Geoff's BDay Celebration

 We always keep things small when it comes to celebrating the adults in the family, but we sure appreciate Geoff in such a big way.

First Day of School 2022

 Even though we were all mostly sad that summer was officially over, there was still some positive and excited vibes about the new school year.  Hylie wasn't thrilled it took place on her birthday, but because we got a lot of great celebrating in the day before, she took things pretty well.

On the first day of school, Lillian just had to come to school for about 20 minutes where she got to meet her teacher and have a quick evaluation.

It's pretty easy to justify ice cream on the first day of school AND your birthday!

Lillian waiting for the bus on her official first day.

Dad wanted to see Lillian off on her big day!

Gotta love that smile!

Bounce House Fun

 At the beginning of every summer we ask the kids what they would like to do and Kyron knew right away that going to a bounce house was at the top of his list.  When we were in PA for the 4th of July, there were bounce houses set up before the fireworks so I thought this was perfect and would fulfill his request!  But after waiting in line for a VERY long time, Kyron got in the bounce house at 6:59 PM only to be told one minute later that he needed to get out because the attraction was closing.  What?! Needless to say, he was not having it and ran further into the monstrous bounce house attraction.  When the people running the thing saw he wasn't coming out on his own, they went in to tell him it was time to go and he promptly ignored them--so they turned to me and let me know it was my job to get him out.  When he saw me enter the bounce area, he just started running faster and was laughing at the game of Mom chasing him.  Miraculously I caught up with him and knew the only way he was coming out was if I carried him.  So I picked him up and immediately his fists started flying.  All this time, the rest of the family was up on the hill laughing at the sight, but once Kyron's extreme defiance was witnessed sweet Genevieve and Andrea came down to assist me.  Carrying a fighting toddler through a bounce house obstacle course was quite the challenge, but once I made it to the opening, I was able to hand him over to Genevieve and Andrea and climb out.  So after this experience, I knew that we not only had to go to a bounce house, but that we needed to go to one where he could stay until he decided it was time to leave.  Our local mall didn't let us down--it was a place where you paid one admission fee and could stay for as long as you wanted.  And that's exactly what we did.  I warned the girls that Kyron *might* want to stay longer than they did so they brought extra entertainment.

After about an hour, Hylie and Eliana were bounced out and turned to their books and sketch pads

Kyron kept going strong!

Kyron was in heaven and bounced for over 3 hours!

After school started up for the girls, Kyron was pretty thrilled to come back for another turn.  This one only lasted about two hours.

Annual Chuck E. Cheese Trip

Ever since we went to Chuck E. Cheese last summer, I would often here the question, "When can we go to Chuck E. Cheese again?"  I promised it would be something we could do once a year--so the time finally came and now that I new a little bit more about the Chuck E. Cheese "system", it was a much more pleasant experience.  

Summer Fun

Lillian floating

I love everything about summer.  The more relaxed schedule, the family time together, the time spent outside...the list could go on and on.  We all love going to the pool and spend a ton of time there.  I felt bad though because by the time we knew our summer schedule, the swimming lessons were all booked.  But Lillian and Eliana loved working on their floating abilities independently and all the kids definitely showed more strength in the water and expanded their skills.

 

Eliana floating

The kids still absolutely LOVE the sand pit at our local pool

The kids expressed wanting to do some 'art classes' during the summer break.  It was fun creating with all of them and I was glad they were willing to participate since I was the teacher. 😏

We also love getting in some park visits when the days aren't so crazy hot!

CSO

 A few weeks before the Woodhouse Reunion, Grammy and Pappy surprised Geoff and I with tickets to the CSO so we could enjoy a date night while they were in town tending to us.  To say I was delighted would be a huge understatement!  Todd, Heather, and Lonn graciously agreed to baby-sit when Mom and Dad weren't able to come and the night was absolutely wonderful!

Annie-Sophie Mutter played the beautiful Beethoven's Violin Concerto and I also enjoyed other selections I've had the opportunity to play while in orchestras, so that was a sweet treat as well.  Geoff and I realized that in order to avoid an hour wait to catch our train home, we had to book it out of the concert hall the second the last note was played.  We stood up and applauded and then started running down flights of stairs to get to the station.  The energy of running down spiral staircases was only added upon as we heard the audience continue to applaud and cheer in the background.

Thank you, Grammy and Pappy, Todd, Heather, and Lonn for making this all possible!

Name That Kid!

 We had a few activities to do with Grammy and Pappy via video chat and enjoyed that time together.  The first game we played was "Name that Kid" where we all tried to identify our relatives from their baby/kid pictures--everyone did a pretty descent job!

  Could you name them all? Answers: Geoff, Todd, Lillian, Lonn, Kyron, Eliana, Hylie, Pappy, Grammy, Dianne, and Heather

The next game we played was geared for Todd, Geoff, and Heather where they got to answer questions about Grammy and Pappy to see who knew the most about their parents to determine: "Who's the Favorite?".  Lonn and I were pretty much in stitches the whole time listening to responses and crazy guesses but the best part was when the scores were added up to find out the winner: it was a three way tie!  Lots of laughs were had plus everyone learned a little more about each other--it was a win, win, win!