Leaves

I love Fall! (How many times am I going to say that?) Fall is all about color and textures-- beautiful, gorgeous color and interesting, diverse textures! Here are some my favorite leaves and trees so far! Click on the pictures for the full effect!

Pumpkins

I could have stayed all day taking pictures of pumpkins around Peach Tree Farms! Here are just a few that I loved.

A Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

My mom and dad came up for the weekend last Thursday. It was fun to have them here! We crafted, cooked, and watched football. Saturday we took a trip down I-70 with several stops including a picnic in the picturesque Rocheport on the Katy Trail, pumpkins and critters at the Peach Tree Farms, and finally homemade ice cream in the village of Arrow Rock. Even though it was chilly, the sun finally came out and the turning leaves glistened! More leaf and pumpkin pictures to come. Thanks Mom and Dad for visiting!

Mom seeing familiar items in this cute antique shop


Gabrielle holding this adorable bunny at Peach Tree Farms--- Grandpa being silly.


Pausing for a photo in Rocheport

Lunch Note Promise

Last month I taught a mini-class at Enrichment meeting called Lunch Box Gourmet. It was really a fun day. Besides food, we talked about clever ways to put a note in the lunch box of someone you love. To follow up, I would like to share some information I found from the kraft foods website. They are doing a promotion right now that goes to a very worthy cause. I think we can all feel extremely blessed and fortunate when we open our pantry doors, but there are so many families that have a struggle to feed their kids. Please go to lunchnotepromise.com today and read about the promotion. There is a cute video explaining it. This is from the website :

"Write a note and we'll donate a lunch!

Let's make a promise. All you need to do is promise to drop a note in your kid's lunch. Do that and we'll give a free meal to a kid in need. Together, we can turn that little note into a world of difference."

"For every parent who makes the lunch note promise, the Lunchables team will donate a meal to a child and their family in need through Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, which serves an estimated nine million children annually. The goal is to turn up to 100,000 promises from moms like you into up to 100,000 meals from Lunchables Lunch Combinations for kids in need."

It is a very easy way to help kids in need. You can even make the note right on the website! Here is the link. Thanks, everyone!

lunchnotepromise.com

Weekend in Chicago

Friday since the girls were out of school, we drove up to Chicago for the last weekend of the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. About halfway, we stopped in Springfield and picked up some information on the Lincoln sites they have there. We decided it would take us too much time right then, but we planned on coming back Sunday on our way back home. There was also a car show there all weekend. They were having it in conjunction with the Route 66 festival. I guess it isn't all about Abe there!

We got to Chicago late afternoon Friday. We stayed about a half an hour away from the museum in the Elmherst/Oakbrook area. We are still using Jared's points from his hurricane response stay in Louisiana. We were looking for a place to eat and spotted a Boston Market (one of Jared's favorites) so we at there. It was like Thanksgiving, minus the cranberry sauce. Very good. We went and did a little shopping (The Container Store-- one of my favorites) and then headed back to the hotel so the girls could swim. Since we knew we were going to have a fridge in our suite, we had brought along Gabrielle's cake she made earlier this week. By all means, bring the cake! We had to fuel up for the next day of muesum exploring!

Saturday, to the Museum! The Museum of Science and Industry is HUGE! We had timed entry tickets to Harry Potter exhibit first thing, so we got there when it opened. There was so much to explore and discover, not to mention all the Harry Potter stuff. (No photos from the Harry exhibit, but oh well!) The museum included exhibits on Architecture to Zoology and everything in between. It really demonstrated the link between science and industry and the part we play as well. We stayed there exploring almost the entire day! There were lots of little shows you could see including a cool video projected onto a 6 foot 3d fiber globe. There was also a toy factory run by robots! Gabrielle liked the lunch in the brain food court. I'm sure Jared's favorite was seeing the U505 -- the German submarine captured by the US in World War II. Here's a link to their website: www.msichicago.org/We shopped a little with what we had left of the evening and ate a steak for dinner and the girls got one more splash in the pool.

We got up early the next morning we got up and got going toward Springfield, IL. When we got there we parked and walked around the Route 66 festival and even got some good "fair food" while looking at all the beautiful cars. We lucked out that this was here at the same time we were passing through. Then it was on to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library.

Let me just tell you, I love Presidential Museums and Libraries. Ever since we went to the Truman Museum and Library, I have this list of all these museums I want to visit before I die. Now I want to see them all! This was one of them! The presidential museums really combine art and history to tell the story of that particular president's story. Lincoln's was amazing! They had a show called "Ghosts of the Library" that was a holographic image story that was so cool. Again, we could not take too many pictures here, but I did get a few outside and in the main hall. This visit has inspired me to read more about his life and this period in history. www.alplm.org/

We also got to see the old state capital where Barack Obama announced his candidacy. There was so much more to see than what we had time for. Jared and I hope to return there next summer and explore some more. Here are a few photos.

Science and Industry:






Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library:











Route 66 Car Show on the Capital:

Rainy Providence Bowl

Last Thursday was the long awaited Providence Bowl. Madison was to have her first marching band performance for pre-game of this Hickman v. Rock Bridge High School game played in Memorial Stadium at the University of Missouri. All day (and night before) it had been raining off and on-- They were to decide about 3pm whether or not Junior High would perform. It was an early release day, so we came home and waited for the decision. Of course it was not raining at 3pm, so they gave the green light. All three junior highs were to perform the star-spangled banner with the high schools. After that they were scheduled to also play during time-outs and stuff seated in the stands, then they were required to stay through the half-time show.

We get to the game, drop Madison off where she is supposed to be for a 45 minute rehearsal. We go get out tickets, Jared had a pork tenderloin sandwich, and bought a coke. We find a good seat and were commenting on how it really turned out good weather, just cloudy, not a bit hot or anything. But alas, right as the bands were trooping out onto the field and getting into formation, it started to rain. I guess they thought they would just deal with it at this point. Plumes on the hats were still in place. The two high schools' dance girls had to perform this number together that seemed to go on and on with no end in sight. Then the big drops started and a heavy rain ensued. Gabrielle, Jared and I were huddled under the one purse-size umbrella I had brought. (We are new at this, ok? So nobody ask why we didn't have better rain gear!) We were getting soaked! Pretty soon they decided to take the plumes off the hats. Then, they decide to troop everyone off the field and under the stadium. We had no idea what was going to happen next! We thought they might come back out, but then, they must have given up completely because over the PA system comes, "Please rise for the National Anthem!" and it is totally the pre-recorded version! AUUUUUGGGGHHHHH! We and all the kajillion other Junior High parents run like mad for the holding area where the kids have marched off too underneath the stadium. Everyone was pretty much soaked, but I am seeing the value of the capes on those uniforms, and especially the hats! We made it home in the blinding rain and we proceeded to dry out. I had all the parts of Madison's band uniform and music flip chart hung all over the dining room table and chairs to dry. It's not like you can just throw a sequined cape in the regular clothes dryer!

It would have been a great experience for the kids to get to know what it was like to be in high school marching band, but I guess we'll have to wait on that! Funny thing was I think Madison had a great time anyway and will definitely remember her first marching band performance! Hope its better weather next year!

More Cake!

For last night's Beehive activity there was a surprise birthday party for the Young Women's president. Her fabulous daughter brought up fondant covered layer cakes for each girl to decorate however they wanted. Gabrielle was very proud of her cake! They were supposed to go on a hike, but I think fondant beats hiking any day! Any excuse for cake!

Jared and the bishop took the older youth to a BeSmart fireside in St. Louis to learn all about the lds colleges and universities and what they need to do to prepare for furthering their education. Luckily, those riding with Jared got to stop at Ted Drew's frozen custard afterwards. I was home mowing the lawn. So everyone but me got a treat last night! Ok, I did have a Coke Zero after I was done mowing!