It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's 1,000 Superheros!

This past weekend, we had one of our most fun days ever.  Well, the boys did!  I would certainly prefer a later wake up time, but that's race life I suppose.

There was a Superhero 5K and Kids Fun Run, about 40 minutes away.  Kaden was all in.

We didn't pre-register (I have a lot of ideas but rarely commit in advance!).  So we showed up by 7:30 am- and then had two hours between registering and race start.  Thankfully, there was a good bit to do!

Kaden had fun trying his spidey-strength out.  And of course, we were checking out everyone's outfits. There was no official count, but we saw ONE adult Robin (guy), two adult "Robin Girls", and one wee Robin.  Yes, we were counting.

 Every single Robin came with a Batman.  The life of a sidekick, I suppose.  In the photo above, check out their socks- with capes!

Our guy started running around as soon as he got his number- and cape.  That's right, part of the kid racer's goodie bag was an actual cape.  Genius.

Above, you can see a bit of the outfits.  Most involved t shirts.  Some involved masks.  Some were full blown costumes (The Incredibles with muscles, for instance).

There was also this huge inflatable obstacle course.  Kaden was begging to go on, even though I wasn't sure he was big/old enough.  I finally let him, though- and WHAM- he flew through it.  I'm not sure, in the pic above, if he can even see through his mask.  But below, look at Spidey climb!

Usually, he was racing against a bigger kid, who would finish and run off before he came down the slide.  But since he didn't see it, he claimed victory every time.

Below, he's getting warmed up.  By posing, not stretching.  Apparently, that's how superheroes roll.

Have you seen anything cuter than this?  The youngest boy division lining up for their race.  It was 40 yards, I think.  Notice - Kaden is standing next to Robin.

Unfortunately, when they took off, I failed to get a good photo.  Between all that red and blue, and actually cheering, I only have photos of the sky or other people's kids!  He did really well- and earned another race ribbon.

On the way home, we passed an Amish buggy.  I still get a kick out of seeing them.  (But visiting Chocolate World is wearing thin!)

We headed home and took a much deserved nap- then headed up to 'the cousins' for a pig roast. Never mind that his grandparents and aunts and uncles live up there too- it's always referred to as 'the cousins'. Kaden had a blast.  Swimming in Uncle Dave's pool...

Roasting marshmallows on the fire...

He didn't actually eat though, until we started to leave around 8:30 pm.  Then he claimed he was hungry, so we grabbed some fruit and a quick pork sandwich.  Made him happy enough to fall asleep on the way home, but not before seeing the moon rise over the river.

Good days, my friends.  Tiring, but good.

Welcoming a Brand New Niece!

Kaden's been having fun with his cousins- especially the ones within a year of his age.  

He's not quite sure why they wouldn't let him play soccer, though.

The really big news is our newest niece!  Here she is, with a proud dad and a fascinated cousin!

At one point, the nurse had baby E in the bassinet to warm her up... and all her siblings, plus Kaden and her dad, crowded around just to stare at her.

Really, wouldn't you?

Fire Trucks, Treasure Maps and Puppet Shows

Today was a good day. Fridays tend to be my favorite days, mostly because I rarely work on Friday. Sometimes I plan on cleaning or running fun errands, but some days we just play. We had lots to play with today. Earlier this week, Grandma and Pop sent Kaden an awesome little fire truck. It's loud, but not annoyingly so :)


Then yesterday we came home to a package on the doorstep. "For meeeeeee?" Kaden asked? Yup, it's all yours little man. Turns out a cool uncle and his family sent a great envelope stuffed with kaden's favorite things: superheros, pirates, coloring and stickers!

There was one very intricate drawing from our nephew with lots of pirates on a boat. First, our boy ran for his sword and tried to find his 'pirate hat' (a bandanna). Then, he studied his cousin's creation for a while, before declaring it his treasure map. It was awesome, as he pointed out who was who (here's Tali, and here's me and here's you Mommy).


We had another fun playdate today, with 3 friends coming over. I had bought some cute foam-y Easter crafts last night, when I realized I hadn't prepared any cool recycling ones :) There were stick puppets, which resulted in hilarious "shows" - one or more kids hiding behind the chair, shouting somewhat recognizable phrases and then falling down laughing. They were pretty good at taking turns, and I think the 20 second actual show time helped!!

Oh, and here's Sir Kaden, knight of all Florida and Pennsylvania too. You can see his knight hat, his sword, his trusty steed who is apparently named "My Turtle" and his maniacal laugh and he rides to rescue someone.

Here the 4 kids are crafting nicely. Hey, maybe I should plan ahead for when the 6 cousins all come to stay, too :)

Oh! Holiday Group Activity Time!

I almost forgot.. in the Holiday prep theme goes the Planning of Group Activities. We (loosely) organize a turkey potluck at work, we have some sort of Christmas-cookie-decorating party. At some point, we get together with extended family, and that involves lots of kiddos. This year, I'm returning to (my personal) tradition of thinking up a Group Activity.


Past classics include creating handprint Tshirts for Grandma and the cousins (harder now because of so! many! cousins!) (and half of them are older with big hands, lol)...

...kids making english muffin pizzas for the family while wearing personalized "kitchen cousin" aprons (very messy but also fun)...

... a group trip to McD for happy meals and then to the movie, meal toy matched of course! This was probably one of our most expensive days, but we were both working with no kids at the time and happy to splurge. Though I think every sibling/family involved offered us money- hey, we could've made money on that day!

... the make-your-own bird feeder with pinecones and birdseed. Much fun, because we first went on a walk to find the pine cones, then came back inside to assemble. Not so much fun was the two year old who decided to eat the peanut butter and seed mix !!!

I'm sure there were others, but this is all I can think of for now. Are you wondering what THIS year's activity will be? Oh, I'm so sorry but I can't tell you! Part of the fun is that the kids never knew what was going to happen. And since I haven't done it in a few years, I bet it'll be a big suprise this time too!!

Where is it 80 degrees and full of love?

Not at the airport, but please notice the cute traveling bag...

It's where cousins celebrate your bday early by making an easybake cake
(and then fight over who gets a piece with you)

and a Pop who takes you for rides on the tractor
(even when you call him Grandma, repeatedly)

and a Grandma who loves squeezing playtime into her to-do list...
(even if that list is too long and your visit too short)

Yes! Pennsylvania is the place to be...

Visual Proof...

Here's where I eat humble pie... my sil emailed photos of Eva within 48 hours!

Enjoy this adorable newborn:

And here's a short clip of Kaden's attempt at crawling. There's a lot of pivoting, rocking back and forth, and going backwards.... sometimes accompanied by a frustrated whine. Should we start a pool to guess when he'll actually move forward??