Here are a few pictures….

My mom came down for a visit over the Halloween weekend!!! Noah knew about it about a month before, so it was a LONG wait before she got here. Almost every day he would ask if Silly Grandma was on her way. But when she finally did get here, we were busy pretty much the whole time!!! Let’s see if I can remember everything!

Mom got here on Thursday the 27th around noon. So we got caught up a little bit and played.

After supper, we headed out to the “Enchanted Forest”. We got a little candy there and there was little stations throughout the park that you could stop and watch a puppet show, magic show, kids singing, etc. There was even a bounce house at the end that the kids played in.

Friday morning we went to iHop for breakfast to have “Scary Face Pancakes”.

Then after breakfast, we headed out to the KC Pumpkin Patch.

Even did the Corn Maze while we were there. It was fun, but we definitely didn’t go in order. I think we hit number 7, 8, 3 and 2. Guess that’s what you get when you let a 3 year old and a Silly Grandma lead the way!!!

Friday night, Mom and I headed to the winery for their “Hallowine” party. I won some tickets on Facebook to attend, and we decided we should go!! Mom was dancing in the parking lot!!!

Saturday was spent more laid back. Mom watched the kids while Rick and I went to lunch and the movie “Courageous”. After the movie, Mom and I hit Costco for a little shopping, but I think that’s about it.

Sunday morning we went to the zoo for “Boo at the Zoo”. We left Rick and Faith at home and we ended up spending ALL day there!!!! We did see a few animals, but it was mainly about getting candy, riding the train, the tram, the sky safari, the carousal, and the playground!!

I babysit our neighbors baby about three times a week, and Monday was one of those days, so it was spent at home. I can’t remember what we all did, but I remember it being nice outside!

Monday night was trick or treating!!!!! We had a GREAT time!!!

Tuesday morning I had to do books, so I left before Mom. She stayed a little longer to watch the kids while Rick got a little work done. I’m glad that she stayed as long as she did, but I wish she could have stayed longer!!! It was very nice having her here!!! Thanks for everything Mom!!!! You’re the best!!!!

(If this post does’t make sense, it’s because I’ve been working on it for a couple of days!!! Hopefully you get the drift!)

Last Sunday (July 17th), we went to the second annual Touch-a-Truck event. Noah enjoyed it WAY more this year than he did last year! Last year, I think it was just too overwhelming for him and he just wanted to sit and look at books. This year, the event was in a little bigger area and they had a bounce house and slide, so of course, Noah had to do that about a million times! Faith was just happy walking around looking at everything. There were also some goats there, so she enjoyed watching them.

There was a photographer that was doing some vintage photos with an old firetruck…for free!!! So we attempted the picture! Faith was getting pretty hungry, so we weren’t sure how it was going to turn out…but I think it looks pretty good!

There was a pretty big line to sit in the combine and we didn’t make it half way through the line before Noah got too bored and wanted to move on. The combine was probably the biggest hit – at least compared to the line!

There was a pink tractor that you could sit on…we thought Faith should sit on it and of course, Noah wanted to also!

There was also an ambulance that you could go in and look at. The kids seemed to like that, but I’m hoping that will be the only time are in one (well, until next year at this event again)!!!

There were many more trucks there too, so we had a pretty good day. It was so hot outside, so it was nice to be indoors for this event!!!!

The Arends clan come down for the weekend and we decided to take the kids to the Kansas Speedway to show them what it was all about. It was a HOT one, but the kids all did great!!!

Rick and Brian tried their hand at being a pitman! Rick actually did pretty well!!! I was impressed!

On Sunday, Brian & Pam headed out to the track…armed with sunscreen, drinks, sunscreen, hats, and did I mention sunscreen? It was another hot one for them, but they didn’t look too pink when they came back after the race, so that sunscreen must have worked!!! While they were gone, the rest of us went down to the pool to cool off!!!

Here’s the clan before they had to leave…

Noah and Faith got to spend the day with Thomas this last weekend. We left our house at 8 am Friday morning and went with two neighbors. We were about there and Noah tells us that “Faith burped”. That hasn’t been a good thing to say, so I look at Faith and all of her breakfast was now sitting in her lap. Not a good way to start the day! I climbed in the back to try to start cleaning her up, but I don’t do very well…so I’m leaning over Noah trying to get some fresh air so I don’t get sick! As soon as we got there, I jump out (right into some mud), and Rick continues to clean Faith up as best as he could. We have not learned our lesson yet, so we did not have an extra pair of clothes for Faith…so as soon as we walked to the souvenir tent, she got herself a nice $16 tshirt. I think that is the most expensive thing in her wardrobe…and it doesn’t even look girly! Go figure!!! She would have also gotten some shorts if they had any, but being they didn’t, we just poured some water on her shorts and let it air dry.

Now that we have her smelling a little better…we can start our day with Thomas! Noah must have remembered from last year that there was trains to play with and that’s what he was asking for. We didn’t go on the actual train ride this year (Noah seems to be a little gun shy getting on anything that moves) which was fine, because he did all the other stuff. He did say when we got home that he wanted to ride on Thomas, so maybe he would have been fine. The kids got to play with lots of Thomas trains, sit in a firetruck, go thru a little haybale maze, jump house and slide, get a tattoo, watch a magician, petting zoo and have funnel cake!

After a few hours, we all left and treated the kids to McDonald’s on the way home.

(There are more pictures here)

Early Tuesday morning, Rick and I left while everyone was still sleeping so we could go out for breakfast and then head to a seminar that Rick had to speak at. It was nice that I could go along and videotape for him. After we got back, we went to the park to play. When the kids were in bed….we painted the living room!!! Mom had actually started a little earlier while Renae and I were off shopping!

Wednesday morning we all headed to the zoo. I was thinking we would only be there for a couple of hours before the kids would start getting pretty restless, but we ended up closing the zoo down!!! The kids were great all day and Faith only took about a 15 minute nap!

Thursday morning we finished painting and put the living room back together before they left. It looks great!!!

The time always goes way to fast when they are here. I had more fun things to do that we didn’t get around too. Guess they just need to make another trip!!!

Part of the zoo is not open because they are building an African Sky Safari. I’m sure it will be a great addition to the zoo, but I didn’t get to see my giraffes! We did get to see the elephants – although we had just left the snakes and Noah wanted more snakes. Who’s kid is this anyway?? I HATE snakes!!!! And who picks snakes over elephants???

Faith seemed to really take everything in. She even rode the carousel!!

When we left the zoo, the temperate was 73 degrees!!!! Needless to say, we didn’t have our jackets on anymore!

Well, Noah seems pretty excited to see Santa and tell him what he wants for Christmas. During breakfast this morning, he was going thru all the trains that he wanted…Hiro, Duncan, Salty, Cranky and Edward. I’m pretty sure Santa is only bringing him the first two…hope Noah is okay with that!!!! He keeps adding to his list, how can I keep up!?! He also wants a red car, blue car, green car, yellow car, a police car, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a school bus. So he was all prepared to talk to Santa…

So off we went to Bass Pro Shop to talk with Santa – they actually give you a picture for free…and you can take your own! This is the picture that I took of Noah…he was busy telling Santa where the train is at. I didn’t get a picture of Faith…she was too busy crying. The picture we got from Bass Pro Shop, is a pretty good one of her crying!

We spent a lot of time by the train track and we also wrote a letter to Santa, colored a picture and had a fresh warm chocolate chip cookie (I think Faith had more than anyone!). Here’s a few more pictures from this morning.

On October 20th, the gym that Rick goes to had “Boo Fest” for the kids. There was a costume contest and Faith won first place in her chili costume!!!

Saturday morning we carved a pumpkin. Rick really did all the work…he carved a haunted house, and of course I forgot to get a final picture, but it turned out great!!

Halloween night we took both kids to a few neighbors, but it was a little cold for Faith, so Rick and her went back home to hand out candy. Noah and I went around to more neighbors to get more candy!!! Noah is definitely a slow walker, he was too busy watching other people and wanted to look at his candy!! He was excited to get home to show Daddy all his goods!!! I was a little disappointed in the lack of 3 Musketeers, so we’ll have to work on that for next year!

Our neighborhood had a Fall Festival last Sunday. So after the Fire Station Open House, we came back and went to the Fall Festival. They had a pumpkin for all the kids to take home and had some fun games to play. Noah didn’t really partake in any games, he was more interested in the lemonade. He figured out how to push the button on the cooler to get more out and he kept filling his cup…who knew he liked lemonade!!!

They also had a hay ride going about every 1/2 hour and we would ride around the neighborhood for a little while. Of course we had to do that every time they left! Then the ponies came!!! They had two little horses that the kids could ride and Noah actually loved it! We thought he’d be a little scared, but he was actually mad when he had to get off and had to wait his turn to get back on. I’m pretty sure my Dad was looking down from Heaven and telling him to get off that stupid horse! Noah rode on the horse about 3 times and then when they loaded the horses on the trailer, he wanted to go tell the horses bye-bye.