Autumn in the Ozarks

Fall is definitely my favorite season and I'm so glad I was in Missouri during the fall this year to witness the beautiful leaves and feel the cool, fall air. This picture and the following five pictures were all taken at Ha Ha Tonka.

Ethan and Seth by the lake before walking on the trail.

Nate is one of the best babies I have ever seen in my life (and I'm not just saying that because he's my nephew). He hardly ever cries and he smiles and laughs all the time.

Seth had to have his fishing pole on our walk, so he could stop and fish periodically. Ethan had just broken his that morning, so they both had to take turns with Seth's pole, which created a few minor problems on our peaceful outing.

Emily is such a great mom to baby Nate.

Here are the boys and me by the spring.

Dad took me and the boys on a boat ride one evening. The leaves were really colorful and there were no other boats on the water. The perfect time to be out on the lake.

Seth had a death grip on his fishing pole and would not put it down even for a quick picture.

Seth reeling in a big one. Actually, he had just gotten the line tangled up in the boat motor and was trying to pull it out.

Ethan likes watching the water when the boat is moving.

Mom and Seth playing tennis. The boys really liked running around on the tennis courts.

Ethan would really concentrate on the ball and he actually got the ball over the net a majority of the time.

This was baby Nate's first time in a swing. We think he liked it, but it was kind of hard to tell.

Seth, my little monkey, climbing up to the very top of the jungle gym.

Ethan was pretending he was digging holes to build houses.

Emily and Nate in his little ghost shirt.

The boys throwing sticks to Mercedes.

Trick or Treat

The whole family (minus Tim and Zach) getting ready to go trick or treating on Halloween.

Pretty much every person in the neighborhood told Ethan and Seth that they were the cutest trick or treaters they had seen all night.

These are the shirts the boys wore during the day.

This is just one basket of candy. We still have way too much candy left.

The boys like scooping all the seeds and goop out of the pumpkins.

The boys were decorating cookies with Mimi while Mambo carved pumpkins. He carved one for each of the three boys and said he was never doing it again! He had a few little pumpkin mishaps that we won't talk about!

Here are the final results. Good job, Mambo!

Ethan was partial to the candy corns for his cookie.

Seth liked the sprinkles - A LOT!

Boo at the Zoo

Mom, Emily, and I took all three boys to the St. Louis Zoo one weekend while we were in Missouri. We went on their annual "Boo at the Zoo" day, so the boys got to wear their Halloween costumes and do a little early trick or treating too.

The boys both said that their favorite animal at the zoo was the penguin. I think they liked the penguins the best because they got to see them up close and they got to watch a zoo keeper feed them.

Here we are riding the carousel. I wanted to ride on an animal too, but mom suggested I stand by them, just in case. It turns out she was right, as usual! Seth was trying to jump off his lion and get on another animal almost as soon as the ride started.

A monkey and some "donkeys"!

Mom and I with the boys.

The boys liked "baby jaguar" (Diego's little animal sidekick for all you people without toddlers). He made me a little nervous. He kept pacing back and forth and licking his lips. I think he wanted to eat us all for lunch.

As soon as Seth saw the lemurs, he started singing, "I like to move it, move it!!!" (The theme song from the movie Madagascar).

Here we all are taking a break for lunch. Nate had such a long day, but he was SO good all day. He really liked watching all the animals. Emily got a bunch of great pictures of him looking at the animals on her camera, but I didn't get a chance to copy them before I left.

Here are the boys and I on the train. I think that was Ethan's favorite part of the day.

Mimi and Ethan posing as members of the Adams Family.

Visiting Friends in Missouri

My mom's friend, Jane, and Seth with the eggs he collected from Jane's chickens. Thanks, Dennis and Jane, for letting us hang out with you for the afternoon. The boys had so much fun.

Ethan feeding a turkey. Jane said this was possibly going to be their Thanksgiving turkey this year, but we didn't tell Ethan!

The boys would have been happy feeding those chickens all day long.

Ethan holding a little chocolate Lab. Jane's neighbor is giving all 12 of them away and they will be ready to take home around Thanksgiving, if anyone is interested. Emily already found a home for two of them, so I'm trying to help her out here.

The boys were so happy to see Gayle and Sadie again. We went to visit her for her 40th birthday.

Seth showing off the spider he made with Gayle.

Gayle had all the supplies to make these cute little spiders. She even gave us a little lesson on how spiders eat. I had no idea!

Ethan with his spider.

Colin, Ethan, Seth, and Kylie. They all had a great time playing together.

Lisa and I with Seth and Kylie.

Goodbye Belgardes

Our friends and neighbors for the last 3 1/2 years, the Belgardes, moved to Pennsylvania last Saturday. Here we all are together on the couch. They are just the greatest and we miss them so much already. We love you guys!

Peggy is such an awesome friend! We always have fun together, we talk about anything and everything, and I know I can always count on her no matter what. That is a true friend right there.

Best friends: Ethan, Elizabeth, Broedy, and Seth. I don't know what my poor boys are going to do without Broedy and Sis to play with every single day.

This is the cake I got for the going-away party. It didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, but it was still pretty good.

Bruce, Peggy, Broedy, and Sis with the cake.

The "swamp babies" eating their cake and ice cream in the nude.

Sis having fun on the slide.

I think Bruce threw Seth down the slide in this picture. He really liked that.

Ethan was a little daredevil and had to go down the slide backwards.

This is a full picture of the bouncy slide that Peggy and Bruce got. We thought this one was an even bigger success than the climbing wall they got for Broedy's birthday.

Tim had a clam bake for us one night before they left. Very good! We basically had a week long goodbye celebration that consisted of eating way too much food.

The kids waiting patiently (well, as patient as they can be) for their dinner.