Happy Halloween! (Our not-so-spooky-celebration!)

Last Friday we had our Fall Party at church. It was set up kind of like a carnival where you go to different stations and give your tickets to play games and win "money" that you turn in for prizes. Alex ended up with 8 prizes! Good stuff, too! And mostly from playing the duck pond game. In fact we were at the duck pond game about 1/3 of the night! Ryan was the Emcee of the evening, so we hung around and played games until after they sang happy birthday to him (surprise! my poor embarrassed hubby!) and the kids were about falling asleep! Both Alex and Sam had a great night and I would have more pictures except my camera battery died (the thing has been giving me grief lately) and I couldn't take any more. One of the youth group s got a family shot of us, but I am waiting for her to e-mail it to me. Oh, and special thanks to my mom for coming for the weekend to help me with the boys. Couldn't have done it without her help!

The Horse

The Crazy Cowboy!

Grams taking Alex on the "Cupcake Walk"  

I was actually thankful they didn't win!  That would have been messy!

First attempt at a photo...

What an arm! (from 2 feet away)

Ahhh, that's better!  He really was happy all night.

I think he just didn't like the feel of the straw.

Alex didn't really care for the nerf gun.  But he did enjoy watching other kids shoot it.  In fact, we sat there and watched other kids for quite a while.  Alex would stand behind them and yell, "Go!" when they were supposed to shoot.  It was hilarious, but kind of annoying to the older kids, so we didn't stick around too long!

These are some of the cupcakes I made for the cupcake walk. I did 40 of them!! 

Ryan's Birthday Surprise

When Ryan entered his office on Friday morning (his 29th birthday) this is what he saw...plus about 15 teenager cheering!! They had all gone to his office while he was talking with another teacher and made short work of decorating in Nebraska Huskers colors for his birthday. They also all signed a Huskers t-shirt and gave it to him. Other families gave him another Huskers t-shirt, a Huskers cap, and a Superman t-shirt. They also had someone make a cake and sang to him in front of everyone at the Fall Party that night. That morning I made him his favorite omelet for breakfast, but we didn't really get to celebrate until we went out on a date on Saturday. It was a very, very busy day for him, so I was so pleased that the teens helped make it special. Obviously we are all thankful for "Pastor Ryan" and all he does for us. Love you, Honey!

Sammy's 1st Haircut

Grocery Shopping Just Got Easier

Really and truly my two boys are pretty good for me in the grocery store. They know the routine and I know just the right treats and toys to bring to make it all work. It's a system we have now. The problem usually comes in how to get around the store. Most stores have these kid friendly carts with a car shaped base for the little ones to sit in complete with steering wheel, or some sort of two kid booster attached to the back. The problem is that they are not friendly. THEY ARE HUGE!! I end up hitting shelves, bumping in to displays...I've yet to hit a person yet...take that back, I did hit a person one time--very embarrassing! Anyway, Hy-Vee, our local grocery store, just solved my problem! They are switching all their carts to this lovely new 2-kid cart. It is only slightly bigger than a normal cart, but roomy enough for both my boys to be in my reach and eyesight!! This may seem like a silly thing to be excited about, but other mommies of preschoolers can share my glee!

Our Travels

Well, of course we were in Michigan for 2 days and everything was happening so quickly that we forgot to take a single picture!!  Thankfully my friend Sarah got some for us at the pumpkin patch.  We crammed into those two days many conference workshops, a trip to the pumpkin patch, card games with friends, some shopping, and a lot of fun times!  We did have a wonderful time at the conference and are planning to spend another day or two there next year!!

Here are a few pictures from our quick stop at mom's to break up the trip and drop off/pick up Alex.  

Our little cowboy!

Alex and Grandpa having some fun together.



Mom made this huge german chocolate cake for Ryan for an early birthday party at their house--it looked like a Dr. Suess birthday cake!  It was really cool!
Ryan was given some nice presents from the fam.  Oh, and Nate & Heather....your present will be coming back to you someday...when you least expect it!!!

See You Next Week!

Road Trip!!  Yep, we are headed out in about 30min!  The car is packed and we're headed to Michigan for the Mid-America Conference on Preaching.  We are looking forward to a really good week and we will see you later!

Hard at Work at Home Improvement!

We have always wished our livingroom furniture matched, so we decided to paint all the wood accents black so they all go together and look a little more contemporary.

I started with this bookshelf.  It was red, and Ryan has always thought it would look really good black. So I painted it--and what do you know? it does!

This is my old hope chest.  It was a stained wood but now it is a shiny black.  I LOVE it this way!

The trim on the big mirror was brown wood, but now it's black, too.  We still have to do the tv stand and the hide-away end tables.  We'll post more pics when I get more done.

This is a fall decoration that I made for just $1.50 since I had most of the materials already.

Here are my two boys that I am always working on!!!  (they're having some refreshment after "working hard" at playing outside!)  I'd post a picture of Ryan, too, but he still needs so much work....:-)

Poppy's Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to a really great pumpkin patch just 15 min. from our house. It was the perfect fall day: blustery and sunny at the same time! We got to see tons of animals, play on slides and treeforts, go through a timberwood maze, and the kids got free pumpkins! We opted not to do the hayride this year or the face painting--I'm pretty sure Alex wouldn't have like either. But he did LOVE the chickens and the llamas especially! And somehow Sam fell asleep in the stroller, though most of the time it was basically like "off-road" driving the thing! The place was so big and it took so much energy chasing Alex around as he excitedly ran from site to site that we were all exhausted after just 2 hours! We love family fun!

The Latest Happenings

We finally got a video of Alex saying his ABC's.  Well, he names some of them and does the sound for others.  He has been completely obsessed with letters for a few weeks now and in about 2 weeks' time went from naming one or two letters to all but 4 or 5.  This is a bit longer of a video, btw (about 4.5min.).  oh, and just to be clear: no we do not feed him bowls full of sugar or espresso shots, and yes, this energy level is normal!

And here is a better video of Sammy crawling.  He is getting VERY fast.  Last night he crawled all the way up the aisle at church very quickly chasing after a toy.  I now have to keep the bathroom door and my bedroom door shut just to reign him in!  He pulls to standing on everything and is even transferring from one thing to another. Unfortunately this means he is getting lots of bumps and bruises as he falls A LOT!  

Playing at the Park

Sammy will not stay on the blanket, no matter how many times I put him back there!

Maybe cuz he sees his big bro having so much fun on all the "big kid" toys!

September Silliness

Yo, Dude...help me out of this place.  Bunch a nuts in here!

His Highness perched on his top of his royal pillows.

Why do kids have to get so stinkin' close to the tv?

Alex is obsessed with Uno cards right now.  He brings them to me and asks "What's This?" so that I will tell him the number and color.  Then he slides them through the slit in the doors of the tv stand.  weird game but keeps him busy!!

So tired from a busy day of playing that he fell asleep drinking his juice!

check out the toddler tummy in all it's glory

mom, seriously, can you give a guy a minute.  I'm writing my will in case Alex ally runs over me or falls and squishes me.  Dad gets my paci & you get my blankie.

the cheezeball strikes again!