Monkey Joes

Blake has attended a couple birthday parties this fall at Monkey Joes. Up until the most recent party for his friend Hannah, he has been scared of any inflatable jumping things. I think that is because he doesn't feel secure under his feet. Even at Little Gym he will not jump on the air trac because he is scared of it. Well he's made a break through! Ever since Hannah's party he now loves the jumping things and will even go on the air trac at Little Gym. I'm so proud of him for conquering his fear!

Ooops - I forgot one!

I'm trying to get my blog updated and dicovered I missed an important event! In late October Lauren's kindergarten class took a field trip to Eckert's in Millstadt. We had a fabulous time picking late season apples and enjoying all the wonderful attractions they have there. My personal favorite was the pumpkin lobber. It was kind of a hillbilly attraction but very cool to see a pumpkin get launched that far. Lauren was selected as a helper for it so that made it neat also. Eckerts does a fabulous job of promoting agriculture!

Halloween 2010

Well another wonderful Halloween weekend has come and gone. It was a busy one for sure and one to remember!

Our resident princess dressed up as Tiana from The Princess and the Frog and looked absolutely adorable. She gets a second chance at wearing this costume when we head to Disney in a week or so! Yeah! She had so much fun trick or treating with her Albers friends on Friday night in style via our friend's golf cart! Wow have things improved since I was a kid who only got to go to like three houses to trick or treat! Then later Friday night she went to a Kindergarten friend's halloween party. She topped it off on Sunday walking in the Halloween parade and then that night going to our Aviston friends homes.

Blake was not sure what to think about the whole trick or treating thing at first. I made him (first time ever to do something like that) a combine costume. He loved the costume but just wasn't sure about walking around in it. Well after watching his buddies, Caleb, Trevor, and Hannah he got on to the idea quickly! Then he ditched the red flyer wagon he was riding in and walked the rest of the night until he got back to Grandma's house. It was adorable to watch him waddle in his combine and say "twick or tweat." He of course thought we needed to sample everything in his basket as soon as he got it! His costume got lots of comments and he was so proud of it. He just kept saying big combine!

On Sunday he did great walking in the parade in Breese. Then came time for judging and he started to meltdown. We barely made it through before he kicked off his wheels literally and he was done with the combine! To my shock he won first place in the age 2-3 division! Yeah!!! It was honestly so much fun to make his costume. I just hope he doesn't expect me to make his costume every year!

Lauren looked truly like a princess and loved the parade. They got lots of fun prizes just for participating. She did not win her division, but she didn't care. I was relieved and proud of her for not getting upset that Blake won and she didn't. Instead she was just very proud of her brother!

Later that night we went and visited a few of our neighbors and took them cookies. For anyone who's ever lived in the country you know that you don't get many trick or treaters nor have stuff on hand if you get t or t'ers! So I decided we would bring the treats. It was fun to watch the kids great everyone! We are truly blessed with wonderful neighbors.

Fall Party and Hayrack Ride

For the second year, we have had some of our friends with kids of similar age to ours over for a fall party and hayrack ride. We have so much fun hosting this event. There is just something special about roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire and taking a hayrack ride through the country. Just one of the many things I love about fall! We were blessed with beautiful weather and just a great afternoon/evening. The kids had a flashlight hunt for treat bags, enjoyed fresh popped popcorn (thanks to the Poletti family), jumped in the bounce house (thanks Gaines family), made crafts, and just enjoyed playing together. Our puppy Sadie got lots of good belly rubs also and loved having all the kids around. Thanks to everyone who made it out! We hope to do it again in 2011!

Halloween Creativity!

Each year we carve pumpkins for Halloween. This year we decided on a "W" and a heart. Lauren got to do the W with the help of Grandma and then the heart with her friend Kaylee. She picked out a funny face to do also but we just ran out of time to get it done before Halloween. So we'll save it for next year.



For some reason I had a creativity bug this year and decided to make some lanterns out of old jars and tissue paper. I saw the idea in Taste of Home so I copied it. Lauren helped and had fun with the project too. They turned out really well and were super quick and easy to make! So we used them on Halloween at Grandma Vernitta's house to light her sidewalk. Some of my other creative things for Halloween this year were cake pops (forgot to take a picture), ghost cookies, and I made my first Halloween costume ever for Blake. More to come on that....

A site you don't see everyday...

Last week Wednesday, Blake and I were outside playing when he spotted a helicopter. It's a regular occurance to see fighter planes, jets, and helicopters around our house because of our proximity to Scott Air Force Base and the airport. So I didn't think much about it. But then I looked again and noticed there was something hanging off of the helicopter. Within a few minutes it was directly over our house and looking like it was going to land in my pasture! I honestly was scared and didn't know what to think. I grabbed my camera and Blake and just watched in amazement.

Then a friendly guy in a white truck drove in our driveway and told us what the helicopter was up to. It was a large saw hanging from the helicopter that was used to widen the right a way for the electric lines. Since we live on Highline Road we have lots of major power lines by us that go through our farm. So they were trimming the trees. It was a very windy day so I was even more amazed by the control the pilot had to have over this giant saw! Then the van driver asked if he could have the pilot land in our pasture to refuel. I of course said yes knowing Blake would be fascinated by it all.

Sure enough after an hour or so of chopping the helicopter landed and we got to go up and meet the pilot and meet the crew as well as get up close to the saw and helicopter. Blake was impressed and so was I! It's not every day that something like this happens so it was pretty neat for us. I was just bummed it happened while Lauren was at school because she missed it.

2010 Soccer Season

Lauren wrapped another season of soccer on October 23rd. She definitely improved over last year which was great to see. She played six on six this year with a goalie so it was a bit more challenging than it was last year when she played three on three. Playing goalie was definitely her favorite as it was for everyone on her team! The red team definitely was not the winningest team but they had fun which is all that really matters at the end of the day.

Following her last game, she got her soccer medal from her coach Tammy. Her teammates were all fellow kindergartners or pre-k students Nicole, Violet, Cole, Dawson, Jack, Braden, Lauren, Brooke and Carissa (missing from teh picture due to a wedding). I've also included a few pictures of her loyal fan club!

Needless to say we all enjoyed sleeping in this past Satruday as we no longer had to rush out the door for an 8:30 soccer game on Saturday morning!

A trip to the zoo

One of my goals for summer was to make it to all the major St. Louis kid attractions. Needless to say, I only got half of my goal accomplished. It just seemed the summer passed by way too quickly! So we took advantage of some of the nice fall days we had (still are actually) and met my friend Julie and her twins at the zoo. Blake loved it and I loved that it was not near as crowded as it is in summer! We rode the carousel three times (it's free before 10 am!) and enjoyed the train. Oh yeah, we saw some animals too. Blake liked the snakes the best I think (thanks to Jake) and I loved seeing the baby giraffe. It was great to catch up with Julie. We don't get to see each other near enough. The improvements they are making to the zoo look like they are going to be great. So I can't wait to go back next year!