Road Trip!!

Justin made it home Friday afternoon!  We were able to go pick him up and on the way to the airport Will made the comment that he was so happy dad was coming home.  I told him yes I think we all are.  He then said that it was dark in the house when dad was gone even though we had on all the lights!!  You could say Justin and I are better together and no one likes it when a piece of the family is missing!!  

But after doing laundry and packing on Saturday we hit the road on Sunday.  We were heading to Susan and Graham's house!  We went about 6 hours the first day and that left a huge chunk to be done on Monday.  It was the longest travel day for our kids ever.  Over 18 hours in the car!!  We stopped 4 times and all were under 10 minutes.  We had to get to Chesapeake!  Surprisingly enough the kids and I didn't sleep.  For some reason my kids are not car sleepers.  I love a good car nap but I did a lot of driving this time.  There were also no tears!  There was some moaning and mentioning of fanny fatigue but the kids were rock stars!!

Miles is a great traveler.  He would just randomly put his head in Will's lap.  Will didn't mind at all!

 Will also took this picture of Miles sitting in Caroline's lap!

 And we made it just at bedtime!  Collin was already asleep but Austin and Ryan were super excited to see us!  Well Austin just wanted Caroline!!

 They are super buddies!

It was nice to get out of the car and be welcomed to the Morris house!

Open house and 6th grade program

Also while Justin was away the kids had an open house at their school and Caroline had her 6th grade musical program.  Their school has a wonderful art teacher and walking around the school you always see kids' work hanging up.

 Caroline was super excited for her show and it looked like she enjoyed herself up on stage.

 Eric's scarecrow.

 Miles really likes to walk himself and will follow right beside me for more than a mile just like this! We get lots of looks and smiles throughout the neighborhood.

 I really love our view and getting to see the sunrises.  It is a great way to start the day.

 Eric's pumpkin.

 We also played lots of rounds of 7's (thanks to the Kvernens for teaching us this summer!) and Blokus (thanks Grandma and Grandpa) while Justin was gone.

Enjoying all things KU

The day after Eric's birthday Justin had to leave bright and early for a work trip to Fort Hood, TX.  So that night I took the kids to an exhibition game at KU.  It was our first basketball game there and oh man was it quite the experience.  "The Phog" was an interesting place for sure.  This was not LJVM Coliseum!  It had the feel of Cameron Indoor and looked more like the old Wake Forest coliseum but without the smoke.  The was a walk way the went all the way around the place, just like the old Wake place.  

 All the lower level seats were wooden bleacher style.  Even the seats behind the benches were bleachers!!  There was a lot of excitement and you would have thought it was a hotly contested game and not one that didn't matter.

 The bad part was we had general admission tickets.  Which meant we had 3 sections to choose from and this was our view during the game.  The people stood the WHOLE time except during time-outs. So frustrating for the kids.

 Then the next Saturday I took the kids to a KU football game.  Justin was still in Texas.  It was a perfectly beautiful fall day.  The kids had fun playing the the kids zone on the practice field.  Bouncing in the bounce houses, target practice with throwing the football, and running around.
The football team is not doing as well as the basketball team so we could pretty much sit wherever we wanted.  Eric loves to sit on the front row, so we did!  I'm not sure much football was watched.  The cheerleaders in front of us and the band to our right were good distractors!  We did get to see a touchdown scored right in front of us though so that was fun.  After seeing the football players up close, Will announced that he could do that!  I have no doubt buddy!!

 Being on the front row means the Jayhawk comes by for a visit!

 Enjoying the game!  This was the first time the kids were wearing their winter coats.  Will had a minor meltdown walking from the car to the stadium.  Why you might ask?  Well, the cuff of his sleeve was NOT right!  So he pulls and tugs, cries, threatens to cut it into pieces, and tried to quickly get it off.  It's a problem when living in a tropical place for 3 years and now it's cold!  But we worked through it and as soon as he got distracted on a bounce house and throwing a football he was just fine!  We are still working on getting Eric into shoes though.  He loves to wear his crocs so now I just have to tell him to wear his sock with them!!  Not sure how the snow boots will work for the boys!!

 It was also military appreciation day.

 And baby Jay came by as well!!

 And then a flashback to my younger years on the way home.  I spotted this station wagon and it reminded me of riding in the back with that bench seat up!!  Will took the picture for me.

The rest of a birthday celebration

After the track event we enjoyed a great dinner and then brownie ice cream sundays.

 The after dinner entertainment was a little loose tooth extraction via Nerf Mega gun.  It took a few tries to get the floss on that wiggly tooth just right.

 But Will was the one pulling the trigger!  And out it came!!

His first tooth came out on his birthday!!  It was a memorable 6th birthday for sure!

Rock the Track

Saturday there was a free Rock the Track event at KU with the members of the KU track team.  Caroline was to old to participate but was tortured by having to watch her brothers have all kind of fun.

Will walked in and saw the indoor football field and was immediately hooked!  Never mind the fact that he wasn't there to play football!!

 The kids were divided into what looked like age groups.  And then rotated through all the stations.  Eric started with shot-put and javelin.

 They also got to do long jump.    Justin followed Will around and I followed Eric.  I have a few more pictures than Justin did!

 High jump, which Eric got to do but Will didn't.

 30 yard dash

 Small group relay with the baton.  And the Jayhawk running beside you!!

 After the event was finished Will challenged Justin to a race.  Will was so sure that he would win...

 But dear old dad can run!  And Will got beat.  All of them did actually, even the random kid that joined in.

 They loved that they got metals!!

So before we went to the event Will was really hoping he would get to pole vault.  The kids wish came true!  And he was thrilled.  And now 2 days later he is so sore!  Haha!

After watching Will please watch again and enjoy the faces of the 2 student helpers!

Eric thought this was a great way to spend his birthday and we all agreed that it was very fun!

Halloween

Carving pumpkins gets easier every year!  The bigs can carve their own from start to finish and only Eric needs some help now.  He wanted a snarly face and he demonstrated for Justin to copy!

 The bigs even scoop out the guts!

 Justin did a great job recreating the face Eric was making!

 The final products.

 We didn't carve the pumpkins until Halloween day.  Mainly because we forgot to over the weekend but it worked out since it's been so warm.  This year the boys decide to use the same costumes they had in the past.  So nice!  And Caroline decided to go as Belle.  It was easy to pull together as she borrowed my white shirt and the blue dress was one Nana gave her.

 We enjoyed a chili dinner at our friend's house before the dad's took the kids around the neighbor hood.

 Miles LOVES halloween!  He sits with me outside and loves all the petting and cuddles he gets all night.

 The kids got a TON of candy.  And they did a great job sorting and trading all by themselves this year.

The candy they didn't like or want has already left the house and gone to work with Justin.  They won't have too many more days to eat some until the rest is gone.  They did pay their parents a candy tax too!

Will's music performance

Last Thursday, right after Eric's soccer game we headed to the school for the 4th grade music performance.  He was so excited for this and it was a little surprising.  In the past he has not been excited about singing or performing.  It was fun to watch him!

In the picture below he is on the top row, with his left hand shielding his eyes looking for us in the crowd.

  

 Top row with a bow tie and face glasses.

 He even had a speaking role in which he did great!!

Each grade has a music performance at some point in the year.  Will was so excited after his that he wanted to have another one!

Birthday celebrations

The kids all agreed that we could have 1 party for all of them this year.  They all agreed that they wanted to go to Dave and Busters as well.  So 2 weeks ago we went and had a late lunch and then played lots of games.  

They had a blast!

Surprise ice cream after also helps!

Then this past Saturday we had a cookout an had 4 families come over for a cookout.  There were 14 kids and thankfully the weather was nice and warm so they could play outside.

Check out Eric's snaggle-toothed smile!  That kid has 4 loose teeth!  That one is by far the closest to falling out.

I also made a cake for each kid (they requested) that had to be both gluten and dairy free.  And because of the cakes that Eric and Caroline picked I needed to make fondant.  Something I had never attempted before!  I made it out of marshmallows and it was pretty easy to make but I had trouble with it keeping it's shape and cutting easy.  As you can tell by the lop-sided circles of Captain American's shield.  Oh well!

 I just love that boy!  And that's a good smile!

 Caroline requested a Harry Potter cake, Will his usual shark cake, and Eric Captain America.  I think they turned out ok but they tasted great and no one could believe that it was gluten and dairy free!

 And sometimes after the party has ended you just need some cuddles from your dog!

 I love their smiles in this one!

Happy birthday kiddos!!