Trip to San Antonio

The kids had last Thursday and Friday off from school for conferences so we decided to go to San Antonio to visit Andy's brother Chris and his family. 

We flew out of St. Louis on Wednesday night.  The kids did great on the plane.  Ryan slept the entire flight.  Drew and Kayley were so excited to see their cousins that they didn't sleep at all on the flight, but kept themselves entertained so we can't complain.

Chris and Andy went golfing on Thursday.  Macie had school so Jenny and I took Drew, Kayley, Noah and Ryan to the zoo.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time at the zoo.  When the boys got home from golfing and Macie came home from school, the kids got in the pool.  It was pretty obvious who the kids from the Midwest were.  Drew and Kayley loved it, but Macie and Noah were pretty cold! 

Chris and Andy took the older kids golfing on Friday while Jenny and I took Ryan to a park.

With the exception of a little accident involving Kayley getting hit in the head with a golf club, the kids had a great time at the driving range and golf course.  When they got home from golf, the kids did a little art project and then we headed out for dinner.

We had a full day on Saturday.  We started out with Noah's soccer game.  That kid is good!  I think he scored every goal for his team while he was in the game.  He was one of the only ones that knew what to do and had the coordination to do it!

After soccer, we headed to the South Texas MAiZE.  The kids had a great time and were on the go the entire time we were there. 

Happy cousins!

Patiently waiting for their turn to bounce

Batman pushing Ryan

They loved the slide!

So did Andy and Ryan!

Cute little pirate

Ready to trick or treat in the maze

Maybe not everyone is ready

 The kids wanted to do more trick or treating so they got back into their costumes Saturday night and went trick or treating at the house.  They had fun "practicing" for the real thing this Thursday!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back!  As the weather has turned here in Illinois, it was so nice to get back into the 70s for a few days!  Thank you Chris, Jenny, Macie and Noah! 

Where did October go?

The month of October is flying by.  The days seem long, but the months and years are short.  How does that happen?  We have been  keeping busy with football and gymnastics, but football came to an end this past week so we have a little bit of free time...until basketball starts. 

My mom was the Mystery Reader for Drew's class a couple of weeks ago.  The teacher reads a clue each day of the week and the class gets to guess who is coming that Friday.  Drew was pretty sure it was Grandma, but other kids in the class said it could be their Grandma so he started second guessing himself!  He was very excited when she walked in the door!  Grandma is a dedicated grandma for driving 4.5 hours to be in Drew's class for about 15-20 minutes!  She also was able to go to see one of Drew's last football games.

His last game was this past Saturday and it was COLD!  I am not ready for this!  We had left Ryan's hat and gloves at daycare so I was scrambling Saturday morning.  I finally decided to put his hood up and then put an old pair of Drew's mittens (that were way too big) on his hands.  He was MAD.  And let me know it the entire game.  Ugh.  It is going to be a long winter. 

Here are a few pictures of our blondies from yesterday after school:

 

 

Welcome home, Dad!

Andy got home from Australia last Saturday night.  Drew was very excited to go to the airport with me and pick him up.  Andy hadn't slept in over 24 hours and looked pretty tired.  Drew asked a hundred questions about the trip and was very excited when Andy opened his suitcase and brought out the presents when we got back to our house.  Drew and Kayley got boomerangs and Australia sweatshirts, Ryan got an I love Mum t-shirt and I got a wine bottle holder, which is down in Andy's bar so maybe it was secretly a gift for him!  Drew and Kayley loved the "Mum" t-shirt and have been saying it to me all week.

I tried to get pictures of the kids in their new clothes.  Only one was in the mood for pictures.

Ryan looked everywhere other than me.

Kayley was in no mood for pictures when we started, but eventually came around. 

I think Drew thought we were practicing for senior pictures.  He walked all over the house asking me to take his picture in different poses!

And when I tried to get all three of them together, Ryan decided he was over pictures.

We spent this week getting back into a routine and Andy tried to recover from jet lag.  He is having more trouble on this end than when he arrived in Australia.  So he says anyway...maybe it is just an excuse to nap all the time! 

Drew had a flag football game yesterday and then Angela, Amelia and Quinn came for a visit in the afternoon.  We haven't seen them since June so it was really good to catch up!  Here is a picture of the two newest friends.  Quinn is 6 month younger than Ryan, but he is TALL!