Happy Halloween!
This seems about right; it's been about a month again since my last post. It's amazing how quickly the weeks fly by. I believe the last time I wrote, the kids had participated in a fun run and had also been riding horses, among other things. This month has been similar, but the kids and I have taken two trips to Iowa. Hopefully the pictures will jog my memory of all our activities.
Owen receiving his badges during Cub Scouts. He has almost earned enough to move up from Tigers to the next level. He has a pack meeting once a month and a den meeting that we usually host once or twice monthly. He is wrapping up popcorn sales right now. I don't think he sold as much as he was supposed to, but he really wasn't that into it, and I was not about to put more effort into it than he was. They encouraged us to go door to door, but I'm not really comfortable with that. Anyway, he loves scouting still and reads his Tiger Book all the time.
The kids got to help keep Dancer alive one day after school. She decided that it would be a good thing to eat all the leaves falling off the trees when she was hungry. Apparently leaves are really bad for horses and can cause colic. A few weeks ago, when the kids and I got home from school, Dancer was laying down, not wanting to eat. This is very unusual for her. So after calling Nick, the kids and I kept her up and walking for over an hour, which she resisted. Nick had to call the vet, and the kids assisted with helping Dancer get better. The vet had to tube her so she could get some mineral oil down to her stomach to help move everything through. Gracie and Owen got to listen to her heart and her stomach. They also watched the vet get the tube down her nose and pump the liquid into her stomach. Very interesting procedure that I had never seen before. Dancer is fine now and we have kept the leaves out of her paddock. Owen has ridden her plenty of times since then and Gracie leads her around most days after school.
Trip to Iowa
Gracie, Owen, and I made a trip to Iowa after Grandma Jeanne was in the hospital for almost a week with complications from congestive heart failure. I was so happy to spend the weekend with her and see family. By the time I got there, Grandma seemed to be doing much better and was able to get up and get around. I also got to take the kids to Blank Park Zoo to their Night Eyes event that they do every year for Halloween. I took them a couple years ago, but Gracie didn't seem to have as much fun this time as she did then. Maybe she's getting to old for it. Anyhow, they got some candy and got to see some animals.
Gracie and Owen watching the giraffes
Owen was looking through the window at the Baboons, and one of them took an interest in him, looking right back. It was pretty funny. The Baboon was trying to see Owen through the window on the other side. Owen had a lot of throughout the park.
All three of us. Mom, Ninja, and Maleficent
While we visited Grandma, we also got to see my cousin's new house. Later Ali, Mark, Miles, and Nick came to grandma's to join us for pizza. We had to leave pretty early the next morning to get back for Owen's final flag football game.
Owen's flag football team. They even won their last game! AND Owen scored again!
HAYRIDE!
This is starting to be my favorite time of the year. We hosted our inaugural hayride as Missourians the weekend of Halloween. I think there were 20+ kids who came with their families and had so much fun! Nick pulled our flatbed with hay bales on it down the road and around our landlord's (Terri) fields. We stopped at a few houses in the neighborhood for trick or treating, but it was mostly a hayride around the area. It was tons of fun. My dad helped with grilling burgers so they were ready when we got back. Nick hooked up a projector outside so kids could watch a movie. And finally, we lit the fire. It was a big one!
It went BOOM!
Gracie and Owen helping us get ready to go
Costumes! Owen is a ninja, Gracie is Maleficent, and River is an Ewok.
My sis and me with River
All the kids on the flatbed
Wyatt, Grace, and Gracie
Thanks Dad, for grilling!
Halloween!
Halloween night was spent across town in some friends' neighborhood. They invited us to partake in their fun. Their tradition is putting a couple hay bales in the back of their truck and driving around their housing development (which is probably bigger than the town of Huxley). It was so nice out...75 degrees and again, we had a lot of fun. Many of the houses out there were decorated to the max and the kids loved it!
Dinosaur down! Owen, Gibson, and Dean were having sword fights before trick or treating. Dean is the youngest one on the ground, dressed as a dinosaur.
Gracie and Owen, ready to go get their candy.
Gracie. This picture looks like someone I knew almost 30 years ago.
Henry, Owen, Gracie, Gibson, and Tessa in the back of the truck, ready to get their candy
Owen standing next to a scary looking ghost thing at one of the houses.
7 pounds of candy. I guess we picked the right neighborhood.
Finally, the day after Halloween, I got a picture of them next to their carved pumpkins.
And, back to Iowa
We made another trip to Iowa this past weekend, but Nick joined us this time. We had been planning to do this for awhile, but I had wanted to go up earlier when my grandma got sick. It was a really busy weekend and we saw a lot of family and friends. We arrived at my grandma's on Friday night and got to chat with her for over an hour before she wanted to call it a night. Then the next morning we had breakfast with her and headed to Huxley so I could get my hair cut. While waiting for me, Nick took the kids out to Staggs' to say hi for a little bit. Then we headed to Boone to go out for lunch with Jeremy and Cassie and play at their house for awhile. We FINALLY got to meet William!
Suprise! Josh and Julie also showed up at Jeremy's!
Gracie with Sawyer
Gracie with Joslyn and William
After spending the afternoon with family, we took the kids to see some of their friends in Huxley, while Nick and I went out with some of my former co-workers from Ballard. It was a great night and I loved getting to see some of those friends again! After staying another hour at one of the houses that we had dropped the kids off at, we finally made it back to my Grandma's around 11pm. The kids had a great time and were exhausted. Lucky for use, daylight savings time ended and we got an extra hour of sleep. We had breakfast with Grandma in the morning, then headed back south. What a great weekend!
We have also been able to make it to a Mizzou wrestling meet and Gracie went to another volleyball game with Nick while I shopped with Owen for his fall party stuff. Owen was sick with strep throat a couple weeks ago, and amazingly didn't miss any school. This was mostly due to the fact that I didn't know he had strep. The rapid test came back negative and the clinic didn't call me until four days later to let me know they had sent the culture to the lab and it was positive. It was apparent that he wasn't feeling well due to the consistent naps after school for several days, but he was getting up in the morning and wanting to go, so I didn't question it. So, I probably contributed to the sickness of several other kids at his school. But Gracie has managed to stay healthy, so I'm happy with that.
Another huge event is that we've made an offer on almost 12 acres of land East of Ashland, which is about 10 miles south of Columbia. I hate to even post it, because I'm afraid that something will happen and it won't work out. We're just waiting for all the paper work to go through and come to the purchasing terms. If everything goes accordingly, we should close on the land on December 27 or just after the first of the year. Then let the fun begin with the building process again. Oh, boy. Once we have a final agreement and a closing date, I'll post more information. I just want everything to work out.
We are now looking forward to a visit from Deb and Amber, and also Steph and her kids! It would sure be nice if we already had that new house, but we'll make it work here! My kids are so excited to see their cousins and Grandma Deb!
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