Bedtime Prayers

When I asked the kids who they wanted to pray for tonight, I was expecting the usuals - Ezekiel, McKenna, and HaHa.  Instead, Josh answered, “Santa’s reindeer”, and Brielle piped in with, “Strawberry Shortcake”!  Hmmmm.

Perry Thanksgiving

Another Perry Thanksgiving has come and gone!  So much fun, so much food, so much FAMILY!  There was quite a crowd this year! (around 35?) It was the first time the whole Kuder family has been together in a while - I'd guess last Thanksgiving, maybe.  Fun times were had by all!

Annual family picture

  THE SITE

 THE HOSTS

THE "TABLE"

THE INFAMOUS APPETIZERS

Joshua and Russell were both SO excited to get to play together and played so well all day!  Both are surrounded by sisters, so they appreciate having a boy cousin all the more!

Brielle surprised us all by wanting to ride on the horses (She's afraid of carousels, after all.)  She must have ridden for nearly 2 hours and only got down because the horses were worn out!  She keeps asking when we're going back to Markle Juddy's house to ride the horses again - it's gonna be a long year for her!

This was Corinne's first Redneck Thanksgiving, as well as her first time meeting Papa and Mimi.  She enjoyed her own Thanksgiving feast of sweet potatoes, peas, and milk.

Cousin Beth is such a lovey girl

With Mimi

It was also our first time to meet our newest niece, Elena Gail.  So pretty!

 And, just to make sure it's thoroughly documented - Daniel has been growing a mustache for Mowvember November...just 4 more days left in the month...I might be counting down.  I think the other guys might be a little jealous of his uber-manlyness...

Mockstache Tribute

Josh's latest passions

I love it when Josh gets passionate about something...his latest passions are:

• swinging on his new swingset in the backyard
• giving Corinne zerberts...actually Corinne in general
• bike riding on his birthday bike and 
• chocolate ANYTHING

We still fondly remember when we finally fulfilled Josh's request for a tricycle.  He literally rode it or sat on it continuously for four days. It gave us such joy to see him enjoy a gift so much. Here's some pictures of him with a few of his current obsessions...

This week he has learned to get himself started swinging by pumping!  Amazing for a just-4-year-old and delightful for his momma that he can now swing unassisted (i.e. while I work in the yard or watch from inside the house!)

Corinne ABSOLUTELY adores Joshua!  She gives him the biggest, silliest grins of all.  I hope they continue to have a special relationship as they grow.

Priceless - almost makes me teary - there's nothin' sweeter than that

Brielle hasn't seen much blog time lately - not that she's not changing, growing, beautiful, and cracking us up (with a fashion sense like that, one can't help but love her).  We just haven't had any milestones to document...she'll get her very own post soon to update you on her latest and greatest!  For now a picture...

1st Day of (pre)School

Joshua started preschool this week.  He'll be attending Christ United Methodist Preschool on Thursday and Friday mornings.  I think it's going to be a really good thing.  It will give our social boy the chance to get out of the house without having to sacrifice Corinne's nap, and also frees me up to run errands with only two kids (three just seems too overwhelming for grocery shopping or major Target runs).

We didn't want to start talking up school too early because he tends to get VERY excited about upcoming events and it disrupts his sleep as well as him not having a concept of time and expecting the upcoming event to happen immediately.  We introduced the topic gradually, but started talking more details the past few weeks.  He was very excited to get to go to school.  Brielle, of course,  expected that she would be starting school as well.  Both woke up every morning last week talking about whether they would be going to school that day.  We told Brielle she would go to school at her house and that mommy would be her teacher and thankfully, she bought it!  We made a paper chain for Josh to count down the "dark naps" until school started, and I got to take him on a special date to buy some school shoes and a lunch box and treat him to a McDonald's ice cream cone, too.  It was so sweet how excited he was to be going out with mommy by himself.  

Finally, the first day of school arrived!  We started the morning with chocolate chip pancakes and the whole family got to go get him settled into his classroom.

His lead teacher is Miss Lindsey and the teacher's aides are Miss Lulu and Miss Denver.  They all seem very sweet and affectionate with the kids.  He was just a little hesitant to go in, but in the end was a very brave boy.  I was so proud of him (and of me)...no tears!

Post drop-off

We headed home to start Brielle's school...

"First" day of school pic

For school, Brielle colored a picture, did a lacing card, helped me make chocolate chip cookies, and ate her packed lunch.  After that she was done with school and ready to play, but she didn't quite know what to do without Joshua...I'm sure she'll get the hang of it, but she just kind of wandered around trying to figure out what to do without her best buddy around to take the lead!

Despite the great drop-off, I still had butterflies in my stomach all morning wondering how my little man was holding up.  He was all smiles when we went to pick him up and Miss Lindsey said, "He had a great first day today.  He was outstanding and fit right in!"  What a great report! When I put Josh down for his nap he said, "Mom, I'm glad I went to school today because I liked that school."  Friday morning went off without a hitch, too. So, now were are officially parents of a preschooler! 

Chattanooga

Daniel had to take an ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) class in Chattanooga for work, so the kids and I decided to tag along and make a vacation out of it.  This was a big decision since our last vacation with kids was 3 years ago, which not coincidentally, was also the last time we had driven further than the required 3 hours to get to Gigi's house.  Our first "family" vacation had left quite a mark (scar?) on us, but we were finally ready to try it again...this time with two more kids in tow!  But, we had called in reinforcements as well.  Daniel's sister, Janelle, came along with us to help with the kids while Daniel was in class.  She is always such a pleasure to have around and having that extra set of hands and eyes made all the difference in being able to sightsee and enjoy it.  Huge thanks to Janelle for ALLLL she did that week! 

Daniel's family was headed on vacation the same day, so we were able to meet up in Atlanta at their family friend's house and pick Janelle up there.  They have grandchildren about the same age as our kids, and their house has quite the set-up for preschoolers!  Toys galore, a beautiful swimming pool, and a sleeping loft where you are allowed to jump on the beds - at least that's what their grandkids told us!  We had a good time catching up with them, and seeing the rest of the fam.  Josh bonded immediately with one of their grandsons and had a big time.  It's so sweet how kids can become best friends so fast!  As a bonus, I also got to meet Daniel's Uncle Ivan for the first time!

We left Atlanta after supper Weds. evening and drove the final two hours to Chattanooga.  The kids were really good travelers.  Corinne got tired of her car seat, but hung in there pretty well.  I don't know how we traveled before you could watch movies in the car...they are such a sanity saver for our family!

We stayed at Homewood Suites and that was perfect for us.  We had hot breakfast every morning and a two room suite, so the kids could go to bed early and the adults could stay up later.  The first day we checked out Coolidge Park in downtown Chattanooga (which seems like a really cool town).  The kids had fun running in the open field, playing in the splash fountain, and riding the carousel.  Brielle still chooses not to ride, but at least she doesn't burst into tears of fear while watching Joshua ride.

 

Amazing Grass!  It was nice to see some "real" grass for a while.

 
We ate hot dogs for lunch at this funky, local place called Good Dog.  (I got a Chicago Style dog - it was no Portillos but still good.)  And, then we had hot dogs for dinner as well at the hotel (another bonus of Homewood Suites is free dinner on weeknights)...the kids weren't complaining!  Daniel got out of class around 5pm and could join us for dinner and an evening swim in the pool.  We treated ourselves to a movie in the room that evening after the kids were in bed.

Friday morning Janelle and I took the kids to check out the Creative Discovery Museum.  It took us a while to find the stuff that was most interesting for young children, but once we did the kids were enthralled.  They also had a special Bob the Builder exhibit on display.

Just like daddy

Brielle REALLY enjoyed dancing on the stage and Janelle was a good sport.  Joshua did lights and sound effects!

Shoe fetish

Daniel finished up his class that afternoon and passed his exam.  We went to the Terminal Brewhouse for dinner.  The food was yummy and the homemade root beer was delicious.  Saturday morning we rode The Incline railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain.  It's a one mile ride at 73% grade.  STEEP!

There's always time for a game of Ring Around the Rosie

"We all fall down!"

Four sleeping passengers

After the train ride, we hit the road for Tallahassee.  We crashed there Saturday night, so we could drop Janelle off at home, then finally got back to Jacksonville on Sunday.  We were worn out, but fun times were had by all!