missouri market

This year my parents were here the weekend of the Best of Missouri Market, so it was fun to show them all we had discovered last year.

It was very chilly.

I know I'm cold natured, but even everyone else was cold.

We had a fun time though!

 The boys could not wait to get to the Fitz's tent.

I don't know why it's so cool to get them there.

Perhaps they haven't realized that you can find them at Schnuck's, also.

I think it's just that they have all the flavors at the Market so the choices are better.

Ahhhhh......caramel apples.

I'm always on the lookout for a good one.

This one was pretty good, but no chocolate drizzling was involved, so I'll

keep looking for a midwest replacement of my favorite caramel apple

at the chocolate shop in Grayson, GA.

For that place and Publix, I could be persuaded to move again.

eight

Ethan turned 8 a couple of weeks ago.

He was very excited about his birthday.

I think mostly because it meant he no longer needed the booster seat in the car.

He was up early and really wanted to help make his birthday pancakes.

His job was transferring from griddle to plate - a very important role.

Happy Birthday my favorite Ethan!

Love you so so much!!!

cisne reunion

The boys look forward to this every year.

So do I, but for different reasons.

They enjoy the bounce houses, Bingo and the other games.

I enjoy seeing people that I rarely get to see, and I

also enjoy the pork burgers very much!

I can't find them anywhere around here, so I wait all year to

have one at the firefighters' stand on the square.

playing Bingo.

Ethan actually won some money one night.

So did Grandma.

After this watermelon eating contest, Elliott tells me that he doesn't even like watermelon.  He just

wanted to be in the contest.

He's way more competitve than I am.

Ethan's baseball arm came in handy for the dunking booth.

I think this was the first funnel cake that any of the boys had tasted.

Erin and I were craving one.

We got two for everyone to share and I don't believe they lasted more than a few minutes.

The best was that Ben kept picking his piece right out of the middle of the cake.

Smart boy.....that's where all the good stuff is!

Finally a pork burger for lunch!

Or a corn dog if you're Eli and cheeseburgers if you're Elliott and Ethan.

Someday they will discover what they've been missing.

Did you like the chocolate ice cream cone Eli?

So, this picture has Brian fired up.

Rob and Amber take their first ever stab at the 

back seat driver contest and come home with a first place trophy.

I'm very proud of them.

Brian says it's on for next year.

Almost all of us tried the back seat driver challenge.

I'm pretty sure Ethan will not choose me as his driver next year.

As we FINALLY got to the end of the course, he told me to turn right.

I asked if it should be a hard right or just a little bit of a turn.

His response was that he didn't care.

Okay then.

Ready to watch the parade.

Taking a little lemon shake-up and funnel cake rest.

Those are very necessary, you know.

labor day

This Labor Day weekend was bittersweet for us.

Brian's uncle passed away, and we all attended the memorial

service for him on Saturday.

It was a very nice service in which his boys both spoke of

his influence on them and how much they respected and loved him.

What a legacy to leave.

I didn't know him all that well but hear stories all the time.

I know he will be greatly missed.

Because of Uncle Bill's illness, Brian's parents came into town

unexpectedly so we got to spend some time with them here,

and we were excited about that.

Oddly I have no pictures of them.  I'll remedy that next time.

But they came out to my parents' house for a barbecue with 

the rest of my family.  And time at Grandma and Grandpa's

usually looks something like this....

riding the Gator

riding the golf cart 

(Ethan's driving was pretty scary)

and just hanging out with the boys.

We all went to the Hot Biscuit for lunch on Sunday

(or dinner, depending on how you grew up or what kind of food is served)

I love their fried chicken, so this is always a treat for me.

While we were there, Sonny introduced himself to Rob and told him to let him know 

if he wanted to know the real scoop about Amber.

Rob called his bluff and actually pulled a chair up to Sonny's table and said

he was ready to hear it.

Of course there's no "real" scoop cause Amber is as sweet as can be, but it was really funny.

Possibly one of those "you had to be there" funny stories.

We went home after lunch, because Brian had to work on Labor Day.

I don't even remember what we did on the actual holiday.

Maybe we slept.  It had been a long week.

back to school

Wow....I am realizing how far behind I am with updating the blog.

The boys started school on August 15th - about a month and a half ago!

Oh well.

The first day.

(I'm also realizing that I need a faster lens to get rid of the blur :) )

Second grade for this guy.

He is still this excited about his class!

Fourth grade for this guy.

Probably the last time he will let me come into his class on the 

first day.  I was really pushing it with this year.

At least he smiled for me.  Probably so that I would go away.

They are both really enjoying school and liking their teachers very much.

So thankful for such a great school!

happy 50

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Actually, her birthday was over a month ago.

Our small group surprised her with some of her favorite foods

for lunch and a celebration after church on her birthday.

And Kendall even made a cake for her....what a thoughtful husband!

Fun fun day for a very sweet friend!

Love getting together with these guys!

georgia visitors

The Martins came to visit us in early August!!

Luke had a hockey tournament here, so we were lucky to have them all here for a few days.

AND, we even got to celebrate Luke's birthday with him!

There was a lot of hockey watching.

Which was fine with my kids.

We had not seen much roller hockey, so this was pretty

new to us.

And we introduced them to geocaching.

This was the beginning of what seemed like an epic hike in

search of the cache.

I had almost given up.

Of course it was one of the 100 degree weeks and the bugs

were eating us.

We finally found it, and it was a cool one.

Missing these guys too.  We always have such a good time together!