Trick or Treat

This Halloween was a bit different for us. For the first time, my parents came for trick-or-treating. I enjoyed staying at home passing out candy and making dinner while Baba and Papa hit the streets for loads of candy.

Jack was really getting into the vampire thing. This was his pose most the day!

I was very impressed with Isabelle's costume. She wasn't even sure she would dress up until about 10:00 a.m. on Halloween. Then, out of the blue, she said, "I'm going to be a Christmas present!" My dad helped her cut holes in the box, my mom helped her wrap the box, she stuck a bow on her head and that was it. She got a ton of comments and compliments on her creativity. She and her friend, Kiri (a hippie), headed out alone. This was the first year we let her do that. Jack joined them for some of the time also. It was a big step for Mom.

Patrick enjoyed Halloween more this year than any other year. Ella Jane was not as thrilled. Of course, her unicorn looked pretty pathetic, so maybe she was embarrassed. She started out excited, but as soon as she saw the first scary mask she flew into Papa's arms and was done. Needless to say, her candy bucket was pretty lame. Isabelle made up for it by bringing a pillowcase and getting a huge haul!

Jack's Birthday WEEK!

Because Jack's birthday fell in the middle of the week we celebrated twice. On the 26th we carved our pumpkins, had the dinner he wanted (chicken pot pies), had a birthday cookie, and opened his gifts from Mom and Dad.

Leah was with us for Jack's birthday and she was totally excited to dig into the pumpkin with Ella Jane, who (on the other hand) was not into the pumpkin goo.


Patrick really got into pumpkin carving this year. He worked and worked until every bit of goo was out of his. Isabelle was having fun, but it's hard to tell because she didn't want to look and smile at the camera (Sigh... tweens!).

Sam joined the chaos too.


Friday evening we had Jack's party with his friends. The guys came over, we had pizza and cake, then headed out for bowling. I forgot my camera when we went to the bowling alley which I'm really disappointed about. The kids had a great time. Ella Jane and Patrick both bowled for the first time. Ella Jane even got a strike!


Jack is such a nut. He insisted on wearing his Halloween costume when his friends came over. Again, I didn't get any pictures aside from cake pictures with the kids at our house.

Congratulations Ms. Newman!

Recently, Jack's gifted teacher, Ms. Newman, got married. The day before she left for Martha's Vineyard the kids and I gave her a little going away party/shower.


Isabelle had Ms. Newman for both 3rd and 4th grade gifted. Jack now will have her this year and next. She has become our favorite teacher at Illinois School, so we wanted to give her a nice send off. Because Isabelle's gifted class is across the hall at the same time Jack's class is with Ms. Newman, we were able to have the 5th graders join the 3rd graders for the celebration. It was nice for the 5th graders who spent 2 years with Ms. Newman and miss her very much.

This is the 3rd and 5th grade gifted classes with Ms. Newman. The kids were happy she was only gone for a week, now they need to get used to calling her Mrs. Heeley.

Walking in the Bushes

I took the kids for a walk in a nearby forest preserves. It's only a few miles from the house, so I was amazed to find a place so pretty and so rustic with not a strip mall in site! I was busy helping Patrick and Ella Jane navigate the falling logs, prickly bushes, and steep hills, so I didn't get many pictures. Here are a few I did manage to take.


Later Ella Jane said, "I liked it when went to the bushes (woods)." Patrick did great! He had to navigate a lot of uneven terrain, which is great for his gross motor skills; he really held his own.

Introducing, the one and only... ELLA JANE!!!

Isabelle and her friend, Hannah, gave Ella Jane a "makeover" and then did a photo shoot. Ella Jane was totally into it. She was posing and dancing, and just plain showing off.

I'm pretty sure she has a future in the entertainment business. She certainly likes an audience. Perhaps it's being the baby in the family that has given her this showy personality. She's been oohed and aahhed over since the day she was born. Her siblings feed her hunger for attention.

Isabelle is probably her biggest fan.

oh, the many faces and personalities of Ella Jane!

Fun at the Fair

My parents came to town and we decided to go to the Kane County Fair for the day. It was a hot day, but we had a great time. Ella Jane and Patrick discovered that they love rides just like big sister, Isabelle and their Baba! Jack preferred to keep his feet on solid ground like his Papa, but he did take a ride on the carousel .




Patrick liked the bumper cars, but not the noise.
Isabelle convinced Baba to go on this tummy turning ride.



The kids really enjoyed the farm animals. Ella Jane wanted to bring a horse home. This cute little black and white horse wanted Isabelle to take him home; he was showering her with "kisses". He also took hold of Ella Jane's pony, which at first startled her, but then made her laugh.

Lookin' Smart!

A few weeks ago I took Ella Jane up to the school district pre-school for a screening. We're trying to decide when and where she will go to pre-school, so we started with the district program to see if that would be a good fit (Patrick and Jack went to the same program). While there, the school nurse did a basic vision screening. Kevin and I were totally surprised when we found out that Ella Jane failed the test! She cooperated nicely, so it was not a question of being unable to test her. So, we followed up with the eye doctor and he found that she did, in fact, need glasses. She was very excited about it. While at the eye doctor she had to identify a series of shapes. When she got to the house shape she said, "pentagon". The eye doctor laughed and said no one had ever said that before! Yup, that's my smart girl! When we got the glasses a few days after the exam Ella Jane seemed amazed at what she could see clearly. We've had no trouble at all getting her to wear her glasses; I suppose she enjoys seeing so she doesn't mind having them on at all. Our friend, Jill, said, "now she looks as smart as she is." True enough!

Back to School!

The summer went so fast and on August 19 we found ourselves starting another school year. I'm never excited about the start of school. I love summers with my kids home, all the carefree days, and fun outings. But, I had to keep a stiff upper lip and send them off.

Isabelle started 5th grade! I'm still not used to saying that and it sounds strange in my ears. How is it that she has become such big kid? She was excited, which made saying goodbye a little easier. She was happy that her close friends Makyla, Kiri, and Hannah are all in her class, but Jaci is in the other 5th grade, which is a big bummer! At least they are together for the 2nd half of the day when they go to gifted.

Jack started 3rd grade and has also begun the gifted program. We are so proud of him! He loves school and does very well. We were excited to have another 2 years with Ms. Newman, the 3rd and 4th grade gifted teacher; she is an amazing, energetic, fun, creative teacher. Jack also has Mrs. Jennings, who is the same teacher Isabelle had for 3rd grade. He loves her class; she too, is one of our favorites at the school! It's going to be a great year for Jack!


Patrick and his BFF, Maddy, started kindergarten! I can't believe we're here! Patrick has come such a long way. I had no idea what to expect with him and kindergarten. I was nervous and very sad. I was very emotional the whole week (the whole summer, actually) before school started. Unfortunately, I started that day not feeling well. I had been battling a 4 day long migraine, a trip to the ER, and being overly-tired. So, when we got to school (Kevin and I drove him the first day) I burst into tears! It didn't help that my friend, Laura, works at the school. As soon as she saw me and said, "how are you?" I couldn't keep myself together. To make it worse, the more I tried not to cry, the more I did the ugly cry. But, Patrick was just so happy. Ms. Lawrence had him lead the class down the hall. He held a big sign that read, "Ms. Lawrence's Kindergarten". He was so proud to be line leader! Oh and despite being the very youngest in the class... he is the tallest!

Unfortunately, Maddy and Patrick are not in the same class. They both were sad, but quickly found new friends and realized they still had bus rides, lunch, recess, and other activities to be together. It wasn't so bad being one room away from each other. Patrick was thrilled to get to his seat and find his very own name right there waiting for him. It was nice for us to have Ms. Lawrence for the 3rd time. She knows our family and welcomed Patrick with open arms. He was a newborn when Isabelle started kindergarten and Ms. Lawrence said then, "he will be my student in a few years". At the time that seemed so far off. Yet, here we are! I had talked to her on many occasions before school started. She was completely aware of Patrick's needs and delays. She's done great with him! Within the first week I saw a huge change in how he was writing his letters and numbers. Then within the first month of school Patrick was reading! Amazing! He still has occupational, speech, and physical therapies. He also has a one-on-one aide for one hour each day to help him with handwriting and fine motor.

On their second day of school Patrick and Maddy got on the bus. Of course they sat together!

Maddy gets off the bus with my kids each day and stays here for about an hour until her mom gets home from work. The very first week the kids got homework packets and sat down to work on it together. They were very serious about it!

Kindergarten can take a lot out of a kid. Patrick went into his room and fell asleep many afternoons those first couple weeks of school. He's adjusting and doing much better, but needs that 7:00 p.m. bedtime. He's not always easy to get moving in the morning, even after nearly 12 hours of sleep!

Day at the Farm!

Summer was coming to an end, so Melissa and I decided we needed to do one last fun outing with the kids. So we loaded up all 7 kids (I had Leah for the day too) and headed to Fair Oaks Dairy Farm in Indiana. It was a really fun day.


Patrick driving a John Deer.
Morgan loved the homemade ice cream (Melissa did too)!


The model, Maddy, posing for the camera.

At the farm we were able to see a Cow give birth. This shot is right after the calf was delivered. We watched for the last 10 minutes or so. The kids had some questions, but mostly they just were in awe of seeing this new life come into the world. Mom made pushing her big 4-legged baby out look easy!

A while later we went to check in on "our" calf. It's a girl! She weighed 83 pounds and was doing very well about 2 hours after her birth.

So, getting 7 kids to pose for a picture is not as easy as one might think. Here was our feeble attempt. Isabelle was hiding behind the bench refusing to get her picture taking. Leah was trying to convince her to stand up.

This was as close as we were going to get to everyone looking at the camera.

The highlight of the trip was this huge "jumping pillow". The kids loved it. I got up there and jumped too, it was a lot of fun. It was a really hot day, so the only way to really tolerate it was to keep jumping, no one wanted to stand still for very long on the hot vinyl surface. Patrick did get up for a minute or so, but I didn't get a picture of him up there. He only wanted to be on it if he was alone or only with Isabelle. He didn't want anyone jumping to high next to him. I find comfort knowing he won't ever do anything crazy like jump out of airplanes or climb Mount Everest. He's my cautious kid, for sure!

Isabelle and Jack got some air beneath their feet, no fear from these two!