The kids...

Corbin on Joe's lap, Taylor, Lizzy, Abby, Haley, Samantha, Rachel, and Zachary on Kathy's lap

My brother came out to visit and it has been a blast to have all of our kids get together and play. These are the ones that were together this night....

Lesson learned........

This is my sister Kathy's hand after receiving a steam burn, mine is not even close to what her's looks like. Kathy and I were trying to help mom carry a roaster full of ham out to the car. It still had steam in it and as my husband is calling us dumb and dumber lifted it off the counter and the steam proceeded to attack.......it was all we could do to get the roaster back on the countertop.....needless to say we spent 3 hours with our hands in cups of ice water and Chris went to Kirksville for ointment........Andrea called stating she had numbing ointment...thanks Andrea it was a BIG help....needless to say Kathy and I learned our lesson.....you would think that at 38 and 36 we would not do stupid stuff like this.......live and learn! Oh and both of us use our hands for our jobs, she is a women's nurse practicioner and I transcribe!

Halloween 2009

The crew........ah what fun we had!

Samantha the witch, Rachel the retro chick, and Haley the princess

Chris as Hannah Montana or Bucky Covington from American Idol.....sexy......NOT

My princess!

My grown up retro chick!

The yearly trick or treat family gathering was fun as always.......Julia and her kids and Kathy and her kids came to go trick or treating....Kathy was in charge of all of the make-up and I had the glitter can.....we put the kids in the wagon behind the 4-wheeler and off we went....the kids had fun, but they were worn out and well worth it..........Happy Halloween!

2 days without....

Training wheels and the result is this!

And this...

and this!

Haley decided she wanted the training wheels off her bike. We took them off on Friday and Saturday we headed camping and had to take the bikes. I was a bit nervous that she would not be able to keep up with the other kids, but as you can see she had no problems. She did have one collision with another girl that we were camping with as Mia had just learned to ride her bike without training wheels also, but other than that Haley has done an awesome job at riding her bike. She told me today that she liked to ride her bikes without training wheels as she does not make noises anymore, meaning her training wheels were a bit loud! See below for pics of our second camping trip of the year!

Camping for the weekend...

Chris and Zachary relaxing

At one time this little tent had 7 kids in it with make-up and the works!

The kids playing house in Hotel Hilton (Kathy and Mike's tent)

Samantha and Haley being themselves

65 degrees outside and the kids thought they just had to play in the water...

We had an awesome time just doing nothing. The kids rode their bikes everywhere even to the playground, which was 20 yards away! All around the campground and we followed with the scooters. We will have to do it again before the snow flies!

First Day of School 2009

Rachel (3rd grade) and Haley (Kindergarten)

They are ready to go!

Haley waiting for the bus....

Still waiting for the bus...

Hugs before they go...

Haley was so excited she was practically skipping to the bus...Rachel was just all smiles!

Home from the 1st day of school...

Haley did NOT like her bus tag she had to wear! She did said school is AWESOME!

Rachel had fun seeing her friends, but is ready for a full day of school tomorrow...

We made it through the 1st day of school. I did not know how to react with one in 3rd grade and one in Kindergarten. I still am in denial I think, but they have grown up so fast. They really make us proud as they are so excited for school Rachel has 16 book reports to do this year, so this will be a new learning experience for her. She has already started on ready to get ready for her first book report. Haley is excited about school. She had gym class today and said it was so cool as they got to skip and do other cool things. She is excited about the 2nd day as she is the first one to bring snack, grapes and strawberries are on the menu for snacks....

20 Year Class Reunion

Yes that would be 20 years!

I believe they counted 30 of us out of 60 some!

Angela and Kathy

Dee, Anna, Kris, Tracy, and Danny

Teresa, Jennifer, and Kris

Allen and Jeremy

Jodi, Jodi's husband, and Elaina

Todd and his wife

Renee

Wesley, Mike, and Alan and his son

Angela, Deanne, Shannon, Marla, Scott, and Jodi

What fun we had getting together, seeing each other, and enjoying stories. We all could not believe it had been 20 years, really it does not seem that way at all! I will be anxiously awaiting our next reunion! Hope you enjoyed the pictures...