October

At home depot, Andrew was the happiest little driver! He was so excited. 

 I transplanted my geraniums into pots for the winter and I had the cutest helper!

 This girl LOVES anything pink. "mom, I found a pink leaf!"

 family bowling night. Andrew LOVES balls and spent the whole time rubbing them since they were too heavy to move.

 Zola loved the shoes and wanted to keep them.

 For the record: I won... by a long shot. That doesn't happen very often so I have to toot my own horn.

 My little wonder woman ballerina?

 I was all done. I successfully painted some furniture all while combating Andrew's continual attempts to sabotage my project. I put my brush and paint can away and looked at my phone for a second... Then I saw him... tasting my stir stick.

 baths are no longer casual with this ducky. He means business. On the move. All the time.

 Melt my heart! Dennis was on babysitting duty while I ran outside for a minute. When I came back, they were watching a movie, like this.

 These kids can only stand watching my do projects for so long before they demand a project of their own. Thankfully I had these Home Depot projects for kids up in the closet from Grandma. They were exactly what we needed. Painting and hammering.

St. Louis

I'm not one to sit around. Ryan went to South Africa so we needed to do something fun too! 

So, we drove down to St. Louis to see our old friends. It was a blast. When we went to our old church people were surprised to see us and asked us why we were there. When they found out that it was just for fun... they were puzzled why driving 7 hours with 3 kids by yourself was fun. I don't know... I function way better as a single parent on vacation. LOL. I guess because my kids love to travel and I can always turn around at any moment to bring them home... so they behave. 

We first stayed with my friend Emily. It was so fun to be together again. I wish we could hang out everyday like we used to. When we got to their house, Pebbles, their dog, was chill until I got within sniffing distance. Then the yelping began. She remembered me!!! It's amazing that dogs are like that. I love them. She is a stinker dog. always has been and always will. The naughtiest dog I know. Here she is getting away like a bandit with a whole waffle from the table. 

 We went to the city museum. The most amazing place EVER! They keep improving it too. It has changed in the last 5 years since I was there last. Dennis was in pure heaven.

 The ball pit.

 There is Dennis. Playing with the high schoolers. Yep, he is 7 going on 15. Eloise is trying to convince him to play somewhere else while dodging balls. That was Dennis's favorite part.

 Oh, How I love this Lady. My heart seriously hurts because we can't hang out more. I want to bring her home with me.

 Playing at the skate-less skate park inside.

 Riding the mini train around.

 Zola was in her own world. She doesn't like running around wild and she doesn't like crowds so when she can escape into her own world she is a happy camper. On the left, she is singing to her reflection. On the right, She is talking to the big daddy fish.

 Andrew was amazingly good even though he didn't get a single nap that day. Here he couldn't figure out why he could touch me, and touch his reflection but couldn't touch my reflection. The mirrors were his favorite part.

 "I wish that I could be like the cool kids..."

 Then we went to the ZOO. We love the St. Louis ZOO. We wanted to see the animals that lived in South Africa. So we saw the zebras, giraffes, Lions... and such. The only one that said it lived in South Africa was the ostrich.

 Dennis really likes Snakes. So we went to the amphibian house. The St. Louis Zoo is so big that you just pick out a few things to see every time.

 What you do when you didn't bring your double stroller... tell Zola to hang on tight. She did a great job and Andrew was the happiest kid. He thought it was so cool to sit on Zola's lap. He giggled a lot.

 Then we stayed at my friend Lisa's house. They LOVE babies. and we had a little cottage in back where we slept. It was a perfect set up for us.

 I am so lucky to know so many awesome people. friends who become family. LOVE.

Happy Fall Y'all

Zola at her ballet class. 

She always has the fanciest outfits because we got them as hand me downs from friends. 

 Zola's favorite toy is that little pink puppy dog stuffed animal. She carries him around everywhere and needs him when she sleeps.

 We love the fall! It is perfect weather!

 Owen came and spent the day with us when Grandma went to her appointment at Mayo. We went on a bike ride to the park. It was so cute watching the two on balance bikes. Owen is very good at it. It was very good for Zola to gain confidence. On the way home, Zola fell for the first time. She was so sad and needed to ride in the stroller. So, I think Owen felt a little left out. He fell, obviously on purpose, so that he could ride in the stroller too. It was cute. I never said he couldn't ride but he thought he needed to have a reason. :)

 Owen told me that we were going to close our eyes for this picture. They fooled me.

 The best friends!

 We went to pick apples at the orchard in the morning before bringing Ryan to the airport for his south africa trip.

 ... it might be time for a haircut. They both have hair in their eyes...

 Fun picture!

 We watched a couple of high school soccer games here in Pine Island. Dennis had a blast. Zola hated it when people cheered. but we all loved the popcorn.