Okey State

Last minute trip to Stillwater :) Landon asked my dad if he wanted to make a road trip to Stillwater on a Monday. It had been 40 years since my dad had been there and the fieldwork had been in good shape. 

They asked the rest of us if anyone wanted to go. I told Ryan he should go and I would stay home with the kids. He said the same to me. Well, Friday morning about 10:30am I decided I would go and my dad was going to pick me up at 3pm :) We stayed in KC that night, then drove the Stillwater the next morning! 

We walked around and enjoyed their tailgate scene a little while before the game. They set up tents on their campus and beer is sold at tents outside the stadium. Lots of big black trucks, red dirt, and cowboy boots! 

Landon's connections once again got us free tickets. These were our seats! The big screen was quite impressive. Not sure why ISU thinks ours is so great..... lol. 

A fun game day atmosphere, Landon and I concluded much better music than ours. I get quite bored of the same old songs game after game, year after year. Ugh. There was more entertainment at their games as well. And lots of girls wearing leather pants - ha! 

Sent this to Ryan, he would enjoy the 12 views during a review. 

ISU ended up losing, it was disappointing. But still fun to get to another road game. Drove back to KC that night, then home the next morning. 

It was really fun to go on a road trip with my dad and Landon, I'm glad I made the last second decision to go! 

And this was happening at home :) Ha! 
 

Trick or Treating and Clone Cones!

Pre-season basketball game and Grandma Rita wanted to buy the kids a clone cone. This is from the parents who never ever (and I mean never!) bought something at a concession stand during a game growing up! I think my first clone cone was with Ryan! 

It was a giant clone cone!! And just the first of the season :) 

First game of the season and this little dude wasn't scared! It was fun to get our first picture with Cy. 

Mason's daycare got them all dressed up and had treats outside for Halloween. I apparently didn't take any pictures, but they had the parents sign up for a trunk or treat event. So I signed up and tried to decorate my car (it was pathetic). But I had a bubble machine and toy cars, tattooes, and bouncy balls..... It was a hit! 

Picture on the left is another trunk or treat that the Ames church put on. Again, not sure how I didn't have more pictures.... 

Picture on the right was trick or treating at our house on Halloween. Addison wanted to be both an angel and a pirate.... ironic, yes. Ha! The costumes were $5 from wal-mart so I was okay with two costumes. She also had a trick or treat event at the school, so we got good wear out of both costumes! (Spoiler alert: both kids wore their pirate outfits on a Disney cruise two weeks ago!)

Beautiful night for trick or treating!! The kids went hard the whole time, they had a good time. Mason loved the activity, can't wait to see what he thinks this year! 
 

Dogs and pumpkin carving

Loving the corn pit at the pumpkin patch! There was always so much that came home in Mason's pants.... 

Addison loving the new zipline. Mason will love it this year! 

Working on his roping skills. 

Addison's assignment was to draw a picture of her pets. Well, she has none. So she drew Scooby and Baby Dog (Thor), who she is deathly afraid of. Ha! We laughed that she drew them inside houses with no way out, we assume that was done on purpose. Ha! This was at a time when she had so much anxiety around all dogs and would cry and basically freak out. We were at Landon's and I put her on a chair in the living room that I thought Thor wasn't allowed on. Well, we all heard her scream..... it's the one chair he's allowed on and he jumped up with her! I felt so bad. 

Cooper was the only dog that she would be semi-okay with..... but the old man passed away and we were all sad. She said for about 9 months that she wanted Cooper for her birthday and Christmas. Broke Nicole's heart! Cooper was an amazing dog. I told Addison we would definitely had a dog if it was just like Cooper. 

We got this at her school conference in November, had no idea she had drawn it. It was a fun surprise at conferences. 

Addison told me last night that she wants a kitten but when it grows up to be a cat she will sell it. I told her no one would buy a cat :) And she wants a puppy, hamster, and guinea pigs. Ha! 

Pumpkin Carving!! Mason didn't love the guts but he did better than Addison :) We have some pretty good videos and pictures of the last few years pumpkin carving with her. They wanted a scary pumpkin last year. 

Here is their scary pumpkin!! We also got some fun pumpkin stickers, they enjoyed those more than carving (and much cleaner and faster!!)

 

Growing fast

Measuring Mason at 2.5 years, this kid is growing like a weed! He is much taller than Addison was at this age. He's in the 80th-90th percentile in most areas and Addison was always in like the 5th percentile. Ha! It makes me said that Mason wears bigger clothes than Addison did at the same age.

Scrub scrub scrub! I like that the kids like to help clean...sometimes. Ha! They enjoy scrubbing the floor and get a rag with a bucket of water. 

And more football games! These kids are excited for football to start in a few weeks! 

 Addison took this picture to send to Tracey to tease her..... when she is in Tracey's bed, Tracey tickles her. There was one time that Landon slept in Tracey's bed and Addison said to me "I can't wait till Tracey finds out Landon slept in her bed, she's gonna tickle him!!" Ha! I can't wait either kid. :) 

This is how this kid looks after daycare. Almost every day. Ha! I would ask him if he ate dirt..... 

His hands would be dirty and he would rub his hand from his mouth up to his nose. Ugh. Filthy dirty every day! 

Checking out his turkey booty in the mirror. Ha! He wore this out the year before, and it apparently still fit! 

Halloween Time!

Well it's August now and I'm posting about last October! Agh! I need to catch up.... 

Last year after the Pirate Cruise in Fort Myers, Mason was set on being a pirate. Addison decided she wanted to be a pirate too. They were pretty good pirates! 

We went to the Trunk or Treat at the big church in West Des Moines. We had to wait in a long line but the kids did good. I didn't get any pictures of the trunks, but there were some super cute ones! There was one where there was a cardboard monster in the back of an SUV with a hole where his nose was. Then you had to "pick his nose" to get the candy. It was pretty funny! They also got to see and get in a fire truck. It was a nice event! 

Then we went to Sam's club and when I wasn't looking, they filled the cart with squishmallow slippers. ha! 

With their giant pumpkins! 

Then we went to a Trunk or Treat at the outlet mall. This was unique and pretty cool! 

All the vehicles were super unique, car-show type cars. This was just one of them. There were lots of spooky decorated ones too. It was fun! 
 

Pumpkin Patch

One picture I missed of the combine from our farm trip. Mason really enjoyed watching it, maybe this year he will ride along! 

Photo op at the pumpkin patch! 

Mason enjoying the giant sand pit at the pumpkin patch. I believe Addison was doing the big slide while we did this. 

Family picture on the hay rack ride. I do not want summer to end (not at all) but I am excited for the nice fall days at the pumpkin patch! 

Mason on the combine slide at the pumpkin patch. 

Addison wanted me to take a picture of her dress and send it to my whole family, so naturally, Mason wanted to join! 

Ryan modeling his Juicy Wiggle shirt he caught at the football game! It was a pretty proud moment, I can't believe he caught it! 
 

Quick trip to the farm

We went to the farm for the day last fall. Grandpa Ron and Conner were working at George's across the road. Mason couldn't believe Grandpa Ron was climbing up the grain bin to fix it. 

After this weekend, Mason was dead set on an auger and grain bins from Santa (spoiler alert, he got them for Christmas and then got a better set from Grandpa & Grandma for his birthday. They are set up in the living room, complete with corn - ha!)

Eating ham..... took this picture for Aunt Nicole..... she gives the Julius family a hard time for eating ham with our fingers :) 

This girl loves jumping on the trampoline! She works hard on going from her knees to seater-rumpous and back to her feet. 

Mason wasn't keen on riding in the tractors but loved walking around looking at them or watching them work in the field. 

 Addison and Conner. Conner was driving the grain cart that day. We watched him fly across the field.... haha! Neither kid wants to ride with Conner as he drives too fast :)