Let's Go Hoos!

This weekend was Family Day for UVA Men's Basketball. That meant that kids got in the game for $5 each. Not the case for their parents, but we got seats way up high so it wasn't too expensive. It was quite an adventure and the kids did great throughout. Really made me realize how much easier outings are now, at 3 1/2 years old, than they were a year ago.

Free parking was far away, so we rode a shuttle bus to and from the game. No pics of the ride to the game - the bus was crowded and we had to stand. Here's a pic of them waiting for dad to buy tickets outside the arena.

After a long climb we made it to our seats. They were amazed by the view.

Lucas insisted we get snacks, and when he came with me to the snack counter he of course he insisted we get three snacks "for me and my sisters". As we approached our seats with our goodies he shouted "hey sisters, I've got snacks for you!"

Our shuttle bus ride on the way back. We stayed through halftime and then left because they were getting restless and hungry. The kids enjoyed having the bus to themselves.

Blurry pic b/c the bus was moving, but love this smirk. We're seeing a lot of it these days.

After the game we went to a pizza place that was surprisingly kid friendly. They brought out globs of dough for the kids to play with, along with the usual crayons & paper, and cute plastic cups with lids and straws. Unfortunately, the girls decided they weren't hungry and Jason and I had to rush through our food. We've gotten used to being able to finish our meals at restaurants so this was a reminder that the kids aren't always eager to eat.

Overall, it was a fun family outing. Another activity to cross off our list of "things we wanted to do when we had kids". It was tiring though - we don't need to do it again this year!

Halloween 2013

This year we decided to do traditional trick-or-treating in a neighborhood, rather than go to the Lawn at UVa. The Lawn can get kind of chaotic and crowded, and the grown-ups just weren't up for it this year. So, since our neighborhood isn't great for nighttime walking, we went to our friends' neighborhood to do ToTing. The neighborhood had a little parade around the block, and then a family hosted pizza and snacks in their backyard, and then ToTing began.

Before I post those pictures though, I need to explain the costume sagas. Lucas decided early on that he wanted to be a fireman. Easy enough, since we already had a costume in our dress-up collection thanks to Grandma Di. Then the girls decided they wanted to be police officers/other rescue workers in order to match Lucas. Awesome. I scoured the internet and our consignment stores, asked to borrow things from friends, and eventually came up with several rescue-worker themed outfits.

Then, the girls started saying they wanted to be a ladybug (Zoey) and Abby Cadabby (Abby). Ok, still no problem. We had both of those on hand too. On Halloween morning, the kids wore their costumes to school. Here's what they ended up with:

Abby head w/butterfly wings

Monster fireman

Construction worker

The final ensemble

Then, since my parents were out of town, Jason picked them up from school (a rare treat!) and they played outside all afternoon:

I left work early and came home to help get them dressed. Dawdling and many outfit changes ensued. None of them ended up wearing what they said they were going to.

Lucas the dragon. Yes, same costume as 2 years ago. Barely fits over his head anymore.

Abby the butterfly. At first she was going to wear Elmo, which explains the red pants. Then at the last minute she decided butterfly.

Zoey the ladybug, except she wouldn't wear the red tutu that came with the wings because it is "scratchy" and she did not want to wear the antennae headband either. That pink tutu was worn by Abby at their first birthday party. It still fits.

The kids learned the routine pretty quickly.

I was so proud of them for going up to the door and talking to people. They didn't even need us to go with them after the first few houses.

At Amanda & Jason's house, with kids Molly and Will, counting candy and resting before going home.

Counting...

...and sorting.

It made us so happy to see them having such a good time. Another long-awaited parenting moment. They all said they had fun, and they were obsessed with eating their candy. Zoey said it was a little "scary" - mostly being in the dark, and having to talk to the people at the houses. Turns out that getting candy is a pretty great incentive for getting past shyness, though!

To wrap up, here's a link to our past 3 years of Halloween. They're growing so fast!
Halloweens Past

Fall Party at the Farm

This weekend it was time again for our friends' party at their farm about 30 minutes south of town. Each year it gets a bit easier to take the kids, although going to parties with the kids is never really a sit down and relax kind of thing. We all managed to eat - the kids mostly had cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and juice boxes. Oh, and 1 carrot and blueberry each. We enjoyed pork BBQ and bluegrass music.

Lucas got the idea to stick glow sticks in his hat

Was hoping to get a dark picture with just glowsticks glowing, but forgot my flash was on.

Just for fun, here is a link to the blog post about the party in 2011. I know we went in 2010 and 2012, but I can't find blog posts for those years.

http://babiescubed.blogspot.com/2011/10/bbq-at-farm.html

Dress Up

Names

We had an assignment from preschool this week to talk with the kids about the meaning of their names, and to tell the teacher about it too. We went looking for a blog post about why we chose their names, and I couldn't find one. So either I never wrote one, or it's hidden somewhere. Doing this assignment made us reminisce about those first few hours in the hospital, when we met the babies for the first time and decided on their names. We didn't name them ahead of time because we felt we needed to meet them first, but before we went to the hospital we had narrowed it down to two options for each baby. Then, after they had been settled in our room for awhile, we made the final decisions.

So, here's a little story about each one:

Abigail Lucia

Abigail = Baby A; Joy of the Father (Hebrew)

Lucia = Ana Lucia (from Lost); Light (Italian)

Abby was our Baby A and the name Abigail just "felt right" to me since it started with A. When I was pregnant I often referred to her as "Miss A". Jason wanted to name her Ana Lucia from the show Lost, but since the character dies I didn't really want to do that. :) So we compromised with just Lucia as a middle name.

Lucas Steele

Lucas =  bringer of light (Latin); from Lucania (Greek)

Steele = paternal grandfather’s first name; can't find any meanings for it online

We can't remember why we chose Lucas - we just know it was between Logan and Lucas and we chose Lucas. In those first few sleep deprived days I sometimes called him by the wrong name. Jason wanted to give him his dad's name as a middle name. I think I wanted him to have my first initial, and a name in the middle of the alphabet since he was Baby B.

Zoey Stella 

Zoey = life (Greek)

Stella = star (Latin)

We were trying to decide between Chloe ( for Baby C) and Zoey, and Zoey just felt right. And I've always loved the name Stella.

We didn't do it on purpose, but each of them ended up with a name that has something to do with light (Lucia, Lucas, Stella). And, their names range from A to Z, which I think is kind of cool.

So there you have it, the meaning of their names. Hopefully I'll be able to find this post when I need it again!

Soccer Mom

Well, hi there! I haven't posted in 3 months. It has been a crazy busy summer. I do plan on going back and filling in the gaps between Mother's Day and now, but for today I just want to talk about current events.

We signed the kids up for a free soccer club at a local neighborhood for ages 3-6. It's all volunteer-run, which means parents do everything. Jason is an assistant coach for our team, the Yellow Meteors. There are no actual games, just practice running around and kicking the ball. This morning was the first practice. It was a bit chaotic...the kids weren't sure what to think at first.

But, several of their friends from our playgroup are on their team, so it was nice to see some familiar faces.

They started the practice with some running around.

I didn't get more pictures because pretty soon both of us were needed to keep them happy. Someone was always wanting to come off the field to have a snack, or rest, or be picked up. Two of them were ready to leave after half an hour, which was a problem since the program is an hour long. We all made it through, though, and I think once they get used to the routines (and the weather gets cooler) they'll have more fun.

That's all for now - stay tuned for more updates about the past few months!