The Pumpkin Patch

This year for the first time we went to the local pumpkin patch at the Van Omering Dairy farm.
The Van Omering Farm is just a couple miles from our house, and it is SO AWESOME I can't believe we haven't gone down there before. But it will definitely be a tradition from now on. There are so many fun things to do. First of all, there are lots of pumpkins to choose from:

There's also a hay maze that the kids can climb through.

And there's a mountain of cotton seed to play in. The kids can sled down it like snow. Well, not exactly like snow - but it's fun, just the same. Kristin got tired of trying to get the various foam discs to work, so she resorted to simply rolling down the cotton seed hill.

Joey tried to slide on a disc, but it would often slip out from under him.

There was a small petting zoo with various farm animals. I even joined Kristin, even though one of the baby cows took a liking to me and kept licking my pant leg. Go away, cow! (I wish I had a picture of that!)

They also have a hay ride, where they drive you through the dairy and talk about how things work on the farm. It's very interesting, if a bit smelly. And they have these cool stations where you can practice "milking" a cow. Here's Joey giving it a try.

On this particular day, we had all planned to go to the pumpkin patch as a family, but Simon unfortunately had the stomach flu and couldn't leave the house. Matt stayed home with him and I went with Joey, Kristin and Wendy. It's a shame Simon missed out because I know he would have had such a great time!

Catching Up: October 2010

October is a big birthday month for our family. First, we celebrate Alicia's birthday with a family meal, followed by the traditional German Chocolate Cake. My mom has made this same cake for Alicia's birthday for as long as I can remember!
It's always great getting together with the family. Here is a photo of Kristin and her Auntie Wendy, cuddling on the couch. Well, I say "cuddling" but really, Kristin just decided to make herself at home, plunking herself on the couch and draping her legs over Wendy.

After we ate, we thought it might be nice to play some games. Simon wanted to play Apples to Apples. Actually, as you can see from this photo, the game he wanted to play was closer to "52 Pick Up." He had cards strewn everywhere!

Here's a picture of me and my loving spouse, who clearly takes photo opportunities very seriously.

And here's a photo of Joey and Kristin, playing outside. (Kristin also takes photo opportunities seriously!) It was a fun day for everyone!


The second birthday we celebrated in October was Kristin's 6th Birthday. I can't believe she's SIX! Time sure flies. Kristin was pretty excited about her birthday, as evidenced by her reaction when we brought out her birthday cake:

She wasted no time digging in. She eats like a lady.

Ooh! We're approaching the holidays! Tomorrow: Thanksgiving photos!

Catching Up: September 2010

September 2010 meant the return to school and also the return of soccer season!

Here are Kristin and Grandma, relaxing on the sidelines during a game. While Kristin seems to enjoy soccer, it seems what she likes best is watching soccer. She'd often volunteer to sit out. And sometimes even when she was playing, she'd stand and watch the game go by.

Kristin's team this year was called The Super Stars. Here is their team banner:

Here's Kristin and her team warming up for a game. They had a really great coach this year. She always made sure the girls had a good time.

Here's Kristin after a game, showing off her "Super Star" pose.

This year, Joey was once again on the lime green team. The name of his team was The Alien Demolishers.

Joey learned a lot about soccer this year and improved his playing skills dramatically. He usually played defender, but sometimes he was a midfielder. We had an unusually rainy season this year (not that you can tell from these photos) so a few times Joey had to play in very wet weather. But that didn't stop him.

It was a great season. Though, just like in years past, it was kind of a relief when it was over! The practices were on the same night, at the same time, in two different locations. They were also at a time when Matt was still at work - so it meant lots of running around for me! And there were times when their two games overlapped on the weekends as well. It was quite an adventure, lugging equipment and wrangling Simon without a spouse to assist. But we made it work. The fun starts again in the fall!

Pac Man Cookies

Another fun summer activity was when we made Pac Man Cookies. I don't know where Joey even heard about Pac Man. But he's been semi-obsessed with it ever since. (In fact, he had a Pac Man birthday cake this year - but I'm getting ahead of myself). Joey and Kristin wanted to make cookies that looked like Pac Man. Here are my little bakers, ready to help in the kitchen. Joey is showing off the Pac Man he made of Legos. Actually, it's supposed to be a combination of Pac Man and Mario - that's why it's half red. Um, maybe we need to cut back on the video game exposure?

Here, The Bakers show off the tools they will use. We didn't have actual Pac Man cookie cutters, so we improvised! A tulip and a house? How will it work? You'll see...all in good time.


First, Kristin starts on making one of the Pac Man ghosts by cutting out an upside-down tulip.

Then she cuts off the tulip's stem.

Voila! It's ghost-shaped!

Then Joey cut out a simple circle with a glass, and used the roof part of the house cookie cutter to cut out Pac Man's mouth. I suggested just doing it with a knife, but Joey looked at me like I was crazy. There's a science to cookie baking, see?


Then we started decorating!

For the ghost's eyes, we used white chocolate chips and topped them with a single mini-chocolate chip.

Here are a couple more shots of The Bakers. I love how happy they look. They were really having a great time making these cookies!


And the cookies came out looking pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Catching Up: August 2010

What's this? Two blog posts within a week?!? I'll give you a moment to recover after passing out from shock...

So, as I said, I wanted to catch up on where we LeVines have been since our last post back in August. When you last joined our heroes, Matt had just undergone minor surgery on his finger. That was at the beginning of August. The rest of August was packed with fun activities. First, there was Korinne's first birthday. We had a lovely family party at Grandma's house with lots of great food. Can't believe it's been a year already. Look how big she is! (And, of course, this was almost 6 months ago, so she's just bigger now!)


Also in August, my mom went to Minnesota for a visit. Since we didn't have childcare while she was away, Matt and I took some time off to spend with the kids. We had a great time playing around town, going to the park and the Science Center, and working around the house. We also went to the Birch Aquarium for the first time.

I don't know why we haven't gone before. It's really fun and educational, and not as crowded (nor as commercial) as Sea World. The kids had a great time. Here's Simon checking out the kelp bed:


Here, Joey and Kristin are checking out the tide pools. There are lots of starfish and other sea creatures in the tide pools - like squishy sea cucumbers!


I think the thing we liked the best was playing with this water table. It's supposed to demonstrate how ocean currents work. So you build a little water maze out of colored planks, and then put little toy boats into the water current. Of course, Matt was a master engineer and came up with lots of fancy configurations.


And no trip to the aquarium would be complete without a visit to the shark tank. Here, we pose for a picture like the tourists we are. I love this photo so much. It's so typical of our family outings. Simon isn't really interested, and is trying to get away to do his own things. Joey and Kristin are pushing each other's buttons. Look at Joey and Kristin's faces. Ah, siblings.

We're Still Alive!

Happy 2011! My goodness it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. Sorry about that. Time gets away from me so easily sometimes. I will try to do a bit of catch up over the next week or so, and then hopefully can post CURRENT updates in a more timely fashion.

For now, please enjoy this photo taken of the three wee ones this past Christmas. I can't believe how big they're getting. This Sunday is Joey's 10th birthday. TEN YEARS OLD! How did that happen?

Adventures in Minor Surgery

Way back in November, Matt was cleaning out our car and was brushing off the place where we'd had Simon's carseat. There was a toothpick that was hidden between the seat cushions, and it ended up stabbing him in the finger. It hurt, it bled, but eventually it healed. But Matt noticed that there was a slight bump where he'd been stuck with the toothpick, and every now and then it would be hit just right and it would hurt. So he finally had it looked at, and the docs determined that there was still a bit of wood stuck in his finger. I thought it would be a simple procedure to get it out, since it was basically a glorified splinter. But it was deep enough and in the right position that it required surgery. The actual procedure didn't take very long, and everything went fine. They gave him a sling to help him remember to keep his arm elevated.
And they wrapped his finger up in a ton of gauze. This fancy bandage fell off three times during the first 24 hours. Matt managed to re-wrap the finger and even rig the fancy wrist-wrap part by himself, single-handedly (literally!)
When we got home from the hospital and went to pick up the kids, we were met with this in the driveway (courtesy of Kristin):
And then this at the bottom of the stairs (Joey and Kristin did this one together):Aren't they the sweetest?