Thanksgiving

For those of you who don't know, Michael and I have taken to hosting our family at Thanksgiving. We love having everyone to the house, as we love a good party! We will be having lunch with turkey, ham and all the fixings starting at 1:00, so please feel free to join us or just stop by on your way to say hello!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year with both kids dressing up and enjoying it. Lilly was Ella Barbie Princess and the Diamond Castle (I still haven't figured out the Diamond Castle part yet, but it's what she wanted from day one) and Andy was Nemo. His costume was by far the cutest I think we've had. He still is wearing it around the house and I just laugh every time he wants to put it on. Michael and I got it out a week early so he could get used to it. I wasn't sure he'd wear the hat, and he proved me wrong the first day I tried to put it on him. He put the hat on, but didn't want anything to do with the body part...until Michael walked through the door. Then he put it on with no trouble at all! I think kids have an uncanny knack of proving their parents wrong at a very young age. So Andy wore his costume on and off all week long for small periods of time and he never once fought us while putting it on.

Once Friday came around, I thought, "here's our real test". We were going to make several stops and he was going to have to take it off and on each time, as it wouldn't fit in his car seat with him. It really does look like a big marshmallow. Our first stop was here in town at Susan's shop. She's the lady that pays me at the church and is Andy's "Grandma" in the mornings when I'm there when I'm being the mean mom and letting him cry it out trying to get him to go to sleep. Michael got him out and had him dressed before I could even get Lilly around to the other side of the van to help him. She had entire boxes of fruit snacks for each of the kids. One for Lilly that was all Barbie snacks and one for Andy that is all Nemo snacks. She lives here by herself and her kids aren't too far away, but I don't think she sees them a lot, so I'm glad she enjoys ours!

Then we went to Papa K's house. Neither one of the kids had had a nap that day, so Lilly fell asleep in the car on the way over and Andy just looked like he was in a daze. But he hoped out of his chair and let Michael dress him, no fuss at all! I thought, this is too good to be true.

Papa always gives the kids apples and both of them ate one while we were there. They love them and what a good snack before we get started with all the candy!

After Papa's we went to the Methodist Church there in McLouth where they had Trunk of Treat. We love that they do this. It's a safe environment where we can let the kids walk around and not worry about cars! We also saw the Weissenbach clan and that was one of the highlights of the evening! The kids had fun running around while we chatted. Cara, Denise, Josey, Manda, Kymani, Jamari, Little Kathel, Kerry, and Levi all joined us there too. Which is also why we love that the church does it. When the kids had collected all the candy from there, Kathel invited us back to the house for lasagna. It was great. We got to eat with the family and see everyone for more than a couple minutes that night.



You're never too old for Halloween!

That was our last stop and Andy had to put the costume on one more time. We went to Aunt Nita and Uncle Deak's house and I just kept waiting for the melt down, but I have to say, it never came. I don't know who to give the credit to, my husband or Andy, but they both did it all night long and not once was there screaming, resisting, or crying. (From either one!) I know part of it is just Daddy's touch, as it seems with both my kids, anything that they can do with Daddy is always better. I'm so thankful for that, as it makes my life much easier. All in all, we had a fabulous night! Both the kids were soundly asleep when we got home that night and we were exhausted too. Here are some additional pictures of Andy in the costume. It's just so cute, I can't say it enough!

Carving Pumpkins

Last Wednesday night I hurried home from the church so I could help Michael with the annual carving of the pumpkins we so carefully selected at the patch. When I got home, everyone was ready to get started, so I grabbed a quick bite and we dug in...literally! Enjoy these pictures!

Lilly had to "show" Andy the pumpkin seeds and what to do with it when you pulled them out!

That's my girl!

He was getting the hang of it... in between putting the pumpkin seeds and goo into his mouth!

Andy only lasted about half an hour and then he had to go to bed. For all our sakes! Daddy and Lilly finished the pumpkins and then scared themselves with them. What a great night we had.

Looking back...

Okay, I was looking through a folder of old pictures and found this. I know that kids grow and change, that is part of life. But look at how much they have changed. I made me a little sad to think about how they are not so little anymore. --- mike

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Tenille's mom and sister came to spend the weekend with us, so we thought that this would be a great time to take our annual trip to Schake's Pumpkin Patch. We spent several hours playing on the toys, sling-shotting pumpkins, and hay-rack riding out to the field to pick our own pumpkins. This is probably one of Lilly's favorite things to do that is holiday related. We get to go to the farm, play in the dirt, and then search 40 acres of pumpkins for the perfect, jack-o-latern pumpkin.

Luckly, my sister Cara and Tammy are friends with the Schake's and they work at the patch through out the month of October, so we get rock star treatment. Really, that just means not having to walk far from the parking lot, not much else.

Anyways, the kids had a great time with plenty of help to pick out just the right pumpkin. All in all, Andy and Lilly had Cara, Tammy, Chelle, and Nana (Anita, T's mom) to help them through the field. Of course, Andy with his skills in walking and running, bit the dirt several times and was attacked by several pumpkin vines. Lilly was determined to find the smallest pumpkin that she could find. And she did, it's smaller than a lemon.

Over all, it was a great, yet exhausting day. Now we just have to carve our pumpkins!!!!

Michael

MRI Results

I finally heard back and the results of the MRI were clear and they say everything is fine with my brain, that they can see anyway. They are still wanting me to take the medicine for the migraines, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for everyone's concern's and prayers!

Now it's time for all the jokes about why I have them and who is causing them....my kids, my husband, my family, my in-laws, I know. Joke it up people... I have no clear answers either.

MRI Adventures

I know, I know, it's not so exciting having to have one done, but as life takes it's turns, that's where I am right now. My dear friend Megan called and left me a voicemail on my new phone (Yes, i went with the blackberry per her great endorsement on her blog a couple weeks ago) and as I was sitting here, I thought I might share a few thoughts on it with everyone.

It was LOUD! And I had to have an IV, which many of you know is not a fun procedure for me as they usually have to call in the IV specialists and I usually have to sit there with warm wraps on both of my arms and it takes forever. But as luck would have it, my radiology tech was a graduate from Fort Hays State University and he just laughed at me once he looked at my veins and got the IV started right away. (I'm not saying that FHSU had anything to do with it, but GO Fort Hays!) My loving husband came in with me and sat in the room while they did the MRI and he also had the pleasure of wearing earphones for the 20 minute procedure. I might add, it is not at all like what you see on Grey's Anatomy. Again, it was LOUD, even outside the room and they put this funny thing on top of your face, as if it isn't bad enough going into a tight cylindar, they cover your face with this thing that has a strategically placed mirror to help those of us that are clausterphobic. I did my best not to freak out and just 'pretended' to be asleep for the most part! I did ask the tech half way through if he was trying to give me a migraine since it was so incredibly loud in there!

I had this done on Monday and I haven't heard back yet from the doctor's office on the results yet, so no news as of today. As my OB office always says, no news is good news, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to have the same calming effect on me. Until I hear otherwise...

Lilly's First Day of Pre-school

So I know she's been in pre-school now for almost 2 months and I'm behind posting these pictures. (I know, I know, I really need to learn how to pull them off the camera myself!) Her teacher is Mrs. Schwartz and the assistant teacher is Mrs. Rosebrough. She loves her school and is making friends there. Andy was obviously excited for her to go as well. Can you believe I didn't pose them in this picture?

Our Other Children

I just realized that I haven't posted pictures of our very cute puppies. Well, they're not puppies anymore actually! They had their first birthday on September 24th and you would think we'd be happy that they are no longer puppies, but now I have to come up with a new excuse for all their bad behaving! We do have a trainer coming in November, so I'm very excited about that and looking forward to them 'training' Michael and I. Enjoy!

Our Surprise Trip to St. Louis

Okay, so it wasn't really a surprise to us, but we did surprise Cara when we showed up at her door that Thursday evening to go with her and Tammy on her birthday trip! We had dropped off the kids with Aunt Denise (thanks Neice!) and we put their stuff in the Malibu and off we went. For those of you who know my husband, we didn't 20 minutes into the trip and he already had taken a wrong turn! In KC, no less. But, our traveling moto is "we will get lost at least once" each time we go anywhere outside the Topeka - Lawrence area. I keep telling my husband I'm going to get him a GPS so we'll stop having these issues....but I do love Michael and I guess that makes our traveling exciting!

Since it was so late with us leaving, we didn't get to the hotel until late that evening, and let me tell you, it was a gem. We stayed at the Econo lodge that night, hole in the wall and all, and first thing in the morning I checked us out and booked us in at the Hyatt. I'm all for saving a few bucks, but not when my safety (or my sleep) are concerned. Needless to say, the Hyatt was fantastic! Here are a few pictures from our trip. We had a great weekend with Cara and Tammy and we're thrilled to have some adult time!

These 2 pictures were taken in the "pod" on the way to the top of the Arch. The doors opened and I just looked at Michael and said "are you kidding me?" But I managed to make it up and back down with only a slight anxiety attack.

We did go tour the brewery, which was huge and a really great tour! Plus we got to sample the beer afterward. We've found a new favorite, Bud Light Lime, of which I even enjoyed!

The highlight of the trip was going to the Cardinal's stadium for the evening game. We had great seats (Cara and Tammy will tease me for not knowing the name of the section) in this special area that was gated off and had it's own food court area that was air conditioned (they knew they were traveling with me I think!). The game was a blow out, 18 to 2 I think was the final score. The Cards did great and we had fun at the park!

To end our trip, we did go to Six Flags. We did the waterpark on Saturday and then came back Sunday morning to ride the rollercoasters. Cara rode more than I did, so I gave props for that! All in all, I think everyone had a great time and I'd do it again next week. Well, maybe in a few weeks....we did buy the Big 6 pass to Six Flags!