I realize it wasn't too many posts ago that I vowed to write more.  And then I had a baby.  I have no idea how some people have time to be on their phones and email and blogs and whatnot all of the time when they have a few kids, but I also don't have the internet available during the day, which is probably a good thing.

Every time my kids say something funny, I think it should go in a blog post.  But then I don't get there.  If I could record everything my kids say, I would love to.  So updates on this family:

Nick is already 5 months old.  We love to hear his little giggle and he gets lots of attention from his siblings.  He is a very fun baby but seems to be a bit different from the rest.  He does not enjoy traveling, which is unfortunate when we have to drive 20 minutes just to get groceries.  He's still up once every night.  We're thinking he may be our biggest challenge.  

In August we spent a long weekend with my family in Wisconsin at a Jellystone Park resort.  It had mini golf, lots of activities, and various pools and slides.  It was good to just get away and let the cousins run amok with each other.  The boys had a bit of freedom and were old enough to go down the slides by themselves, so that helped a lot for watching Leah and Nick.  We hope to do something every couple of years like that so it's an established thing when our kids get older.

At the end of September we spent a week up in MN with all the grandparents.  We went to a butterfly house which also had a small aquarium.  We got to touch sharks and stingrays.  Finn loved it-he's a very tactile learner.  We also spent some time walking at a state park and then went to a fall festival fundraiser that had lots of stuff for kids.  It was 80 degrees, so kind of a warm day for fall, but the kids had fun riding a small train, jumping on some blow-up things, and petting random farm animals.  

A couple weeks ago Jon had to make a trip to Omaha, so we all went along and spent the good part of a day at the zoo there.  Jon and I were there when we were first married, so it was fun to take the kids.  I highly recommend that zoo if you ever get the chance.

Ben started preschool in August.  Here is the obligatory first day picture.  We are nothing if not anal about that kind of stuff.  We had our first parent-teacher conferences on Monday.  We got a very good report about Ben and we are very proud of him.

 

Finn and Leah are becoming even better friends while Ben is gone each morning.  Finn certainly loves his baby, though.  The kids' favorite new show on PBS is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is based on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  We often hear them singing the various songs from this show.  There could be worse things, I guess.  Ben has also learned a lot of new songs in school and is teaching them to all of us.  Overall, we have a lot of singing going on in the house, sometimes a couple different songs at a time.  It amazes me how much Leah picks up from her brothers, talking and singing more than I would expect at her age.  They are definitely a fun bunch of kids and we look forward to what God has in store for all of us.

That's our last few months in a nutshell.  We seem to keep pretty busy.  Ben is in Awana again and Finn will start when he turns 4.  There's always something going on between school and church stuff and we do not lack for somewhere to go.  As someone told me a couple weeks ago, our busyness is just beginning.