School Days

Dominic loves school! I got lucky the day I decided to take a picture of him coming out of school, because he happened to be line leader that day.

As excited as he is for school, he seems just as excited to see me! It melts my heart a little!

He always has something "cool" or "great" to show me , but this is the only time he has asked me for tape to hang a project on the wall. Of course, it is a train!

When I asked him to get his train picture, he thought he needed the picture of his train set! Silly guy!

After school on this particular day, we went to the park for a picnic with friends. This is the only picture I took, but I thought it was cute how they were sharing. Emily is in back along for the ride.

Story Time

On Wednesday's while Dominic is at school, Jude goes to storytime. He has many MOPS friends there and has even made some new ones.

Here is Jude sitting patiently on his carpet square between Ashlyn and Aubrie, waiting for the story to begin.

October is National Pizza Month, so they read a story about a pizzeria and then made their very own pizzas! The pizzas were made out of cookies.

Jude is showing me the "cheese" for the pizza (actually coconut) and the toppings were M&Ms

Of course he had to try his creation and since this is Jude we are talking about he had to get frosting ALL over!

So proud of his pizza!!

Oh, Brother

Here are some random snapshots of the kiddos.

Cecilia likes her bows about as much as Adam does.

Jude

The boys always want me to take pictures of them with their baby sister. Cecilia and Jude

I guess Dominic makes a nice pillow!

Showing Cecilia their "silly faces".

They love her so much! Great big brothers!
Dominic and Cecilia

Quality time with G-pa

Last weekend we were in Udall for my 10 year high school reunion. Unfortunately, there were only a few of us that showed up, but the weekend was not wasted. It was beautiful outside and the boys had fun playing with Grandpa.

Croquet and horseshoes, along with tractors and cars, and riding in G-pa's Nova!

And boys just being boys!

And the VIP Car show and dinner! Along with 20 of Grandpa and Grandma's closest car show buddies!

Fun at the Lake

We spent our 2nd annual weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with the Sevarts and friends a few weeks ago.

Cecilia even got to hang out by the water...

And watch the crazy boys on the water (and by "crazy", I mean "Weber")

The boys had a blast hanging out on the dock. Dominic thought the water was too cold and spent the whole time playing catch with those of us IN the water. But Jude was a trooper and couldn't get enough jumping in.

Adorable!

Day two: Early Mass then more play time. Temperature: 54 degrees. Needless to say the big boys couldn't stay away. The temp. didn't stop them from skiing and hot dogging!
Jude even braved the elements for a cuddly boat ride with Cyndi!

Will work for wine...

We are always looking for fun, affordable things to do as a family, so when our friends, The Burnett's, invited us to go grape picking we thought it sounded fun. It sounded even better that for every hour you picked, you earned a bottle of wine. And since we are striving to become sophisticated wine drinkers, it was a perfect opportunity to learn a little bit.

The RioFam in the Ketoi Vineyard. Cecilia was worn out!

Jude enjoyed helping Daddy pick grapes.

Great photo op: Father and Son!

The real reason Jude liked to help? To eat the grapes of course!

The Men at work while the women wrangle the kids. Chris and Lance.

Adam picks away.

The fruit of our labor!

Enjoying the fruit of Adam's labor! Three free bottles of wine. Even more fun was tasting all 11 of the wines to decide which ones that we wanted. A fun way to spend a morning: the experience of grape picking, a lesson in wine-making, feeding the fish at the pond, a yummy, free home-cooked meal, and wine-tasting with friends!

A Little (and Big) Boy's Heaven on Earth

A week ago we were invited to spend the day at one of my friends In-laws. She described it to me, saying that they live on Shoal Creek and that he collects fire engines and airplanes. I knew Adam had been out of town most of the week and would be exhausted, but I convinced him that it would be worth it to go. It was! And we all had a great time! Thank you, Burnett Family!!

The boys took a little trip down the creek in the canoe. Too bad the little boys busted the big boys by telling us that they tipped over the canoe!

The water was cold but it didn't stop them from playing in it.

There were plenty of crawdads to catch.

Their house was complete with a three story tower with a cupula that looked out over the grass runway. Here's Jude and Dominic taking in the scenery.

Here they are checking out the tower with Lance and Ethan. They also had fun on the whole house intercom!

This is the view of the tower from below.

It was a perfect day for flying. We all got to go up (well, except Cecilia). Here is Dominic and Ethan.

And Jude and Dominic- all smiles on their airplane ride. Later I got to help fly that airplane. I know I really wasn't in control, but my palms were all sweaty and I was extremely nervous!

When we arrived there that morning, this is the plane that happened to be there. A 1939 Tiger Moth!

Yep, that's me in it. I got to go up and if anyone could have seen me they would have died laughing. I couldn't stop smiling. I was like a kid in a candy store. It was amazing! The wind in my hair and a gorgeous view.

Adam also got to go. I must mention we got 2 of the 3 rides that were given that day. Lucky! I think he caught a little more wind than I did. That little windshield didn't do much for a tall guy like him!

The boys had a blast riding in the back of the firetruck down the runway. Sirens and all!

Ethan, Dominic and Jude... and Ethan's cousin Eva, in the background.
What an experience! It was a day that none of us will ever forget!

Dominic's First Day of Preschool

Today was Dominic's first day of preschool at St. Patrick's Catholic School in Parsons.
He was so excited and a little nervous. His first day of school outfit changed though since it was so cool out. Luckily he had some new pants to wear.

I think he had a good time. He came bounding down the steps of the school with his backpack bouncing, excitedly saying, "Mommy!". He was excited to tell me that they read "The Kissing Hand". When I asked him what his favorite part was he said snack time and recess. Then he added Aidan's birthday and something about Spongebob and cupcakes. He was very proud to open his folder and show me his work that he did. He said that he played monsters with the three boys at recess and swung on the swings.
It sounds like he will do great!
Let's hope he takes after his mother and not his dad, who got kicked out of preschool!

Jude Turns 3!

For Jude's birthday, we just had his Godparents over for Brats and cupcakes. They had fun playing trains with Bill.

And he got a Cars fishing game and some fun socks, which he loves!!

He is such a delicate gift opener.

He got 2 trains from Dominic and Cecilia; Charlie and Victor.

A great birthday complete with the Birthday song, Ricke style!