Vandervaart Family: October 2013

So sorry that I am just now getting to updating the family blog. We have found ourselves very busy, but loving every minute of our kids growing and learning...well, maybe not EVERY minute :)

It is hard to recall what all happened in October. We did a few fun things with the kids that were based around Halloween/Autumn. We took the kids to a pumpkin patch where each kid did a mini zipline, picked out pumpkins, fed animals and rode a little train around. We also took the kids to the Zoo where they were able to trick or treat at different animal stations and see lots of animals. After the zoo, we took the kids to a drive-in movie and had a lot of fun. After about an hour, Jake got restless so we put him into a car seat so that he wasn't getting in the way of Claire and Grace watching the movie or spilling something.

Claire is loving kindergarten. They have a behavioral "clip chart" in which you clip up if you are behaving nicely and clip down if you are not behaving well. Claire is always so proud when she is either green, blue or pink. The highest you can be is purple, but there have only been 2 students that have gotten that so far this year. She REALLY wants to get to purple some day. She is learning to read and does some basic math. She enjoys art, library, and gym class. She seems to have lots of friends in her class and talks about different kids in her class often.

Grace goes to preschool Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays and then stays home with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (usually). On Wednesdays we have swim lessons and Tuesdays we usually go to the Y to play in the "Kid's Room" or the "Block Room". She loves school as well. Her class has a majority of girls so there are a lot of dolls, kitchen, and my little pony toys in her classroom. She went for her 4 year old check up this month and seems to be doing great. The doctor had a few concerns because while we were in the office, she didn't say a single word. For those of you that don't know, Grace is a chatter box (especially when she gets comfortable), but until them - she will just look at you with her big brown eyes and put on the biggest poker face you have ever seen. I assured the doctor that this is just her personality and she really socializes quite well!

Jake is a one man wrecking ball! He is all boy and just runs around and either destroys toys and makes messes, or runs into a wall and bangs his head! But, man does he melt my heart with his smile! He is learning to talk more and more. He has had some trouble with using words, but we have found that since switching day cares, he has started to use more and more words and we understand him so much better. His big move this month was coming out of a crib into a twin bed. He has done well with it for the most part. For the first 6 weeks or so he would wake up sometime between 4-6 a.m. and take all of his blankets, stuffed animals, pillows, and sheets off of his bed and throw them outside his door. We would wake up, help him but them back and tell him it was time to go back to sleep.

Here are some pictures from our month of October...

Claire and I waiting for the bus

Grace and Jake in the Block Room

The Clip Chart at school worked so well, I made one for our house! The girls do really well with it!

Movie night in mom & dad's bed

Halloween 2013 (Claire - Mariposa the Fairy; Grace - Sophia the First; Jake - Superman)

Below are pictures from "Boo at the Zoo"

Below are pictures from the drive-in. We had hot dogs for dinner and saw "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2"

Jake in his new bed

Grace and Jake waiting for their Flu Mist!

Claire got her ears pierced in January this year but one of her ears got infected so we had to take it out. So towards the end of October Claire braved it again, as well as little sister Grace! Here they are with freshly pierced ears!

Below are pictures from the pumpkin patch that we went to. The kids had a great time!

One evening we went for a walk. Claire started out riding her bike and Grace gave it a whirl by the end :)

One night we took the kids out to play in our hot tub. They love jumping off the seats and splashing around.

Towards the end of October we went to Indianapolis to visit with my family. We celebrated Grace's birthday and hung out with some of my most favorite people! It was a great visit!

We left Indy early on Sunday so we could get back and Trick Or Treat in our neighborhood. The weather was awesome and the kids did so well with their "please" and "thank you".