Happy Birthday Nola!

Where did the last five years go?! I can't believe that Nola turned 5 this week. She brings so much joy to us with her unique style, funny personality, and caring spirit. Nola is truly a blessing!

Birthday morning - what a beautiful smile!

Nola and her car buddies! She got the Wonder Woman costume from Mom and Dad. I got the wrong size and she had a disgusted look on her face. An extra trip to Columbia before preschool ended fixed the issue.

Nola leading her class out to the playground before pick up!

Lunch with Morgan at Sonic. Lots of superhero talk. A bit refreshing after all of the Frozen talk!

Friday was also the homecoming parade. Nola was there with flair!

We cheered Brenner and the rest of the Ravens on their float! They were easy to spot among all the blue floats.

Brenner made a party sign for Nola. Great job, buddy! Brenner was also named Student of the Month for September in his class. Way to go, buddy. More pictures on that next week!

Nola and her flower cake. She picked out all of the colors.

Blow, Nola! It took 5-6 breaths to get them all out!

Nola wanted to invite some boys and girls to her party. It was a fun time. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs before digging into the the chocolate and vanilla cake. There was plenty to go around!

Lots of helpers to open the presents!

Hayride time! But where is Nola?

Oh - there she is!

Cousin Gannon got plenty of attention from all the ladies!

Button, a new puppy toy, had to be in the family picture!

We convinced Grandma Val to take the kids home with her after the party so that Matt and I could go out. Thanks, Grandma! After cleaning up, we were tired and stayed home!!!!

Playing Barbies with new furniture on Sunday afternoon!

Some of Brenner's writing. Seems like Matt stole the focus away from me - whew!

Brenner continues to do well on his work. He takes his Wimpy Kid books with him to read in the car - seems like he is learning the love of books! I am so excited about that! Brenner is such a good kiddo - it is fun to watch him mature.

A bit of a slow down

This week was much more calm than last week - thank goodness! I don't have too many pictures but we will gear up next week with Nola's birthday! Have a few funny stories - Nola named her horses. My favorite was Carcass. Nice, Nola. Brenner wanted to confess that he had said a bad word at the fishing party last week. I asked what he said. He said "S-h-i-t" and I asked why he said it. Brenner proclaimed "it just slipped out because the crayfish was so big." Sigh. I told this story to the new youth group leader (a college student about 21 years old). Andrew laughed and said - it was a big one!

So proud of Brenner  - he read his first "big" chapter book all on his own - in three days!!!!! He liked the Diary of A Wimpy Kid but we also have a few Magic Treehouse that we have just started.

The scary fairy! Grammy Vo came down on Tuesday while Matt was at a funeral. Nola and her had a ball - what a special treat!

Friday night was dance party in the play room! We had a good time and both kids were playing it up!

Grandma Val came to Brenner's class for Grandparent day. They had a good time!

Lego castle building on Sunday afternoon!

Nola showing off her new haircut! She wanted it super short so that she didn't have to wear barrettes or ponytails. We compromised :) She likes that it doesn't get caught behind her back now in the car!

Silly Brenner!

Some interesting sentences from Brenner. I like all of the mom references!

Brenner is doing well in school. He had a pre-exam (not shown) of all the math that will be covered this year and he only missed 5. According to the teacher that was "amazing". Great job, buddy, we are very proud of you!

A dirty pig project that Nola's class did this week!

Marathon Weekend!

 The weekend after Labor Day is always a busy one for us - this one was no different. In a 48 hour span, we went to soccer practice, ran a 5K, participated in a pedal tractor pull, rode fair rides, went though the Parade of Power at the Steam Engine Show, and went on a church fishing trip. Are we tired? You better believe it!!!!! Some highlights are below!

 Nola having fun with accessories at Charming Charlies :)

 Stick football?

 The kids and Matt took the tractor to the steam engine to get it registered. This year was all red for International Harvester - our personal favorite :)

 A new addition was a man with alligators. Brenner thought it was pretty cool!

 Nola liked the train ride! The clouds were perfect for pictures :)

 Matt decided to hold the big alligator! Made me a little nervous!

 On Saturday morning, we drove to Concordia for the Fall Festival. Brenner and I - along with Aunt Mellie - signed up for the 5K. It was a chilly morning! Our goal was to 1) have fun and 2) stick together. After Brenner's mile at summer track I was a bit worried that he would give up!

 Brenner blew past Aunt Mellie and me. This is him at about the 4K mark.  Like how he got hot and tied his hoodie to make a cape! He did say that he got lost but someone helped him get back on the right route!

 Aunt Mellie and me at the same point - about 4 minutes behind Brenner. We were laughing that the woman pushing the double stroller was passing us!!!!

 Brenner crossing the finish line with a time of 31:09. Not bad for no training other than soccer practice and being 7 years old :)  Aunt Mellie and I finished in 35 minutes - no record breaking but we had fun running together!

 Big hugs from Aunt Lynnie.

 Brenner ended up winning second in the youth division! Way to go buddy!!!! He was so proud of himself. Not bad. Check out the height of the first place winner - Brenner probably had to run twice as many steps!

 Proud boy! He worked hard. He apologized for "not following the rules" by sticking with me. I said don't worry about that at all!!!!

 Lunch at the beer garden. Ever heard of Raw Hack? It is a popular "treat" of raw season beef. Ugh - never did like it and didn't eat any this weekend!  Later that afternoon was my 20 year high school class reunion - in the beer garden of course. It was as expected! 

 Grandma, kids, and I went to the craft fair to see Aunt Lynnies' grand champion cupcakes. The crafts were in the community center which was my grade school (see windows behind Brenner).

 Next up was wristbands and all the rides you can fit in 4 hours. This was the first year that Brenner was "too old" for some of the rides - so we had to split the kids up. Nola went down the slide herself - it went a bit too fast and she was upset at the bottom. Tough cookie though as usual!

 Brenner was off like a rocket wanting to ride the bigger rides. He wanted the ferris wheel but had doubts once he was on there by himself. He was very brave. The first two times around his eye were shut tight and he looked scared. By the third rotation he gave me a thumbs up. Soon after, Cousin Krystee bought a wristband and they rode the ferris wheel, scrambler, cliff hanger, etc together!

 Brenner's first roller coaster - Ring of Fire. It made me nervous to watch him - he was scared but rode it three times!

 Nola enjoying the lower key rides!

 Brenner and his riding buddy Krystee! Check out the fish he won at the balloon dart game!

Fun time for us all! 

Sunday brought the Parade of Power at the Steam Engine show. The 6th year for Brenner and Matt to ride through together. Next year, he might be old enough to drive it himself!

Nola taking pictures with Grandma Val's camera while we waited for the parade to start!

The boys on Grandpa Hilbrenner's tractor. Thanks to Grandma for coming down and watching with us!

Next we were off to a fishing trip at a local lake with our church. The weather continued to be gorgeous!

Nola hung tight with Morgan and Corbin. They decided to eat in the Guzzler silly kids!

Brenner was infatuated with catching crayfish. He caught several with some health.

Nola and Morgan weren't too interested in fishing!