Merry Christmas!!

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

B turns 4

Brent celebrated his fourth birthday last week. It snowed for the first time this fall on his birthday. He was so excited to see the snow. We went to Steak-n-shake for dinner. Then we had a cake later in the week and sang Happy Birthday. He wanted an under armor shirt for his birthday and he hasn't taken it off since he has gotten it. He is becoming quite the little ice skater. For the past three weeks, he has had private skating lessons. He might be ready for hockey by next fall.

Nile turns 10

Nile with his friends at the hockey game

Nile with his friends at Imo's
Nile blowing out his candles

The Birthday Boy

Nile celebrated his birthday last week. He had fun going out to lunch with Grandma last Saturday and then he played a great hockey game that day. For his birthday, this year he decided he wanted to take a few friends to the new minor league hockey game in K.C. They all had a fun time watching the game and they enjoyed IMO's pizza before hand, a St. Louis favorite. We are happy they have one here in Kansas City. I can't believe he is 10 years old this year. He is becoming so grown up.

Halloween Pictures

The Family Halloween night

B my little football player

Nile, Brent, and Claire with their pumpkins

me and Claire with our fake eyelashes

We had a fun Halloween this year. Nile was Hercules, Claire was Cleopatra, and Brent was a BYU football player. For the church Halloween party, Claire talked me into wearing her Hannah Montana wig and fake eyelashes. They were actually pretty nice. We had a Hannah themed car for trunk or treat and played Hannah music, the kids loved it.

KC Half Marathon

So I finished the half marathon while having the flu. My parents came in town for the weekend to watch Nile play hockey and football and see me finish my race. On Friday night, we went to Nile's hockey game and they won, it was a pretty exciting game. While we were at the ice rink, Claire started not feeling well. We got home and realized she had a fever. I started having a cough but thought I was fine. So I started the race with my running partners and I was doing fine until mile 2 and then it hit me, I was not feeling well. I didn't know how to quit the race so I ended up finished the half marathon while I was sick. I came home and crashed. It took me a good couple of weeks to completely recover. I am feeling lots better now and even thinking about running a half marathon in a couple of weeks just to make myself feel better that I can do it in better time.

Scott's Birthday

The birthday Boy with his lighter

Claire's birthday card

Nile, Brent, Scott, and Claire

Scott had a birthday this weekend. We went out to dinner with some friends and then to a corn maze and bonfire. It was freezing!! The kids wanted to make Scott a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. They did a pretty good job. Claire wrote him the funniest card. It says, "To dad, Love Claire, you are the best dad ever. I would never want a step dad." She wrote it all by herself we have no clue where the step dad part came from.

A busy week

Scott with his parents and B
Nile at football warming up

B with all of his 6th grade friends

Brent at the pretend birthday party at school

Last Thursday, Brent had a bike ride at his preschool. They were studying distance so they all brought up their bikes to school and rode around the school. Some 6th graders helped them. Brent is loving preschool. They had one area of the room set up for a pretend birthday party.

We had a great weekend. Scott's parents came in town last weekend to watch Nile play football. He played great!! He played every play of the whole game because there were a few kids out sick. He did a great job and his team has two wins two losses.

Claire's Boots

We took Claire to the store this weekend to find some boots. I tried to talk her into getting some suede boots to match her cousin Sophia but she liked this boots the best. She knows what she likes. I think sometimes she is 6 going on 16. This the outfit she wore to school today. Hopefully, her feet aren't hurting too bad when she comes home from school.

Football Games

Nile has won his first two football games. The first one, 12-0 and the second 30-0. He is doing a great job on defense. He says he likes defense better because he can tackle the other kids. We started hockey practice last week. This is going to be interesting doing to overlapping sports, it's just for the month of October and this last little bit of September. Hopefully we survive the month with all the practices.

Jason and Brianna's Wedding

Drew and B

Claire

The girls me, my mom, and sister

Brianna and Jason

Scott and Nile under the All Star Arch

The centerpiece my mom made for the stadium, we also made baseball sugar cookies

Nile in the Cardinals dugout

NIle on the field

my dad, Jason, Flat Jonathan, Steve, Scott, Nile, and Christian golfing

My brother was married last Saturday. We all went to St. Louis for the wedding and had an exciting weekend. Friday, Scott and Nile went golfing with Jason. Then Friday night, we went to Busch Stadium for a rehearsal/welcome Brianna to the family dinner. There was a program and we all had a great night. Saturday was the wedding and reception. We are excited Brianna is part of the family.

School Starts

Brent on his first day of preschool

Nile is on the left with the navy jersey

Nile on his first day

Claire on her first day

Nile and Claire started school last Thursday. Brent started preschool this morning. We are all excited to be back in the routine of things. Nile started playing tackle football a couple of weeks ago. It is keeping us busy. He loves it. He is a defensive tackle and loves trying to get to the quarterback. His first game will be next month. Claire loves school and being back with all of her friends. The kids are starting to learn Spanish this year as one of their electives. Claire came home the first day of Spanish counting to 10. I don't know if Dora had anything to do with that also. Brent was so excited to start school today. He was the first one there.

Hilton Head 2009

The family on the beach
Scott and Nile golfing

B on the beach

Claire boogie boarding

The hissing alligator

The alligator on the lower left, we call this the gator bait pose

Grandma at Harbor Town playground

Nile

We made our annual trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina last week. We had lots fun. The weather was perfect this year, no rain and not too hot. We spent lots of time at the beach, the pool, and bike riding. The kids love going bike riding and looking for alligators, turtles, lizards, and frogs. We got the closest we have ever been to an alligator in the Nature Preserve, we could almost reach out and touch him. The kids were nervous he was going to jump up, he even hissed at us. We went back later in the week and they had added another wooden post to the bridge. Scott's mom went with us this year. We hope we did not wear her out too much. The kids loved building sand castles and jumping waves in the ocean, and picking up sea shells. We went to see fireworks one night. We climbed up the light house and looked out to Harbor Town. Scott and Nile went golfing and kayaking this year. They saw a bald eagle on their kayake tour and a big alligator on the golf course. Scott blamed the gator for his poor score.