Christmas decorations

 When I was young, my parents used to take me to the house on Falmouth street to see all of the Christmas decorations.  This year, we were able to take Jeremy and Haley.  In the car on the way there, Jeremy was asking if they had a train and we weren't sure.  Of course they had several and he spotted them right away and was very excited!

Thanksgiving

 This year we had 4 different Thanksgiving celebrations.  It started in the beginning of November when we had it with our friends at our house.  We had 10 adults who were actually able to eat while the 7 kids sat at their table and ate-this was huge difference from when we tried it last year.  The second celebration was at my in-laws house on the evening before Thanksgiving where we enjoyed all the Thanksgiving fixings and the kids had a great time playing together.  On Thanksgiving day, we went to my cousin Jimmy and Desire's house where there were 35 people (12 of those were kids who ranged from ages 15 months to 12 years).  Everyone had a great time eating fried turkeys, lasagna and ham and playing all morning, day and well into the evening, The next day we went to my parents for a much quieter celebration.  My kiddos were the only kids there, so the adults were able to talk and even play a few games of cards while Haley took a nap and Jeremy watched a movie.w
   The pictures below aren't in order for some reason. I couldn't get it fixed, oh well!

Jeremy and his cousin Owen using the Ipad

Haley eating some pre-meal pasta

Jeremy and his cousins Tyler and Owen

Cousin Mia entertaining the boys with games on her phone

Haley with Grandpa Ficklin.  She learned how to put olives on her finger from her cousin Desire.  She ate 20 or so of them!

Haley saying "stinky"

Enjoying some late evening fruit loops before heading home

Haley taking Grandma Ficklin's cheesecake, especially the raspberries

Jeremy and cousin Suzanne

Tim's job for the day-frying the 2 turkeys

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Just being silly at home

Haley trying to reach for another mini muffin after she already had 5!

Zonkers

 Last week we went to Zonkers, which is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, but it has rides too.  Jeremy had always been interested in the roller coaster, but had never done it before.  He decided he wanted to try it with me.  He sat down and was loving it for a few seconds until we jerked around a curve.  He didn't cry, but I think he was very unsure of what was going to happen next.  He told me he was "done" a few times, but afterwards he said he liked it.  He only rode it once that day, but has talked about it a lot ever since and wants to watch the video of it a lot.  So we'll see what he wants to do next time we go back.  They do have  a train to ride there, which he loves!  This was the first time we had been since Haley started walking and she had a great time exploring everything!  She didn't do any of the rides yet, but I'm sure that's coming soon. 

Ready to go

Lunch break

Haley and Grandma Ficklin

Jeremy with Grandpa Ficklin

Trick or Treating

 Jeremy loved trick or treating last year and was very excited to go again this year.  We went around our neighborhood to about 20 houses.  We discovered that our neighborhood is kind of a pain to do this in though because there are so many hills and steep driveways or steps to get each house.  The kids both did great though and Haley's little legs helped her walk a majority of the way on her own.  Jeremy said "thank you" at all of the houses we went to and after the first few he remembered to say "trick or treat".  He was great at getting a piece of candy for himself and then helping Haley get hers. We all had a great time and have more candy than we will ever need.

Kidscape

This week we went to the Johnson County museum.  It has a free kidscape area with a small town inside of it.  There was a doctor's office, theater, art room, fishing, golf, a market and of course a train area.  Haley loved walking around exploring everything, but Jeremy loved the train room and was happy staying there.  We did get him to try a few other things as you can see from the pictures, but he went back to the train area over and over again.

Claudio's 5th Birthday Party

 Saturday was a long day, but we had a lot of fun. The morning started with a driving to Columbia for the Mizzou game.  Then we drove back home and quickly got ready for cousin Claudio's birthday party. He always has a costume party so Haley and Jeremy were able to wear their costumes early.

 

Octoberfest

     This weekend we went to an Octoberfest that was put on by my old grade school.  Jeremy and Haley had a blast playing with their cousins Bella, Frannie and Claudio and friends Hank and Charlie.  Both sets of grandparents were also able to come and join in the fun.  There were a few rides that Jeremy loved and many inflatable to climb on.  He loved the army obstacle course the best.  He needed a little help through parts of it, but luckily his older cousins were great at helping him.  Haley enjoyed crawling and walking around in the grass and watching everybody.  She liked bouncing on the edge of the bounce house also.

Jeremy and his cousin Claudio walking to the "wrecking ball" ride together

Haley just hanging out

Jeremy and his cousin Bella in the army obstacle course

Haley bouncing on the shark slide inflatable

The huge shark slide

Showing off her walking skills, but she wasn't letting go the cookie

Jeremy and his friend Hank

Jeremy climbing through the longest army obstacle course ever!

Jeremy and his cousins on the pirate ship ride

Jeremy and Grandma Steffens on the pirate ship ride

Jeremy with his pretzel necklace