Silence...oh, no!

This is how I found Noah after school today.



The half hour after school is the most stressful time of day for me. I have learned to have a snack accessible, sippy cups filled, and personally be ready to sit and snuggle with the kids. If I try to get anything in particular accomplished I am usually rudely reminded that doing so was a bad idea. So, today, I wanted to quickly mix up some sugar cookie dough for Katina's birthday cookies, since I had musical practice until 8 tonight and knew that needed to be done before I went. Katina and Elisa were ready to help and Noah was playing in the living room...or so I thought that's what he was doing.....I found him about 20 minutes later....with the evidence on every finger and an empty bag that once held cheese puffs. The silence should've alerted me, but I was preoccupied, with whatI thought was much more important. So, I thought my son ate most of his supper appetite in cheese puffs.....wrong. He still had room for a smoked pork chop (small one) rice and peas. It's good to have growing kids!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My Paternal Grandmother turned ...drum roll please....95 on Monday! When we were home this weekend we celebrated with the Rosfeld family. Potluck supper and birthday cake were enjoyed by all. Lookin' good Grandma!

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you....


What a beautiful lady!


A hand with 94 more years of life!


Three generations...missing my Dad!

Weekend of Events...

As you probably have already noticed, Papa's Pumpkin Patch was a hit! Despite the lack of pumpkin pictures, we did manage to get some pumpkins. There so many other things to do there that picking pumpkin's was the last thing the kids had on their list of to do's. That evening was the 4th annual Fall Bash. This is a new tradition my sister and brother-in-law's family have put together. It is a great evening of fun, food and fellowship with neighbors, family, and friends and takes place at the pumpkin patch.

The next morning was early church, a little shopping and a Schmidt family gathering at Morning Star Ranch. The kids had lots of fun on the playground there.

Too wet!

The rain and cool weather has kept us inside the last two days. Now, for most folks this isn't a bad thing. That is, if you can cuddle up next to a fire, with your sweety, a hot chocolate, and a good book...but, when you have 3 high-energy kids that need to run, it IS a big deal. We have had to be creative in our playing. Katina discovered that lining up chairs at G & G Bartel's house makes a pretty good train. So, we have tried that at home. When the chairs were not working properly they decided just to sit on each other and get Dad involved as well. Made for a fun picture. So, as we look forward to more rain tomorrow, we know that we'll break a heart or two when they ask "Play outside, can we?"



Other news at our house? Alex, being the wonderful teacher he is...received news that he is the Conservation Teacher of the Year for the state of Kansas. He gets an all-expense-paid trip to Wichita to the KCDA Convention in November and "gets" to give a speech on how he teaches this in the classroom. I am very proud of him!!!

We are looking forward to a fun weekend - a Schmidt family gathering in Florence, my Grandmother's 95th birthday party, and visiting Papas Pumpkin Patch - owned by my sis and her family. (www.papaspumpkinpatchks.com) We'll report back in pictures next week.