October 2011

October is a bit backwards - starting with Halloween and working our way back to the 1st...

The Ste. Genevieve Elementry school had a Trunk or Treat this year. Poeple could enter their vechiles in the decorated contest. We entered as Jaws with the Jaws theme playing through the speakers. The van looked good, but unfortunaly we only got 2nd place. A little VW bug decorated as a monster toodk 1st place. Mommy put the shark together all by herself and thought she did a darn good job.

Daddy dressed up as a mad scientist this year.

Raya was a princess.

Broden was spider man

Kyrah was super girl (and also a pirate girl on actual Halloween night).

Early in October we took the kids to Stuckmeyers pumpkin patch. It was a great day, lots of things for the kids to do and many play areas.

Grandpa also planted pumpkins for the kids at the Cabin and we had a pumplin harvest one day.

More pictures from Stuckmeyers

Mommy decorated two pumpkins this year.

Silly goof off pictures. These glasses on Kyrah and Raya crack me up.

We also had a pumpkin carving day with the kids and Broc and Monica. The kids drew the faces on the pumkins and I cut them out. But they had to scoop the insides out.The final results....

Then tradgey struck...

We also saved up milk jugs to makes scaaarrryyyy ghosts which the kids painted the faces.

Results from the great pumpkin harvest.

Mommy ran the last of her Half marathon races on Oct. 23. She did 8 Half Marathon races in 2011, 5 of which were in Sept adn Oct.

Colonial days at Ste. Genevieve. The kids got to ride a huge plow horse.

We also made spookly gingerbread houses, although not much candy made it on the house.The kids will all be in Leslie's wedding in June, so the girls had their first dress fitting to see what would work for them. They had a great time trying on dresses. Kyrah will be a flower girl and Raya will be the minature bride.

In mid October we went to Sophia's birthday party which had a Scooby Doo Theme and was a costume party as well. Raya for some reason did not want to dress up.

Sophia is dressed as Daphane.

More pictures from Stuckmeyers. The corn maze was great for little kids, just enough turns for them to have fun but not get lost.

Here they are looking at this tiny tiny baby pig which for a pig was super cute.

Wagon ride time. I was a little nervous on this ride because the ride went all around the farm so we lost sight of them for awhile. Glad they all stayed in their seat.

And a nice outside picnic.

They really enjoyed the huge playyard. Although Raya needed a little boost up the rock wall.

The absolute favorite part for them of course was the horse rides. Although for $5 a ride, it seemed a bit short. As much as I have spent on pony rides, I could have bought a horse by now.

Early October was the Ste. Gen Homecoming and parade which Daddy was in with his softball girls.

Lots of candy from the parade then onto the football game. Again the kids lasted until about halftime, then they were getting a little too wild.

Connie had a party at her house when me and the kids stayed and spent the night. All of us were in bed together...it didn't work out so well. Everyone kept moving, stealing covers, then all three wanted to be touching me which is hard to do. We made it through and Mommy got up to go run a race and this is how they were sleeping. Raya sleeps with her butt in the air a lot.

Playing outside earlier that day at Connie's house.

Finally, October started out with a day at the cabin fishing. The fish were biting really good, but we instituted the catch and release method. The kids were more interested in the minnow bucket then the actual fish that came out of the pond.

September 2011

September was a month full up parades and lots of outside time. The weather was great so the kids played outside on their bikes and playhouse. For a random reason my neighbor was cleaning out her house and had this kids bed in the front yard for someone to pick up. My kids of course thought it was the best outside play toy ever and would not get off of it.

This was also the start of Ste. Gen. football season. We took the kids to a couple games, but the stands are really crowded and they do not sit still very well. We were typically able to stay for about half the game, which of course involved about 5 trips to the concession stand for snacks and drinks. The kids loved the tall dragon that walked around. At first they were scared of it, but soon wanted to give it high fives. Kyrah liked watching the cheerleaders.

These pictures are from the Ste. Gen. Chruch picnic, pretty much the last picnic of the season. It has a lot of kids games and a bounce house so they had a blast. Plus they found some of their daycare friends at the picnic as well. Mommy got to take them to the picnic alone because Daddy was at a Rams game.

Of course I begged Tina and Jimmy to come help. Kyrah in her funny glasses.

Could you get a better summer picture then a kid enjoying a snowcone??

Kyrah also ended up sick one day in September and Mommy had to take her to work to pick up her computer. Here she is in the building cafeteria enjoying some cereal. She loved the elevator ride.

September starts parades! Waiting for the candy trucks to come!

Random picture of where they eat their meals.

A very nice tribute to Sept. 11.

They also had a prade with all the local fire trucks and police cars.

Broden got a special treat and was able to go to the Rams game with Mommy and Daddy! The Rams lost of course, but he enjoyed the excitement of the game.

That is actually Mommy and Broden - bad lighting.

August 2011

So many updates and soo behind. On August 14th I traveled to the great windy city of Chicago to run the Rock and Roll half marathon. This was very nerve racking because who knows what the weather will be like in August!! Luckily, it was amazing weather! Cloudy and it even started sprinkling just a bit which was perfect because at that point I needed a little Godly cool-down. The race went great and I finished in 2:08:43. Here I am standing at The Bean - a giant silver bean shaped sculpture.


Ahhh proof of the completed race!

In August, Kyrah started back at gymnastics. We tried this last fall as well but she would not listen to the instructor and spent more time running back to me. So we are giving it another shot. She has done very well, staying in line and trying to get her cart wheels and backbends mastered. Her splits need some work, but not too bad for just starting out. In the below picture she is that tiny little speck of black next to the woman sitting on the ground.

Not sure what day this was exactly, but when Nick and Lydia come over they love to get in the big tub so of course everyone had to get in. I think there should be a maximum capacity sign put up after this night. The water didn't always stay in the tub to say the least.

August also brought the first day of school for Dennis and many children. I was seeing all the proud parents posting first day or back to school pictures on facebook, so I told Broc I would take his first day back at school photo. He posed for me as you can see...

Ahhh a rare moment of harmony sitting on Daddy's lap. Tight squeeze, but they can all still fit. They are still all the same size, right around 30-31 lbs.

Both Broden and Raya have some of the funniest sleeping habits. I caught this one of Broden - he must be chillax'n in his sleep.

With the start of school also comes the start of softball season for the Ste. Gen Hunters which Dennis is head coach. On a Saturday practice me and the kids came along to play in the gym and burn off some energy.

During softball season, Mommy has to be both drop off and pick up, although she does get quite a bit of help from Grandma and Aunt Tina. One night when I picked them up we decided to wash the car since it was so warm out. As you can guess, they got wet and ended up stripping and this is the result...

A hoosier bath

This was Kyrah's first official day at gymnastics.

Haircut time. It is hard to see in this picture, but Broden got a mohawk and Kyrah got a feather in her hair and Raya got bangs!! She is beautiful, but I think I will let them grow out.

They aslo got these snazzy new chairs - just their size.

Here's a photo of the bangs and the craziest thing is that she looks identical to me as a kid.

Arts and craft time. They are painting nicely in the garage so we can contain the mess.

We also started dress shopping for my beautiful niece Jessica, who is going to her first homecoming.

Broden at Sunday evening dinner at Grandma's with his usual sidekick - the baseball bat.

All the kids are addicted to horses right now. Grandma's neighbor has 3 horses that the feed apples and pears to. She also has this horse statute that they go up and sit on like they are riding it. The call it Flicka after the horse movie.

Watching Daddy's softball girls at the field. The kids LOVED going to the games. They don't exactly sit and watch for very long, but it is the perfect place for them to run around and play.