Iris and Nora's snow capers

Click to play and watch the mayhem unfold.


Sledding!


The Christmas Eve video. Watch Nora's reaction to the Goldfish around the 2:20 mark - PRICELESS

Neverending snow

This snow will NEVER melt. We were able to enjoy one more day on Sunday before it started to warm and melt. The girls got in their first sled-ride. Hard to find a decent sledding hill in the plains, but this method worked just fine.

Cabin FEVER!!!

More pics of the Monday snowstorm. Nora works on a snowball.
Iris picks up the snow and drops it while repeatedly chanting her snow mantra "watchin the no" or something that sounded like that. (Videos to follow)
Winter wonderland!

"Hey Nora, don't close your eyes, I'm going to take a picture."
uh..........
This is from late October/early November. We went to Antioch Park to watch the ducks and collect pinecones.

SNOW DAY!

BEST MONDAY EVER!!!

Iris tries to eat the snowflakes as they fall. Blue is not impressed.
Nora watches the falling snow with pure wonder.

Christmas with the Starrs

This Christmas was a magical time.

Santa followed us to Topeka where he delivered many wonderful gifts down the chimney to Iris and Nora Starr - who were very good this year. They received an easel, a Dora dollhouse, many dinosaurs (which were big this year), books, puzzles, and a giant cardboard playhouse. We then went home after the weekend and spent the following week cleaning the house and making room for the hoard of new toys we received.

We also spent a fun night at Jen and Phil Charlton's where the girls played with Quinlan and we visited with Aunt Linda and Uncle Gene. Gene took this amazing photos of the girls. It was such a blast.

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Holiday as well!!!

Thanksgiving!!!

What a GREAT Thanksgiving! Molly, Colin, James, and Bodie came up from Texas and we spent 3 action-packed days in Topeka!

This is the kids' table. Now that we've had Iris and Nora, we've been banished to it again. Not that anyone minds.

Here's the feast! Colin and I got to go first - again, played the "kid" card. Nice!

No one had more fun with the cousins than Iris - often to the detriment of her nutrition. Ahh well.

More giggling....

Nora and James are obviously much more serious at mealtime.

Bodie Bode!!

It's like a clown car, but a bed! We are actually belting out Wizard of Oz songs as we watch the movie. Which may sound lame. And it is. But it was fun.

The weather Saturday was warm enough to run around the yard, visit the horses, and get out the pink Escalade! Yay! Sometimes, Daddy has to help steer....and hit the gas.

Iris glams it up.

Follow Daddy, follow Daddy!

What a great time! Wouldn't want to do it again before tomorrow! Gobble Gobble!

Grandma Starr, we missed you so much!

Sad news

Blue's cancer is back - although you cannot tell from this video, which was taken last night BEFORE he started his meds. Good ole Blue boy. Takes a freight train to keep that dog down!

He started Prednisone last night and already feels a lot better. He ate a bowl of food overnight. The doctor says he has a couple months left, but we all hope for more!

All Hallow's Eve EXTRAVAGANZA

Oh yes. Here we are - Alan from "The Hangover" and the Robert Palmer video girl. It's embarrassing, but we got out of the house and had real conversation with adults, so all worthwhile.

The morning of Halloween, Nana was visiting because she babysat the night before so Mommy and Daddy could go to the adult beverage party. We decided to go run around at the Arboretum Fun, fun!

You'll note above that Iris is completely airborne. It's impressive.
After all that frolicking, a girl needs a breather!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.......what the heck happened to THIS poor kid?

No, I think your feet are bigger....no, YOUR feet are bigger....no YOURS are. No, YOU!

They called this a "tunnel."

Iris loves tunnels.

Mom, what would happen if I put my left foot in that water? Moments later, her question was answered.

Aw, isn't this one neat? Last flowers of the season.

It's a neat picture if you don't notice the weird goat-head wolf laying down behind them.

Nora thought it was neat to sit on the pumpkin.

OK - now we're getting to the good stuff. Here are the Wondertwins after their nap and dinner and hours of trick-or-treat practice. All ready for the big show!
The fam out in the dark, dark night walking down to the Haunted House on the corner to start our adventure.Look at our Halloween Hero selflessly hauling the girls up and down the street. What a champ!

Pulling up to the yard of the Haunted House. There had to be 20 inflatables on the yard and roof. AMAZING. There were hundreds of kids down there.

First things first Haunted House people, where's our candy?

Woooo - those ghosts are PRETTY scary! Look at Iris' face! Priceless.

This was the inflatable walk-through Haunted House and Nora and I are standing in-between the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper. "Okay, who brought the dog?" LOL. Ghostbusters. I kill me.....

I'm telling you, these people do NOT mess around with Halloween.

Alright - now it's on down the street for the real deal - the candy! Trick or treat, Olathans!

Wrapping up a wonderful weekend and magical night. Back to the house to hand out candy, which was just as much fun as acquiring it. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Already planning costumes for next year. Any ideas?

Grandma Starr comes to visit!

What a fun weekend! Grandma Starr came up from Oklahoma City and we all had a blast!

Here we are at the park on Friday - we packed a picnic dinner and drove to Gardner! Here, Grandma Starr is twirling Nora on this funny spinny contraption. Round and round she goes!

Here are the super sweet trikes Grandma got the girls! They're working on the pedaling, but they are great for pointing!
FAIL! Here's Nora's first attempt at the tricycle. We'll give her thebenefit of the doubt. She just woke up from her nap.

Starting to get the hang of it.....

Teeter toddler - get it?

Iris wants you to know the tricycles have a huge amount of cargo room. Thanks for the visit Grandma Starr and all the great toys and clothes! We wouldn't want to do it again before tomorrow!!! Love you!

Post-summer wrap-up

I realize it's been a million years since our last post, so here's what we've been up to. In the past 2 weeks, we discovered a playground in Lenexa that is next to a pedestrian tunnel that goes UNDER a traintrack. It's a toddler perfect-storm!!! We all love it! One day, we saw 4 trains!
We had some rain this weekend, but we made our way through the fog to the playground.
When you yell in that tunnel, it makes a lot of noise. That's what Iris wants you to take away from this picture.
I just like this photo a lot.
You get 3 chances to guess what she's pointing at.....
Oh - and poor mullet-head Nora got a second haircut. She's adorable, but her hair has some work to do. But it's getting there.

Oh - did I mention the Playground by the train tunnel has its own TUNNEL for little people?

This is the look we get when we say "be careful Nora, slow down." Such attitude.

Labor Day, we went to Topeka and rode the carousel in the park. One girl likes it, one girl doesn't. Guess which one does.....

Here's Nora on the train. It's super awesome and the conductor remembered the girls from last time!!!

All aboard!!!!

This is our Hawaiian Princess. Aloha!

Clear the streets! The girls are licensed!

Ohhhhhhhhhhh how we love cupcakes!
Hope you have a great fall! Grandma Starr is coming to visit soon and we cannot wait!!!