Happy Halloween!!! The kids are so excited about today! This might be the last year that Jake gets to dress up. He got one of those really cool masks that distorts your features but is see through. So, he's going as a bank robber/mobster. He wanted a real cigar, but he's at that age that I'm afraid he'd smoke it! Lacy got a white and silver wedding dress costume from the thrift store and some tulle and lots of blood and is going as a dead bride. And Ry-Guy is a black Ninja. Mark is coming home from TX today!! We survived the week w/o him and he'll be arriving just in time for our Halloween party here! Gotta make it fun for the adults so we're having friends over for Chili, honey corn muffins, Apple cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce and hot cocoa with marshmallows! We've done a lot of things to build up the anticipation. Pumpkin carving, hay rides, hot cocoa nights!! Here are a couple pics of that. Ry-guy and Shane carving pumpkins. I got to scoop the guts cause Ry couldn't get them out well. I'll take a photo of the kid with their pumpkins today too. Lacy made a puking pumpkin, Jake made and I don't know pumpkin and Ry's is a vampire pumpkin. He did so good cutting it out himself with the exception of the mouth when he ran out of time and Juliana helped him! Here are the kids enjoying a cup of hot cocoa and Kayla trying on my silly winter hat. Looks so cute on her!

We had a fun Fall Saturday yesterday! I wanted to make the most of our weekend, before Mark's training all week, and because there is snow coming up in the forecast!!! We started out by going into town in Blue Springs and trick or treating the Merchants on Main street. They had some fun stuff like face painting and crafts but the main draw for the kids was the bag full of candy! Then we headed straight from there to Ry's football game. It was such enjoyable weather!! Karen brought Matthew up to watch and he was so cute yelling "RUN RYAN!!" Sarah and Lacy played with Kayla on the playground, and Shane and Jim played football while Juliana, Mark and I sat and enjoyed the game. After a quick run home for lunch, we all piled back in the cars and headed downtown to the River Market. I had NO idea that there were such treasures to be found!!!! I got so much fresh produce and I only spent $9!!! It was so nice to be outside, and do my fruit and veggie shopping in the sunshine. I think we're gonna have to make a habit of going there and just making it a fun family day! We also took the time to go into the Chinese Market. It smelled so bad in there and looking at all the gross stuff they sell was very entertaining. Lacy and Sarah decided to try on some hats. Shane and Ry liked identifying all the meat. Jim and Mark were oblivious to the smell and stayed back there forever, while Juliana and Jake and I browsed all the other chinese condiments. Those guys sure like their condiments!!! After we left there, I came home and made dinner with some of the yummy things I brought home from the Farmers Market, then Juliana and I headed back out for some more fun fall/halloween stuff. After a 2 1/2 hour wait out in the cold, we got to enter the enchanted forest. Wouldn't you know....Ry decides right then to start the pee-pee dance. He had to pee the entire time but he made it through the forest and through the hay ride and hit the porta potty right as we left. By then it was after 10 and our boys were exhausted. They were such troopers. They had done nothing but WALK for 12 hours straight. And Ry ran and played in a football game!! They both fell asleep as soon as they sat in the van. Ryan said "that was the BEST day ever!!" as Daddy was putting him in bed last night.

Juliana and I took Ry and Kayla out shopping today!! Juliana was very successful getting Shane's costume, so that he and Ry could be the same thing, w/o being the same thing! Plus we had to hit Stein Mart to look at their liquidation (which was freaking hilarious!!! nooooooo I didn't buy anything). We hit a couple garage sales (got Ry some lawn toys he's been wanting and a new helmet he's been needing), went to Deals (bought cheap lights to go inside the pumpkins, and some fun things for the adults to wear on Halloween, and Bandaids since I keep cutting myself and never have a bandaid in the house). We also stopped by Price Chopper. Did you know that you can get a bottle of water, a bag of chips and a Brat or a Hot dog lunch for $1.01 on Red Fridays??? Talk about a cheap lunch!! We gathered up Shane after his bus dropped him off to do half of that running. It was a fun day, but the best part was Party America withKayla and trying on Sunglasses. Every single pair I put on I'd ask "How do I look?" and her answer every time was a very enthusiastic "BEAUTIFUL!"

Pictures of Ry from Jessie's Party (Thanks Jess!!)

He had such a good time. I'm thinking now that he knows cowboys don't ride cows, he'll REALLY wanna be a cowboy!

What a fun, busy weekend we had!!! Life just keeps getting better and better!! Friday, my Mom came over and watched Ry, Shane and Kayla so Juliana and I could go with Karen and Sonja to Atchison, KS to see some Haunted houses! I've read a lot about them, and seen some on A Haunting and have always been intrigued. The Gargoyle house really freaks me out. The reason it freaks me out is because, it is said that the owner in the 1800's made a pact with the Devil and that's how he gained his riches and the gargoyles were a symbol of that pact. A later owner tried to remove them and fell to his death down the stairs. I'm always afraid that the curse on the gargoyles will be broken and they'll come to life and I can tell you I want to be NO WHERE around when that happens!!! Although we didn't get to go in any of the houses, we did get to capture some Orbs in some of our photos!!!! That was so exciting to see something that I've only seen on the ghost hunting shows before!! After a very fun, freaky night, Juliana and I got up early and headed to a Women's conference at church to learn about Personalities. It was so enjoyable and very very informative. I just loving learning things that will help me to be a better friend, Mother, and wife. I'm the first to admit that I will always have room for more insight!! I left there feeling empowered and refreshed. I headed straight to Jessie's house where Mark and Lacy and Ry had already been for about an hour and a half for Alyssa's b-day party! I don't have any pics cause my cell phone broke and I had to get a new one....so the pics I took are lost. I'll post some after Jessie sends them to me. She did a great job entertaining the kids and they had so much fun riding the ponies and doing crafts. And the weather was PERFECT!! It was nice to just relax and catch up with friends! Sunday after church we headed straight to Mom's house for Max's birthday party! Max absolutely LOVED his gift from us! He said " WHOA!!! SWEET!! I really like this present!" After presents, we ate some blue cupcakes!! They were yummy and Camille looked so cute putting on her "lipstick" that I had to add it!! Again, it was another GREAT day weather wise and we spent most of it outside. I'm really enjoying these last nice days of fall before cold winter sets in! The only downside to all of it, Mark is really fighting off a Sinus infection....usually he gets one and is laid up for 2 weeks. If we caught this early enough...hopefully it won't turn into that! Especially since he's covering for his boss this week and will have a TON of work to do before his week of classes next week!

WHOOOOO!!!!!!! 2 blogs in ONE day!!!

I finally used my gift certificate from my wonderful siblings for my b-day. Had to wait for 40% off! I got this great table for the entry!! Now I have my counter space back since I have somewhere else to put my fall stuffs!! I'll try to eventually get a small wine rack that will fit underneath..if I don't drink my 13 bottles before I come up with the money to buy the wine rack. Oh, that's depressing....I should probably open wine.

I was browsing through pictures on my phone this morning and saw this picture of Heather. It reminded me of something exciting I get to do this weekend!! Sonja's b-day celebration will be going to Atchison to tour the "real" haunted houses. The reason this picture reminds me is because Sonja called me right when we were in this bird place and I had a bird on my head and a bird on my shoulder. It was really creeping me out but I was afraid to move for fear that it would bite my ear off....so Sonja wants me to go to something scary and she just so happened to call when I was already doing something scary. You can tell by Heather's hunched shoulders that she wasn't all that pleased to have a bird on her shoulder and no food in her hand.

Today Ry came to me with my Bible and said "Can I look at this? I want to find the truth." So, I said sure!! He came back in a bit with Judges chapters 20/21 open and said "Can you read this to me? I found it. I found the truth." So, I started reading it to him and he said "no, that's not right. It says Worship the Lord with gladness 100 verse 2" So, I went to looking and sure enough I found that verse. It is Psalm 100 verse 2 that he had memorized! So, he took the Bible from me and said "never mind I can read it. This whole book is actually the Truth." I guess the kid is catching on! It just made my heart sing for him to say that!! I had to take a picture so you could see my little guy vegging out on the couch reading The Truth.

Last night we went out to Gomers in Lee's Summit for a Deck party and wine tasting. It was us Jim and Juliana and Sonja and Tim We were having a great time with our group but then we met this guy and girl who were sitting behind us!! They ended up being a TON of fun!! This is Jen AKA Gonzo and James AKA Jamo The band was really great and Mark turned out to be known by everyone. Bill (the singer of the band who played in Mark's Band Harpo's Garage) announced over the mic that "There's a special guest in the audience, Mark McNeel, who will appreciate this song". Next thing you know people are coming up to him. Small world..it was fun though! Every time I got up my camera (ok ok, so it was my phone!) was used by other people. I'll share a few of those just cause they're fun. And I'll share others from the night...in no particular order..LOLWe got some free shirts from the owner. Only me and Sonja did and Jen wanted one so Sonja was so nice and gave hers away!! I gave mine away too...to Mark and then to Jim so he could change out of his white dress shirt and REALLY cut loose!Hope ya'll love pictures!

Today we had a very nice visit with Grandma. Ryan is a really neat kid. I think he just intuitively knows how much he means to grandma. She isn't all that affectionate but with him, she constantly has her hand rubbing his back or his hair or the back of his neck. And he always just climbs right up to her and gives her cuddles. One of the ladies up there (nurse or someone..) said that for days after we leave she'll talk about Ryan. She'll remember exactly what he was wearing and things he said. The rest of us she forgets as soon as we're gone. But he's stuck in her mind for days. It makes me realize how important family is. Even when you lose a lot of your memory, you just know when your family is here, and when you're in the presence of someone who just loves you unconditionally. I hope when I'm older, that I have a Ry to make my day brighter.

We went to the zoo today!! It was great weather for it and there were NO crowds!! Heather and I decided to make good use of coupons and a Friday off from school, and Daniel and Ry were super happy about it!! Heather and I were just happy to do our walking in a different location. I would also like to point out that Ry really likes to show off his missing teeth when we take pictures now!!All Ryan talked about prior to getting to the zoo was King Kong. So, when we got to the carousel he beelined straight for King Kong!!They also had all their fall/Halloween stuff out!! So, there were lots of things to pose in, under, around...It was a lot of fun! And a lot of walking and the boys were super tired by the end and so were we! But, Ry perked right up for a night at World's of Fun seeing all the Haunted attractions and going through the Haunted Houses. Hopefully that'll be my next blog topic!!