Santa's Transient Brother

Last night was the annual lighting of the Mayor's Christmas tree in Kansas City. The symphony chorus is always invited to sing, so off we went with Uncle Ryan to enjoy the festivities. While I was up singing away, a little old bum with a long white beard came up to Riley and Tanner. He got down really low and shook both of their hands and then stood up and walked away. After a minute of watching him walk away, Riley turned his head up towards Todd and said with a very confused, thoughtful voice, "Dad...was that Santa?"

Quote of the Day

Here is Riley's quote of the day:




"Hey mom, Airplanes are faster than cars and cars are faster than mice."

You are right kiddo. Glad I have him around to keep this all straight. :)

Little Ava-Girl

She is one sweet girl!

7-Weeks Old

Ava is 7-weeks old! Where has the time gone?!?! She is such a good little baby. She is almost always in a good mood, and almost always sleeps really well. We love her and are so glad she is in our little family. I guess starving to death for months and months was worth it! :)

New Moon

Okay, so we are all a bit obsessed with Twilight around here...some of us more than others. I've read the books and enjoyed them, though I don't think they were very well written. There's just something about Edward... :) Anyway, we all decided that for November's girls night we were going to see New Moon. We bought our tickets months ago and headed out last night. It was way better than Twilight! We had to laugh because when Jacob took his shirt off everyone in the audience oohed and aahed...but when Edward took his shirt off, you could have heard crickets in the theater. Eewwee!!! Where was that boys trainer before this movie started filming?!?! It was a fun night...despite the pasty, hair chest. :)

Tanner's Bonk

Poor Tanner. I was teaching piano lessons at a friend's house when I hear this terrible thud that made my stomache drop. The thud was followed by screams from little Tanner. I ran over to him and picked him up, thinking that it was nothing more than just falling off the chair he was sitting on. Then all the kids started saying that he there was lots of blood on the back of his head. Sure enough, there was blood dripping everywhere! Apparently on the way off the chair, he hit the handle of their fireplace door making a pretty big gash in the back of his head. Todd took him to the Er...along with Riley who wanted to stay by his brother's side...where Tanner had to get three staples to close up the wound. He got over the staples pretty darn quick and is back to his mischevious, crazy self. Seriously, I can't believe that we have lasted this long before a visit to the ER with this kid!

Riley's birthday video

If you click on the video, you can see it full size on YouTube...just for those of you who may not know that. :)

Riley Turns FIVE!!!

Riley was so excited for his LEGO birthday party! It turned out really fun. Todd made an awesome gigantic LEGO man for a pin the tail on the donkey type game. The kids loved having a LEGO man as big as they are. We played duck-duck goose (no LEGO relation there), hot potato with a giant LEGO, we went on a LEGO scavenger hunt, and we guessed how many LEGO's were in a small container. The last activity didn't go over so well. We had 153 LEGO's in the jar and we were getting guesses like 15, 21, and 40-hundred :) Mmmm...it sounded good on paper?!?! :) Todd frosted an amazing LEGO cake that the kids loved! It was a lot of fun...but I am SOOOO glad that it is over. 14 5-year olds is crazy stuff!!!

Ava's Blessing Day

Little Ava is finally official! She was quiet and very adorable for her blessing. She's a sweetheart. Since Ava was getting all dressed up we thought we'd take some family pictures. Most were horrible but we got a few good ones also. We're just sad Grandpa Tom and Aunt Jenny are leaving so soon.

Fall Leaves

While Riley was at preschool, Grandpa and I decided to setup the slide in the backyard. We raked up all the nearby leaves into a huge mound that Tanner absolutely loved diving into! Lots of fun.

One Month Old!