I was looking through our photos from the last month and this one pretty much sums up the craziness that is our children. They are 100% boy, 100% loud and crazy, and 100% fun. I went out to the curb the other night to bring in our garbage can and I could hear everything they were doing and saying. They are so loud!! I wonder what the neighbors think!
Please forgive me for never being in the mood to blog. I've been so lazy lately (I'm 13 weeks pregnant!). It seems like it takes all of my energy to do one thing everyday. And that one thing always ends up being trying to keep up with the dishes or laundry, which I usually fail at miserably.
A few weeks ago we had the rare and wonderful opportunity to go to a KU men's basketball game. We heard about $10 tickets (usually $35-60), so we got tickets for the whole family to see a game for Christmas. On gameday it was snowing very hard and we wondered if we should be driving to Lawrence, but we braved the weather and we were sure glad we didn't miss that amazing game against Cornell. It was a close game and very dramatic at the end. We sat by a man who goes to the games regularly and he said we got our money's worth!
I loved every minute of the game and it was so great to share all the KU traditions with the boys. They loved everything about the game too- the sights, sounds, and snacks. Very fun time, indeed!!!
The drive back to town was scary with the blizzard-like conditions. I'm glad we made it back in one piece.
A few weeks ago we had the privilege of seeing Wicked with our friends Amy and Clayton. A big thank you to our friend Heidi for watching our kids overnight. We planned a kid swap so we could both have a relaxing evening and they got to go another weekend. It's a little risky to plan a big event around two families, with potential sickness, etc. So it wasn't until we drove away from Heidi's house that I could believe our anticipated date was actually going to happen!
Amy found a great place for us to eat dinner - Webster House. We made it to happy hour and enjoyed fabulous food for $3 a plate. It was unbelievable. We had steak burgers, fries, golden chips with gorgonzola dip, risotto, two desserts and a tip for $35! I usually wouldn't write about food, but we love a great deal! This is the Webster House, it's the oldest school building still standing in KC and it has been renovated into an antique store and restaurant. It was gorgeous.
Tickets to Wicked were wicked expensive, so we got some nice nosebleed seats in the balcony. And it still cost a fortune (in my opinion). We brought our binoculars! I snapped a picture of Amy and Clayton before I got busted by the usher. No cameras!!
The play was absolutely fabulous. Worth every penny and more. I had no idea what to expect and we were not disappointed at all. I will never be able to watch The Wizard of Oz the same way again. It was great to get out and enjoy a nice date out on the town!
A couple weeks back we had a great day in Lawrence. The sun was shining and the leaves were falling. It was a perfect day for us. Lawrence holds a VERY special place in our hearts and we love to go back as much as we can. The great memories just flood back and I feel like I'm a 20 year old pregnant college student all over again. You don't see many married, pregnant ladies in sophomore college classes! We went out to lunch to celebrate first quarter grades then went up to campus to walk around. We figured out pretty quickly that it was a home football game! The boys got a little culture with all the rowdy fans. It was great.
I have a goofy smile. I'm trying to cover up the post-mouth-surgery-carnage on my upper gums.
No trip to Lawrence is complete until you take a picture with a Jayhawk. 
This is such a great time of year. My heart it full at the end of every day and especially today. These boys are growing up fast and it feels like all the years of changing diapers are paying off. {Side story: I kid you not. Eli just came inside right as I was typing this and said, "Liam is peeing on the front porch and a car just drove by." Chris looked out the window and saw Liam with his pants down. Ok, maybe every day isn't picture perfect! Ha - it's always crazy!! Liam got in BIG trouble!}
Last Friday and today are two of my favorite days for the boys. Last Friday was the day they bring home their first report cards and their school pictures. Great grades and great smiles make this momma very happy!
Then today was the school Halloween parade and parties (no school Thursday and Friday). Eli is Harry Potter, Nathan is Waldo, and Liam is a vampire. Groups of teachers usually dress up in themes. A large group of para's and teachers dressed up as "Where's Waldo?" They had all of them come up to the front at the end of the parade, then they had Nathan come up with the group! It was so cute! I could tell he was scared out of his mind! I'm glad I snapped a picture.
It's also time for our leaves to fall! With our oak tree, we don't start raking until November. The weather was warm today and the leaves were dry - perfect conditions for playing in the leaves with friends for the first time this season. That's Liam raking in his vampire costume.
I took Nathan and Liam to the school skate night. Liam got to try roller skates for the very first time and I didn't even have to hold his hand once. He just held on to the wall and went around and around in circles. He loved it. Nathan had a great time too!
I also got to a volunteer on Nathan's first grade field trip to an area farm. We learned about bees, apple picking, all the farm animals, pumpkins, etc. It was a great time! On the way home, the bus driver almost tipped the bus over when he took a turn very fast and we bumped over the shoulder and then he tried to correct his mistake with another fast turn up the. I thought we were going to crash!! The bus kept tipping and rocking from side to side and the kids were laughing and screaming. Scary!!
Eli started strings class at school and enjoys learning to play the violin like his dad. They have a little CD they use as accompaniment to the plucking and playing of the same note over and over. It is very cute indeed. I can't wait to see where this new talent takes him!
I'm just going to get up to date for the whole blogging thing. Here is what we have been up to.
Liam started preschool! He comes home from preschool talking very loudly all day long. He is very descriptive and I'm sure half of what he tells me isn't exactly true, which is true to Liam's personality.
Labor Day weekend we went to the Kansas City Symphony Pops in the Park concert. This is free and AWESOME! The kids went to the instrument petting zoo before the concert started. I can't wait to go to this every year now. The guys went early to get us the best seats. The first picture is our view of the concert and the second picture is the thousands of people behind us. We had a great view. Eli was in the middle of deciding which string instrument to play, so this was a great opportunity for him to see them all in action. By the way, Eli chose the violin and has already started his strings class at school. More about that later in the week.
This is when I decided to freeze corn. One day I thought I didn't have enough to do, so I went to buy 72 ears of corn. My parents have this awesome recipe (basically corn and butter) that was my favorite growing up. This was my first try and I got 20 batches in the freezer. I sat and watched a netflix movie while shucking all the corn myself! It was actually very fun for me.
We took the kids and a friend to the KC Air Show a couple weekends ago. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. I would NOT have gone if it would have been any hotter than 85 degrees. I'm so glad we did this. The boys were in heaven. We even got to see the B2 stealth bomber, which the boys keep talking about.
We found out about this beautiful sunflower field from a farmer wife's blog. She updates the status of the blooming sunflowers each day, so you know the best time to visit! We went around dinner time on Friday and it was gorgeous. I can't wait to visit every year. There are so many flowers! They go on forever. Here are some of the photos we got.
