Minus Two Front Teeth

Owen had his top two front teeth pulled yesterday (by choice--he was ready for them to come out). He told us he looks like a vampire now.

Visitor

Uncle Quint came up to visit for a couple of days this week. The boys leached onto him the whole time making him play games every waking moment--Old Maid, Zingo, Hyperbash. . . We did make it to the KSU game--really big crowd for a Christmas break game.

Engaged

Owen and I got to meet my great friend Amy and her fiance, David for lunch in Topeka yesterday. They got engaged over Thanksgiving and are busy planning their July wedding. It was great to catch up and talk about fun wedding plans. So happy that I get to be a part of it!

By the way--we had a great time in Atwood over Christmas. In my hurried packing, I remembered everything EXCEPT my camera battery which was charging. Michelle couldn't find her camera for most of the trip, so we all ended up using Rosie's. I guess we are dependent on her sending us some pics!

Princess and the Frog

Grandma Rosie, Grandpa Mike, and Aunt Emily were here this past weekend. While Adam and I shopped for Christmas, Grandma and Auntie Em took the kids to "Princess and the Frog." They all said it was good, although I'm not sure how focused Miles was. Rosie had to tell him that the movie theater only allowed two bathroom breaks :)

More Christmas Goods

My only Christmas baking this year were these oreo cookie-turned sucker treats. I found the idea somewhere--should have paid more attention so I could give them credit.

We adopted 9 and 10 year old boys this year. The kids had fun helping me shop for "big boy" stuff. It was rewarding to (hopefully) be able to make some other kids have as great of a Christmas as mine will.

Early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my family on December 13. We were fortunate that everyone was able to come and spend the day together. Thanks for the gifts and for being willing to celebrate early. It was a great day.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Meet Elliot

I've been hearing about "Elf on the Shelf" and decided it would be good for the kids. So far they really like him. Elliot leaves each night to correspond with Santa regarding Owen and Miles' behavior (also Edie and Newman) and shows up the next morning in a new location. The kids wake up and hunt him down. (Yes, he's a little creepy)

In the book that comes with him it says that no one should touch Elliot or he could lose his magic. Owen takes it all very seriously and constantly reminds Miles that Elliot is watching; Miles is catching on, although he still really wants to touch Elliot.

Sledding

We tried out Cico (not the main area--we thought our kids were still a little small for that) for sledding yesterday afternoon. The kids had a GREAT time!

Enjoying some hot chocolate afterwards (I think Adam is training him to become a coffee junkie like himself).
Here we come!
My eskimos!
Lots of kids were out enjoying the snow day. It's refreshing to see kids outside having fun without having to spend a lot of money on entertainment. (I'm pretty sure there were some adults out there too :)

Shopping!

"Family Picture" before hitting the town. Fun times in KC with the Papio crew.

The Artist

Since he's been in school (real school, at least), Owen has loved to draw, color, and write stuff down. He can spend hours recreating things I print off the Internet for him--typically this is NFL or college logos.

This fall he was excited to win the KSU Homecoming Coloring Contest for his class. He even received a T-shirt--which he proceeded to come home and draw the logo on the front.
And on Sunday he asked me to write down the 50 states so he could rewrite them on his own. He settled for a list from the Internet, and an hour later we had this. Probably not what his teacher was expecting him to make for her :)

Thanksgiving Break

It was GREAT to have five days off from work (until today when I had to go in and catch up). We had time to do lots of fun things like. . .

. . .ride the mule with Grandpa Harlan. Notice the six-year-old driver.
. . .scope out Grandpa's new cows. Here Owen is studying the red one in front so that he could go inside and draw him. . . . spend some time at the Rowley's house in Lebo hanging out and attempting to get some projects done with Sharla while the kids played. It was great--her boys are the same age, plus they had five cousins there too. (I should have cut my head off or actually gotten ready that morning)
. . . and go to the KSU game in Kansas City with some friends while the kids spent the day with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan--a win/win for everyone!

We also had tons of AWESOME food and lots of good times at Aunt Nancy's on Thanksgiving Day (where was the camera? oh wait, I was eating the whole time). I hope Mom and Nancy live to be 150 so that I never have to be the one to cook a turkey, or make gravy, or . . .

Disney on Ice

On Friday Owen and I went with Michelle, Raly, and Connie to see Disney on Ice at the Expocenter in Topeka. The kids really enjoyed the show--and the adults liked it too. I haven't been to the Expocenter in YEARS! (not since WWF wrestling in elementary school :)

Owen was digging the cotton candy Aunt Michelle shared--YUCK!

Seat Shopping

We decided it was time for Miles to graduate to a booster seat, since we can't get him in the baby seat with his winter coat on. He's been talking about it all week, but when we got to the store, all he wanted was the "real big boy" one like Owen's. Sorry dude.

Pioneer Woman

Sharla ordered me this cookbook for my birthday and it came last week. I love it! If you follow her blog at all, this makes a great gift. It has lots of pictures, stories and good recipes. Now I just need to get an iron skillet it seems!

I Could Use a Snow Day!

Wildcat Weekend

Beautiful weather for the big game vs. KU on Saturday. We had a fantastic weekend with lots of friends and family (local and KC-ers) in town for the football and basketball game (on Sunday). Sorry the pictures aren't in any logical order.

The Dansel's little dude, Jackson, spent some time post-game playing football and soccer with Owen and Miles.
Miles and Owen were picked up roadside (by Ellen) since we didn't have tickets for them.
Criteria for baby-sitting for us: willing to be attacked, ability to take down 3 and 6 year old.
Lindsay and I enjoying our GREAT seats--such a fun day! It was her birthday, so we continued the festivities with dinner out.

Here I am crowd surfing after I jumped down into the student section :)
Great day for a big game.
The competition! (Yes, at the end of the day, they are still together :)

My Big Helper

Owen asked if he could give Miles his bath tonight--sure, why not? It's funny to hear him use the same lines we do, "Miles, where's your left foot?"

Manny

One of my students brought this freakishly big praying mantis (Manny) to school yesterday. It just hung out on his hand and arm. And. . . . Manny was ready for geometry again today!

Halloween

The kids trick-or-treated a little on Saturday, but mostly they (Owen) wanted to watch the KSU game. We spent most of the night hanging out watching football with the Butlers. We still had so much candy that I took most of it to school.

HUGE win!

Last night was the BIG Manhattan vs. Junction City game. MHS won on a last second touchdown pass--an exciting night to be an Indian!

It was senior night for fall sports. We also celebrated Halloween with bows and "war paint." Maybe you saw them on the sports section of the news last night--two different stations gave us some air time.

Yum!

If you are wondering if this is a trash bag full of crackers, etc. then you are right! A lady in class with me this past summer made this great stuff, so we made some to help out the PTO with teacher snacks during conferences. Now I just need to quit grabbing a handful every time I walk by! (Yes, that is grease on the sides of the bag. Low-cal right??)

Fall Party

We were on the list to bring treats for the fall party at Owen's school. I really don't like to cook, but I do like to make treats/favors. We made these mummies and bats (idea stolen from here) and added them to a goody bag that also had some semi-healthy snacks. I think they turned out cute, especially the mummies!

KSU Weekend

We had high hopes of taking both kids to the game on Saturday and then spending time with family and friends that were in town. We did those things, but in shifts--one or the other of the kids have either been sick, had a fever, had a cough, etc. since last Wednesday (minus a few bursts where we thought everyone was on the mend).

Since Adam took the "game shift" with Miles, I got to go out with fellow Lebo-ites for a while.
Having fun with Aunt Susan--more guy is in bed with a fever right now :( Seems like illness hits someone in our family every year at Halloween.

Trick-or-Treat Aggieville

Watching the parade with a bunch of friends. The kids liked all of the floats and loved giving high-fives to the college students.

Star Wars: Babo Fett (Mason), Jango Fett (Owen) and Anakin (Grant)
A very realistic-looking Chewy! He even sounded like Chewy! (Miles is the Darth Vader dude in front of Chewy)

Wednesday Night

We had to take Owen into the ER (similar to last year when he had trouble breathing, lots of wheezing, and he was scared). Several hundred dollars later (I'm sure the bills will be coming soon), he's much better. All of the doctors and patients wore masks to help prevent the spread of the flu. He stayed home on Thursday and was low key all day Friday (did make it to the parade), and now we're waiting to see if we should take him to the KSU football game.

Profile

I wonder what they are staring at. . .

Clifford

Owen and the other first graders at his school dressed as Clifford for their music program. It was a very cute show. All of the kids had a short individual part (where the spoke into the microphone) about something Clifford-related. Owen shared a line from a Clifford counting book. Notice the dog bone around his neck.