Heartland Top Ten...

In no particular order...

#1 Going to the Hallmark museum.  They have an entire floor that is free for kids to create art using the scraps from Hallmark cards.  Afterwards, we went to a restaurant where a remote control train brought us our meal.  

#2 Gliding on a Venetian style Gondola down a Kansas City river.  We joked that we must have looked like sister wives to passers by.  After the boat tour, we dined on the patio at the Cheese Cake Factory.  It was shear craziness with five kids under five!  But also lots of fun!

3. Going to a Halloween Bunko night with Jamie and her friends while Leo watched our kids.  They were all so nice and it felt good to laugh so much!

4.  Feeding local livestock.  Along with keeping us very well fed, the Sagebins make sure the animals of Missouri don't go hungry.  The kids had a blast feeding buffalo, goats, and fish throughout the week.

5.  Jamie dragging me to the gym almost everyday.  That girl kills it in the group classes.  I also was able to go to her Piloxing class that she teaches.  My abs are still sore.  She does a great job!

6.  Sunday dinner.  Leo and Jamie made us a delicious grilled dinner.  Steak, chicken, Brazilian rice, gourmet salad, and baked squash.  I wanted a take out box to bring back to Texas!

7.  Taking the kids to pick out a  pumpkin at Carolyn's pumpkin patch.   We ate the most delicious pumpkin spice donuts on a hayride.  We were completely dusted in cinnamon and sugar.   It was heaven.  

8.  Visiting the church history museum where I saw the actual location of the Garden of Eden. 

9.  Going on a hike and soaking up the sun and fall leaves with the kids.  

10.  Spending so much quality time with such a great family.  Me and my kids adore Jamie and her kids.  She is such a help and has a hilarious sense of humor.  I always learn a lot from her and love her like a sister (wife:)!

Rissy Turns 2 and James's Ninja Turtle Birthday...

Our baby girl turned 2 Sept 27th.  

We kept it simple with a crepe for a birthday cake and a trip to the zoo to ride the carousel ride. 

 It turned out she wasn't the biggest fan of her birthday gift but she still had a fun day.

 James turned 5 on October 11th.  He got to have his very first birthday party. 

We had a ninja turtle training camp.  The boys had to complete challenges to earn their ninja weapons.  Here I am teaching them karate kickboxing.  

Next they had to use their ninja swords to slice opalescent spheres in half. Hi ya!

And use their agility to climb to the top of the tallest tree.

 They also had to throw ninja stars and chop boards with their bare hands.

Their final challenge was a death match with Shredder (John used his traditional Mongolian atire and a drugstore mask).  

All the boys past their tests, earned their armbands, and became ninja masters. 

  

James picked out everything for his cake and helped make it himself.  He was pretty proud of it.  

It was fun to celebrate these sweet souls the last couple of weeks.  We are so blessed to have them in our family. 

Tommy Crawling

Tommy wants so bad to run and play with his brother and sister.  He is jumping the gun and trying to crawl early.

Gregory's Island...

By the end of our vacation we had once again fully adapted to island living.  Our beach was often so empty I felt like we were marooned on Gilligan's Island...John The Professor, Grandma Ginger Gregory,  my pig-tailed Mary Ann, Gilligan James, and Nana Eunice...I guess that leaves me as either the captain or the monkey:)  

Doesn't Rissy look like the Coppertone baby from the old commercials.  

  Good bye beautiful Bahamas.  

I heard someone ask, "If The Professor could make a radio from a coconut, why couldn't he patch up a hole in a boat."  If I was him, I wouldn't have tried too hard to leave either:)

We would love to have more friends and family come along and be "castaways" with us next time. Mark your calenders for 2017!