After school time

Every day after school, the kids have a snack and a drink while I am getting dinner ready.  Usually, I give the "dinner" fruit for the snack instead of crackers because then their fruit for dinner is taken care of.  On this day though, the girls were overwhelmingly determined to have animal crackers.  Below is a typical snack time scene at the Benners.

Tonight while I was making spaghetti, the kids (unprompted) cuddled up on the couch together.  Will called from the living room, "Mommy, you have to come see this!"

 

Here is dinner at our house.  And yes, it is completely normal to eat with a Batman mask on.  Moose scored those at Walmart this weekend for $1.33 each.



Lots of cheering this weekend...

Courtesy of Grandma Linda, the kids were sporting their Viking pride today.  Despite their best efforts, the Vikes lost to the Colts today.  But that did not stop the girls from being their cheerleaders all day long.

 

We began reading to Sydnee and Allison before bedtime. 
On this night, Jack and Willread their books
from preschool to the girls.

On Saturday, I ran in my first 5K.  Moose, my biggest supporter,
brought the kids out to cheer me on (even though he wasn't feeling 100%).

Our post-race photo.  I finished 42nd out of 180 participants at 27:43.

Apple orchard

Since we were all up and finished with breakfast by 7:30, we decided to head to the apple orchard today.  We went to Wilson's Apple Orchard in Iowa City. 

It was cool this morning when we left and the girls insisted on wearing their fleece hats. 
They looked like garden gnomes:)

Jack was an excellent apple picker.

The family looking for more apples to pick.

The nearly impossible group shot.

Our bounty.

 

First celebrations!

On Wednesday,  Jack and Will officially started their educational careers.  They had their first day at Wonder Years Preschool.  They are attending Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  We are glad we waited to send them.  They now need more in their life than superheroes, monster trucks, and Hot Wheels.  Another reason to wait, not doing two years of snacks:)  Both boys were scheduled to bring snacks the first week.  I guess it is better to put them right after the other.  I just sent in one big bag of drinks and snacks for both days.

Another first.  Sydnee let me paint her toenails tonight after I clipped them.  Not the easiest thing to do, but she sat patiently while I tried my best.  Allison wanted nothing to do with the nail polish.  Maybe next time:)

Sydnee's painted piggies

Miscellaneous Fun

I am renewing my commitment to blogging!  My goal is to blog once a week about the happenings here in Iowa.  Life with the kids is getting easier with new challenges to overcome.  This week marks Moose's 32 birthday, the start of Jack and Will's educational career, and in less than a month, Sydnee and Allison will be 2!  To the life and times of the IA Benners...

Last weekend, Kent Coorporation (parent company of GPC) held a family weekend. 
We snapped this picture just before we left.  As we did, the battery was exhausted:)

Lately, our bathtub has been the hotspot on bath night. 
On one of those occasions, Jack and Will turned themselves into dolphins. 
How they came to that conclusion is beyond my imagination.

Jack and Will in their best Thor pose. 
The helmets are the lastest addition to the superhero collection.

This morning, while Moose was golfing, J & W were watching cartoons,
and I was baking, Sydnee and Allison were running races.

Us ladies got some new kicks today. 
Running shoes for me and obnoxiously cute Sketchers for the girls. 
All half off of clearance price!