Go Cubs!

We took the big kids to their first Cubs game September 27th.  We had a great babysitter for the night and she took care of Sofie and Noah from 4:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.  We drove to Chicago and had a bit of traffic.  We parked for free and took a free shuttle bus to the game.  We got to the game and ordered food.  $10.50 for two waters!!  $6.75 for a hot dog.  Oh well.  We were hungry.  By the time we sat down to watch the game it was 7:30 p.m. (The game started at 7).  

Here are my boys watching the game and eating hot dogs.  What more could a five year old boy want??

We were on the second to last row of the stands.  Great view- right?

Got one picture with all of us looking at the camera.

Poor Kira was sick.  She had a really bad cough.  But she hung in there and I snuggled her a lot.  Isak loved it!  I enjoyed watching the game too.  And the Cubs even won!  0 to 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  We saw one of those points scored.  We left around 10 p.m.  I loved the actual game, but the getting there and getting home and the expense was not my favorite.  :)

The kids got stickers and here's our tickets and Isak's hat.

Definitely a night to remember.  Go Cubs!

A Morning Date

The big kids had a field trip which meant they got to go to school for a full day.  So Nels and I took advantage of the day and went on a date!  Although we did have two cute tag alongs.  😊  We still had a great time.  We went to our new favorite restaurant Buttermilk and ate a delicious breakfast.

Oh yeah, I forgot...I had a delicious breakfast and Nels got a humongous sandwich...since it was close enough to lunch.

Here's all of the food.  I got the best banana chocolate chip pancakes ever!

Then we went to the library.  The babies enjoyed the special attention.

And it was fun to only have two to focus on for a couple of hours.

Sofie was thrilled to play with her daddy.

And that's all.  The rest of the day was not so great...I went to the dentist for two hours to get my cracked tooth taken care of.  Nels mowed the lawn. And then we recovered and relaxed.

September - Local Outings

September was a nice month.  I took all four kids out a few times this month.  We just did some local things.  It was fun to get out and most of the time the kids were really good!  They are probably good because we don't get out much.  So when we do go, they are just happy to be out!  haha.

We explored Peck Farm Park.  They have a Butterfly House and we were able to visit it before the butterflies were gone for the winter.  It was so awesome and I can't wait to go visit again in the spring.

We saw a lot of Monarch butterflies.

They babies were fascinated by the butterflies.

They gave us a paper with all of the butterflies.  So the older kids tried to match the butterflies to the pictures.  It was fun for them.

There is also a huge silo, four stories tall, with a windy staircase.  So we all climbed up there.   Well, the babies were scared, so I ended up carrying both babies in my arms up and down.  Ouch, my thighs were burning.  Great workout, right?!

Another outing.
Nels came with us on this one.  We went on a Saturday to Island Park near the Fox river.  You can see the river in the background of this pic of Kira swinging.

Girls swinging.

Noah stayed close to his dad.

Sofie ran all over and tried to keep up with the big kids.  It was a cool park with a little zip line and fun playground.

We took a short walk and crossed the foot bridge over the river and came back again.

Strong Isak boy.

Tried to get one with all four...

They make me laugh!

I took Isak and Kira on a couple of bike rides.  They are getting better at riding.  Isak is pretty fast.  Kira is a bit slower and more cautious.

Another visit to Peck Farms Park.  See the silo...

This is what the playground looks like.  Pretty cool huh?!

We took a little walk on the grass path to the pond.  We found some dandelions to blow.

Noah did not want to walk.  I was going to take a pic of him throwing a tantrum, but as soon as the camera came out he started to smile!

Checking out the pond.

And that was the end of our visit...As you can see Noah was very done.

I'm glad we got out and saw our little area more.

August Wrap Up

Back to normal life.  haha.  Here's our random everyday life pictures from August.

I actually made cookies one day.  Chocolate chip, with whole wheat flour and applesauce.  The kids loved them.  They also happened to be wearing their valentine shirts.  💕

Fort building happens a lot around here.  Isak and Kira will drag the chairs from the dining room and set them up in the living room.  Then the blankets come out and are arranged just right.  Then the toys and then the babies like to get cozy and play with their older siblings too.

One Sunday...

One day I took the kids to the park for a picnic.  I took a ton of videos - about 12 minutes worth of video segments.  Then I made my first iMovie from all of the videos.  It was fun to edit and piece it together.  It ended up being about five minutes long.  Here's two pictures from that day too.  Noah was pretty happy running around and I caught this pic with him sticking his tongue out. haha.

Sofie has no fear.  She does whatever the big kids are doing.

Kira drew and colored this picture.  We call her an artist and now she will refer to herself as the artist.   :)

One Sunday...Nels and I matched!

Sofie running free after church.

Same with Noah.

This picture makes me laugh!  Rapunzel hair and her underpants.  Oh Sofie!!

Noah thought he would try to put this United States puzzle together.  I was impressed.  He sat there for a while and got a couple together!  Then he moved on to other things.

Eating muffins together.  Mickey and Minnie shirts.

Just reading some books together.  I love when the babies and big kids interact.

One Sunday...

Before school started the kids would pretend to play school.  Kira is the teacher right now.  She wrote the whole Alphabet...big and little letters next to each other.  Like this Aa Bb Cc....Isak is the student.

Mmmmm.  I made this delicious fruit salsa and tortillas with cinnamon sugar on it.  Oh so good!  It's my new favorite summer treat!!

Unicorn shoes!

At Costco one day...I think we were waiting for Dad and Noah to bring us our food.

Just playing with blocks on the stairs...Noah got a little tired.  haha.

Noah's shoes.  The one on the left is his old shoe.  The one on the right is his new shoe.

I think we got pretty good use out of the shoes!

And school started!!!  It started August 16th while we were on vacation.  So the kids started their first day August 20th.  It's half day kindergarten here.  They go in the afternoon.  They are soooo cute!

They ride the bus to and from school.

They are learning so much and I love to hear about their day when they get home.

Their kindergarten teacher is amazing!!  One of their favorite things they are learning is sign language.  They love to show me the new words they learned.

Noah fell asleep after church one Sunday.

Another Sunday.  I set the timer on the camera to get this pic.  I thought it was pretty cute.

My niece had her baby blessed.  Yes, I'm a great Aunt!  Aren't they just a cute family.

Kaylie with her daughter Navy.

First project for mom to do for kindergarten.  Book boxes out of cereal boxes and duct tape.

Practicing folding our arms.

Soooo. One morning I made these mini muffins.  I made them so I could give them to my friend that was coming over to go for a walk with us that morning.  I got in the shower and this happened.  Sofie and Noah took bites from every muffin except one.  Grrrr!  It was cute to though because they had lined them all up on the table.  I gave my friend the one muffin that had no bites.

Another fort and Kira showing off her purse with "daddy" horse.

Park day.  Sofie had to have her hat, sunglasses and purse.

She is so busy and mischievous, but she really does bring sunshine to our lives.

Noah loves the park too.

Walking home.

Nels was able to take me to a Cubs game with his work.  They were having a Controller Conference and had an extra ticket.  So they invited me to go along.  It was a fun night.  It rained before and it rained after we left.  We were gone seven hours!  It took two hours just to get to Wrigley Field.  We had a great babysitter.  She got the kids fed and in bed.  Yay!

Oh Sofie...so romantic.  Haha.  She didn't mean to be romantic.  Rather she tore apart a rose.  Curiosity?  Then she showed me the petals by throwing them up in the air and onto the floor.

Here's Sofie pointing to the bus.  Waiting to pick up the big kids from the school bus.

Sofie wants to go to school too.  She loves Kira's backpack.  So I bought her one at Walmart for $2.77. Way cheap.  She was thrilled.  She wears it around the house.  So cute.

And that's the end of August.
A few random things:

• Kira calls McDonald's "Old MacDonald's"
• Sofie is giving kisses and it makes me so happy when she gives me kisses.
• Sofie says "pink", "fish" "S" and "please"
• Noah is getting better at saying "truck" and "there it is"
• Isak earned $13 more and got another lego set.  He paid tithing too.  He is good at setting a goal and doing a little everyday to work towards accomplishing it.  I'm so proud of him.
• I started to learn CSS and HTML.  I really like learning it.
• We hung up a picture in our house!!
• We went to Samantha and Mia's baptism.  I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost at their baptism.  Mia is in our primary class.  I'm glad I got to be a part of it.  
• We actually had friends over for a game night.  Yay!
• We finished The End of the Beginning book with Isak and Kira.  Cute book.
• I took Kira and Isak on a few bike rides.  

It was a pretty big month.
Two funerals

One vacation
School started
Grandma and Grandpa Nyborg came for a great visit.

September has definitely been slower.  I'm thankful for all we did in August.