Happy Valentine's Day and Happy 100th Day!

Here are my three littlest valentines on Valentine's Day!

Riley had a fun party at school to celebrate! Here is a class picture from his party.

Naomi and I made heart cookies together...

Here are the beautiful roses Brad got for me....gorgeous. Naomi and daddy also made me breakfast in bed and homemade Valentines- it was soooo sweet! (especially since I had to spend half the day at the dentist - ugh! they knew just how to brighten my day)

Daddy got a flower for Naomi too!
At the end of the week, the kids and I went into Riley's class for their 100th day of school celebration! They had pizza and cake and the kids recited a poem and song and did a lot of counting for us along with a scavenger hunt for 100 hershey kisses!

We went out to dinner that night too to continue the celebrations! (and because we were probably beat and didn't want to cook...you know those nights!)

Three (Somewhat) New Videos

Well I am MAJORLY behind on blogging. Unfortunately, right after Christmas the kids were all hit with illness. Riley just had a cold/cough for a few days, but Naomi and Riley had fevers of over 104 for a week straight with coughs/congestion as well. Elijah ended up being diagonosed on top of that with pneumonia and an ear infection, for which he was put on amoxicillin, but then ended up with a head to toe rash from an allergic reaction which lasted another week (and on top of all this, mind you, he was cutting a molar!) so our lives the last three weeks or so have been TOUGH! But we finally have a healthy household again, and this mama is trying to get back to some kind of normal around here while catching up on everything that had to be neglected while caring for sick kids and getting little to no sleep each night.

I'm sure I'll catch up eventually. If you're on facebook you've probably already seen our holiday photos, so I don't feel too bad :). Here are a couple videos I do have to share today.

This first video is of trying some "flag math" with Naomi. She is very mathmatically minded (always telling us how many boys there are and how many girls there are or counting up various things and setting up scenarios). A game we frequently play in the car is counting flags. This video is at home (since I can't video her while I'm driving!) showing how she started figuring out differences while playing this game.




This is a video of Riley and Naomi on Thanksgiving Day 2010 (see I told you I was behind!) sharing some things that they are thankful for :).



And finally, here is a funny video of Elijah and his response to transitioning to a formula/whole milk mix...not so much a fan (although since this video he drinks it just fine! haha)

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Ok so I am a little behind at posting photos, but I'm going to try and catch up through the end of October and hit some of the highlights. This month I joined Riley and his class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a nasty day to go -- cold, windy, and rainy - but the kids had a blast, and the adults bundled up and hunkered down as much as possible under the umbrellas. Here are a few photos from the class trip!

The Pig Race

On Friday, Riley's school invited the parents to come see the annual "Pig Race!" It's just a fun, exciting part of the magazine drive they did this past month. The classes "earn" a mechanical stuffed pig by selling magazines that they name, dress, "train" and enter into the school pig race. It was quite cute and funny :). The kids get really hyped up about it, and if I had know just how loud the screaming and cheering was I would have brought ear plugs ;). Just kidding, but it was SUPER loud as the kids all cheered their class pigs on. Some of them even made signs to hold up with the pig's name on it, and others had pom-poms, and noise makers too.




My best friend from college, Emily, was able to come for a visit this weekend (more on that to come!) and she made it just in time to meet us at the school for the pig race too! It was the first time we've seen her since Naomi was born three and a half years ago!
Here's Riley cheering as they get lined up to race!
They were chanting "Go Pig Go!" :)
The pigs were hilarious - they kind of waddled a short ways then stopped and wiggled their noses, then walked a little more. So funny!
Afterwards the kids got ice cream sandwiches! Riley's pig didn't win, but we sure had a fun time cheering Mr. Cool Pig on!

We Dig Trucks

Yes, this is my third post today :). Seems like we go, go, go and then I have to try and catch up on everything all at once. This past weekend, we took the kids to an open house for the town department of public works. They had all kinds of trucks and work vehicles for the kids to climb on and a few that they could even operate with the help of a town worker. It was a pretty fun outing for free! :) We even got free hot dogs and lemonade for lunch!

The kids all got a plastic construction hat. Elijah actually left his on the whole time...I think he liked it! :)

The kids got to climb up into several of the trucks and plows.

Here's Naomi posing to show how big they were - the tires were bigger than her! :)

Riley went in this truck and was able to operate it with the worker!

Elijah got in on the fun a bit too!

There were so many different ones to try!

This was the highlight for Riley. He waited in time a LONG time to get to operate one of these diggers!

It was pretty cool - definitely worth the wait!

Haha, I like how Brad looks like he's overseeing in the photos. What a cool day!