Great weekend

Wow...this whole 'living close to family' thing is so easy! We had such a great Thanksgiving. 2 minute drive to Robynn's for Turkey-day lunch, then 30 minute drive to WaKeeney for the Purinton dinner. No packing, better yet--no unpacking, it was so darn easy! It's exactly what Royce and I had hoped for in moving back west.
That being said, this coming weekend we are off to KC for our first visits! We miss everyone there so much and can't wait to see them all. Friday Royce has his company Christmas luncheon so I will get to see my former co-workers for lunch. Then Friday night we have our annual White Elephant Christmas party with friends we've had since we moved to KC in 2004. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. I'll take the kids by their former daycare and we also want to spend some quality time with our neighbor Don. Don was very much a family member to us while we were in KC and I'm excited for the kids to see him and to get to play on his bridge again. We miss him dearly! Most importantly, I'm looking forward to seeing my friend Jessica. We moved at a rough time in Jessica's life and I can't wait to hug her and catch up a bit. She has the most beautiful daughter Kaylin and I can't wait to see the smile that doesn't quit. And if her husband is around, well, then the kids will have another 'kid' to play with because he's so great with them. He is, after all, the one that taught Chloe to blow her straw wrappers!
Okay, enough rambling. I'll have new pictures to post when we get back from KC. It's DECEMBER. Wow.

Nothing new

Just wanted to say hello to everyone. Nothing new going on here so the blog isn't full of any new pictures.
Chloe is anticipating Christmas. She has 2 lists by the fireplace for Santa to get. I'm not sure what all she wants, there is mainly just some random letters, a few C's, some E's, and the number 4 shows up every now and again. I guess there is an A and H also. If anyone can make sense of it then let me know. Her new phrase is, "That's a lot of work". I asked her to take her jacket and her shoes to her room the other day and she said, "That's a lot of work". Another thing she likes doing now is folding and putting her laundry away. GREAT! But yesterday I saved her laundry in her room for her; I had already folded it she just needed to put it away. And she said, "I don't want to do that, that's a lot of work!". Tell me about it.
Isaac says Owwww and Ouchie for everything he doesn't want to do. So I could be reading him his favorite book and when we're done and putting it away he'll say "Ooowwwwwwwiiiieee!" like it hurts him. We could be putting shoes on to go outside and if it takes too long he'll say "Ouchie!" I know thing's aren't hurting him, it's just his response to everything now.
That's about all going on here. Hope all is well with everyone!

Opening Weekend

Our annual "holiday" was this weekend, opening weekend for pheasant hunting. Royce was at his family farm south of Collyer. His friend Cameron came out from Kansas City for the hunt so Cam's wife Megan was with the kids and I. We had such a nice time. We went to Ransom on Saturday to the Pfannenstiel farm where there were a lot of cousins and had a great time. All hunters were happy with their success; Royce's report is that they got a record number of birds for opening day.

Here are some pictures of the kids.

Isaac and Papa. Isaac was happy to hold the birds.

Chloe was a little more hesitant. She wanted to hold one just because the other kids held one. Then she found rubber gloves and wore them the rest of the time outside.

Chloe and Brooklyn. Brooklyn is my cousin's daughter and was our flower girl. Chloe was googly-eyed over her from the start and Brooklyn was so sweet to play with Chloe.

Here are some of the great-grandkids of Grandma Pfannenstiel. Left to Right:

Chloe, Braeden, Bryce (grandson from Ransom), Isaac, Max, Kaleigh, and Madeline in front. Max, Braeden, and twins Kaleigh and Madeline are my cousin's kids from Colorado. Max was our ring-bearer. They are all getting too big!!

Fall pictures

Chloe loved playing in the fall leaves. She helped build a big pile and was quick to bury herself. Isaac couldn't have cared less.

Chloe did however "hide" from Isaac. He knew perfectly well that she was in the leaves but when we said, "Where's Chloe" he was on a mission to find her. Even though he knew exactly where she was, he started sweeping with his hands through the leaves--starting at the wrong end. So little sweep by little sweep he found her. So funny.

He's saying "There she is!"

Sweet faces.

Sleeping boy

These are some pictures of Isaac sleeping. I swear, this boy is so funny. Tonight I caught him getting in the Christmas spirit using his blankie as a Santa beard.

And Royce caught this moment a few weeks ago. It was about 6:00 one morning and Royce passed by Isaac's door and this is what he found. Isaac even startled after the picture and re-adjusted to get comfortable in this position again. He's so funny.

Costume Pictures

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Chloe was a Bumble Bee. She wore my very first dance costume and was so proud. She looked so cute and was very sparkly!

Isaac was a UPS Man. He was so darn cute. The cutest delivery man I've ever seen! He was funny trick-or-treating. He only focused on one piece of candy at a time. If he still had one in his hand he didn't take more. Just one at a time. It was cute.

These two pictures were taken at my Grandma Donna's house. The Great Grandparents enjoyed the kids early as they were out of town on Halloween. It was fun going over there and the kids enjoyed all the treats.