her new jeggings!

On Wednesday morning the 12th, Pepper officially started preschool at Woodland Preschool. She will go to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. She has Morgan's 3yr teacher, Mrs. Yonders, which I am very happy about.
It was a little hectic that morning trying to get both kids ready for school and trying to get Pepper's 1st day photo. This girl is so cute and gives the sweetest smiles MOST of the time. I put her in front of the wall and tell her to smile and this is what I got.

Then I kept trying to get her to smile normal...and this is what I got!

It was just getting worse so I decided to forget it and move on. Morgan was trying so hard to coach her from the side as well, so I let him just in the photo hoping maybe he could get her to look normal.

Um...it kind of helped:)

We have about 15 minutes of extra time after dropping Morgan off at school and arriving at preschool. So, not really enough time to go home but we end up having to hang out in the preschool parking lot. Well, at least we know Pepper will probably never be late for school.

Mrs. Yonders helping Pepper hang up her bag on her new hook.

Pepper has the same seat Morgan had two years ago.

It didn't take long for Pepper to find a toy and get started on playing.

On Monday the preschool had an open house. I had a babysitter come stay with a napping Hazel so I could focus on Pepper and getting to know her new school. We had a great time and got to go play with a new friend from church who is also in her class. My sweet little girl is really growing up!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We had a great time Labor Day Weekend spending lots of time playing together and most importantly together with Daddy! The kids and I had been killing time on a rainy afternoon acting out the 3 Little Pigs. We gave Cody a performance when he got home from work on Friday.

Here's a video of our show:

Morgan and Pepper bowing after their performance.

Labor Day afternoon, Pepper's little friend, Avi, celebrated her 4th birthday with a water party in her backyard.

The kiddie pool area.

Morgan playing with Hazel. She just thinks he is the funniest person ever!

He adores her too. Look at that smile even when she's pinching a big chunk of his shoulder.

Avi's dad, Porter, holding the cake while everyone sings.

Avi's little brother, Hugo.

To the left is a homemade slip n slide and to the right a homemade water blanket/balloon thing.
So creative and the kids had a blast.

It was a tarp and some duct tape. This was the biggest hit of the party.

They really had fun when it started busting and more water came splashing out.

The dry adult area. It was like a mini ward party. So fun to hang out and catch up with everyone.

Poor Gabriel cut his foot so his daddy, Patrick, had to patch him up while we all cheered him on.

Saturday afternoon, we headed up to Lake Erie to hang out with our friends the Pavkovs who recently moved. We got to see their new home and then went to the beach to let the kids play in the water and sand.

It wasn't the brightest or warmest of days but that didn't seem to bother the kids one bit.

So nice to just sit and chat with friends while the kids entertain themselves.

We had to work hard to keep Hazel from eating sand or to stay on the blanket.
 She still managed to have a good time.

After the beach, we picked up dinner and headed back to play a little more and have baths before the hour drive home. It was so fun to see our friends again. They may be a bit further away but it is nice to know that we can still get together and see each other now and then.

I am excited to report that our seedless watermelon plant has finally started to produce. I took this picture a week ago so they are even bigger and darker green now.

I just hope they don't pull the fence over or break the plant. I'm excited.

All together we had a great weekend. Cody and I both got a chance to go running and help prepare ourselves for our upcoming race. It was nice to just hang out at home for most of the time and then spend some fun time with friends. Good times.