All things Fall

This week has been full of all things fallish. After getting over the fear of riding the bus by Wednesday, Quinn was back to business as usual.

Thursday the kids put on their "walnut" gear and headed out to help Dad with yard work. The three black walnut trees on our property are great for shade, but such a mess come this time of year, not to mention a bit dangerous if it is too windy (man it hurts when you get nailed by one falling from a 40+ foot tree). Anyway, no wind on Thursday so the kids got their gloves on and were out there picking them up with Daddy. You most definitely have to wear gloves when doing this job, unless of course you want your hands to be permanently brown. One year we thought that Avery had badly bruised the bottoms of her feet, wondering how she could have done that, until we found the pair of socks that had the exact same bruising. Anyway, they love helping with the yard work, and they're closer to the ground, so it works.

Friday Scott headed up north to help his brother move, so the kids and I headed to Grammy and Grampys where they did some apple picking and tractor riding. See Mom's blog for the full description. Saturday was Harvest Day at Rentschler Farm, an annual trip to the local museum to paint pumpkins and ride the hayride (even if it is just around the parking lot). This year since Scott was up north, it was a shortened trip as I had all three by myself (can anyone say ADD? Keeping track of everyone... That is me!) We had fun none the less and from there headed to Emily and Bobs for a volleyball match and dinner before Scott got home and it was time to go get the kids to bed.

Today after church and lunch with Grampy we decided to head to Clinton for the Fall Festival, or the apple orchards, we weren't really sure when we left where we'd end up, so when we got into Clinton and saw the train, we thought that sounding like a fun adventure. After buying our tickets and watching some old planes go overhead (they were flying over for the parade), we were all aboard the Southern Michigan Railroad. It was a beautiful day for a ride from Clinton to Tecumseh, and the kids really got a kick out of it. It has been something I have always wanted to do, and today worked out perfect for it. After that it was off to the festival to get an ice cream (and another ADD episode) and then back home for more yard work and dinner.

Monday Monday...

Ok, I know these pictures are about 2 - 2&1/2 years old, but they're the same faces...


We had an "I don't want to go to school today" Monday today. Quinn had a moment of shyness yesterday at Sunday School where he clung to my leg and tried not to let the other kids see him cry about being shy and going to class, and today repeated it while getting ready to ride the bus. I told him I would take him to school today, but he had to ride home on the bus and he had to ride tomorrow, he calmed down. So then it was Averys turn. This was no surprise, because she typically has had more trouble with being dropped off at school. She was fine (after crying all the way there) when she saw that Ms. Bonnie had pom-poms in the sensory table, her favorite. After leaving the co-op, it was time to take Quinn into school, and again the tears started up. The teacher (after a few minutes of me telling him he'd be fine and go have fun) finally came and got him from my leg and said, "one of those Mondays...". I think it was, there were about 3 other moms and kids doing the same thing as I left the building. Kindergarten and Preschool, high pressure! They did come home in much better moods, chatting away about snack, library, pom-poms etc. Thank Goodness!

The Helper of the Day and Funny Faces

Quinn got to be the "Helper of the Day" today at school, and was very excited to tell us all about it on the way home. Apparently the helper of the day gets to be the line leader, sit on the helper bench, pass out name tags, and walk with the teacher. I was glad he had a good time because before school he was a little shy about going. He said, "I will miss you Mom, will you pick me up today?" so of course I said I would. I think he was a little scared of riding the bus home ever since Monday, when he got stung by a bee on the ride home. But all went well, and he did ride to school on the bus without problem, so tomorrow it should be back to the routine. Avery had no problems at all today either, so I'm hoping she keeps that excitement up too! Kaleigh and I had a fun time all to ourselves, running errands etc.

After school I promised them that we would make brownies, and while we were waiting for them to bake we took some "funny face" pictures. Amazing that they can make so many expressions in the time it takes for the camera to focus. That's about it . I need to start thinking about whats for dinner... I don't feel like cooking though, too bad you can't just eat brownies for dinner :)

Working at the Car Wash

Was this really two weeks ago? Only a 30+ degree temperature difference. These are pictures from two weeks ago (Ella came for a visit while we were working on the fence). The car wash was fun, the kids really worked hard on the bottom half of the van... wash, rinse, dry...Kaleigh, Quinn, Ella... everyone was happy with their stations. They thought it would get especially clean if they grabbed the 2 in 1 conditioning shampoo for that extra shine and glossy volume while we weren't looking. Unfortunately the driveway got most of the treatment. I think the van was happy about that.

First Day for a Four Yr. Old... Second Child Around

Avery had her first day of 4 year old preschool today, and even though it was just a mini class, she was quite upset about going, although it doesn't look like it here (she was excited to be wearing her new clothes in these pictures if you couldn't tell from the drama queen poses). She unfortunately has inherited the anxious gene and is alot like her mom was. Once she got going though she was fine and was laughing away with her friends from last year. It was especially funny to watch her friend Ashlyn and her coloring with the smelly markers and giggling away as they got some on their noses. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for that, and by the time we got home, there was snack and dirt on her face as well, which wasn't as cute. Wednesday is the official first day with a whole 1/2 days activities. Hopefully she will be excited to go... we'll see...

Fishers of Men

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
This was a fitting theme for the weekend I think. Saturday was spent participating in the fair parade, by riding the Sunday School wagon for church. All the Schroeder grandkids got a chance to ride to town behind Grampy in the Christ Our King "Come grow with us" Mum mobile. There was a fair showing of Sunday schoolers along for the parade, and a fair number of preschoolers walking ahead of them for the co-op showing in the annual Fair parade. Avery and I were in the parade twice as we backtracked after finishing the route with the preschool to join the wagon.

Today was sign up day for Sunday school and many other service opportunities at church. It was quite a neat set up as they had all of the available ministries set up with booths for people to sign up, or learn more about. It looked to be pretty successful. After church it was off to the G.O.L.F league picnic. We ate lunch and Quinn and Scott got some fishing in at the pond they had on the property. Quinn had found his tape measure last night and when he heard we were fishing today he HAD to bring it along so that he could measure his fish. He did just that for every fish he caught (I think he caught about 10 or so) the largest was 9", and when he was looking at these pictures on the computer he said, "my fish was THIS big (motioning with his hands), bigger than that in the picture" when I enlarged the picture he said, "oh, it wasn't THAT big!" Measuring up...something to say for perspective.

The Fairest

Mirror Mirror on the wall, who goes to the "Fair"est of them all? Kaleigh does (she kept saying, "the fairest is fun Mom"). Kaleigh, Avery and I went to the community fair this afternoon while Quinn was at school. We worked the preschool booth for a little while, and while we were there, they got some rides in with Ella, Soph and Lucy. They were much braver than I thought they would be, especially Avery. Apparently she has no fear of rides, but animals... that is another story. She freaked out when we went later on with Quinn and Scott and saw all the farm animals. Go figure. Anyway, we all had fun, Quinn and Avery even got to ride the Scrambler with Scott this year, they loved it (giggled the whole time). Quinn thought he was pretty cool that he was too big for the baby scrambler and got to ride the Tilt-a Whirl with Dad instead. He also got to ride some other "big boy" rides. Kaleigh was not as pleased that she wasn't allowed on the big kid rides... but had fun with the animals at the petting farm, she sure is an animal person.

Bus Rides and First Days of School

It's official... Quinns first day of school. Here he is waiting for the bus, and his trip to school. He was the only one at the stop, so hopefully tomorrow the driver will pick him up closer to the house (not that a block away is far). She just about passed him by today (must be hard getting used to what kid is where), but he met her, Mrs. Hammond, and went straight to the back of the bus to find a seat. Later in the route his buddy Derek from preschool came and sat with him. He was so excited to ride the bus and navigate the hallway all by himself!
He just got back from school and was excited to tell me that "Ian" fell asleep on the bus, and that he sat by "Sydney" in the green chairs, and that they are all going to music and gym tomorrow. That and I have to remember to pin on his nametag and bus tag before he goes to school tomorrow. Responsibility Kindergarten style!

First Day of School

Quinn had his first day of Kindergarten today, sort of. It was really orientation, but he got to go to school with his backpack (Uncle Andy would be proud, he picked out a Kermit the Frog pack). When he got to class he colored a picture (had to use 4 different colors, Mrs. Szafarek says), heard a story, got a tour of the classroom and met some classmates. He was very excited to go and said as we were driving home, "I get to go there tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow." Tomorrow it's official (he gets to ride the bus to and from) It should be fun! His teacher seems very nice and comes highly acclaimed from Ms. Bonnie and many people.

Posting Promised Pictures

Pictures of Kindergarten and pre-school prep, McClelland style. All of the Schroeder grandkids appartently have scissor issues (Ms. Bonnie says neither Quinn, Ella or Avery are very good at scissor work), so we did some work over the summer to try and fix it. I don't think it worked, for us but hey, we tried. The kids having fun working on their "projects", for Quinn this meant making submarines, tractors and trucks, for Avery it was dressing up paper dolls, and for Kaleigh it was playing with pipe cleaners, and smearing glue on anything she could get her hands on.

Happy Labor Day!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, I had a great day and an even better meal from Em and Bob for my birthday. My big gift this year was a new privacy fence for the yard. I am very excited to not have to look at the chain link and the parking lot anymore. Dad and Scott "labored" (it is Labor day weekend and all) pretty hard this weekend and last, getting the old fence out and putting the new one up. It is coming along very nicely (these were the best pictures I got today... I'll get out there tomorrow and get some better ones). Kaleigh had fun with all the dirt from the holes, finding worms and getting dirty... real dirty... this picture does not do it justice trust me. But if a worm will keep her busy for the better part of 2 hours, I'll take it. Who knew a worm could be so much fun. Thanks Dad, Thanks Scott and everyone else for the gift cards towards the "fence fund" :).



In other news, we had a great time at the Grammy and Grampy campout, but I had forgotten the card for my camera, so see Moms blog for pictures. These pictures I took when Scott had set the tent up to check it out after buying at a garage sale

(Notice Averys face in the second picuture... I wanted a picture of all three of them together which meant she had to stand next to Kaleigh... how dare I). Anyway the tent worked out great and was definitely a deal at $40. We had a great time at the campout, despite the mosquitos and chill in the air come 4am.

That is about it I guess... I have some older pictures to post, but since Scott has been getting on me about not posting more often, I'll save them for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day before the big day... First day of School. Quinn can hardly wait. I'm not prepared yet, mentally or physically... I guess I better get on the ball. Have a relaxing, non-laboring, Labor Day if you can, but if you have to Labor, have fun doing it!

And Happy Birthday Lucy Lu!