Happy birthday, Nola!

I am behind on posting - I know! I have no excuse except that it has been very busy! Lots of family fun time though. Everyone is back into the routine of school/work/school activities.

Several weeks ago we attended Colten's white coat ceremony at UMKC.

On Saturday, we had Brenner's first piano recital with his teacher Mrs. Nancy Ward. He played about 10 songs for the family. We called into my dad at the hospital and he listened over the phone. We all agreed that he did great!

Before the recital, we set up the chairs and Brenner marked some reserved. The big chair was for Dr. Ward, Nancy's husband.

I should have mentioned before the recital, Nola had a soccer game. Once the recital was done, it was birthday party time! Here is Nola's cake.

One in color. She loved it!

Present time. Love how the girls watched closely. Lots of wonderful things - thanks again to everyone.

The kid crew. Good bunch of kids!

Nola then had a sleepover with the girls. Dance party! First is was ballet music because several of the girls are in dance. It was interesting because the friends were wanting to listen to popular songs. Parents - have you heard the lyrics to these and the age inappropriate things that come out of your child's mouth when they are sung. Ugh!!!! We listened to two songs and then I said no (and explained why a song about I like you because the shape of your body is wrong). They didn't seem to mind to shift gears to a movie.

Ella, Nola, Morgan, and Eadlin - they slept all through the night and were well rested Sunday morning for chocolate chip pancakes!

On Sunday, I had to leave for a work meeting. I wasn't happy to miss Nola's birthday - Miss. Nola wasn't happy either. But I put a slide at the end of the presentation for her and someone took a picture of me so that I could send it to her. So sweet! It also got a nice response from the crowd :)

Marathon weekend completed!

This is always one of our busiest weekends of the year with the Concordia Fall Festival and the Missouri Valley Steam Engine Show. Add in Homecoming and soccer games for both kids! But we made it and had a lot of fun family time!

Nola and Morgan watching for the Ravens float in the Homecoming parade.

Who knows what was going on - I did get beaned with some candy! After the parade it was into Columbia to pick up new eye glasses for Brenner and myself before heading to Concordia.

We were so glad that my dad made it to the fair after spending all week in the hospital. It was nice to have lots of family there. Plus Brenner's buddy Drystan joined us which gave him a riding buddy.

They boys on the ferris wheel

I rode mostly with Nola - here was are on the elephants. I rode a couple rides with the boys and almost got sick. There is a magic age when the rides have serious repercussions!

After a late night, we were up early to have our first YMCA 5/6 year old soccer game. I didn't now any of the kids but there are a fun bunch - certainly keep me on my toes!

Nola was super quick and wasn't afraid to jump right in for the ball.

Nola kicking it in - she did a great job listening. You can tell she has an older brother that plays!

Nola going toe to toe :) Love the intensity!

Go Nola! She ended up with two goals - way to go girl! We didn't win but the kids looked good for only having two practices!

After Nola's game, we had a soccer practice for Brenner before running home, grabbing lunch, then heading over to the steam engine show. We had to take the H through the Parade of Power!

The boys - with Brenner sporting his new glasses. I don't think he is quite used to them yet but was amazed at how far he can see now! No pictures of what happened next - we went home, Matt lost his cell phone at the steam engine show, the dog ran off to the steam engine show, and the kids took off looking for her without us. It was tense with some friends loaning me a golf cart to search for the kids, but all were found and banned from leaving home the rest of the night!

Sunday afternoon games for Brenner's U11 team. They were sooooo slllloooowwwww but managed to win all three games in the heat.

Brenner getting some footwork in.

Going for a shot. This one was blocked but he had several throughout the day. Thanks to Grandma Val for making it down for both kids games - you are awesome grandma!!!!!

Ballon Derby

We had a busy week with Nola's soccer starting (I am coaching so that should be interesting!) and she also caught a tummy bug. All were well by the weekend when we heading to the Pershing Balloon Derby. We were joined by Aunt Lynnie, Uncle Chris, Danielle (a friend from work), and her husband Kevin. It was a wonderful time and the weather was exceptional!On Friday, the kids went to the optometrist. Verdict - Brenner needs glasses. He wouldn't be able to drive legally without them - we knew he needed them but didn't know they were that bad. So - the new spec should arrive next week!

Watching the balloons inflate for the Hare and Hound race. The kids just look so grown up!

The crew waiting for the festivities - there was quite the crowd.

For the hare and the hound race - one balloon gets a head start airing up and then the others (about 11 balloons) try to catch it. These are a couple hounds!

My goofballs.

About half the balloons participate in the hare and hound race which takes off in front of the crowd. The other half launch from another area and then try to navigate into the field. Each pilot had a rubber duck to drop into a small kiddie pool in the field. The first balloon made it - but that was it. The wind was playing tricks and about half the balloon didn't make it to the course. Some scrapped some trees - no one was hurt that we saw.

Once the sun set, most balloons come back to light up the night. It was very cool. The blue balloon and the hummingbird balloon were Nola's favorites! I like one called sour grapes :)

We got to get up close - you can really feel the heat.

Tiamo. It was a new balloon and kind of a funny one that we joked about (they had trouble turning it around so we saw the back for most of the evening). But it was spreading the love!

Some of Brenner's school work. He had an incident at lunch and got sent to the safe seat. It was quite the drama for a couple of evenings because he hadn't done anything wrong (according to him and his teacher but had to follow the lunch monitor's rules). We made it through but it did allow for a few good life lessons - life isn't fair, we control our reactions to circumstances, etc).

Some of Nola's work. She is really enjoying school but said she is ready to get to reading time (starts this week!).