Yes, It's Fall!

Yes, it's fall in Kansas City and we are loving every minute of it. I'm aware that I'm hopelessly behind in blogging, and will try to get caught up before the holiday crunch. We've been trying to get out and enjoy all the fun fall happenings around town, but thanks to a lot of rainy weather and a case of the H1N1, we have been stuck at home.

When we moved in 5 years ago, we planted six baby trees in our huge, mostly treeless backyard. They're big kids now, and are blessing our backyard with shade and beautiful fall foliage. We're so proud of them! Just like with children, trees require a lot of cleaning up after. This week we started the huge task of raking our yard...the kids had a blast! Mostly they just messed around in the piles...

Since we haven't been able to make our annual family pumpkin patch trip yet this year, when Aidan got home from school yesterday we hopped in the van and headed out to Louisburg, KS, about a 20 minute drive from our house. We picked up some fresh cider donuts and cider from the quaint little shop while the kids ran around on the haybales. It's such a charming little spot...they even brew their own root beer and cream soda (Bob and I shared one, very yummy).

Let's try this one again...

Good thing Jack's so cute...he's hopeless when it comes to taking pictures though.

Jack's elusive smile...captured!

Mia's First Day of School

It's Mia's last year of preschool! Since she missed the cut-off for Kindergarten by one week (fyi, she was born a week past her due date, the stinker!) she has to wait one more year. Here she is on the way out the door...

Jack was feeling left out. Note the one croc/one barbie shoe ensemble. Please ignore the unfinished project in the background. And, if you haven't noticed, I'm still relying on my camera phone to chronicle my children's future memories.

Since we drop off Aidan first, we have about 15 minutes to kill in the car. I asked Mia what she was excited about this year. Her response was "I hope there are lots of animals and bugs. Especially, a COBRA!" I told her that they probably would not be having a cobra as the class pet, and she responded, "A pretend snake mom, pretend!" Mia is such a lover of all animals and bugs...after all the failed attempts, she still tries to catch birds. She is a tenacious little thing!

Mia is lucky enough to have the same teacher this year, so she definitely has a leg up. She will be one of the oldest kids in the class...the other kids looked so young and small when I dropped her off. Have a great school year Mia!!

Power & Light District

I'm always on the lookout for free and inexpensive things for the family to do around town. On certain days during the summer, the Power & Light District downtown puts on free family days centered around a particular theme. The P&L District is fairly new, and seeing as how we are living in the OP and Bob and I don't get out for much besides the occasional movie (the area is definitely centered around bar-hopping and live concerts), we haven't really explored it. On this day, the theme was "Scien-tastic!" Overall, we had a great time walking around, trying out the various science experiments and listening to kids music (although Radio Disney must've thought it was a Metallica concert...SUPER loud).

The Radio Disney mosh pit...

Bob and the levitating yellow ball...

White gunk...SCIENTASTIC!

After all the scientific stuff, we decided to explore the area. I've always wanted to check out the AMC Main Street, the poshest movie theater in town. It did not disappoint. It is most definitely every moviegoer's mecca...it had fountain drinks and five different seasonings for your popcorn. Fancy schmancy. Note Mia gazing at all the soda selections. The apple does NOT fall far from the tree...

There were famous movie quotes all over the floor...here's Jack strolling across one. Who knows what movie this quote is from?



We decided to eat some lunch at this place. It looked really unique and smelled even better. Very euro in an American-greasy-spoon-hamburger-joint kinda way. Inside, everyone is seated at large tables (yes, you have to share them with total strangers...the horror!).

The view from our outdoor patio.

It was a beautiful day...the kids loved that you could see the clouds reflected in this building.

Our food. Yes, it was every bit as greasy as it appears in this photo. And every bit as good. A definite thumbs up...if you like greasy burgers.

Jack's typical photo expression.

School Days

It's official...Aidan is a first grader! The first is always the hardest, and boy oh boy Bob and I were feeling it this morning. Aidan woke up in a good mood, raring to go (let's just say that he's not always a morning person...). He ate his brainpower breakfast, whole grain waffles with peanut butter and his favorite brain food, blueberries. Bob gave him a blessing for a good first day of school and school year (that's when the tears started for me). He suited up with his new backpack (he didn't want a character backpack this year, just simple grey and black from Target...easy!), and reminded me about his doctor's note (he can't do any weight bearing activities for the next 2 weeks while his arm is still on the mend).

Here he is in front of the school...he keeps bugging me to ride the bus. I have my concerns...do you remember what happens on the bus? I told him in a week or two he can start.

In front of his classroom...

In class. He has 5 girls from his kindergarten class...and NO boys. Out of a class of 23, there are only 8 boys total. That may pay off sometime in the future, but for now, he was a little annoyed.

Twinsies!

You mean this outfit that I picked up at Old Navy isn't the only one out there?

The Dangers of Monkey Bars

You never know how a nice day at the park will turn out...the day at Heritage Park started with lunch...






...and ended with Aidan and a broken arm. He'll have a cast on for at least four weeks. He's coping pretty well, fortunately, it's his left arm. You have to give the little guy credit, although he's expressed regret that his arm is broken, he rarely complains about it.

The Wallace Family: T-Rex & The Yellow Brick Road

On Mike and Heidi's last day, we headed up to the Legends to take the kids to T-Rex, a fun dinosaur themed restaurant. We had already eaten lunch, so we got dessert.

The boys were matching...on purpose.

The adults shared this monstrosity...

Veloci-Aidan

The legends has its very own yellow brick road, and a lot of other fun statues and monuments to all the famous Kansans...there are more than you'd think!