Fire Station

This Saturday, we got to visit the Shawnee Fire Station as one of our Parents As Teachers events.  Sarah had a great time looking at the firetrucks and will tell anyone who listens that she got to high five a firefighter!  The guys at the station were all super nice, and they did a great job dealing with all those toddlers so early on a Saturday morning! 

 

  

Sarah loved sitting on the front bumper of the firetruck.  Luckily, we had moved on by the time a call came it - that truck took off in a hurry!

 

 

 

Watching the fire truck speed off to save the day... 

 

 

We got to see where the firefighters keep all of their equipment.  I think I need side compartments and not just a trunk for storage in my car, too!

 

 

Who knew?  The back of the truck is just as exciting as the front of the truck!

 

 

The nice firefighters even turned on their lights for us.  Thankfully, there were no sirens!

 

 

The firefighters showed us how they get dressed so quickly.  See how their pants and boots are all in a pile down there?  They just step into the boots, pull up their pants, and they're ready to go.  I might consider this approach with snow boots and snow pants this winter!

 

 

When we peeked inside the truck, Sarah was excited to see "K-State."  That's my girl!

 

 

 

Halloween 2013

This Halloween was awesome for lots of reasons.  First, Sarah really "got it" this year and loved wearing her costume and trick-or-treating.  Second, we had a party with our neighbors and their kids (Eliza is 3, Sarah is 2 1/2, Grace is 2, and Leslie is 1 1/2 - poor Michael is the only boy, but at 3 months, I doubt he minds yet!).  We're so lucky to have kids for Sarah to play with...and the fact that these kids have amazing parents that WE really like helps, too!

 

So...the Talboys, the Bursons, and the Lamberts came over to our house around 5:45.  We enjoyed some chili and fixings, and then took the girls trick-or-treating!  The guys stayed at the house and passed out candy, which I think was just fine with them. Uncle Adam and Aunt Megan showed up just as we were heading to our first house, so they got to trick-or-treat with Sarah for a bit, too.  It was cool but not too cold, and the rain had stopped long enough that it was even mostly dry on the sidewalks.  All in all, it was a great night to trick-or-treat!

 

 

Pink Monster (Sarah) and Kitty (Grace) were ready to go!

 

Checking out her candy bag (Adam and Megan brought her some yummy treats before she ever even left our driveway!)

 

Pink Monster and Princess Aurora (Eliza) on their way to the first house of the night.

 

Come on, everyone!

 

Sarah, of course, led the way up the steps to Sue and Ralph's house...

 

 

Sarah was tall enough that she could help Black Cat (Leslie) ring the doorbells.

 

 We tried to rally the girls around these cool inflatable pumpkins, but they would have none of it.  This is as close to a group shot as we got all night!

 

We hit a few more houses and then called it a night around 7:45. 

 

When the neighborhood vegetation became more exciting than trick-or-treating, we knew it was time to take the girls home!

 

 

Back to the house (with a giant leaf)!

 

 

Sarah had a great time with her friends, and I know this is one tradition we will keep up for years!

 

 

 

Family Photos

It's that time of year again - time to start thinking about Christmas cards.  Ugh!  At least we have tons of super cute pictures to choose from this year, thanks to Shannon Lockwood at BabyDayPhotography!  I love how she captures moments rather than just taking pictures.

 

We used our photo shoot to take some pregnancy announcement photos, too, so in case there are any of you out there that didn't know - we're pregnant!

 

We started off fancy in our Christmas dress...

 

...and then got a little more comfortable so we could run through the grass and throw stuff into the stream!  Our photo location of choice was the Walnut Grove area at Shawnee Mission Park, which is one of my favorite places to go with Sarah.  There's a playground, but there's also a huge grove of walnut trees, a stream, and lots of bridges to jump across! 

 

The chalkboard was Shannon's idea.  The "big sis" shirt was my idea.  The cowboy boots, though, were all Sarah's idea!

 

 

I love this one.  I've always called this light the Narnia light because it's this great lamppost in the middle of a big wooded area.  There aren't any other lights around it, and I'm not sure why the park decided to put a light just there.  It has always reminded me of the lamppost Lucy finds in the middle of the wood when she first passes through the wardrobe and into Narnia, though, and it holds a little bit of that magic for me.  Silly, I know, but I doubt I'd be surprised it Mr. Tumnus appeared in the woods behind it!

 

 

Remember how I said Walnut Grove has a playground?  Did you think we'd get through the entire photo session without Sarah having to play on it?!

 

As we left the park, the sun was setting and Sarah decided to head off on one last adventure through the trees.  It's just a baseball field on the other side of this little meadow, but I love the way these photos turned out!  I'd love to see the color version of them, too, but when you hire someone to take photos, you don't get to choose which pictures are on the CD you get!!!

 

By the end of the evening, we were all a little tired, but I think these photos were worth it!