Playing catch up!

I know I am so far behind on my posts. We have been having busy weeks of pumpkin patch's, halloween parties, vacations to Branson, and pumpkin carving. I promise I will have some posts coming as soon as I get some free time to download my camera and post them.

Adriana's parent teacher conference

Last night we had Adriana's parent teacher conference. Its so funny how I look so forward to coming and hearing all the good things that she is doing. Chris was actually able to go to this one since it was at night. Mrs. Mahack had nothing but great things to say about Adriana. She is doing very well in school and has adjusted great. She is a very social little girl and loves all her friends (which was her only downfall too because she likes to socialize a lot!). She said she is doing very well in all her school work and is definitely ready for the next step in class. She does all her school work like she is supposed to and rarely gets in trouble (other than her socializing, which was always my problem in school too!). She said Adriana is a very smart and loving little girl. The conference was actually pretty short considering I am in Adriana's class every Monday morning helping out with accelerated reading program and I get filled in with everything going on already so I'm sure she didn't have much more to say. Its such a relief knowing it will be a good conference before you go in. Next will be Andrew's and we will see how that one goes ;-)

Just a little something!

I just wanted to say how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends and family! My friends and family have given me so many wonderful clothes for my kids that I really haven't had to buy them much clothes for this winter or next summer! This saves my family so much money and it melts my heart thinking about all the wonderful people who have been so caring! I will do my best to help other families feel this same way! Thank you so much everyone!

My sweet little girl

I just wanted to mention on here something my sweet little girl did for me. Last week I worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in a row (I was supposed to be off Sunday but got called in). Well if you know me at all then you know I get about 4 hours of sleep each night I work. Well after working Sat. and Sun. I was already really tired (Chris had gone hunting so I didn't get to sleep in at all over the weekend). Monday Adriana was off school so we took Andrew to soccer then came home and ate lunch. After lunch I layed down with Joey and just got him to sleep when Andrew came in my room. I asked him if he wanted to lay down with me and he said yes. Well he was soon sound asleep at which time I also fell sound asleep (I normally don't fall asleep when I have any of my kids awake but this time I was just so tired I did). About an hour later Adriana woke me up and told me she had a surprise for me. I got up out of bed and walked into the kitchen and family room. She had cleaned up all the toys and put them away and wiped off everything. The house looked wonderful! Maybe I need to fall asleep more often ;-) Just kidding but I was very touched by her wonderful thoughfulness! She told me that she knew I was so tired and just wanted to help me out.......sniff, sniff! Now if she could just rub some of this off on her brothers we would be great!

Cutting firewood

On Sunday we went up to my family's property in Silex, MO to cut up some firewood. If you know me, during the winter I have a fire in my fireplace all day everyday so we always need lots of wood. Well this particular Sunday we also brought up my in laws so they could cut some firewood also. My kids were very excited to have all their grandparents up for the day. We got to the farm early Sunday morning and got to play a little while we were waiting for everyone else to get there. So the kids played down by the creek and threw in some rocks.Then Chris let them have turns riding on the four wheeler with him.We decided to have some lunch when everyone got up there before we began all the hard work. So my mom and dad brought up a little portable grill and Chris' parents brought lots of food to share. So we barbqued up some hot dogs and hamburgers and had us a nice little spread of food to share.The picnic table (you have to work with what you have out in the woods!).Then it was time for desert. So the kids made up some s'mores.

Now its time for work! Here is all the grownups splitting up the wood and the little kids job was to haul the wood to the truck.Once again its time to make my kids earn their keep and put them to work!Loading the wood onto the truck!
Here is Adriana and her grandma's out on a walk.And a picture of all the grandparents and grandkids together in the woods.The drive in the country is so beautiful this time of year so I had to grab a few pictures of the country roads as we were heading home.

We had such an awesome time and can't wait to go again in a few weeks when I have used up all my firewood already!!!!

Apple picking with friends

Last week we took a trip over to Eckerts for another day of apple picking only this time we brought along some friends. My friend Debbie and her two children Chase and Reece went with us. We took the ferry across and the kids all loved driving on the big boat.
Then we made it to Eckerts. The kids all had a blast picking lots of apples.
Here is Adriana picking her apples.
And of course Joey eating more than he picked.
It must be something with the Weber boys because Andrew also ate more apples than he picked. Maybe they need to start weighing the boys before we go and when we come back to get a more accurated price for us.Andrew and Chase comparing their apples.Adriana, Andrew, and Chase on the wagon ride back. They look a little tired from all the picking.

Joey and Reece on the wagon ride back.When we got done apple picking we headed to the play area to let the kids play for awhile.

Here is Joey with the goats. He thought they were so funnyThe three kids then headed over to the big sand area to play.

When we left Eckerts we headed into Grafton to eat. The restaurant we usually eat at was closed and only open on weekends so we headed out a little further and found another spot to eat at along the river. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but the kids had a blast playing at the restaurant and we got to enjoy a great meal.

While waiting to get on the ferry the kids played by the river and threw rocks in.Here they are on the ferry ride home.Wow, what a tired bunch of kids!We had a great time and want to thank Debbie, Chase, and Reece for spending a great day with us. Hopefully we can do something fun like this again soon!

Pumpkin patch #1

I really, really love fall (if you can't tell) and love spending every minute I can enjoying it. Well that means going to all the pumpkin patch's there is in the area (which is quite a few!). Friday we took advantage of Adriana's half day and grabbed up Maw Maw and Jacob (who also had a half day) and headed on down to Theis Farms pumpkin patch which is my all time favorite! On the way my mom had given the kids the little teeth wax things she had bought and I couldn't help but get a picture of the silly kids in the back of the car acting goofy with them on. We finally arrived at Theis Farms and the fun began! It is my favorite pumpkin patch because you only have to pay one price to get in and you get to enjoy all the fun activities without breaking the bank! So we began on the tire spinning thingy.

The kids kept wanting me to spin them faster and faster and I was actually starting to get sick watching them!
I took Joey on the tire horse swing while the bigger kids were busy on some older things. He was loving this and kept laughing and yelling "Weeeeeeee" the whole time.

Adriana loves the zip line and does it over and over every year! Andrew did it last year but was too afraid to do it this year.Next they called out that it was time for the wagon ride (a favorite for the boys seeing the tractor!). So the three boys grabbed one of the hay bales and sat right down very excited!
MawMaw and Adriana sat on the other one.

After the wagon ride we continued on playing. Next we made it over to the pirate ship. A very favorite for Joey who loved putting all the necklaces on and dressing up.Adriana enjoyed trying to "drive" the ship.Last year I started the tradition of measuring the kids by the giant pumpkin every year. So here is Joey's picture from last year with a little help from his sister since he was only 10 months old.Here he is all by himself this year.Here is Adriana last year at 5 years old.

And this year at 6 years old (and wearing the same outfit.....haha! Not planned at all!).I didn't have a picture of Andrew from last year so my guess is that he didn't want it taken but I did get one from this year at 3 years old!Before we left Jacob had to get on top of the giant hay bale stack and yell that that he is "king of the world"!And we all got pumpkins before we left. I forgot to get a picture of the older kids with their pumpkins but here is Joey with his.

We had another fantastic time at Thies Farms and we really look forward to going again next year!

Adriana's 6 year checkup

Today we had Adriana's 6 year checkup. She had her eyes and ears tested which were both perfect. The over all checkup went great and the doctor was really pleased with her progress with eating. She was measured at 50" tall (off of the charts) and 48 lbs. (75%). She is a very healthy little 6 year old girl!!!!

Guinea Pig babies!

Here is the latest picture of the guinea pig babies. Man, they are growing so fast! They will be going to new homes soon and I will miss them :( They are all so cute and cuddly and love being held!
Here is the gray and white one. The next two are black and white and looks like twins.Here is a picture of them together to prove that they are two different guinea pigs.

Happy fall ya'll!!!!!

One of my favorite things about fall is all the leaves turning colors and falling down. I know this is really crazy, but I love the days we rake up the leaves. So today we began the leave raking process. But the kids don't get away easy......we put them to work too! Who pays attention to those child labor laws anyway ;-) So here is the kids hard at work raking up leaves..... Wait!!!! You just raked up Adriana in the pile of leaves!Alright kids......put all the leaves you raked up into the bags now! Good job!!!! Man these kids are working hard!
But don't worry, they did have some fun!

So here's to my favorite time of year......FALL!!!!