Birthday Party

James turned three! We had a party with some friends over at our house. The kids played in the pebbles for a long time (even though there was a bounce house out front)!

This boat was a gift for Amelie's 2nd birthday. We've gotten a lot of good use out of it.

Bryce had so much fun in the rock box he didn't want to eat pizza.

At the very last minute, Sam had the idea to get a bounce house. For Amelie's 4th birthday, we went to Bonkers, but it was during the middle of the week and therefore not quite as bonkers. James had been angling to go Tiger Bounce, but Nana Jana was going to be up on Saturday and we thought it would be entirely too much stimulation to have a party there on the weekend. Anyway, the rental company had one bounce house left on Thursday.

They brought it Friday night and picked it up Sunday morning, and whoo boy did we get our money's worth out of it.

There was also a mini ball pit  - here's Ian :)

Ellie is in the tunnel.

The cousins in the bounce house.

The kids at the party took a brief intermission to all play with the Jake and the Neverland Pirates legos from Grandma Mary and Papaw.

Singing Happy Birthday to James:

Rice Crispy Treats

James eating his birthday cupcake (in the jacket from his sister's Halloween costume from 3 years ago).

For a two-week period each September, the kids are stairsteps. Here they are at ages 5, 4, 3, and 2. Ha!

Camping

We stayed at a yurt at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park over the long Labor Day weekend. It was like practice camping :)

I got a picture of the inside right before we left on Monday.

Here's our view from the front of the yurt.

View from the front of the yurt, take 2.

We had s'mores, which might have been the kids' favorite part. (Other than staying up late by the fire and not taking any baths.)

Visiting Bridal cave was probably my favorite part.

James carried a lantern on the cave tour.

This hiking trail ran along the edge of the lake around the campsite. You can see Amelie in the background of the picture, too.

James did some climbing.

This trail head was a little ways down the road from the campsite. Can you see the walking stick (insect)?

James picked up an actual walking stick to use on the path.

We went to Ha Ha Tonka to see the castle ruins.

Trapped in the dungeon. 

The castle ruins are in the background and James misbehaving in the front.

Our first trip camping was a success! We also went swimming each day at two different public beaches. One was rocky and close by the campsite and the other was sandy but a little farther away. We made bacon and eggs over the fire each morning, had sandwiches, chips, and fruit for lunch, and cooked out over the fire again for supper. Amelie and James roasted their own hotdogs (and marshmallows) one night. We might go back this fall for some cooler-weather camping, too - and if you noticed, there was a heater inside the yurt as well. 

Indianapolis

Two weeks ago, I had to go to Indianapolis for work, and Sam and the kids got to come with me. We all went to the Children's Museum on Sunday and then Sam took the kids to the nature center and the Minions movie the first day of the conference and to the zoo the second day of the conference. He also took all the photos (on his phone) since my eye-fi card is still all wonky.

The kids could dress up as dinosaurs at the Children's Museum.

Playing with dino eggs.

James had a tea party with some giant teddy bears.

Amelie and the Great Wall of China.

There was a Chinese theater dress up station.

This is a cool rope playground structure.

Sister and brother at the nature center.

James dressed up as a bumble bee at the nature center. There was a lot of dress-up in Indianapolis, apparently :)

Amelie tells me they were watching a turtle  here.

We tried to do the canal walk downtown one evening, but James didn't last very long.

The tiger came right up to Amelie and James at the Indianapolis zoo. Amelie says they weren't scared because it was really neat.

The polar bear is up close, too.

Amelie liked the treehouse at the zoo.

James peeps out.

The kids were impressed with how muddy the rhinos got.

James petting a bird.

Amelie petting a shark. She says it felt smooth.

This is at the butterfly house.

We swam in the hotel pool every night, too, and that was probably as much of an attraction for the kids as anything else we'd planned. All in all, it was a good trip.

James Says / Amelie Says

The kids were eating yogurt and Sam walked by and said, "That's a good treat." James was indignant. "This is NOT a TREAT." 

In one of our books, the characters build a fire to keep warm. James was confused. "It no make you warm. It make you HOT." 

I asked James to stick out his foot so that I could put on his shoe. "NEVER!" he replied. I shouldn't have laughed, because it definitely was not as funny the second time.

James was in the cart at Moser's and he "read" the letters on the handle to me: "M - O - S - E - R - little thing - S." So smart!

James was eating a snack at the table when Sam picked him up from preschool the other day and James saw his teacher and one of his classmates in their room on the way out. "Why you only got ONE friend?" he asked.

Amelie and I went to the movies on Monday and Sam asked her, "Which movie did you go to?" "The one behind Schnuck's," she answered.

I asked Amelie if she had a job at school and she told me that she and someone else (whose name I forget) were paper-passer-outers. I said, "Wow! That's an important job!" and very seriously she replied, "All of the jobs are very important  jobs."

In other Kindergarten notes, one of Amelie's classmates already lost a tooth. Show and Tell is Tuesday and library day is Wednesday.  

First Day of Kindergarten

Amelie's first day of Kindergarten was today! She's a Ridgeway Ram. Sam and James and I all dropped her off this morning and watched the first-day assembly where the teachers called out all of the students' names and then marched off to class.

Amelie was incredibly excited and she may or may not have cried for a minute when I picked her up because she didn't want to leave (not at drop-off like some other kids!).

She's staying after school at Adventure Club and then I pick her up on my way home from work.

I took more photos, but they're trapped on the camera since my eye-fi card doesn't want to cooperate with Windows 10. (So there may be an update in the future!)

Apple Harvest 2015

We have an apple tree in our front yard that has mostly reliably produced apples for us even though we do nothing at all to encourage it. The internet tells me I should at least be pruning it, and I may give that a go this fall.

For some reason, the apples were ready to harvest this year in July. The kids and Sam picked three big bags full. We've made two apple crumbles and one apple pie and our neighbor has made two batches of applesauce (and shared some with us). I need to get to freezing some of what's left and/or figure out how to make some apple butter or something.

Updated to add: Since this post, we've made two additional pies and two batches of apple butter. Emma took some apples for a pie and there are still a few left on the tree.