Lake Shelbyville

In what is becoming a fun tradition, we rented some cabins near Lake Shelbyville with friends this past November.  On Friday night, we drove down with Jason and Elizabeth and their two boys.  After breakfast Saturday morning, we went on a hike near the lake. Jack and Andrew raced ahead of us...

Patrick was quick to follow...

The rest of us were more leisurely in our pace.  We enjoyed a few sunflower seeds along the way (hence the funny face Jim is making).

It was a beautiful day for a fall hike. 

The crew before we headed down to the lake to skip rocks.

It was quite bright in the sun.

Patrick is such a good boy, and always makes us laugh.  He certainly has a mischievous side, too. 

What a fun hike with good friends!

Back at the cabins, we waited for the two other families to arrive.  Then we visited, ate, drank, played ball, rode bikes, and played, played, played.

Check out that arm!

Patrick, Jack, and Charlie N. enjoyed riding their bikes.

I think riding his bike is one of Jack's favorite things to do.  When the weather was warmer, he even rode it to school a few times with Jim.

Patrick is learning to ride with training wheels on Jack's old bike.

The ladies:

The kids (10 of them!):

The whole group (all the guys grew up together and have been friends since grade school):

Me and my favorite guy:

We got the kids matching Christmas pajamas.  So cute!

Visitors from Down Under

In November, my sister-in-law Melanie and my adorable niece Cecilia came from Australia to visit us.  They stayed with us for a week and a half before taking a train to Chicago for a few days.  My brother flew in to Chicago and then they all came back to St. Louis for a couple weeks (which included Thanksgiving).  Here are some pictures from their stay with us.

Charlie was excited to have someone else his size around.

 Peek-a-boo!

This play house belonged to my cousins when they were little.  They are now in their junior and senior years of college.  Each of our boys has greatly enjoyed playing in it, too!  Charlie and Cecilia were talking to each other through the window.

There are not a lot of fallen leaves in Australia.  Clearly Cecilia did not know what to do with them.  I don't think they tasted that great.  We let Uncle Jim rake them into piles so we could play in them.  

We went to Jack's last soccer game of the season.  Nana and Papa came, too.

Jack is waving to his fans.

Halloween

I am finally posting Halloween pictures, which means I will be caught up through October!  We had several Halloween events this year.  Jack was a ghost, Patrick a rocket, and Charlie a bumblebee.  The first two pictures are from a trip to the Magic House with friends.

On Halloween, Jack's school had a Halloween parade.  The kindergarteners got to dress up and parade around with their eighth grade angel.  Unfortunately, Patrick got sick about a half hour before the parade began.  Thankfully Grandma was available to go up to school for the parade!  She took a couple pictures since she knew I was upset that I had to miss it!

Since Patrick was sick, he didn't get to go trick-or-treating.  Daddy took Jack and Charlie down one side of our street, then Mommy took Jack down the other side (and Charlie went to bed).

Patrick braved the outdoors for a quick picture with his brothers before they went out to get candy.

Trip to Notre Dame

The first two pictures are not from ND, but they are a couple random pictures from a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house one morning.

In October, Jim had a big test in Chicago.  They boys and I met him on a Thursday, after his test, and spent the night in Chi-town.  Aunt Karen was in town, too, on business so we got to spend some time with her as well.  Friday morning, we drove to Notre Dame.  At a McDonalds along the way, we ran into Nick Faldo.  Jim was excited; I had no idea who he was.  For those of you like me, he is a professional golfer.  He gladly posed for a picture with Jim and Jack.

Charlie was excited to visit Notre Dame for the first time!

Jim showed his boys the beautiful campus.

Maybe we'll take another picture of the five of us on campus one day when we bring one of our sons here!

Daddy and his boys:

The Glee Club reunion was that weekend (and the main reason for our visit).  On Friday afternoon, there was an open Glee Club practice and the alumni got to participate. Jim is in the front row, a little to the right of center.

On Saturday, we walked around campus before the game.

Jim showed us his old dorm, Morrissey Manor.  Why isn't Patrick in this picture?

This is what Patrick was doing...

Now it was Patrick's turn for a picture in front of Daddy's dorm.

Jack got to go to his first Notre Dame football game!  He was pretty excited!  They played BYU and won 17-14.  We are excited to watch the BCS National Championship game tonight!  GO IRISH!