My mom and her sisters

My Aunt Terry and Uncle Pete came out to St. Louis to visit, so we packed up the kids and drove out to visit.  I haven't seen them in about 5 years!

Here's my mom, Aunt Terry and Aunt Deb

ok, so I had to put in a picture of Eric and Ryan...

School Pictures

Eric's school picture came out pretty good considering he was sick that day

Can't say this is a great picture of Ryan, but oh well, it is his first of many :)

reading on the kitchen floor?

This is what I looked up to see the other night while we were cleaning the kitchen.  Ryan thought it would be a good idea to read on the kitchen floor, so Eric went and got a book and joined him.

cheesy smile

Halloween

Our neighborhood had their annual Halloween parade so all the kiddos get to wear their costumes and walk down the street. Of course at the end there are snacks and hot chocolate. Brayden was totally hilarious as Superman. He has blonde hair normally so it was very striking to see him with jet black hair.





Trever was dressed as a knight but insisted on wearing a Frankenstein head for the parade. :)



Here I am wearing my Dad's overalls that he picked up in junior girls department and a mask from Grandma. I mentioned that I looked like Ed Gein and got lots blank stares but lots of people said I looked like the guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre (of course Ed Gein the serial killer from Wisconsin was the basis for the movie - I guess he isn't too well known).



Eric is fascinated with Pablo much like his brother was. The first time he put on his costume he started jumping up and down and kept yelling "Pablo!" over and over for about 20 minutes.







Ryan and Brayden posing just before setting out. Notice the house across the street from them. They really put out a spread this year. Instead of candy they brought the grill and served fresh grilled hot dogs with soda or hot apple cider.



Eric and Preston didn't actually go up to very many houses but they obviously enjoyed the candy!!

Family Pictures by Nicki Griffith

We went to Loose Park to meet Nicki Griffith for some family pictures.  I think they came out pretty good!  Some of these shots are just beautiful :)

Seriously??? In mid-October???

Hard to believe the weather was this nice just a few days before Halloween!!!

Apple Festival in Topeka

We went to the Apple Festival in Topeka with Grammy and Papa.  Sean has fond memories of going to this when he was a kid.  

Ryan was excited to ride on the hand car.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

They had a petting zoo - Eric thought it was hysterical to have the goats eat food out of his hands

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Here is Ryan in the ambulance.  Let's hope he never sees the inside of one again - unless he is working in one :)

This was Eric's mood for most of the day

There was a story teller while we were eating; he was telling Native American stories.  He wanted some volunteers to help him out and much to our surprise, Ryan volunteered.  He gave each of the kids an animal pelt to hold and he called them up one by one to show the audience the pelt and talk about it.

Ryan was up first, with a skunk pelt. hahaha

The guy explained that they used skunk pelts to make hats for kids.  Doesn't he look thrilled?