I LOVE FALL!!

I love this time of year so much!! I love the temperature, the leaves, all the activities, the fall decorations, and Halloween! This month is going to be crazy for us, but it should be so much fun! This weekend we're going to watch Rachel's volleyball game Saturday morning and then go to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon. I think Tanner will love it (but really he loves doing anything outside, AND there will be animals!) and I love to watch him have fun and I get to pick out pumpkins! Then he's going to Kermit and Maryann's to spend the night, while Mike and I go out to eat at Hulahans and go see a movie by ourselves!
Next week, I'm helping throw a baby shower, and we've been trying to spend time with Matthew before he leaves the next week for the Marines. We might even go to KC that Monday night to eat dinner with him before he leaves, and say goodbye. It's going to be a hard night for all of us, but he seems pretty excited about it, and we are very proud of him! Then it's our 4 year anniversary, the Clarinda Craft show, John's birthday party, and a going away party for a couple of my bosses at work.
The next couple of weeks after that will be jam packed with Halloween stuff (I can't wait to carve pumpkins and Tanner's going to be a cute little monkey this year!), birthdays for both our Dad's, Homecoming with visitors, and babies being born! I think this could be the best month ever!!! I'm hoping all of my excitement helps give me plenty of energy to do all the stuff I want to do! I'm am definitely sure I will post lots of pictures of all of our fun, too!

What's new?!

So it's seems like there has been so much going on around here, I can't really remember what I've covered and what I haven't. Below are some of the pics from Labor day weekend. We had a lot of fun getting to hang out with friends! Friday night we went to John and Cathy's for a parent's night out, and Saturday night we went to Kermit and Maryann's with Tanner and Beaty, Amy, and Vance! Then Sunday and Monday we played catch up on some quality family time!

Tanner and Vance playing with the ice!

Look Mom!

Tanner going through the obstacle course! The whole time he kept saying "Go, Go, Go.." He LOVED it!!

Going down the slide at the end! His favorite part!

Since then we went to the NW vs. Pitt St. game and had a darn good time! It's was really nice to get a whole day out to hang out with adults, and yet we spent a good portion of our time catching up and talking about our kids!

Otherwise, things have been pretty good around here! I'm trying to figure out what Tanner's going to be for Halloween, and trying to figure out if we are going to be able to get everything done in October that we are wanting to do!! There's Homecoming, both our Dad's B-days, our 4 year Anniversary, craft show, trick or treating, a visit to the pumpkin patch, a baby shower I'm helping to throw, two friends have babies due, and a couple friends are having B-day parties! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Tanner went poop on the potty last night, so we'll be working on potty training too! It should be LOTS of fun!! Ill try to keep you updated!

18 Months

Last night our new Parents as Teachers rep came by to visit with and get to know Tanner, and he seemed to really like her. She thought he was pretty funny and cute, especially when he took his whole farm set outside through the doggie door! She didn't ever really say how she thought he was doing so far, because she was using this session to get to know him better, and next time she will screen him, so we'll let you know what she says in November.
This morning, Tanner and I went in for his 18 month well baby check up, and shots. Dr. Feuerbacher said he was doing good, and checked out fine. He was in the 90th percentile for his height and head size, but only 60% on his weight, but he said that was fine. I think he's dropped a lot of his baby fat since he turned 1 and has become so mobile! Then we got his shots... he cried a little bit, but got over it really fast, and now we don't have to get anymore shots until he goes to Kindergarten! Yayy!!
Then this afternoon, we got his 18 month pictures taken, and he did great for about the first 10 minutes, and then it went down hill fast!! He started to meltdown, and we tried snacks, and juice, and toys to cheer him up, but he just wasn't into it, so we quit. Below are a few we got before he got mad. Then we went out to eat and to a couple stores in St. Joe, and he was happy as could be the whole time! Little stinker!

My favorite family pic
My favorite Tanner pic!

And second favorite!

Best Buds

Roscoe, Memphis, and Tanner are bestest buds these days! They play together outside, Tanner shares his food with them (yay), and they love to love on each other! Below is Tanner trying to give Roscoe and Memphis hugs!

Roscoe stole Tanner's sucker he left laying around!

Tanner: Um, Roscoe, do you have my sucker?

Roscoe: I don't know what you're talking about...

Roscoe: Hehehe

Odds and ends

So Tanner's napping and I'm playing catch up and it seems like there's a bunch of stuff I've missed on here lately! Things are going great and we are staying VERY busy these days. Today we've got Josie and Cailyn's Birthday party and tomorrow I have a baby shower to go to. Then we only work 3 days next week and then we get 5 whole days off for Labor day and I am SOOO excited for that!! So far we have a parents as teachers meeting set up, a well baby check for Tanner, family pictures scheduled, my 10 year class reunion, and 3 parties we're going to, so it's looking like it will be tons of fun!! I can't wait!! Hopefully this nice weather sticks around for next week too!


As usual, Tanner has been keeping us very entertained around here, and very busy! His latest discovery is the doggie door! Now he can go outside when ever he wants and he does! Most of the time we go out with him, but sometimes I just stand in the kitchen and watch him play! It's really funny to see what he does when he thinks he's alone! Also, he's really into throwing things in the trash! If he finds paper or a kleenex laying around, he'll pick it up and show us and says "trash?", and we'll say "yes, that's trash", and off he goes to throw it away! The same goes with dishes in the sink! I'm thinking he's going to be a big neat freak like his Dad!


Mike and I are doing good, too! I'm still trying to get to the gym regularly, since I still have about 5 lbs. of baby weight I'd like to get rid of, but hopefully I can get rid of that soon! Works crazy for me right now, but I'm hoping it slows down soon, but we'll have to wait and see. Mike's thrilled that his bowling league started up again yesterday and he gets to bowl with his dad! And there's Bearcat and Chiefs football to watch again! Yay! ;) We're also looking forward to the Fall Classic at Arrowhead in a couple of weeks! It should be a good time!!


Well, here are a few random pics from the last couple weeks. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Tanner found some of Mommy's old shoes the other day and had to put them on and wear them around the house! I loved that he grabbed the strings and held on to them while he walked, so the shoes wouldn't fall off!

Any time the shed door is open, Tanner has to go in and play on the riding lawn mower. He then usually suckers his Dad into taking him on a ride on it.


Tanner going through the doggie door!
He took that drink and those animal crackers in and out the doggie door a couple of times and then decided to put them on the spool like Daddy does!

Daddy and Tanner watching stuff out the window! Tanner thinks this is so much fun!

Tanner got a hold of the remote! It's amazing to me what he picks up by just watching us!

Tanner's Warrior Beads

Grandma got Josie a necklace and bracelet for her first day of school, and also a set for Cailyn and Tatum. Well, she accidentally got four sets total which actually worked out great, because when Tanner saw them, he wanted some too! So Grandma had to go back to Abby's and bring Tanner back his own set! She told him they were his warrior beads to make him big and strong so he could take care of all the girls! He totally loves them and played with them all day!!

My lil' cowboy!

Saturday night my Dad got us tickets to the Ed Phillips Rodeo, so we took Tanner and had a pretty good time! My brother and his family came and Abby and her kids, so we had quite the group! Tanner loved the horses, cows, and getting to play with the girls. He spent a good portion of the night leaning on the fence like a cute mini cowboy!

All the kids on the fence!

Tanner and Lexi riding a pony!
Family pic