Football Guys

Last week I was looking through a catalog and found these "football guys". I ripped out the page to save for a Nolan birthday gift idea. Nolan saw the page sitting on the couch and immediately asked how much it was. He went right upstairs to count his money and wanted to know how he could order them. I found a little better deal for him online and ordered them right then and there. We usually have a rule that they have to wait one week before the spend their $$, just to see if they REALLY want it. But we could tell this was not going to be just another toy on the shelf. You see, anyone who knows Nolan knows that he is an extreme sport fan (not an fan of extreme sports but an extreme fan of sports :-). He uses any thing with pieces to set up football plays.....puzzle pieces, a deck of Uno cards, checker pieces, anything!!! He counted down the days until it came in the mail (I was so happy that it came 2 days earlier than I had been telling him!!). On that first day he ate his supper so fast (he is usually the last one) and the next day he wanted to stay home from school so he could play with it! He is already saving so he can buy the "hockey guys" and the "baseball guys" (which he will probably play football with :-)!!!

Bat Encounter

Yesterday, Brya, Thea and I went to a very cool Bat program. Nolan did not want to go but he would have liked it. The program was not creepy at all and I had no idea that bats were so interesting (somehow I don't think I would feel the same way about a "snake" program). The professional was Rob Mies from the Organization for Bat Conservation (http://www.batconservation.org/) and he did a great job keeping Brya's and my attention (Thea's....um...not so much...:-). We got to see 4 bats with each one getting bigger. I thought the neatest fact was that when a fruit eating bat (the bigger ones) each something like cantaloupe, the bat will chew, chew and chew and then will spit out the pulp and just drink the juice. We saw a couple of them do this. Sorry about the poor picture quality...my camera does terrible in this kind of situation and those bats are quick!

These fit just right!!!

Thank you Amanda and Alayna for our cool glasses!!

See you soon!

Brya, Nolan and Thea

Our Chicago Weekend - October

My niece, Alayna, turned 6 in October and she wanted to celebrate her birthday at the American Girl store in Chicago. We had a very fun time and enjoyed being with some of the people we use to hang out with up there!!

Birthday supper at The Cheesecake Factory

We stayed one night with our good pal Kerry. The kids loved getting her up at 5 something in the am (different time zone for us). Thanks for putting up with us Kerry!!

Off to the American Girl Store. Thea got the bitty twins....she has had them picked out for weeks!

Brya on the other hand, did not know what she wanted. So we wandered around the store for a while before she chose....

(Thea still picking things out)

SAMANTHA!!! Brya saved all her birthday $$ and did anything she could to make a few bucks so that she could get another doll.

Brya and Alayna ended up getting the same doll.

We had lunch in the little restaurant there. It was ADORABLE. Everything was pink, black and white. Each doll got her own little chair at the table and a little tea set. Guests: Robin (taking pic), Kerry, me, blond twin, Thea, black twin, Kirsten, Amanda, Jess, Brya, Samantha, Samantha, Alayna. Brya's Nikki was at the salon getting her hair done!

Happy 6th Birthday Alayna!!

Kerry and Thea! (the store was packed so I was so glad that Kerry was there!)

Craft Time!

"What did you get??"

Bags and boxes!

Wishing we were not to old for the dolls!! :-) (Robin, Kerry and me)

Shopping aftermath!

...and where were Troy, Nolan and Kevin all this time?? Football game of course! Northwestern and Purdue (I think....)

After we were done downtown we headed out to the country to visit our great friends, Glen, Becky and kids. Katie and Laura got into playing with the dolls too. Thanks for everything Karate Family!!

Glen, Becky, Andy, Katie and Laura

On Sunday, we went to meeting at Arthur and Patty's place. That is the first meeting we went to when we moved to IL from WA. Special!