Goodbye Football, Hello Basketball

Football ended just in time to start basketball.

Last football game:

First basketball game today:

Halloween

Every Halloween at the elementary school, the 4th grade class gives famous person speeches.  This was Drew's year.  He had to research his famous person, write a report on his famous person and then prepare a speech - a four sentence speech to be said in front of the entire 4th grade and all of their parents.  There are over 100 4th graders so you can imagine how full the gym was.  Drew was pretty nervous, but he did great.  In case you have trouble hearing him, he was Michael Phelps.  :-)

We had a ninja, a kitty and Superman this year for Halloween.  Best of all, we had a beautiful (as in not cold) night for Trick or Treating!  

 Kayley at the school parade

Hayride at Mt. Hawley

Ryan's school parade

Ryan and Harper

Kayley, Ryan, Reese and Harper

Gone Fishing

The weather during the month of October was beautiful so we spent a lot of time outside.  One Sunday we went to visit Nate, Jennie and Cooper to do some fishing.  Drew and Kayley have been fishing once and Ryan has never been.  They had so much fun!  The pond at Nate and Jennie's house is very well stocked so the kids had a very productive fishing experience, which certainly helped their enjoyment!

Ryan even caught a leaf!

After fishing, the kids moved on to the cats.  And now they want a cat.  We'll just have to keep visiting the Nate and Jennie because we aren't getting any cats!

Ryan finished the day with a tractor ride with his dad.

Busy September

Like every other month it seems, September was busy!  Andy bought a Frank Thomas framed signed jersey from the White Sox charity and you have to pick it up at the stadium so we had to go to a game.  Expensive way to get us up there for another game, Andy!  Ryan's highlight was taking the train to the stadium of course.  I took a picture of that and some video of them swimming the next day, but no pictures at the game!  Oops!

They won't be taking up synchronized swimming any time soon...

We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home, but Ryan wasn't having it.  Drew is truly the best big brother!

Next up was my birthday.  The kids are definitely more excited for Andy's and my birthdays than we are!  They made me a cake and my favorite gifts were the homemade cards from the kids!

Then it was off to Sonoma with a few of my best friends from law school.  Andy isn't a big wine drinker so if I was ever going to go to wine country it was going to have to be with my friends.  So much fun!!!  

The day after I got back from Sonoma, Kayley and Drew had orthodontist appointments.  Braces OFF for Drew and expander IN for Kayley!  One happy kid and one not so happy kid that day!

Trying to act happy even though she was
not pleased with all the metal in her mouth!

Last weekend, we had one final swim for the year with friends.  Ryan loves the diving board.

We also did a little Halloween shopping and Kayley decided to get her ears pierced.  She was very excited...until she got there.  Then she didn't think she wanted to, but she stuck it out and is happy now that she did.  The kids also had fun treating Sox as their baby.  Poor dog!

Andy's dad came to visit this past week and he got to see one of Drew's football games.  Unfortunately, the game wasn't that competitive so Drew didn't get to play like he normally does so it wasn't the best game for spectators, but Grandpa seemed to enjoy it anyway.  

End of Summer

Why does summer fly by and winter stick around FOREVER????  Ugh.  While I am not looking forward to the inevitable, we closed out summer with as much fun as we could.

We spent time at the pool before it closed down for the summer.  Drew and Kayley loved the diving board.  Ryan was only brave enough to go with Andy.  Ryan is still young enough to love the baby pool area.  :-)

We spent a lot of time playing outside.  Ryan has gotten pretty good on his balance bike and doesn't have any fear on it anymore, which is good and bad!

Kayley, Ryan and I went to Okoboji for our annual Labor Day trip.  Andy and Drew stayed home because of football.  We drove to my parents' farm Friday night and drove up to Okoboji with my dad Saturday morning.  Mom was already up there and Matt and his fiancé, Janelle, and her parents arrived in Okoboji on Friday.  It was really nice to meet Janelle's parents who are so nice and to spend a little more time with my future sister-in-law!

We did all the usual things in Okoboji - boat ride, Arnold's park, swimming off the dock, swimming on the "beach", Sugar Shack, and the nutty bar stand.  Kayley loved Janelle's dog, Levi and the big roller coaster.  Ryan loved the log ride and the little kid roller coaster.  I love that my kids love roller coasters!

Friday night at the farm

Levi

Boat ride!

The Barefoot Bar had a playground.  Brilliant!

Ryan and Summer on the roller coaster

Boats

Kayley on the swings - she didn't feel
very good once she got off.  :-(

Log Ride

Swimming at the "beach"

Ryan loved the ferris wheel

Ryan loved the bumper cars too

Ferris wheel again

Kayley kicked Ryan's butt.  He cried
when she got a prize and he didn't.

Saying goodbye to Matt and Levi
early Monday morning

Andy and Drew stayed home because they had a football jamboree.  Basically, a football tournament. Never heard of such a thing, right?!  Me either.  But, Dunlap hosts a jamboree every year.  They play 25 minute continuous clock games.  Drew was a little torn about staying home for the games or going to Okoboji, but was leaning more towards staying for his games so we decided they would stay home.  After the jamboree was over, he was very happy with his decision since his team got first place!  Way to go boys!