Pumpkin Patch Redux

Brian and Marci celebrated his birthday this weekend, which gave our family the chance to hang out with Cameron at Grandma's house.  We needed to do some work over there to prepare the house for the market, and to do some basic upkeep.

I was really impressed with the kids' willingness to help!  We started off with a hearty breakfast (with bacon, from a real pig!), then made a trip to the store.  We picked out some paint, and got to see what happens when a thin-walled paint can with a dent is shaken up in the paint mixer (hint: it involves fluid dynamics, metal fatigue and lots of paper towels).  We eventually took a can of paint home, along with some lawn waste bags.

We had noticed our neighbor was cleaning up the leaves in his yard - most of which belonged to our tree.  So Katie set to painting and Cameron, Lilie and I set to raking leaves.  The kids were remarkably focused and kept at it until we were finished!  Our neighbor offered to take our leaves in for us, so we went straight to eating lunch afterwards.

We ended up visiting the local pumpkin patch before we came back home, swept up our mess, and played a little catch.  It was a great day!

Jason, Liliana, and Cameron head up the big slide

Happy Customer

Lilie couldn't help running in front of us and yelling out what she wanted to do next (which changed rapidly every time she spotted something)

WoooooooHooooooo!

Sitting in a way-cool firetruck

This brave firefighter slid down the pole

The little firefighter on the right did not slide down the pole but the guys were nice enough to give her an awesome hat anyway.

Potty training FAIL
(She literally screamed and ran away once she saw what was inside.  Of course, her refusal later led to a wardrobe change, *sigh*)

 Before

After

Showing his muscles

Awwwww, friends! 

Big girl

Big helpers!

Waukegan Weekend!

Like I said, the blog's having a chronological hiccup.  We visited the Golwitzer clan in Waukegan to celebrate Emily's first birthday and baptism and to remember her sister Alexis.  Oh, and also to check up on the growth and development of their handsome brother Brayden.

Liliana was of course thrilled to make the trip.  We arrived late Friday evening, and spent Saturday just hanging around with the Golwitzers and their friends the J Kitterman family (Jason, Jill and Jenna - three out of five ain't bad!).  We visited, ate some really good oatmeal, went to the nearby park and visited Mars' Cheese Castle (newly remodeled!) in the evening.

Sunday was a flurry of activity: church, and Emily's baptism, and then her birthday party.  We released balloons to remember Alexis in a beautiful ceremony in the church's courtyard, and shared some really good food with friends and family before Emily tore into her birthday cake.  We stayed as long as we could, which was not nearly long enough!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Golwitzers!  Can't wait to see you again...

P.S. - Once again, a shout out to the blogspot team for arbitrarily scrambling my photos like a Waffle House omelet!