Catch up! Sept and Oct

Just a few pictures to catch you up on the past few months...

 Mike's backyard project - put up a very nice looking pergola

 Then we added a planter all around the back of the house

It looks so great!

 Beautiful Kansas fall day.

 Cruising!  Me in San Juan - the day before we left on our 7 night cruise of the Caribbean. We had a wonderful time.  So thankful that my parents were able to come and watch the boys for us.  What a great adults only vacation!

 1st formal night on the ship.

 In Barbados

 We though the boys would get a kick out of seeing Mike with the pirate flags.

 At the ruins of a fort on St Maarten

St Croix

 At the pumpkin patch

 They had great games to play at the pumpkin patch - shooting the targets

I just love this family photo!
So that was a quick recap of the months of Sept and Oct of 2011.  I will try to update a little more often - no promises though!

Blanket

It has been a long time....sorry.  Way to much going on here in the Franz household.  I have been meaning to put up some pictures of a blanket that I made for my cousin Erica's new baby girl. Here it is, thanks to my sister and mom for the idea of putting the ruffle around the edge.  I think that it turned out awesome!

August 8th - Happy Day!

So I am a little - no a lot behind on updating my blog since the 8th of August.  Why you ask?  Because that is the day that Mike came home from Iraq!!

My friend Debby bought these balloons that were waiting on the mailbox when Mike got home!  Thanks Debby!!  I will try to add the video that I took when the boys and I went to pick him up at the airport - if I can get Mike to figure out how to do it for me.  We didn't tell the boys he was coming home (he wasn't due back for another month) so I told them that we were going to pick up a friend.  Neither one of them wanted to go to the airport - especially for the 9pm flight.  They both were SHOCKED to see him when he came up to them.  Luke even asked me if it was really Daddy.  After that initial reaction they gave him a big hug and then the rest of the people from Mike's work came it to see him too.
      The next day they wanted to get out and spend some time with Mike so he took them on a little run around the neighborhood.

We are all so thankful to have Mike home safely from his deployment!!

Topeka - July 30

On Saturday I decided it would be nice to take the boys up to the Topeka Zoo.  When we were done at the zoo went went across the street to the park and the boys played on the concrete animals.  After that we went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and then to see the movie Rio at the cheap theater.  We had an all around fun kids day!

 It was so cool to stand and watch the gorilla eating her breakfast.  She had a lot of lettuce and an onion.

 Inside the rain forest area.  We were searching for all the different birds and animals that they have.  Luke did not want me to take this picture.

 This is the guide that showed you the different birds and animals they had in the dome.

 The alligator was eating Luke!

Luke had a heck of a time getting into this kangaroo - he finally went in head first and turned around.

Alex didn't have a much easier time getting into the kangaroo.

Homemade Pizza Night

Last Friday I decided that we would have a make your own pizza night. 

 We started with some Jiffy Pizza Crust - just add water.

 Pizza sauce set up so that the boys each had their own.

 Toppings and cheese.

 Playing in the flour and making their crust.

 Alex ready to roll his pizza dough out.

 I don't think that Luke wanted his picture taken this time.

 Luke's pizza is ready to go in the oven.  Yummy cheese!

 This one is my pizza.

 Alex's pizza is ready to go in the oven too - not much cheese on this one.

Pizza hot out of the oven!  I left it in a few minutes to long - oh well it was yummy anyway!

Boys Soccer

For the whole month of July both boys had soccer camp on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  They went from 6-7 pm and it was hot!  We did get a bit of a break the last night - it was only 94.  Here are some pictures of the boys playing in some scrimmage games on the last night of camp.

 Luke getting ready to kick the ball.

 Luke running to the ball.

 Alex getting ready to play.

 Alex took three or four of the throw-ins. 

 Luke with one of his coaches.

Luke and Alex after Soccer Camp.  They both had a great time.  Alex starts the fall season in a couple of weeks.

Riley County Fair and Aggieville

Today we went to the Riley County Fair - early to try to beat some of the heat.  It was already close to 100 at 1030 so we should have probably gone earlier - oh well.  We had a good time looking at all the animals and watching some goat judging.  The boys liked the bunnies the best followed closely by the LEGO creations done by the 4H kids.  We also voted on our favorite quilt.

After the fair we went to Aggieville and ate lunch at Chipotle and then had some yummy ice cream at Cold Stone.

 Luke got Cotton Candy ice cream with skittles.

 Alex had Mint ice cream with a reeses cup.

I had chocolate ice cream with peanut butter, fudge and a reeses cup - super good!  The boys each helped me eat mine when they were done with theirs!