Family and a Parade!

Jack, Trey, Eli, and Hannah

Corey, Carrie, Brett, Sarah, and Woody

Aunt Helen, Eli, and Hannah

  Hello again!  Fall has started off great!  In early October, we had an awesome family reunion with the Koellings.  We got to see lots of people that we hadn't seen in a very long time, and the kids got to meet people they'd never met before, including their third cousins Trey and Jack.  And I got to see second cousins that I've missed so much--Brett, Corey, Sarah, and Woody!  I hope we get to connect again soon!  We also saw Aunt Helen that afternoon--that's always a wonderful connection to make.  :)

Hannah's a tiger!

Our "Mystery Basket"

  The next great event for us was when Hannah and I spent the evening at school for their Fun Fest!  Hannah got her face painted like a tiger, played some carnival games, did a cake walk, and had a great dinner of pizza and hot dogs.  And here's the most amazing part--we won two items!  One was a basket from the raffle!  Each class created a huge themed basket with items sent in by families.  (Hannah's class made a cleaning basket--others included a movie basket, a sports basket, a couple Mizzou baskets, a gift card basket, and TONS more!)  The basket we won was one of the mystery baskets with many, many great items!  Hannah was SO excited!  And then, amazingly, we won a pumpkin-drop prize!  Students purchased foam pumpkins to be dropped from the top of a fire truck ladder and they landed on/near certain prizes, and Hannah actually won an iPod Nano!!  Amazing!  It was a very fun event for us to enjoy together--and not just because of the prizes.  ;)

Here comes our float!

Waving to the crowds

  Another fun thing we did recently was be in a parade!  Eli's school had a float in the Mizzou Homecoming Parade, so he and I had a blast sitting on the trailer and riding through the parade yelling "MIZ!!!!  ZOU!!!" with all his friends!  Then Hannah got to go to the Homecoming game with Grammie, Gabah, and Paw Paw.  (The kids take turns going to the games.)  Eli and I enjoyed hanging out with Nannie during the game!  We're all having a great fall, and we hope you are, too!