SCHOOL PICTURES

The kids got their school pictures back on Friday....they turned out really cute! This is exactly what they look like every day right now. When Livi was in Kindergarten, I started letting her choose her own shirt for picture day. It almost killed me not to pick out her cutest outfit, but I wanted her to be able to look back and see what she loved to wear at different ages. So now, three kiddies later, they are all picking their own outfits. My anxiety is nearly gone- the only requirement is that it must be ironed- and it's fun to see how much thought they put into their decisison. Nick knew what he was going to wear three weeks before picture day! Olivia was quite pleased with her pictures this year, saying proudly, "Yep. Did my own hair and dressed myself!" Love you rascals! XO

Benjamin (3-1/2), Pre-school

Nicholas, 1st Grade

Olivia, 4th Grade

FALL

We love fall in the midwest. Seriously, Missouri is one of the prettiest places on earth right now! September and October always have lots of fun things to do outside, too, when the weather is so perfect. We hit a pumpkin patch every year; this year we went twice! The first time was with all the kids when they only had a half day of school. Besides the fact that Ben chose not to wear any shoes in the car and we didn't realize it until we were at the patch 20 ouside of town, the afternoon was great. And Ben lived through it, bare feet and all.

SIDE NOTE: We didn't have time to drive home, get shoes, and then get back out to the pumpkin patch. We all voted to stay, even Ben. But Olivia insisted we say a prayer so maybe we would find a pair of shoes lying around that he could wear! We didn't find any shoes, but we did have a great,  safe time so her prayer was answered!

I need this sign for our front yard...

Ben smoked the big kids on the trike track

The goat whisperer...this child cannot pass up a hungry goat for anything!

Mr. Pumpkin GQ

One little pumpkin at a time, Ben "organized" the pumpkin patch...

I wish this picture would have turned out better. Love these kids.

Ben, checking his little feet for a "little pokey thing..." I felt bad and frustrated about the whole shoe thing but he didn't seem to care at all!

Cowboy Nick...this kid can handle a rope!

Ben's preschool hosted a "Day at the Farm" one Saturday at a place we have been wanting to visit since last year when Nick's kindergarten class took a field trip to Red Barn Farm. He was sick that day and has been wanting to go ever since....so today was the day for all of us! 

It was the cutest place with lots of farm animals, pumpkins, corn mazes and things to do. I think the kids loved the baby pigs and the corm maze the best. I bet the boys ran the maze ten times! The weather was great and the place was so pretty that we could have stayed all day. It almost made me want to live on a farm....almost....

  

ZOO

Our playgroup went to the Kansas City Zoo today...Ben was so excited. He was ready to go first thing out of bed so we had to wait a few hours for the animals to "wake up" before we got in the car!

The KC Zoo is absolutely huge. We were there four hours and only saw "Africa." The grounds are beautiful though and we wandered over rivers, around lakes and through the trees! We had lunch in the monkey house...Ben fit right in. We will have to go back again and check out the rest of the place. It will probably take a week to see it all with little legs!

 I almost forgot one of Ben's favorite parts of the trip....the Sea Lion Show! This funny guy performed right in front of us and did all sorts of cool tricks. Ben L-O-V-E-D him!

VAN

It finally happened. According to the kids, I am "finally" a mom. Here's our new ride.....

I'm not sure why it took me so long to convert from the SUV family. Seriously, this thing is a dream with all these "mom features" like a million cubbies to store stuff, grocery hooks, built-in sun screens, cup holders big enough to hold a small child, I could go on and on. No suburban on earth is built like this. And the doors. Oh, the doors! It's almost magical, the way they open and close on their own......

GO DANIEL!

This morning our family headed up to the school for a charity walk/run held for one of Olivia's classmates. Daniel was diagnosed with leukemia over the summer and since then, the whole school has been cheering him on! We've done surprise baskets, video tapes, special letters, t-shirts, mystery friends, scrapbooks and all kinds of fundraisers. He is not in class, and probably won't be this year, but there is a special stuffed monkey that sits in his chair at school and the kids get to take turns caring for "Bongo." Every day the class Skypes with him for Math and gets to talk to him about his day. It has been amazing to see these fourth graders learn about compassion and faith and true friendship. Already this has been a year that Olivia will never forget. GO DANIEL!!

Liv's choir sang the National Anthem....she's hiding in the back!

NICK'S IDEAS....

Nick is hard at work, trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. He prefers to be a variety of things, something different for each Halloween activity we have to attend, if he can manage it. Here is this year's list of possible costumes:

1. Iron man
2. Vampire
3. Ninja
4. Nerd
5. Michael Jackson
6. Bat
7. Owl
8. Hawk
9. Survivalist
10. Army

We'll have to wait and see what he decides......

BABY GIRL

More cute ultrasound photos from this week....