Fall?

I am loving fall so far.  We missed the deadline for most of our fall activities and I don't miss racing around town throwing pb&js at the backseat.  Instead, we are hanging out at home after school and enjoying beautiful evening weather outside.  

We went to the hot air balloon festival last week and I planned on taking a ton of pictures, but we ran into a lot of acquaintances and spent the entire evening visiting.   I wished that Dave could join us (he was fixing a structural issue on our house), but had a great time with the girls.  Last year, we left early so we didn't get to experience the balloons glowing in the darkness.  The girls LOVED watching that part and running around afterwards collecting cards from the balloon operators.  Cora sprinted from balloon to balloon and shouted that it was her favorite thing!  

We took a family walk through a wildlife refuge in Iowa, where we saw 0 wildlife, but the kids were dying to check out this corn field!  Apparently, they have always wanted to pick "wild corn" so I'm glad their dreams were realized haha.  

Grandpa Bob sent us a remote control plane, but it took me forever to get it all figured out and charged up.  (So long that Granpa Bob sent us a second plane.)  Well, tonight was the night, and they were so much fun!  The girls can totally fly them better than me and we stayed outside until those batteries were completely wiped out!  Now, they're all charged up and ready for tomorrow!

Sunflowers and Birthday Pictures

Birthday pictures are my favorite tradition with the girls!  Eden picked out her outfit then we drove around for a while looking for sunflowers.  Since these sunflowers are actually weeds, we had a hard time finding an area that Eden wanted to walk around.  During that time, I got to hear all about Eden's friends, recess games, and favorite memories.  In the end, we found the perfect spot and got some beautiful pictures, but the best part was definitely the drive and "wasted time."

Odds and Ends

It wasn't too long ago that Cora was too scared to try the monkey bars because she was terrified of falling 3 feet.  Once I convinced her that falling is no big thing, she got really good at swinging around, but she surprised me with this new skill.  I should have known when she asked why the callouses on her hands were so hard haha.  

"Dad, catch me."  

Before our trip, we did Omaha's Railroad Days and got to see the Durham Museum and ride a trolley through Council Bluffs.  Crossed those guys right off the bucket list!

"Mom, watch me sing with the hose." 

Just a cute little lady, not throwing her food!

Indie has been obsessed with clothes lately!  She loves to drag her shirts through the house and has been trying to figure out how to get those dang things on.  This was her first success!  

Eden's Big Day

Miss Eden Bug turned 8 over this weekend and was super excited about her family birthday celebration.  She woke up to glow-in-the-dark balloons and a super fun scooter car from Grandpa Bob, which she road back and forth across the kitchen for hours.  After church, she got to open the rest of her gifts and was most excited about 8 packs of gum.  She loved playing with her toys, by herself, and making her own birthday cake.  We had a special birthday dinner with pancakes, sausage, strawberries, and orange juice with cake for dessert, lots of sugar!

One of our birthday traditions is going around the table and saying our favorite things about the person celebrating their birthday.  After a day of behavior issues with Eden, it was difficult for her sisters to think of all the great things about Eden.  Eden is kind, fun, incredibly smart, amazing little girl and this year we are going to work hard to enjoy Eden's great qualities at home.  

I have implemented a strategy to deal with her behavior issues calmly, consistently, and immediately.  Yesterday, she had an outburst at the playground because she wanted to drive the Jeep when it was Cora's turn.  Normally, I would have tried to reason with her, ignore her behavior and hope for the best. This time, I brought her home screaming and told her that she can throw her fit in her room, which lasted 2 1/2 hours.  Throughout that time, she alternated between screaming, banging on the door, hitting the walls, pleading, and tearing apart Cora's dresser.  Since she is not able to reason in that state, I repeatedly and calmly told her she could come out when she calmed down.  I took the girls downstairs for a show since they weren't able to sleep through her fit, so Eden picked the lock on her door and came downstairs.  During that time, she was able to calm down and was acting reasonable when she came downstairs so I took the girls back upstairs, gave hugs, and everyone went to sleep.  Today, I bought a stronger door lock and plan to move forward in the same way so that this is a year of transition for Eden.  I have high hopes and expectations for Eden and want to record where we are beginning the year so we can measure our progress.  Cheers to a hard, but amazing year for Eden.