No Fish Story

Dad has been enjoying the terrific fall weather. In addition to enjoying the weather, he has been enjoying some really great catches. Lauren especially looks forward to helping him reel in the big ones. She also loves the post-reeling pictures.

Jack-o-Lanterns

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon carving Jack-o-Lanterns. I say we, but really it was Mom and Dad. None of the kids wanted to scoop out the middle. They only wanted to choose the type of face they wanted and watch Mom and Dad do all the work.

Halloween

The kids had a great time this Halloween! We went to the Spooktacular sponsored by the city. Lauren tied for 1st place in the Most Origial costume contest. She was a ladybug. Colin was an alien and Stuart a Ninja Turtle. They also got to see a magic show. Everyone enjoyed trick-or-treating on Halloween night, even Mom and Dad who were dressed as Mom and Dad!

Grandparent's Day

Nana and Grammy were invited to school to celebrate Grandparent's Day with Colin. They also each were able to stop in a visit Stuart's preschool class.

Football

Colin enjoyed a successful flag football season with the Lions! Stuart enjoyed cheering on the Texans from the sideline. GREAT Aunt Pat treated both boys to an official Steelers and Patriots jersey - Rothlisberger (sp?) and Brady, of course! They look like mean tough guys, don't they?

Lauren Loves to Dress Up

It was absolutely her idea to stick her tongue out for this picture!

Go Steelers!! Lauren is ready for football season.

Swimming anyone?

Lauren absolutely loves to dress up. She puts on everything and most of the time none of what she puts on is neccessarily hers. These pictures are LOL fun!

Back to School Round 2

Stuart's first day of preschool with Mrs. Jill was Friday. He's now part of the BIG kid preschool class - the 4-year-olds. He is very excited to be going to school three days a week! He's also very excited to be the "man of the house" at Grammy daycare while Colin is at school.

Back to School

Thursday, August 15th marked the first day of school for Colin. He is in the 1st grade this year and will be going to school all day. He's very excited! Along with being at school all day comes PE or music each day, computers and library once a week, and RECESS with the BIG kids on the BIG playground.

One Last Getaway

Lauren enjoyed feeding the baby goat as long as she was on the

outside of the fence.

Lauren takes a little time to stop and smell the flowers.

But not much time - she's 20 months old and very busy!

Colin with his "Catch of the Day"
At the Farmstead the kids use cane poles and a bucket of earthworms for bait.


Stuart enjoys a visit with a friendly bull outside the dairy barn.

The boys were hoping to get rich quick after panning

for iron pirite (a.k.a. "fool's gold")

The weekend before school started, we decided on a whim to go to Kansas City. We had been wanting to take the kids to a place in Overland Park called Deanna Rose Farmstead. On Saturday morning we got up and watched the weather at our hotel. The forecast was for rain. We killed a little time searching for Pokemon backpacks. The rain stopped early and we had a wonderful day. The temperature was in the 70s and it was cloudy. The rain scared most of the people away so it wasn't busy at all. The kids had a blast fishing, feeding the baby goats, mining, riding ponies, and taking a wagon ride. I would highly recommend taking kiddos.