It's our Birthday!

Today is our sixth birthday! It's been so busy, we haven't gotten to the blog in a longtime!

The last time we wrote was November!

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Mark & Diane's. We got to visit Santaland and even saw Santa there! We saw the trains and signed the nice/naughty list. (We signed the nice list, of course.)

While we were there, Mommy & Daddy went shopping and bought a Wii for Grandma & Grandpa. So, we got to dance with aunt Angie, Grandma and even Grandpa!

We spent Saturday of Thanksgiving at Great Grandma Leona's house. We got to play with lots of cousins, eat yummy food, visit Santaland with our cousins again. It was a fun day, ending with Grandpa's popcorn and a movie with Lauren & Ben at the end of the day.

We had a short week at school after Thanksgiving. We were excited to go back to school, though! We really do love school.

The weekend after Thanksgiving was another busy one. Hannah got to dance at Winterfest with her dance class. She did a dance, but her class also danced to the DJ, so I got to dance to my favorite song - Call me Maybe! Hannah played a lot with her friend Abbey while I jumped, ran & danced. And, we saw our friend Ava from church! She had heart surgery a few weeks ago, and now is feeling better. Of course, we also got to go to the petting zoo and see a GIANT turkey. And, we took a hayride with Ava and her family.

That afternoon, we had our last day of volleyball. It was fun. Mommy wasn't able to come to our class this whole fall session until today. She said we're getting better every time we play! I guess practice does help.

 night, we went to pick our tree! We picked a big FAT one and brought it home. It's a really nice one! Sunday after church, we came home and decorated the tree. What a fun day of decorating!

Sunday night, we got to experience something new. We got to go to the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis. It was a long wait - we had to sit on the sidewalk and wait for an HOUR. Luckily, the store we sat near was open (it closed shortly after we got to our spot!) and Mommy could go buy blankets to sit on and cover up with. It was so AWESOME, though! It was really worth the wait. It kind of like the Disney Electric parade at Disney World, but Christmas themed! 

Monday morning, as we were eating breakfast, Mommy & Daddy were standing in the living room talking, just as mommy was going to go shower and daddy was going to go to a meeting, when the tree fell down! Mommy and Daddy said they weren't mad that we were playing under the tree that morning, but they were mad that we weren't done with our morning lists before we turned on. Mommy & Daddy picked it up, cleaned up the broken ornaments and got it standing up again, but we know we have to be careful around the tree from now on.

We also started our Christmas countdown. I have a cutout of Santa that I place a puff-ball on his beard every day to count down to Christmas. Hannah has a cutout of a snowman that she places a puffball on every day to count down to Christmas. We're looking forward to our Birthday even before Christmas!

Friday, Daddy was playing with Cheyenne when I asked if I could play. She is a really strong dog to play with! But, she's a really fun dog. I love her!

Saturday, Mommy had a tournament, so we had a low-key day hanging out with Daddy. We kind of wanted to see Mommy, but she said there were no kids at the tournament, so we stayed home.

Sunday  morning we woke up to a WHOLE BUNCH OF SNOW! It was AWESOME!
We had a fun activity at Sunday School. We got to take a camera around the church and find items that brought us joy. We found a lot of things - Christmas tree, cookies, books... Then after Sunday School, we lit the Advent candle at Church.

We got a LOT of snow that day! We went out and played for a long time, built a snowman, had a snowball fight, and watched it snow. It was beautiful, but Daddy's snowblower broke, so Mommy & Daddy had to shovel 12 inches of snow! We loved it!

The next week was our last day of gymnastics! We've had fun with gymnastics but are ready to be done with it and go back to Soo Bahk Do class. We haven't been able to show off our gymnastics until tonight when Mommy & Daddy both got to watch us do our swinging on the bar, tumbling on the floor and jumping on the little vault.

The whole weekend was busy getting ready for Christmas and birthdays. Friday night, we went to Menards and bought a new snowblower. We're ready for some snow now! Too bad a lot of it melted over the weekend because it got to 35 degrees!

Saturday morning, we got up and made up birthday bags for our school friends. Mommy bought Hannah 4 different Owl themed party favors to pass out and she bought me dinosaur themed party favors. We made bags for all our friends in school, as well as our teachers. We're so excited to give them out to our friends! 

After that, we went to Target and bought gifts for our daycare friends and each other. Then, we came home and played. After supper, we backed some cookies while Daddy dropped some stuff off at his cousin's house. 

Sunday morning we had Sunday School, then after Sunday School, we got to go to brunch with our friends Ryan, Jackson & Kendra while our parents talked at Perkins. It was so fun! We love eating out - and getting to eat out with friends is even better! When we got home, we got to open our gifts from our Sunday School teachers. Mommy & Daddy are our teachers! They made gifts for everyone in our class, and we got them, too! They were bags with pockets for crayons, coloring books & crayons, light up bracelets and angel suckers. Hannah got one with Sparkly princess fabric and I got one with Cookie Monster & Elmo. 

Monday, we got to deliver our daycare gifts to Sue after shool. We love getting to see Sue and all our friends. Sue even gave us our Birthday and Christmas gifts to bring home. 

Today was the big day! We turned SIX! We woke up and our room looked like a circus because Mommy & Daddy decorated our room with streamers. We got to wear birthday crowns at school and lead the line - even in front of the line leaders! We passed out our birthday treats to our friends and they thanked us because they thought our treat bags were cool. Mommy picked us up at school so we didn't have to ride the bus home. We also got to bring home birthday bags with books, stickers, a journal page and a birthday animal from our classrooms. (Hannah got a stuffed frog that says "ribbit", I had the birthday bear.)

After homework, we got dressed and headed to the Mall of America. There were a lot of cars on the road, so I was afraid that Santa would get in his sleigh and go back to the North Pole before we got there! But we made it in time to go eat at Famous Daves. I had Mac & Cheese and Hannah had corn dogs & french fries. After our meals, they brought us birthday ice cream sundaes. The waiter brought them out with HUGE FIREWORKS on them! It was AWESOME, but kind of scary.

After we ate, we walked by Lego Land (AWESOME!!!) and went to wait for Santa. We had to wait about 20 minutes, but Santa was so worth it! We've met Santa every year on our birthday since the day we were born. 

I asked Santa for a Cars 2 Lego Oil Rig set, and Hannah asked for a Monster High Doll. 

After we got home, we had presents to open. Sue gave me a Connect 4 game and Hannah got a Littlest Pet Shoppe toy. Mommy & Daddy gave us new pajamas (Hannah got a princess nightgown and mine looked JUST like Spiderman!) and a camera. Mine was blue with Mickey Mouse on it and Hannah's was red with Minnie Mouse on it. We blew out our candles and ate birthday cupcakes. Mommy read us some of the birthday books from our birthday bags while we ate our cupcakes. After we put on our pajamas, we had to make our journal entries for school. 

What a busy and exciting day! We fell asleep fast tonight!

Now we're looking forward to Christmas! We're heading to Grandma & Grandpa's house on Saturday for Christmas. 

Merry Christmas!

Noah

School Carnivals, princess parties and volleyball

Monday night, we got to go with Daddy & Mommy to watch them play volleyball! We stayed in the hall and played, but still LOVED going to volleyball with them!

Noah had a bad week at school last week so he had to go to bed 15 minutes earlier all week. That gave me 15 minutes to read my chapter book with Mommy & Daddy. I've been reading a book called Lucky Star, but it was a little hard for me. When we came home from gymnastics on Wednesday, Mommy had gone to the library and picked out three new chapter books for me: a book called "the Tiarra Club", a Barbie novel, and Franny K. Stein, mad scientist. I was so excited to read the new books! I started with Barbie because I LOVE Barbie! She got Noah a Ninjago book and 2 Star Wars chapter books to read. He was so excited because he gets to read them when I'm at dance on Thursdays.

Thursday, he started on Ninjago but decided it was a little too hard. He preferred to read Star Wars books. We did ballet the whole time, so we got to show off our ballet dance to our parents. Daddy loved it! He was so sad he didn't record it on the iPad for Mommy. She's gotten to see my tap dance, but not my ballet this year.

Friday, Mommy picked us up and we went to Target to get a birthday gift for my friend Payton. I have been looking forward to her party since I got the invitation two weeks ago! After Target, we went home, changed our clothes and went back to school for the School Carnival. It was so much fun! We saw all our friends there, ate pizza, drank juice and played games. We had so much fun playing the games and getting new prizes at every game. We had yummy treats, too. I got cotton candy and Noah got ice cream. We also saw our babysitters there. We LOVE them! We got to hug them and say hi. We got home late and went to bed late, but it was so much fun!

Saturday was a really busy day! Mommy had a volleyball tournament with her Divas, so she left early for volleyball. My friend from dance, Abbey, came over to play with me in the morning, so we played dress up, Barbies, drew and colored. It was a fun morning! After she left, I hurried to get ready for my friend Payton's birthday party. The invitation said to wear a princess dress, so I had my princess dress, tiarra, gloves, tights and shoes all laid out and ready to wear. Mommy had even put curlers in my hair the night before, so my hair was pretty and curly!

We left early so daddy could get me to the party early, but we lost the invitation, so we had a hard time finding my friend's house! Luckily, Daddy had looked up the address on the iPad, so he found the address, but his GPS broke so we were a little late once we found my friend's house. I was excited to be there! We made tiarras, played in a tent and had cupcakes!

Since I was late to my party, Noah was a little bit late to volleyball. He was very nice and understanding. And, when he got to volleyball, he tried very hard and jumped REALLY high to spike the ball! After volleyball, Daddy got him a special treat at McDonald's and came to pick me up at my party.

Mommy came home late from her games and helped us shower before we went to bed. It was a busy day, so we fell asleep quickly!

This morning, we had Sunday School. We talked about angels and the Angel that came to Mary. We even got to put up the barn with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the animals and the angel during class. It was a fun class - especially because we did a fun hidden picture game before we colored. Then we got to play in the nursery while Mommy & Daddy talked to their friends.

This afternoon, we went to the mall to have our pictures taken. We only did a family picture, not Noah & me alone. Mommy curled my hair to look pretty. And, while we waited for the picture to be done, we got a snack at Auntie Annie's and played in the play area.

It was a fun weekend. We have a short week at school, then are looking forward to Thanksgiving vacation at Grandma & Grandpa's house!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving this week!
Hannah

Great weekend with Angie, Grandpa & Grandma!

We've been very excited all week. Monday, Mommy told us that she and Daddy were going to play a volleyball tournament on Saturday and Angie would come stay with us!

Hannah had one more dentist appointment to get fillings in her mouth. I got on the bus without her and she went to Camp Smile on Thursday morning. Her & Mommy followed the bus all the way to our last stop while they were on their way to Camp Smile. Hannah got 3 little dinosaurs as a prize! I wondered where mine were when mommy gave them to her, but Mommy told me that she got them from the dentist and maybe she would share one with me so we could play dinosaurs together.

Thursday night we made a HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign for Angie because we knew she was coming the next night. The next morning, we decorated our bedroom with streamers that Mommy bought.

Friday after school, Mommy picked us up, we stopped at home to get a couple of things we wanted to give to Sue and went to Sue's house to see her! She was outside when we went to see her, so she was really excited to see us and hug us! We both love Sue and miss her a lot. We even got to go downstairs and see all our friends. It was so much fun to see Sue, her family and all our daycare friends. We even got to see the new puppy before we left at 5 o'clock. Then we quickly went home and cleared off the table because Angie got to our house just in time to eat supper with us!

It was my idea to make her a birthday pie instead of cake (because she LOVES apple pie) and to throw her a surprise birthday party the next time we saw her. So, she was surprised to see the birthday sign we made and even more surprised to see the apple pie that Mommy made for her birthday!

I got to try apple pie for the first time and I LOVED it! Hannah didn't like it so daddy ate her pie for her. At bedtime, we got to pick a book from Angie's iPad, so we got to have a fun bedtime story.

When we got up the next morning, we were quiet so Angie could sleep. But Mommy & Daddy were up to get ready for their tournament. When we got done with our morning lists, GRANDPA MARK came down the stairs! I was so excited I didn't know what to do until Daddy asked me who was on the couch and reminded me to hug him. Hannah and I were both SO excited to see Grandpa & Grandma!

I read to Grandpa and even FINISHED my Captain Underpants book. We went to volleyball and Grandpa and Grandpa and Angie told us we were SO much better than when they watched us last spring. Then we went to Sam's Club and Target. It as a great day! We even called Aunt Dani to wish her a Happy Birthday!

Mommy & Daddy came home for supper after their tournament. They had a fun time, but Daddy hurt his back while he was playing.

Today we went to Sunday School. Grandma & Grandpa didn't come with us since we just went to Sunday School and came home. It was a great day hanging out with Grandma & Grandpa - Grandma played legos with me and Barbies with Hannah, Grandpa watched the Vikings with Angie & Dad. We were really sad when they went home. We can't wait until Thanksgiving to see them again!

Have a good week!
Noah

Happy Halloween after a busy month!

Halloween came and went so fast because we’ve been so busy over the past few weeks!

Three weeks ago was a fun week! Even though we love school, we did enjoy a few days off school.

During the school week, we had a few nice days, so we got to go out and play with each other in the backyard and help daddy with all the leaves in our backyard. He had a big blower that blew all the leaves in a pile, and we got to jump into them and play in them! It was so much fun!

Wednesday, daddy picked us up from the bus and stopped by Sue’s house. We miss her so much! It was so good to see her. She hugged us and talked to us for a half hour before we had to go home and eat our pizza.

Thursday, we had a quiet day at home because Daddy had to work and we had a day off school. But Friday was a great day! We got ready to go to Apple Jacks Apple Orchard. We go there every year, so we look forward to playing in their playground, jumping on the giant air pillow, eating some apples and, of course, mommy has to take some pictures of us down by the river.

We got to ride ponies, play on the slides, smile for pictures by the trees and by the river, try some apples in the store, then this year we took a tractor ride around the apple orchard to see all the different kinds of trees they had. We stopped to take a ride on the cow train. We usually go in the back 2 cars, but this year, we picked a front cow and a cow in the middle of the train. It was a bumpy ride! But the driver was crazy and fun!

After the cow train, we got to jump on the giant air pillow. We had a choice between that and the corn pit (like a big ball pit but with corn, but jumping sounded more fun! When we wore ourselves out on that, we got in the car and found Daddy bought us cider in cute little pumpkins. We LOVE apple cider! And, to top off the night, we went to supper at Pizza Ranch!

On the way home, we stopped at the Hallowen store to look at all the costumes. It was such a fun day!

Saturday was a busy work day. Noah played legos, but I helped rake up the leaves and put them in bags to bring to the dump. The backyard looks really great now!

Sunday we had to go to the early church so mommy could take pictures. We were so good in church, so mommy & daddy took us to eat brunch and play with our friends Ryan, Jackson & Kendra at the church. After church, we planted some of the apple seeds from the apples we bought and ate yesterday. I hope they grow!

This week was a full week of school! We looked forward to our Fall festival party on Friday.

Tuesday was a playdate at the Maze with some of our classmates. It was a lot of fun to play in the mazes, slides and everything with our friends from school.

Thursday we tried on our costumes to make sure we had all the pieces we needed for school. Mommy made a Power Ranger costume for Noah, and I had a bumblebee costume from the store. Mommy hadn’t quite finished my costume by the time Friday rolled around. I’ve had my eye on some yellow & black striped fur fabric that mom’s had on her sewing shelf for a while, and decided it would make the PERFECT bee!

Friday morning was our Fall Festival at school. We got to wear our Halloween costumes to school, we talked about day of the dead in Spanish Class, and had a party in the morning. It was a REALLY fun DAY!

Mommy picked us up from the bus stop that night, and we got home just in time to find our best friend Grayson waiting for us at our house! His family picked us up to go to Como Zoo Boo. We got to trick-or-treat, see the animals, play games, take photos, meet Darth Vader and some Ghostbusters...It was AWESOME! Then we went to McDonald’s for supper. It was a GREAT day but we were exhausted by the time we got home. (Though, we ran around the front yard with Grayson while our parents talked when we got home.)

Saturday, we tried to be REALLY quiet when we got up so Mommy & Daddy could sleep, but I was SO excited when I found that Mommy had finished my bumblebee coat, that I had to wake her up and ask if it was done. I was SO EXCITED! It’s fuzzy and warm because she even put soft fleece on the inside to keep me really warm when I go trick-or-treating.

Later in the morning, we got to go to Toys R Us for a Lego event at noon. We even saw Griffin there, so we got to hang out with him while we bilt with Legos. It was so cool. We got to build something to add to the Lego town they had at Toys R Us, then we got a cool monster builder Lego toy for helping build the Lego town.

We wore our costumes all day so we were ready for the Halloween party that we went to with Daddy’s volleyball team. Grayson & Zachary came to our house before the party (their Mom & Dad had a party to go to) so they got to come with us.

IT was a fun party! We jumped on the trampoline, (Noah & Grayson had a light saber fight), we played lgos and cars, and had yummy food. all while a whole bunch of big kids came through the house to visit the haunted house. We didn’t go through the haunted house that Daddy helped build, but he came upstairs to show us his costume while we were playing.

After the haunted house wrapped up, we played Just Dance on the Wii. I played the cheerleader song with Grasyon once, then when Grayson left, I played with Noah & another girl. It was so fun! But, we were tired and ready to put our pajams on and ready to go home.

Sunday we sang in church. We did a really good job! Daddy heard us ALL THE WAY in the back!

Tuesday night was parent teacher conferences. Mommy & Daddy met with my teacher first. She said I was doing just fine! I’m right where I should be in my progress. After they met with her (and Noah & I sat in the quiet room and watched Ratatoulli), we went to Culvers to eat. We were so excited to see our babysitters (Rachel & Hannah) with their family on their way to conferences.

After we ate, we had to run to Walmart to pick up food for Cheyenne and some Halloween treats for trick or treaters. Then we went BACK to Beacon so Mom & Dad could meet with Noah’s teacher. She had good things to say about Noah, too. He’s doing really well and right where he should be in learning everything. Then, Mom & Dad also met Sra. Hann and talked to her about our Spanish class. We LOVE Spanish!

On Halloween, we didn’t dress up to go to school. We had already had our party the week before. But we were excited to trick-or-treat! Mommy made me a new bee costume - this one had a long dress with a ruffle at the bottom and long sleeves with a thumb hole so my hands could stay warmer. I love it! It works great with my bumblebee coat.

We got going a little late because Mommy was stuck in traffic, but we went trick-or treating with Griffin again this year. It was fun! It was so nice out that I took my coat off halfway through the night.We got lots of candy, then came home and showered. Noah washed his face twice but still had blue paint on his face! My yellow & black face paint came off right away.

Friday we finally had a chance to open the Halloween gifts that Grandma Diane and Dani sent to us. We got fun stuff! Workbooks for rhyming, glow in the dark glasses, hair ties, candy, a cauldron to drink from...Plus, Mommy & Daddy had bought us each CHAPTER books at the Book Fair at School on Tuesday! I got a pink fairy book and Noah got Captain Underpants! Mine is a little bit hard, but Mommy & Daddy are going to help me with some words I don’t know.

Saturday was a fun day to just stay home and play. We had volleyball in the afternoon. Coach Jen said I was doing really well! Yay! I had fun and loved it a lot!

Today, we had Sunday School. We love having our Mom & Dad as our Sunday School teachers.
After Sunday School, we went to Target & bought some costumes to play in, went home and ate. After that, we went to run an errand. We played with Legos in the bed store while Daddy and Mommy looked at some mattresses (I tested some of them out, too).  I build a magic wand and Noah built a HUGE tent out of legos. Then we went to the Art Supply store. They had some really cool stuff there! But we only bought some boring boards.

It’s been a busy few weeks but I wanted to be sure the blog got updated because we’ve been so busy we haven’t had a chance recently.

Hope you had a happy halloween!
Hannah

What a week!

Wednesday, we had an assembly at school with some University of Minnesota athletes who talked to us about bullies. I was even in the video that they made! For the first time this year, we didn't have to wear uniforms to school! We got to wear jeans and everyone got orange t-shirts from the school. It was a pretty good day!

Thursday after Hannah's dance class, we had our Amazing Athletes Class. Mommy got to bring us to class! She saw us do our warmups, play basketball and tennis. One more week of class! Coach told us that next week, we're going to play football and lacrosse.

After Amazing Athletes, we went home to change because Daddy got us new babysitters! Mommy & Daddy play volleyball on Thursdays. Megan was supposed to watch us, but something happened and she doesn't come anymore. Too bad. We miss Sue.

Daddy brought TWINS to babysit us this week! Only one will usually come on Thursdays, but this time both Hannah and Rachel came to watch us. They're 13 and go to Beacon Academy. They drew with us a little bit before we went to bed. It was pretty fun! We're looking forward to them coming to babysit us again.

Friday morning, we got to go to the dentist. We like going to camp smile (our dentist), though we didn't get there in time to play on the "bus" in the waiting room very long before going in. I got a good report! But, Hannah has some cavities and she has to go back.

We got to school about 15 minutes late because of the dentist, so we had to get passes from the office to go back to class. But, we forgot our backpacks in Mommy's car! Oops! But, it was OK.

We both got ALL P's (Proficient) on our "Peek at My Week" reports from our teachers. And, Daddy said he got test results in the mail for tests we took in September. We both got really high scores for reading - daddy said we were in the 99th percentile for test takers. We were really high for math, too.

Saturday, Mommy went to a volleyball tournament with the Divas while we got in the car and drove to Iowa for Daddy's cousin's wedding. We got to the hotel in time to swim for a little while. Then we got ready and went to the wedding. We picked up Grandpa Bob at his hotel, so we got to ride to the wedding with him. At the wedding, we got to play with Lauren & Kennedy - they're dad's cousin's girls who are about our age, live close to us and are fun!

Mommy called us before we went to bed, so we got to tell her good night. But, I had a hard time sleeping because it was raining, thundering and lightning all night.

This morning, we picked up Grandpa Bob and went to Daddy's aunt & uncle's house to play with cousins and have breakfast before we got in the car and drove home.

We were happy to be home. Mommy worked on my Halloween costume after her tournament yesterday, so I'm excited for that! It's almost done!

Have a good week! We've got a short week at school this week.

Noah

New Fall Activities

It's really getting cold outside! Fall is really here.


A week and a half ago, we had picture day at school. Mommy curled my hair and combed Noah's nice for picture day then drove us to school. She helped the photographers all day, then picked us up after school. I was scared because Ms. Leismacki told me that I was a busser that day, so I cried all the way to the bus. But, I saw Mommy waiting for me by the bus, so I was SO HAPPY to see her!

That's the same day we started our first gymnastics class. It's on Wednesday nights, so we'll have to miss karate. I love karate, but I'm excited for gymnastics. Our friend Sofia from Sunday School is in our class, too. It's really fun! There are only 2 other boys in the class, but lots of girls!

The next day, I had dance class. After dance, Noah and I started to our Amazing Athletes class. We started out running around the gym, then we played volleyball. I was excited (and so was Daddy!) because we've taken a volleyball class for the past couple of years and we're getting pretty good! We played volleyball for a short time, then the coach took out a tee and we hit the baseball off the tee. Noah really NAILED the ball - he hit it off the top part of the curtain. It was a pretty fun night!

Friday we had the day off school. We stayed home with Daddy, but kept pretty busy! We had to go to a meeting with Mom & Dad at a big office building. Then we got to eat lunchables for lunch! We went home for a little while, then we took Cheyenne to the vet. We didn't get to go into the doctor's room with her, but Daddy said she just had to get her teeth cleaned - no shots - so she didn't really have anything to be afraid of.

After the vet, we packed up the car and went to the lake. There was a big traffic jam that made us think we would be late to the cabin because of an accident, but when we got to where the backup started, we saw 3 firetrucks and 2 police cars. The fire trucks had a hose running into the woods, so we thought maybe there was a big fire that they just put out! When we got to the cabin, Angie was the only one there. She had hidden Halloween gifts (yummy snacks and PUZZLE/COLORING books for us!) for us to search for.

When we got up the next day, Lauren & Ben were there. We had a lot of fun playing with them, but didn't get to go into the lake. The water was too cold! But, it was nice & warm outside, so we played outside a lot. We went to visit Grandpa's sister to get a new couch. We got to go out on their dock and look at fish with Grandpa's sister's grandson Cooper. We like getting to go places with Lauren & Ben because Lauren & I ride in one vehicle while Ben & Noah ride together. We got to ride to Grandpa's sister in Mommy's car then drove home in grandpa's truck. We also did our books from Angie. Noah loves puzzles so he did all the puzzles in his book, while I love to color, so I colored a lot of pages in my book.

Right before supper, Mommy got us all dressed up to take pictures with Ben & Lauren. She said they're for Grandma. So we sat on haybales near the gravel pit, sat on the dock, put our feet in the water, sat on the hill, then had some fun playing on the old couch that Grandma & Grandpa were getting rid of. It was sitting outside when the put the new couch in, so we got to play on a couch that was sitting outside!

After popcorn, we drove home. Daddy and Mommy had some work at home to do, and Daddy had to ref volleyball Sunday, so we drove home Saturday night.

Sunday, we got up and did some work around the house. Just when we started to watch the Vikings game, Daddy said there was a fire across the street! So, we went and sat on the hill by our house and watched the flames come out of the garage across the street! The flames were huge! After the fire, we went for a bike ride and went past it. It was so burned up and destroyed! Luckily, nobody was hurt in the fire.

 This week was another busy week. Daddy's volleyball Monday, Mommy's volleyball Tuesday, Gymnastics Wednesday, Dance & Amazing Athletes on Thursday. This week, we started playing soccer (Noah's favorite) then tried out floor hockey. After that, we went to watch Mommy & Daddy play volleyball. Reid was reffing them, so we got to say hello to Reid. I was excited because Max was there. (Max is a baby that comes to Ron & Carol's a lot, and his daddy was playing volleyball, so I got to play with Max.) I showed him my InnoTab and read him a book.

I finally got to be queen for the day! Friday, I got to be queen!
Mommy picked us up from the bus stop and I was wearing my crown. She was so excited for me, too!

After we changed our clothes, daddy took us to the barnyard boogie. Mommy missed it because she was bringing some of our old toys & clothes to a sale, but she still had time to read us a good night story.

Mommy was gone at her sale and running errands on Saturday, but Daddy took us to the library to pick out new books. Then we had Mommy's car washed inside and out. She was so happy and surprised! After that, we had lunch at the VFW. Yum! We love eating there.

When Mommy got home, Noah & I were playing in our bedroom and we didn't even hear her. After that, we went to Cub and came home for a yummy meal Daddy made on the grill.

Today, we had Sunday School. We played a fishing game, then colored in class. After Sunday School, we went to Sam's Club and had lunch at Leeann Chin.

We made it home just in time to get Cheyenne and bring her back to church to pet blessing. There were lots of dogs there, a couple of kitty cats and lot of people. We got to sing a song, walk around the block and have cookies. But, the best part was that we had some friends there. Ava (from our class) and Sophia (from 1st graders) were both there to play with. That was fun!

When we got home, Mommy had to do some work, so Noah & I played in our bedroom until supper. It was a quiet night, but we like those.

Have a good week! We're looking forward to another week of school. Next week, we're going to go to daddy's cousin's wedding.

Noah

Busy weekend of parties & playdates

Three weeks into school and we still love it!

Last weekend was super exciting for us! Mommy and Daddy went to Chicago for a trip. While they were gone, Angie came to take care of us. She picked us up from the bus and brought us home. Saturday morning, Grandma & Grandpa were at our house! They took us to the big playground to play and they took us to the library on Saturday. Sunday, they took us to Sunday School and we did a scavenger hunt! Noah was especially proud of himself because he went back behind the stage EVEN when Ryan told him not to, and he found a missing clue. I was really proud when I found a missing clue that all the other kids missed - EVEN Grandma missed it. It was up high but I saw it before anyone else. After Sunday School, they took us to the VFW for lunch.

Mommy & Daddy came home just in time to take us & Angie to Subway for supper. They had fun on their trip, and we had fun with Angie, Grandpa & Grandma.

Wednesday was our last week of karate. Daddy was a little mad at Noah. He didn't want to go to karate, but after class he was excited about it and wanted to go back! We have gymnastics class for the next 2 months, so we'll be done with karate for a little while now. I'm really excited for gymnastics class!

Thursday night was a really busy night. I started my first night of dance. I LOVE dance!! I went to my class and started learning the dance, then when I was done, Daddy talked to the teacher and decided that I should be in the 2nd class, not the beginner class. So, I got to stay and dance for another half hour class. All my dancemates were in that class - Abbey, Ava, Alexis and a lot of other girls who danced with me last year. We're going to dance to 101 dalmations. It's going to be so awesome!

We went home and Daddy left right away for volleyball and Megan came to babysit us. We LOVE Megan. After Daddy left, Sue came to see us. She brought Track to see us, too AND she brought us Dairy Queen. We love Sue! We missed her so much, so it was great to give her a big hug!

Yesterday was a really busy day for us! After lunch, Noah & Daddy played football in the frontyard while I got dressed for a birthday party.

They were playing football while they waited for our friend Grayson picked up Noah for a playdate at the Works Museum at 1 o'clock. Shortly after that, Mommy brought me to a birthday party for my new classmate Cassandra. All the girls in my class were invited, so there were a lot of new friends there that I got to know better. It was so awesome! It was a rainbow theme party, so we got rainbow favors, butterfly tattoos, rainbow cake, painted rainbows on our faces and colored rainbow pictures.

Noah & Mommy picked me up and Noah told me some of the fun things he and Noah did at the museum before they had McDonald's ice cream cones and came to get me. When we got home, we changed to warmer clothes and left for a party with Daddy's volleyball team.

The party with Daddy's team was fun, too! We carved pumpkins, played football, played on a tire swing, had yummy food, had a war with Nerf guns, watched a movie and played hard! We didn't leave until 10:30, so we fell asleep on the way home. We were so tired!

Mommy turned our alarm clocks off, so we slept in until 8 o'clock. Then we got ready for Sunday School. We're getting really good at saying the Lord's Prayer.

After church, we went home and had spaghetti noodles for lunch. We were excited to pick up Grayson & bring him to see Madagascar 3 in the movie theater. We picked up Grayson & got to the movie theater right when the movie started. We had popcorn & lemonade and LOTS of laughs! It was an awesome movie! After the movie, Grayson came to play for a little while before we brought him home.

What a fun weekend! This week, we have picture day at school, and no school on Friday. Next weekend, Daddy said we're going to the cabin for the weekend, so we're looking forward to that!

Have a great week!
Hannah
 

We're OFFICALLY Kindergarteners now.

We've been in school every day, all day for over a week now! There are some challenges, but overall we LOVE IT!

My teacher is Ms Wold. I love her - she's awesome. I have 21 other kids in my class. Hannah is right next door to me with Ms. Leismaki. We can sometimes see each other during class because our classrooms are connected and the wall isn't closed all the way between our classrooms.

We have Spanish every day, so we're learning Espaniol. We alternate between music, art & gym class every day and have technology on Mondays in the computer lab. We're learning a lot every day.

We get on the bus at 8:14 every day. It's a challenge to get out of the house at 8 o'clock like Mom & Dad like to do, but so far, we've done it every day! We're used to taking our time to get to daycare because Sue didn't care when we got there. We've had a couple of rough mornings but we've had some good days, too.

The weekend before school, we went to the lake cabin for what may be our last cabin visit this year. Our whole family was there, so we got to play with our cousins, see aunts, Grandma & Grandpa, play in the dirt, fish & swim. The weather was kind of icky on the day we left, so Mommy painted our faces and we made suncatchers. I made a planet with glow in the dark stars and Hannah made a butterfly.

We did come home a day early so we could go to Ron & Carol's for a party the day before school. We got to see lots of friends and play outside on a really nice day. but, we had to leave kind of early so we could get ready for school the next day.

The whole week before school started was a busy one, too!

The Friday before school, we had eye doctor appointments. We were really good for the doctor and her assistant. We didn't need to get glasses but we did get stickers because we were soo good.

The Wednesday before school was our Open House at Beacon! It was so busy!! WE went to our classrooms to drop off our school supplies (so we didn't have to bring all our supplies on the first day.) and meet our teachers and see our classrooms. We went to mine first, then Hannah's. We each had to do a checklist that helped us get used to our new classroom and write our names down so other kids could see who we are.

We also met some of our other teachers. Mr Reed, the technology teacher was my favorite because he had Lego Robots! We won't get to play with them, though because they're for older kids. He runs a technology club that gets to build Lego Robots. They're SOO COOL! We also met our art teacher, Mr. Kehrer, our music teacher Ms. Scott and our Spanish teacher, Senora Hann.  She had lots of books I know, but they were in Spanish. I'm looking forward to learning to read the Hungry Caterpillar and The Giving Tree in Spanish.

The Tuesday before school was our trip to the State Fair. Angie came the night before the fair so she could go with us too. We LOVE the State Fair. We always start out looking at the baby animal barn, then go to the other barns. We spent a lot of time at the Moo booth, though, so we didn't have time to go to chicken, pig, horse or any other barns. But, we got to pet a baby calf, saw them milk cows and spun the moo-lette wheel. We both also got to be in the butter carving contest! It was NOT what I expected. I carved a picture of a smily face in the side of my butter, but other people actually carved their butter into SHAPES! Mommy helped me make my butter into Lightning McQueen and I won 4th place. Mommy helped Hannah make a car out of her butter, and she got 6th place.

We got to ride the Space Needle and go REALLY high to see all around the state fairgrounds. We wanted to go on the Skyride but never got to go on it. We also rode a bunch of rides at the kidway - we flew like superman, drove a racecar, did a funhouse maze and of COURSE we did the slide! We also played basketball, plinko, hockey and lacrosse at the Fan Central, met some RollerGirls (Mommy works with a RollerGirl). We ate LOTS of yummy food - cheese curds, ice cream, a slushy, elephant ear, lemonade. We wanted to go the Rope Course with some Boy Scouts but we weren't QUITE tall enough. They did have a rope bridge that we got to do. It was SO COOL, even though it was kinda scarey.

Our favorite part is always the little farmhands. we checked out an old tractor, fed chickens, drove tractors, planted "seeds", gathered eggs & vegetables, milked a cow (we'd been looking most forward to that all day!) and then got "paid" for all our work on the farm. We bought apples with our "pay". We love apples, so it was worth all the hard work. :-)

The Monday before we went to the fair was the start of our last week at daycare. We had a BIG beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to Sue. She loved them.

Daddy is bummed now that school has started because he says summer is over. We've still been really busy even though school has started.

We're still doing karate on Wednesdays, though we will take a break from that to try gymnastics soon. I only like sparring, so I'm happy to take a break from karate class.

This last weekend, Sunday school started! The Friday before Sunday School, our church had a party so we got to see a lot of our Sunday School Friends again. It was fun to see them, but it was also fun to go to the church party. They had a bouncy house, food, a magician, fish pond and a pirate booty prize game.

The next day, we went to an open house at the fire station. We got to check out the Air Ambulance that flies patients to the hospital. We even got to sit in the pilots seat AND in the back! It was really cool. They had lots of fun stuff there - hoses, fire extinguisher demonstrations, a bouncy house with a SLIDE, the trucks, companion dogs and other things. We couldn't stay long, though because we had to go to the Diva Stud Party! We left right after the helicopter took off and flew away. That was cool!

The Diva Stud Party was awesome! There were more kids than adults, so it was a blast for us! (And, of course, there was lot of yummy FOOD, too!)Mommy & Daddy played volleyball, we got to play on the court, too. We also got to stay for the bonfire and do s'mores. It was such a fun night!

The next day was the first day of Sunday School. We found out that TJ & Penney won't be our teachers, so we're bummed. But, Mommy & Daddy ARE going to be our teachers!

It's been a really busy and fun few weeks. This weekend I'm looking forward to Angie coming! Mommy &Daddy are going on a trip because they've been married for 10 years and Angie is going to come to our house and watch us. I'm going to do WORD PUZZLES with her on Saturday. I can hardly wait! it's going to be so great.

Have a good week!
Noah