Happy Halloween!

The kids were SOOO excited about tonight! We still are surprised that Tyler went for hte lion costume!

Trick or Treat!!!!

This was Tyler's mode of transportation for half of the night . . .

. . . until he decided it was time to be mobile! That boy walked for about 45 minutes with his tail dragging from house to house. Yep . . . he got the system figured out that if he went to the porch, he would receive candy. They are so quick sometimes!


Checking out the stash . . . let's see, if they get one piece after every meal . . . we should be finished by February!

Fall This and That

Several weeks ago, J's class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. The teachers had prepped the kids to wear lots of layers and long sleeves since it is NORMALLY cold in October. However, this particular day, it was really, really warm and didn't have to worry a bit about it being too cold! It was actually HOT!

Here he is . . . emerging from the long hay "tunnel" --I got wigged out just looking down the one end!

His whole class.

So, I really wanna give a garden a try -- so we (as in Bryan and Ryan) rented a heavy duty tiller and they worked it up.

We'll have to do it again in the Spring, but we'll see what happens . . .

The picture was not posed . . . our oldest two with the neighbor kids -- they play together A LOT!

And, just for giggles, some Tyler pictures! I always think of the book "Good Night Gorilla" when I see this picture!

I swear, he is part monkey . . .

Yep, this is our "I just got my hands on a blue permanent marker" smile!

Trunk or Treat 2010

We had BEAUTIFUL weather tonight for the Trunk or Treat outreach at church -- the kids were SOOO excited! Joshua was a Power Ranger (his first "non-mom-made" costume . . . at his request!), Kayla a fairy, and Tyler a lion!

Sorry it's blurry -- my camera was on a funky setting, and I didn't realize it. grrr.

Kayla and her friends -- they are both as girly as you can get!

We were shocked he actually wore the crazy thing!

Uncle Ryan and Jen came for a few minutes -- the kids were a windin' down at this point!

Dedicated to Mr. Tyler

I meant to post this last week, but am just now getting around to it! Tyler is definitely an 18-month baby on the move who LOVES to keep us busy.

For example . . . I had run upstairs for like TWO SECONDS, and heard him raising cane downstairs (not crying, just trying to get my attention.) This was the conversation:

Me: "Tyler . . . come upstairs to Mommy." (yep, we're down with gates now) Repeated multiple times.

Kayla: "Mommy, Tyler's in the high chair."

Me: "What?" "IN the highchair?"

Kayla: "Yes -- he climbed up in the highchair."

Hence the above picture! He was "stuck" in his perch!


Later that same morning . . . (notice how the high chair lid is now in place . . .preventing him from climbing up himself) . . . I walked in the kitchen to find him ON the table. I took this pic after I had helped him down to the safety of the chair.


After lunch, I was cleaning up and saw several bright flashes out of the corner of my eye -- at first I thought it was lightning . . . nope . . . I'll let you guess which child was helping me out by taking pictures like the one above.


This was actually taken a different day . . . but thought I would include it. He somehow managed to get his shirt up on his head, and then got it stuck. (And then this mean mama made him wait until I could take a picture!)


We love bike rides -- and with Kayla being such a trooper riding her bike, we haven't used the trailer very much at all because Tyler MUCH prefers to be on the back of Bryan -- even with a helmet on.

One of our favorite "when Tyler takes a nap" activities . . . having a tea party with real cupcakes with LOTS of frosting!

Fall Festival

We had a great time tonight at our church's Fall Festival! Definitely one of those things that is more enjoyable with older kids! We had our friends Kaleb and Sara with us . . . (translation . . . 4 extra hands, 4 extra eyes to keep track of the kids!)

I wish the cotton candy was larger . . .

Whew . . . we made it through the corn maze!

Playing in the corn pit . . .

Yeah Kayla . . . get some air!

Yep . . . head first. Is there any other way to go down a slide???

Happy 95th Bday, Grandpa

Happy 95th Birthday, Grandpa Smiley!

We made a whirlwind trip to St. Louis to celebrate this achievement. Picked Joshua up from school Friday at noon, and we were back home Sat. night by 9pm. Lots of windshield time, but so worth it! The kids were troopers on the way back -- only one stop for a 6-hour trip. Woot woot!

Grandma and Grandpa with their 4 children.

Grandma and Grandpa with their 4 children and spouses.

And this would be our clan.

Lots of smiles during this picture. 21 years ago, for their 50th anniversary, all of the grandchildren lined up behind the cake, oldest to youngest . . . so this was our best rendition! Fun times!

Speaking of fun times . . . this would be the great-grandchildren. Some of them were not overly thrilled about this photo opportunity!

Swinging in the backyard

Found in our backyard (photo taken with my iPhone)

Rare moment with our kids captured

Little girl, don't grow up too fast

Labor Day weekend 2010 (part two)

Welcome to Labor Day weekend 2010

Lisa's garden project, step one - kill grass

Joshua's first day of school!

Well, we just did it . . . we just put our oldest on the bus to Kindergarten! He did great -- and mama did too :). He was SOOO excited -- he couldn't fall asleep last night.


Waiting at our bus stop -- this is our neighbor boy who is also in his class. They play together ALOT!

One pic with all of the bus stop kids!

I went up to the school to see the "gathering" of the Kindergarten classes.

Here's Joshua just chillin'.

So exciting . . .!

Special Visitors from PA

Some very, very special friends of ours came by for a visit this weekend . . . and we are already missing them! Dale and Pearl were like "grandparents" for our kiddos before we moved to KS and it was such a blast to reconnect with them again!

Their offer to visit Chuck E. Cheese was certainly taken up by our kids!
Some pretty serious Skee-ball, I would say!

Pearl and Kayla coloring

And of course, some super yummy ice cream to top off the visit!
Such a treat to see them again . . . !