Family Pictures

Our good friend took some pics of our family...we were way overdue!

Pics tell the story...part 2

Landon as Captain Gree the StormTrooper and Claire as Alice...for Halloween.

Claire in the mini Ranger.

Landon going WAY TOO FAST in the mini Ranger!

Claire's tap group "Bop til ya Drop"

Claire and Landon at the T-Rex Cafe in KC. We ate here the night before Claire's dance competition. This place had neat dinosaur animatronics!

Landon with his baseball player pumpkin. He won 2nd place in the decorating contest at school!

Pictures Can Tell A Story

Landon at the pumpkin patch

Claire at the pumpkin patch. We went with Gram, Poppy and Thurston on an inservice day (no school). The kids all had fun doing a zip line, sliding, watching some punkin chunkin, and being outside!

We spent our other inservice day at the zoo with the cousins!

Well...I tried...

Ok, so my last, very ambitious blog didn't help me any. Oh, I thought about it, but just never found the time to prioritize it. So here are a few headlines with pics to follow:

* Landon finished with his first season of flag football. He is hooked and needless to say, our family will be watching him play this sport for a long while.

* Claire had her first dance competition with her new studio. It went remarkably well, and both of her dances did excellent; receiving golds and the extraordinary smile award. The studio also won the backstage sportsmanship award. I think this says a lot about those girls and their teachers.

* Landon started basketball, and has since quit. I'm not one of those parents who takes quitting lightly, and therefore put him (and me) through quite a bit of torture before finally making this decision. He said he'll try again next year, after some practice at home.

* We trick or treated with the cousins, Lucy and Laney, this year. The kids had a blast together, but tired out quick. This was fine for the adults!

* Our family spent a day at my parents house riding the new "mini ranger". We also enjoyed a visit from Doris, Helen, Crazy Tommy and Phyllis (Geoff's relatives from VA).

So with this posted I will move on to pics...and will have more stories to tell as those go up!

So Far Behind!

I know it! I'm behind! We've been so busy that when I sit down at the computer it's only for a few brief moments to check email or order Christmas presents (yes, I am AHEAD on that part!). So right now I am posting this blog so that I have put my intentions in writing...to have October and all the wonderful things that went with it, blogged by the end of October! We are so blessed to be back here in Kansas with our family. It's almost as if we are making up for all the lost time. And although our life has had some stressful events in the past couple months; I have to say our family is stronger for it. I am loving it, exhaustion, stress and all, and now I need to blog it and save it! It shall be done!

Ended Too Soon

I scrolled through the several years of blog posts our family has before writing this one. Posts that make me laugh, cry and just shake my head. Memories that are forever written in words and captured by pictures. Sometimes when I write a post, I'm thinking about the million things I need to get done, and not reliving whatever wonderful, funny or important life event that I feel needs to be stamped in time. But that has changed...I'm making a point to live more in the moment. To not be so concerned about the bills, or the homework or ironed clothes. Ok, well, maybe I'm still a little obsessive about these things, but the memories behind them are what I'm thinking about now. The back-story for all this? Sadly, a tragic ending to a life. A life taken too soon, according to all who loved her on earth. A life that was so closely intermingled with our family, that she was part of blog posts, and memories and the important events that our family has been so lucky to enjoy.

Sara Elizabeth Symons was killed tragically in a car accident on September 1, 2011. She was the daughter of our best friends/neighbors in Bentonville. But she was our daughter too; Claire was her little sister and Geoff was "Uncle Geoff". She did homework projects at our house, babysat our children, went on family vacations with us...we watched her cheer, she watched Claire dance and Landon play tee ball. We celebrated her accomplishments as much as we celebrated our own children's. Like I said...our families were as close as they come.

These are the things I choose to remember; to talk about. Sara taught our family that enjoying even the small moments is what's important. She taught my children that striving to be your best doesn't mean you have to be rude or deceitful. I believe she also taught them loving your parents is cool no matter what your friends might say! Not to speak for him, but Sara taught Geoff what he will need to know when Claire gets older. These are the things I choose to remember. And what I will talk about with my children when they say "I miss Sara". She will always be there in the back our hearts, helping us choose to take time to love each other; because you never know when it might end. And it will always be too soon.

Cowtown

Look at me...I'm a cowboy!

Making leather necklaces.

Pumping some water.

Feeding Daisy the calf.

Riding in the wagon with Mike, being pulled by Tim and Barney.

We had a little family time this weekend at Cowtown, in downtown Wichita. Geoff and I hadn't been in years, and the kids had never experienced the rough and tumble ways of the old west. The kids had fun imagining what it was like to live way back then, and also doing a leather craft and watching a gun fight. Yeehaw!