Visitors part 2

Then right before Thanksgiving, my high school friend, Leslie, and her two daughters came to visit. Leslie knows me as well as anyone could and we have LOTS of history together! :) Kayla was the flower girl in our wedding(CAN NOT believe she's in HIGH SCHOOL!!) and little Miss Meggie has wriggled her way into our hearts as well. We don't get to see them as much as we want to, but love every moment we can spend together!











A few days before Thanksgiving, we got our first snowfall, not too much but enough that Dave and the boys did some snowman building.

Visitors

In November, we had two sets of visitors!! Our first was Robert and Shanna ParkeHarrison. Robert and I have known each other since second grade when our fathers were stationed together in Germany. Robert, "Bobby", and I were also in an opera, Amal and the Night Visitors, together in Germany as well.
The dandylion picture is Kristopher's favorite!



Turns out, Robert's parents are both from the Joplin area. We were stationed in Joplin after Germany. We have remained friends with the Harrison family over the years but this was the first time I've gotten to see Robert in a very long time. He and his wife both attended the Kansas City Art Institute and they came back to do a show at the Nelson Art Gallery. Kye and I attended the artists' talk then Kris and David joined us for the exhibit. It was wonderful to see the Harrison's again and Kye was very intrigued by Robert and Shanna's work. To see more of their work, go to http://www.parkeharrison.com/

Pumpkin Picking

Our annual trip to Johnson Farms to find the perfect pumpkins was wonderful again this year. They have so many activities for kiddos!






The hay fort/slide was a big hit this year!


GG and BaBa came up to watch the boys while Dave and I gave the ACT and took the boys to the Zoo. They had lots of fun but didn't get a lot of candy this year for some reason. They were a little disappointed but loved spending the time with GG and BaBa and the "girls," LuLah and Sophie.

Kye was Bobba Fett from Star Wars and Kris was a pirate this year. I guess my years of coordinating costumes are over :(

Halloween 2008

After our annual pumpkin patch trip, we spent an evening carving pumpkins. We carve 3, one for Kye, one for Kris, and one "family" one. Kye carved his own pumpkin this year, picked out the pattern and everything!







We even tried something different this year and carved Kye's on it's side. Turned out really good, think we have a new tradition!




Kris did a little dance for us...
Kye was proud of his first "solo" carve









The days of coordinating costumes is gone.... :( Kye wanted to be Boba Fett from Star Wars(remember, he's the bounty hunter who took frozen Han Solo to Jaba the Hut), and Kris has most definitely for months now wanted to be a pirate. Thanks again to GG, we were able to get the best costumes for them both!

Kye walking in his school's costume parade.











Aunt Marilyn always has the best treats for us....and a glass of wine for Daddy too!
The whole family at Aunt Marilyn's

BASEBALL

Kye played his fourth year of baseball this year. Although the regular season was not the best, they won fourth place in the end of the year tournament!!! Talk about peaking at the right time....


First base and shortstop are his favorite positions. He also played a little bit of catcher this year!
Little brother was great as long as he had enough snacks to keep him busy....Kris can't wait to start playing next year himself.

SSSSSLLLLEEEEEEEEEPPPPP

Kris has been working through some sleep issues this summer. One night during dinner, he could barely keep his eyes open.




Poor kiddo did not make it through dinner.

Water, water, water

I used to work for a water park here in town. It was owned by some brothers in Arizona. They shut it down because they decided that it never really got hot enough here in Kansas to make a water park worthwhile. Obviously they have never visited Kansas in June, July, and August. We spend most of our summer in water of some kind. This little pool has been the best $17 we've ever spent. Not sure if it will make it another summer, we'll see!!


Kye likes to pretend that the raft is a "bucking broncho." It creates quite the waves once he gets it going!






Spending time on the lake is also another pastime we have in the summer. This summer, we along with GG and Baba bought Big Mable....She's pretty impressive and Kye is getting really brave on her. One trip this summer he rode all by himself!


Very rarely do we make it back to the dock without losing at least one, this day it was BOTH!