I signed Maggie up for an art and music class on Tuesdays.

Her first class was last week, and she really enjoyed it. They made ghosts and then spent the rest of the class dancing and playing musical instruments.

It was a lot of fun for both of us.

We took the kids to an amusement park last weekend. It was during their Great Pumpkin Fest, so they wore their costumes.

It was on a Sunday though, so there were a lot of other people in Bengals gear too. (Yes, despite my efforts to convince them otherwise, my kids are Bengals fans.)

We paid for an all day photo pass, so we were able to get copies of the pictures taken on the rides.

That was Maggie’s first roller coaster – she loved it.

We got to meet a couple of the characters. Luke is all about Charlie Brown lately, so he was thrilled.

The pictures of poor Adam on the roller coasters make me laugh.  I have to give him credit though, even though he was scared, he kept trying them. He’s much braver than I am.

All five of us went on the log ride this second run (and got soaked). You can’t really see me, Adam, and Maggie in the back seat though (thanks Dave).  The kids loved it. They thought it was hilarious that we got soaked.

The kids were so well behaved the whole day. There was no whining when we had to wait in line for rides, no begging to play games or for souvenirs. It was a really awesome family day. I think we’re going to look into getting seasons passes for next year.

Over the summer I wanted to think of a way to encourage Adam to work on his writing, but also have it be something fun for him. So we made a list of different people that he could send fan mail, and he got to work.

We tried to do one letter a week, and called it “Write it Wednesday” (it rarely actually happened on Wednesdays, but I like alliteration). In addition to the letters, he sent each recipient a photo of himself (so they would know what he looked like), and either a picture he drew or colored.

First up was Harrison Ford, Mr. Han Solo himself.

Next was children’s author, and professional soccer player, Frank Lampard.

Then Adam went on a “Cutthroat Kitchen” kick. It was his favorite show for a while and so he wrote to Alton Brown, and offered to help him host the show (but said since he’s a picky eater, he wouldn’t want to try the food). He made me sign a permission slip to include with the letter – so that Mr. Brown would know I was okay with it too.

He also wrote to his favorite judge on the show, Simon Majumdar.

Adam also wrote to one of the keepers at our zoo about the arrival of their new hippos.

He sent a letter to Dav Pilkey, the author of his favorite series, “Captain Underpants.”

And to LeBron James, congratulating him on his team’s championship win.

Here’s another, to Mickey Mouse.

Adam got his first two responses on the same day. One was from Dav Pilkey’s publisher. They sent him a nice note saying they were forwarding his letter on to the author and included a fun newsletter and a little activity book for his new series. The second was from Keeper Jenna at the zoo. She answered all of Adam’s questions and said we should try to find her the next time we visited the zoo.

After he lost his first tooth, Adam wrote to Abby Klein. The Tooth Fairy had brought him one of her books (about a little boy losing his first tooth).

Adam got a postcard back from Mickey and his friends.

And we did find Keeper Jenna at the zoo. That was a lot of fun for Adam.

He also heard back from Abby Klein, and I’m sure more responses will trickle in. He has more people on the list that he wants to send letters to, so I think we’ll start it up again once soccer ends.

It’s a lot of fun for both of us. I love seeing his thought process as he decides who to write and what to tell them. My favorite part though, is his tagline. He ends each letter with, “If you want to write back, I will write back on a Wednesday.”

Adam had an awesome game tonight!!

Maggie found her dream car.

We’ve got some pretty cute kids.

Luke dressed like Batman for Adam’s soccer game (I was all for it).

Maggie LOVES dance.

Luke got some happy mail. Mabel finished his blanket and sent it to him.

So of course, we had to get a picture of everyone with their Mabel blankets. (I have two, but someone had to take the picture.)

Adam’s spelling list this week came with pictures. So Luke has been quizzing him in the mornings while we wait for the bus.

I gave Maggie some fancy hair for gymnastics.

And we went a little crazy at the dollar store.

And one last one of Luke at soccer.

We went to a Batman event at the bookstore near our house last weekend.

The boys were happy to dress the part.

Maggie got a turn with one of the masks before bed that night.

“Look mommy! I a superhero!”

We were able to make it to the Rubber Duck Regatta again this year.

It was crazy hair day for Adam’s class. We both completely forgot about it that morning though, so when he got home from school, all three kids got fun hairdos.

I did Adam and Maggie’s hair, and Adam did Luke’s.

Seeing the ducks dumped in the river was just as impressive as it was two years ago.

Tooth #3 came out before bed tonight – just in time for tonight’s Tooth Fairy run.

Adam’s got a pretty good jack-o-lantern impersonation going on now.

This little bird started dance class today.

She was so excited to put on her dancing clothes this morning.

Magerina absolutely loved the class, and I love how excited she was about it all.