Monday, November 13, 2017

Halloween 2017, etc....

 The end of October has been good (if chilly).  But we did have a warm streak in the middle of the month.  I headed up to Minneapolis for a 3 day conference for work, which was great!
 Meanwhile, these two hoodlums enjoyed a Cubs playoff game!
 And Isaac got to go to Hattie's birthday party!
 Uncle Josh adopted the sweetest dog on the planet!  Emily is a 5 year old border collie mix and she is too sweet for words!
 The boys absolutely love her!


 Halloween involved a little DIY work this year.  Noah really wanted to be Iron Fist, so we had to come up with our own mask (as he's not a famous one you can find easily).
 Turned out pretty good!
He had an evening event at school and then a karate party, so plenty of opportunities to wear his costume!
 We got our pumpkins carved too.  Isaac went with a "silly" face.
 Noah opted for an "Iron Fist" design and Sam chose a poke ball design.
 Isaac had his classroom party at preschool, he was thrilled to show his ninja moves!
 His class sang some cute songs with Mrs. Adrienne.

 Despite the chill, we put our pumpkins out for the neighbors (and the squirrels) to enjoy!
 Group costume shot!  Sam was an adorable narwhal!

 Perfect selfie of me and my adoring husband.  He was not a fan of the cold.
 Sam started up gymnastics, he is in the 7-10 year old boy class, so that means working on the big equipment.  Hard to see, but he's on the high bar over there in his dark red pants.  He loves it!
 Isaac had to test out daddy's glasses just for a minute.
This past weekend, Noah had his karate tournament.  This time, he was with the red belt group and did sparring.
He also did his bo form.
And self defense!
We were super proud of his effort.  He ended up with two 3rd place trophies for form and self defense.  Way to go dude!
 Now, we head into the holiday season!  Of course we had to kick things off with matching Christmas jammies!  Cannot wait to spend the holidays with these goons in our new home!


Monday, October 16, 2017

Rodeo, Kim's birthday, and other fall fun!

 Back in September, we went to the annual TriState Rodeo in Fort Madison, Iowa.  We all look forward to it so much and have a great time with the Krogmeiers, the Richmonds, the Schwantzs and all our friends there!

 Sam was able to have his beloved cotton candy!
 Noah was excited to try out a new treat, funnel cake!
 Obligatory opening day Bears garb, even if we aren't super confident in our team this season!
 Our rodeo group just gets bigger and bigger each year!
 The older boys enjoyed hat day the following week at school!
 I celebrated my *gasp* 20th high school reunion with the usual group of fools!

 The group got together with some of the kiddos the next day!
 Me and my best friend!
 Can't believe I've known these lovelies for over 20 years!  I don't know how I would have turned into a moderately successful adult without them!
 Meanwhile, Mike celebrated his sister, Kim's 50th birthday with a boat ride downtown!

 Matching uncle/nephew shirts on happenstance, score!
 We had yet another fun weekend when the Benhart kids came to town.  CJ, Meredith, and Kate are just heroes to our kids.  We all had a great time!
 Isaac has been insisting on reading textbooks lately, wonder where he gets that from...
 We took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend to go apple picking!
 The ultra golds were everyone's favorite this time around.
 Sam gnawed on his despite having some loose teeth.



 And wouldn't you know it, Sam lost his first tooth on the car ride home!
We hosted our friend, Boots for the weekend.  The boys were all smitten as usual!
 And Mike's gift to his sister was a trip to a Monday Night football Bears game complete with limo.  She appropriately repurposed an old jersey!
So, fall goes flying by as fast as ever!  Looking forward to Halloween and other fun adventures!