House Decs, Homecoming and Cousins!

Sarah, Dana and Hannah at Tiger Plaza

It had been a long time since we had seen the Lowes and we were excited they were coming up for a visit.  They came up Friday afternoon to spend the weekend and enjoy the Mizzou Homecoming festivities.  The kids were off school Friday so they arrived early and I went with them to lunch.  Then I took Dana, Hannah, and Sarah on a tour of campus.  Hannah is considering attending Mizzou so we did a little campus tour, it would be so great to have her close to us again and have another MU graduate in the family! 

We returned home and the kids and John got home from school and work.  It was nice to sit around and catch up on everything while the younger kids played.  They had a huge nerf gun war and I am still finding bullets under furniture and in closets.  

Then it was time to head to house decorations.  House decs are a Mizzou Homecoming tradition and the kids love going!  We stopped first to visit some friends of the Lowes and load up on Shakespeare's pizza.  Then it was time to walk to greek town.  I think everyone liked seeing all the decorations and the kids enjoyed the skits.  The theme was homecoming through the ages and it was fun to hear the slang thrown in from the different decades and to listen to the music they chose.  We didn't see them all since the weather was cold but we saw plenty to get the experience.  

Saturday was the homecoming game.  It was an eleven o'clock game which didn't leave a lot of time for tailgating so we decided to head in just an hour before game time.  After snagging about the last two parking spots we walked to the stadium.  We made a quick stop to visit the Lowe's friends and John and I dreamed of having a tailgating spot in their lot someday. 

The game ended well for the Tigers with our first SEC victory!  Then it was back to our house for a big meal and more family time.  It was a busy but great weekend!  

Chicken BBQ

 Ella showing off her face painting

 Sam putting for prizes

 Ella wanted to eat dinner in her classroom.  That was fine with me since it was nice and quiet and away from the busy cafeteria.

Ella and Sam's new school hosts a chicken bbq as there big fundraiser for the year.  They have been putting this on for over fifty years.  They build bar-b-que pits on the side of the school and grill a ton of chicken.  The dinner even has a drive through where people around town stop by to get their food.  I will say the food was well priced and delicious!  
Of course the bar-b-que also has many other activities along with it.  There are carnival games for the kids which they enjoyed doing.  There is a silent auction and a live auction as well.  While it was mostly adults at the live auction Sam was sitting in the second row taking it all in, he must be his Papa's boy.  He even told the principal what a great job the auctioneer did and how he thought he was even better than the guy on Storage Wars.  That kid cracks me up sometimes.  
It was a fun evening for the kids and a great way to earn some money for their school.  

Chalk Drawings

Ella and Sam decided one night that they were going to make drawings of each other with sidewalk chalk.  They really worked hard on their projects and I think the results prove that.  They were outside for a long time and called me out to see the final products.  I thought they were definitely worth documenting.  

MIZZOU Madness and Catching up with Friends

Well, at the risk of sounding like a KU fan, I am ready for basketball season.  Mizzou kicked off their basketball season with Mizzou Madness on Friday night.  I took Ella and Sam to watch the men's and women's teams scrimmage, to watch some skills competitions and to see the big highlight which was the dunk contest.  The basketball was a lot of fun to watch.  We are getting two season tickets this year and splitting up the games as a family.  It should be a lot of fun cheering on what promises to be a good season for our Tigers!  Sam is already choosing the games he wants to attend.  I think our football season has us down in the dumps.  
One of Sam's good friends from Springfield, who were also our old neighbors, came up for the weekend and his family joined us to watch the basketball.  Sam was so excited to see his friend Andre.  It was nice to see everyone and catch up on what has been going on in their lives.  

 Ella and Sam waiting for Mizzou Madness

 Pressey getting ready to dunk (unfortunately I didn't catch anyone while they actually dunked)

 Sam and Andre at Mizzou Madness

 Jason took the boys down on the court to do the Wobble after the event

The kids hanging out on the columns

The next day we met the Murrays for some pizza at Shakespeare's and then headed over to the quad to show the boys the columns.  They had fun climbing them and just chasing each other around the quad for probably forty-five minutes.  It was a nice time just watching them run and laugh like they used to around the neighborhood. There is nothing better than kids just running and having fun! 

Class Trip

Ella's class took a field trip to Peach Tree Farms to visit the pumpkin patch.  I tagged along for the trip and enjoyed spending time with her and meeting some of her classmates. At the farm we fed some sheep and goats and Ella actually let them eat out of her hand, this is a first for her.  We got to go on a hayride around the farm, the kids played in a small maze made out of hay bales and they each got to choose their own small pumpkin to take home.  This is the first time Ella has chosen a pumpkin off of the vine so it was fun to dig for the perfect one.  In case you are wondering the perfect pumpkin for Ella is really round with no dirt or spots.  It was a fun afternoon.

 Ella and her class

 Ella and Mommy on the hayride

 The perfect pumpkin

Running through the maze

Sitting on a really cool horse they made out of corn stalks

Look Who is Three!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Kylie's third birthday.  She was excited to have everyone over to her house and show everyone how old she is now.  We started with opening presents and she loved tearing off pieces of wrapping paper and handing pieces to everyone sitting around or throwing them into the air.  See the piece flying in the picture?  

The kids did a lot of running around the house.  Kylie really likes to be chased.  Then we had a delicious pasta dinner and of course cake.  

Happy birthday Kylie! 

Annual Suburban Pumpkin Patch Visit

It was time to call Emma and Aiden and head to the pumpkin patch at Suburban.  It has become a yearly tradition and the kids start asking about it when the pumpkins start appearing at the store.  This year Aiden wanted to go with everyone to lunch at Winstead's so we started the afternoon there.  After getting our bellies full we headed to Suburban.  
Becky, AC and I were discussing how we have pictures of the kids bundled in coats at the pumpkin patch some years and pictures of the kids in shorts on others.  This year was definitely one of the cold ones.  The temperature wasn't freezing but with a cold wind it got chilly really quickly.  We waited for the army truck and headed back to the patch.  This year they added some decorated hay bails that the kids loved!  They all took some time picking out the perfect pumpkin then we headed back towards the store.  The driver of the army truck took them a little off road on the way back and you should have heard the kids giggling.  

After the return some of us shopped for mums while the kids played on all of the play equipment.  Then it was back inside to warm up, eat some popcorn, and get faces/arms painted.  They had a good time playing and managed to talk AC and Al into letting them all play a few more hours at their house.  I would say it was another successful trip to the pumpkin patch. 

Uncle Jono!

We always love it when Uncle Jono comes for a visit.  He had not been to the new house yet and we hadn't seen him in a while so he came last weekend to spend some time with us.  I always feel like he must go home exhausted after a weekend with the Medleys but hopefully he got to rest some during the week.  My kids keep him busy, busy, busy while he is here.  They rope him into all kinds of games.  Just a few that I can think of Hungry Hippos, football on the PS3, puzzles, catch, trying to teach them a little guitar, and much more.  

 Playing Hungry Hungry Hippos

Ella dancing to Jono's guitar playing and singing.  Notice Sam is strumming along too while watching football.

John tries to help by feeding him well while he is here.  We took him to Shakespeare's on Friday night and then John cooked hot wings on Saturday.  There was quite a bit of football watching thrown into the mix and Jono entertained us with his guitar playing.  Sunday he joined us for church and then Ella's soccer game.  It was a great weekend and we are waiting for him to return.  Hopefully next time Laura can join him too.