Cutting Down Our Tree

I feel like I may never catch up on this blog! The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed to a local Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree and cut it down. The kids had fun walking through all the trees and Jaxon was a big help!

Our sweet family at the tree farm.

Daddy cutting down the tree.

Jaxon taking a turn with the saw.

The men carrying the tree out to the car.

Sure wish I had thought to get a picture of the tree on top of our car. This was our first experience at a tree farm and it was awesome, just wish I had been able to capture the memories better on camera. Already looking forward to making this an annual tradition.

Sissy's Big Girl Bed

Well, it was bound to happen. We kept her in a crib for 2 1/2 years (she's such a good sleeper), because we didn't see any reason to move her out of it. It seems like she was in there for a long time (maybe because her big brother moved out of his at 1 1/2), but she really was a good sleeper and we didn't see any reason to change that. But she had been climbing out of the crib for quite awhile and it was only a matter of time before she was going to hurt herself climbing in and out. So, one day in November, we all headed to the store. We took Sissy through the aisles of bedding until she found the perfect bedspread. Next, we drove to the local mattress store, bought her mattress, forced it in to the back of our SUV, and headed home to get her room set up. When we left that morning to buy a bedspread, we weren't planning for her to sleep in her new bed that night, but she was so excited, we didn't want to disappoint. First we had a crib AND a toddler bed in her room to disassemble. It was a long night of taking beds down and moving them outside to our storage shed, retrieving her big girl bed and assembling it, washing her new bedding, making her bed. But when we were all done, the pride and excitement on her face made it all worth it!

Tanner's!

We just had to visit our favorite apple orchard/pumpkin patch one last time before they close for the season. We went the very last week they were open in 2012 and things looked very different. For one thing, we parked right in front of the building (in season we usually expect to park out in a field and walk quite a ways), a lot of the outdoor activities for kids had already been put away, so the kids play area was very limited (even the swings had been taken down), and we waited in NO lines that day (unheard of!).

Well, of course the kids couldn't have cared less that most of their favorite things were missing, they still found fun ways to have a blast! After playing outside, we went in to shop and eat some yummy lunch, and we picked up a bunch of apples for homemade apple pie!

The Quad Cities

One weekend in October, Jason had some time off, so we decided to head to the Quad Cities for a few days. We had never heard of the Quad Cities before moving to Illinois, but it's somewhere that people around here talk about a lot and they seem to visit there for a weekend at a time. The Quad Cities are five cities in Iowa and Illinois that straddle the Mississippi River to make up a metropolitan area of around 400,000 people. It is made up of Davenport and Bettendorf, IA and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, IL.

We didn't do a ton of research before leaving, just booked a hotel and mapped out a few stops. Turns out there is a lot to do there and lots of fun shopping and eating places. We are already planning another weekend visit up there. We went to a zoo in the area (a Riggs must on vacations). I didn't listen very well to Jason when he gave me the weather report, so we were dressed for warm weather and it was not warm. Luckily, we chose to go to the zoo on one of their "Free Days", so we didn't feel bad staying just a few hours and then heading somewhere warmer. On our way to check in to our hotel, we spotted a movie theater and decided to catch a matinee. We took the kids to Finding Nemo 3D! We had the theater all to ourselves and enjoyed watching the kids get excited about the movie and its special effects.

Sissy is bundled up in her "blankers" enjoying the animals at the zoo.

Me and my buddy just "aping around".

Getting ready for a cold ride on the train!

The next day, we headed to the local children's museum (another Riggs must). Honestly, a lot of the children's museums are starting to look the same to me (minus the fabulous Indianapolis Children's Museum), but I still don't think our kids have noticed the common themes and play areas. They LOVE children's museums, especially playing pretend with "grown-up" activities.

Jaxon putting gas in a truck before driving his sister somewhere.

Sissy's turn to pump the gas!

Jaxon and Daddy built this cool fort out of gigantic Legos!

A dance studio came for a few hours to teach a hip-hop routine, Kota loved dancing with the big girls.

But their favorite thing at every children's museum is still dressing up and putting on a performance for us!

FORE!

I apologize for my lack of blogging these days. I'd love to make excuses like; I've been spending every extra second organizing and cleaning my home so it's in perfect condition and I don't have time to play on the computer. But, this would not be even close to the truth. Truth is, my house is still as unorganized as ever. It's this awful computer I tell ya! The thing has a mind of its own and decides to shut down when I'm in the middle of working on something. And no, I don't think to save as I go every single time. So, the computer and I took a little break from each other (like a two month break!). Jason has set up an app for me to blog from my iPad, but you see, the majority of the pictures I have are on my computer right now (slowly converting them to the iPad). Anyway, I'm sorry for such a looooong break between blogs. I vow to do better (and to get my computer fixed) and you should hear from me more frequently in 2013. I realize I have a lot to cover (Halloween - present!!!), so hang on tight and check here as often as possible. I'm off to organize pictures and try to get some blogging done. In the meantime, enjoy my favorite little man playing some golf: