Another trip to Topeka

 The whole family made a trip to Topeka last weekend to visit Meemaw and CJ.  Tiff and Chad went too, and we had one huge slumber party on Saturday night.  

Well, not many of us slept all that great, but we had fun!

On Saturday morning we headed out to feed the ducks again.  Sorry Meemaw, but I think we have a tradition started that the kids just love.  Then, after naps on Saturday we headed to the good ol' Topeka mall for Mall-oween.  It was the perfect size, with the perfect amount of candy.  Colin and Maggie got to work on their "trick or treat" and "thank you's" and we got some free, family entertainment.

Brian and I decided not to dress up, to save something special for Halloween night.  The kids had a blast and we got quite a few comments on being "the Incredibles!"

Mr Incredible with Dash and Jack-Jack (we call her Mags-Mags)

Maggie kept her mask on for 3 seconds before ripping it off.  Oh well.  You get the idea...

 Colin performing his sideways leap off the stairs, Incredible-style.

 At the mall, ready to collect some candy!

 Maggie with Aunt Tiff and Uncle Chad.

 The mall was pretty busy, but like I said, it was great practice for Halloween night tomorrow.

On Sunday Colin got to play with some awesome magnetic foam blocks that Meemaw bought.  He kept insisting on building a castle.  Looks good, right?

We had another fun trip to Topeka.  So glad the holidays are coming up so we have more of an excuse to spend time together.  

I've got a couple of really busy weeks at work and school.  I will be giving 3 lectures to outside colleges in the area as well as mentoring some students at Children's Mercy who are observing exercise testing for their Physical Therapy classes.  I just need to take things day by day, but find myself getting pretty overwhelmed at times.  Like my drive home from class tonight, I'm pretty sure I cried about half of the way.  

But, I just need to stay focused and organized.  

It will all be worth it soon enough.

Eye of the tiger, right?!

:)

A little bit of this...

 and a little bit of that.

I've been a bit behind on updating our lives on here.

Forgive me, please.  I was at a conference in Columbia, MO for a couple of days last week and school has been a bear.  

But, here's what we've been up to...

We had our first EVER movie night, awesome fun times at home.

We popped some butter-free popcorn that we all could enjoy, bought some special treats (Twizzlers, Nerds, and gummy bears) and drank some juice.  Sugar city, baby!

We watched Curious George.  Such a sweet movie.  Maggie made it most of the way through before she needed to go to bed, but Colin was a rockstar and loved it!

 I was fighting for some popcorn.

Those 2 loved it so much!

 We went to an awesome birthday party last weekend.

They had ponies and a mini- petting zoo.  Maggie had a blast in with the animals.  She kept trying to hug them the whole time.

 She loved the goats...

 Jasper, another co-workers little boy, just loved these animals...

 Seriously though, what's not to love about this little baby pig?!

 Colin spent the majority of the time in this bounce house, go figure!

 He took some time out to say hello to the donkey

 and go for a pony ride

 It took Maggie a little while to warm up to the ponies

 so she played in the animal food for a while

 and then headed back for her pony ride, and she loved it!

 Watching Colin play in the bounce house, swinging on the porch.

We had such a great time at the party!

Colin got to dress up in his Halloween costume for gymnastics today.

Of course, Maggie had to, as well.

Here they are enjoying their suckers (Colin did his duty on the toilet) and sitting on Daddy's lap.

Thanks for checking in...

Ordinary Days

Fall is definitely here...

We have gotten our share of some darn cold mornings and evenings, for sure.

My kids, however, don't seem to mind the cold at all.

Maggie eating some apples after coming inside from playing.

Notice her little chubby red hands and cheeks, poor thing!

Last weekend, Brian and I were fixing breakfast for the kids and all of a sudden we hear Maggie start shouting "doggy"!  We look out in our backyard and see these 3 deer just slowly meandering through.  Our neighborhood doesn't allow fences, so they had free reign of a  lot of space.  

Hello Deer!

They stopped to ear our neighbors grass.  

Fine with us, we're desperately trying to get our to grow again, it was such a long and hot summer.

We also have been playing a lot of Rock Band at our house in the evenings, when we are trying to get dinner together after work.

Maggie and Colin, playing the drums

These are our ordinary days.

Nothing special planned, just living life as a young family.

I love it when we don't have a ton of things going on, and we can just hang out.

Tonight, we are doing "movie night"

Brian checked out the Curious George movie from the library, we hit up Target for some fun snacks (gummy bears and nerds and popcorn), and we've got Colin all excited for some quiet time in our pajamas.

Visiting Fire Station 4

 After work today, we picked the kids up and headed off to see Brian's friend Brett at Fire Station 4 in Parkville.  We have been meaning to get out there for a while, but had a little more push from Colin after he has started reading Curious George goes to the Fire Station.  

Brett was so great to us.  He was able to take the time to explain things to Colin and answer all of his questions (which weren't really that many, his eyes were just big the whole time, trying to take in the experience).  

We sat in the back for a while

(Darn hair bows aren't meant for wearing fire helmets)

 Brett showed the kids how to use the flash lights

 He turned on the fire truck and pulled out in the driveway, with sirens on and lights flashing!

Look at Colin's face, he loved it!!

 Maggie and Daddy did, too!

 Then, Brett turned on the hose for Colin and he helped water the firemen's grass

 So cool!

 Colin and Brett

 Mags and Brett

(who was a little unsure of the noisy truck)

 The Teson fam

 Daddy and Colin riding in the captains seat

 Colin trying on Brett's gear

(it's just a little big)

 Maggie was all too happy to try on Brett's boots.

She has this shoe thing, already.  I know, I know, it's going to be some long teenage years, I think.

 Suspenders and all

 We even found the gloves

 Apparently Maggie didn't want to drive.

She wasn't impressed with the seat that went up and down

 But Colin was more than happy to take the wheel

Watch out KC, here comes Firefighter Colin!

We all had a really great time visiting the station, and spent almost 1.5 hours there.  Sheesh!

Now, we just need to get down to Lenexa to see Uncle Michael's station sometime.

I can see now how these guys that serve the community are such heroes in little kids eyes...because, well, they are!

Why we think Daddy is the best...

because, seriously, look at this poor guy...

He was crawling all over the house, while the kids were literally laughing so hard they were almost throwing up (okay, bad timing on our part, it was before bed, right after dinner and baths).  Maggie was holding on for dear life to Colin, and Colin was pretty much choking Brian cause he was trying to hard not to fall off.  

My job was to take as many pictures and videos as possible, which actually was pretty difficult as I was also laughing hard and had to make sure no one hurt themselves.

Good times, good times!

 Giddy'up Daddy!

 Hold on tight

Poor Maggie has her face right in Colin's...er....well, you see.

Stopping to take one of my favorite pictures...EVER...

We also had a lot of fun the night before, too.

Brian and I just upgraded our phones and we had to try out the video on there.

Colin backed himself up in our closet and proceeded to say "chugga chugga, choo choo" over and over again, until he was screaming it loud.  He was doing this while running around in footie pajamas and wearing his touque hat that GGDudley made him.  So, Maggie joined in (of course) and we made an evening of it.

 Hugs

Our kids just love each other.  They play together so nicely (most of the time), and really do like to be with each other.  Love it!

 Hi Maggie!

 Sweet little girl

We were supposed to take Maggie in for her well-child check this week, but the doctor had to reschedule due to conflicts.  So, it will be in 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, Maggie will be over 17 months old, and this is supposed to be her 15 month check-up.  I guess I dropped the ball there!  Ooopsie!

That's what happens when you have more than one child, right?! 

:)

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

 We made it to Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch for the first time this season.

And beware...there are lots of pictures in this post!

We love it at the Pumpkin Patch!  There is so much to do, for kids of all ages, and you don't have to spend much money at all.  We went this afternoon, for Family Freedom Hours, which is free admission for  2 days a week from 4-6 pm.  Normally the admission is quite pricey (around $8 per person, I believe), so we made this trip a priority this week.  We spent $1 in feed for the animals, and then spent $1.50 for 2 pumpkin donuts (totally worth it!)

It didn't disappoint!  We had a beautiful 80 degree day and the kids were in fairly cooperative moods!  Can't beat that!

Colin, once again, loved the corn pit.  He didn't stay in there long, because he was so ready to explore the rest of the place.  A little boy heaven!

 We headed straight off to feed the goats.  Colin laughed the whole time he fed them because it tickled so much when they licked his hands.  They were hungry!

 My pumpkin boys

 Maggie was too busy eating her grapes for the first part of the outing.  She didn't put the bag down until it was completely empty.  I guess she needed a snack, who knows?!

 My pumpkin girl

 Daddy and Mags riding a tricycle 

(side note...Brian is smiling in pain, he said it was the most uncomfortable bike seat EVER!)

 So many fun playsets to climb on

 Weeeeee!

(notice the grape bag still in hand!)

 Little twinkies!

 Proof that I was there...

I am usually the one behind the camera taking the pictures...

 Maggie was saying "yee haw" while riding on this horse made out of tires.

 Don't worry, my 1 year old is only driving a combine.  

This was, once again, a huge hit!  Last year Colin refused to come out of the drivers seat and shut himself in the cab, with a huge line of people waiting to get in.  Slightly embarrassing.  This year, much less drama!

 Colin and Mags were so excited to feed the ducks, they got lots of practice last weekend in Topeka.  Maggie just yelled "ducky" at the top of her lungs for about 10 minutes.  Good thing we were outside and nobody seemed to mind.

 Feeding the ducks

Total bonus...the machine that sold the duck food for a quarter was busted...we got it for free!

 Running in the tunnel

 Attempting to get a cute picture while sitting on the huge rocking chair

Take 1...

 Take 2...

 There was a stage for the kids to "perform" on.

Colin and Maggie were dancing around to "here we go loopty loo, here we go loopty lie" as sung by Mommy

 An attempt to get a good picture of Daddy with his kids...

This is what we got...

I was laughing so hard! :)

 Enjoying our pumpkin donuts.  

Maggie ate some crackers, poor thing.

Using up the last of our feed on the goats.

This was such a fun afternoon.  Sorry for the crazy amount of pictures, but it's so much fun to see the kids running around on a farm.