Rock Chalk!

Jay hawk!  Today we went to Lawrence to see the University of Kansas take on the University of Texas!  It was homecoming and it was fun!  Chilly but fun.  We went to the KU school of business hospitality tent before the game and ate and then walked around the stadium and made it to our seats in time to see the 11am kickoff (gotta love CST for football!)

Having some hot chocolate and popcorn.

We sat in the Texas area and there were lots of empty seats around us, thank goodness.

one take and we are ALL looking!

Even though KU lost the kids had a blast.  Caroline admitted to not watching much of the game (go figure) as she was much more interested in the cheerleaders and the bands.  This was the kids first time attending a football game and it was a success!  They loved it!!  Eric didn't have any accidents either.

Exploring

Tuesday night after Justin had gone to class and we had dropped Caroline off at gymnastics, the boys and I went for a bike ride to check out the construction that's going on behind our house. They are tearing down old houses and building new single family ones. We had a great time riding through the dirt and grass. Eric kept telling me, "bumpy!" We walked in one of the old houses they are tearing down (in the picture there are 4 units in that one section) and Will had fun throwing rocks in the big hole of the basement! Fun boy things!

Fall fun

Friday the kids were off school and had plenty of time to work with the neighbors collecting leaves for a huge pile.  They used rakes and snow shovels!  It was only 49* and very windy but they had a blast. 

Kids ages 11,9,8,6,5, and almost 2!

"Home is where the Army sends you"

That is a popular saying on posts.  You see it all over printed on all kinds of plaques and stuff.  Today was parent teacher conferences.  Report cards came out last week so we get to go talk about them!  Caroline got straight A's and we are very proud of her.  Will doesn't get a report card until second quarter.  They are both doing very well and have adjusted splendidly.  Caroline's teacher loves her and says even though she is very young she is emotionally doing better than most of the other kids.  Will's teacher has 3 grown boys of her own and thank goodness understand a kid that is "all boy"!!  Will is tops in his class (no surprise since he is repeating Kindergarten) and needs to work on his self-control!! Mrs. Wagner mentioned controlling his talking and being too physical (pushing, tackling, and such!)  No surprises there either!!

Caroline's class had a writing assignment that had the topic above.  They are working on compound sentences in this paper.  The kids had to compare 2 places they had lived.  They also drew houses and listed all the places they had lived on hearts below the houses.  Three kids out of 19 had 3 hearts.  The rest had more than 3 places they had lived in their short little lives!!  

Caroline's house is the second one from the left (the purple one!)

Her paper!

Home is where ever the Army sends us!  We are together and that's important too!!

The kids attend MacArthur Elementary school.  One of 3 elementary schools on post.  It is half a mile from our house to the school and the majority of the kids that attend are officer kids.  The turn over is 50% from year to year.  I don't know how many are enrolled at the school but it is a Pre-K -6 grade school and one story building.  Most grades have 4 class rooms.  Will has 16 kids in his class and Caroline 19.

Our house

Well, the main floor for now.  I decided to go ahead and take pictures and post them no matter how cleaned/not cleaned or picked up the house is today!
We live in on-post housing.  There are neighborhoods of different houses on post and they are grouped by rank.  We live in student housing so all our neighbors are also in school like Justin.  Our neighborhood is all 4 bedroom duplexes.  There are some larger single family houses sprinkled among the duplexes for those with LOTS of kids.  You see 15 passenger vans in their driveways!!

Our side of the duplex with Caroline on the front porch!  The front 2 downstairs windows are the den.  The window in the middle between the 2 porches is the half bathroom.  The double window upstairs in the guest room and the single window is the upstairs bathroom.

My back is against the front door.  Miles is heading upstairs, the kitchen is straight ahead, the den to the left and the half bath to the right.

Den with Caroline in the lazy boy reading.

Standing at the front windows looking back through the house.  There wasn't room for our dining room table since that door to the left leads to the garage and the hall way leads to our room.  So the table is in the basement!! 

Kitchen!  The kids sit at the bar to do homework and Eric has figured out how to climb into those chairs!

Laundry/pantry.  Justin built the box the washer and dryer are sitting on.  I have laundry baskets for sorting clothes under there!  THere isn't a pantry so we put shelves in to use as a pantry.

Master bedroom which is HUGE!

Eric wanted to be in every picture!

I love the fact that the master bath has 2 sinks!!

We have a wonderful closet!  The whole family ends up in here and sometimes Miles joins us in there.  My neighbors use it as a nursery!!

Standing in the master bedroom doorway.  The laundry room is to the left and the backyard is to the right.

2 car garage

Fenced in back yard.

We really like this house!  I'll get upstairs and the basement soon!!

Merica

Eric got this paper mask from the neighbor yesterday. He really loves being Captain America!

Kerby Farm

*Photo dump warning* 

After Eric got up from nap this afternoon we piled in the van and headed about 30 minutes down the road to a pumpkin farm.  It was about 65* and really windy, so a perfect fall day and oh so nice to get outside after all the rain yesterday.  The kids had a blast and we stayed for about an hour and a half. The zip line was a huge hit for Caroline and Will.  Eric went down once, didn't fall, but didn't want to do it again.  Eric did the big tube slide only once too but he tried them!  It was small enough of a place and not crowded that we could be in different areas and still see each other.

Will's mastered the zip line landings!

Waiting in line

Eric had fun running through the tunnel.

Will going again!  With Justin and Caroline watching.

Tire horse swings

Eric loved the sand tables with all the tractors, dump trucks, steam rollers, back hoes, and bull dozers.

King and Queen of the hay stack!

looking at some animals.

Hay ride to the pumpkin patch.  What a beautiful day!!

He said he wanted a big one!

Looking for just the right one.

Telling dad all about how he wants to carve his pumpkin!

Zip line again

Eric and Mom walking to the fun.