Long-awaited update

Yes, we're still here. . .just busy! This is mostly a catch-up post. We've had mounds of leaves to mulch (but just had to jump in them, first). . .

We had Halloween festivities. . .
Mary was Tinkerbell, and Megan went as Ariel.
And yes, Megan's hair was dyed red for the role.
She got to go to school with bright red hair,
and enjoyed being the hit of that party.
The red spray dye rubbed off easily onto her her clothes, face and hands.
But she thoroughly enjoyed being a redhead.

Tinkerbell and Ariel, just before Trick-or-Treat began

In mid-October, we had a delightful visit from friends Belinda and David Zeitouni and their daughter, Rebecca, who had turned one year old only the week before. Belinda and Courtney have known each other since sixth grade in Fort Scott. The Zeitounis now reside in the Seattle area, and were in the Midwest to visit family. It was wonderful that they could visit us in the midst of a very busy schedule to reunite with family in Kansas and Missouri.

(l to r) David (holding Rebecca), Belinda, Courtney, Mary, Ken and Megan

And just one more. . .

This is Mary, enjoying the bluegrass and folk music floating across
the Winfield City Lake area during theWalnut Valley Festival in September.
When floodwaters drove campers from the festival grounds,
many of us scattered into any nearby campground that could hold us.
Mary and I camped with friends at the lake, and made many more friends
in the process. Mary had a terrific time, enjoyed the music
and fell asleep to jam tunes surrounding our tent from every direction.

Megan's birthday

Just a very quick post about Megan's birthday last week. . .we'd planned a party for her and her friends in a nearby park, but it was a washout (literally, a swamp) after last week's torrential rains. So we held the party in our house, instead. Fourteen kids under the age of 7 (plus parents). The house held up fine, our cats hid for hours, but everyone had a great time. Ken even cleaned the garage so we could have a pinata for the kids.

Mary and I are off in a few minutes to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield (also a washout. . .the campgrounds are closed for the first time in festival history after flooding earlier this week). The festival still will happen, but there will be no camping on site. People are scattered all over the county, which cuts down on the ambiance quite a bit. It will be a muddy adventure! Megan and Ken will stay behind this time around, because Megan has plans in her social agenda, including her school's carnival tonight, and a birthday party tomorrow.

I will post more when we get back, including some party shots. Until then, here's a shot of Mary with Megan, shortly after Megan received a Fancy Nancy Posh Puppy from Mary for her birthday:

Megan also received a camera from her parents, so she's a likely contributor to this site in the future.

Busy day. . .

Another quick post with unedited photos. . .

At the beginning of a busy Saturday, Megan and Mary constructed

football goalposts during their usual Home Depot trip today. . .

Here's Mary with her goalposts. . .

Then Mary went to her gymnastics class (that's Mary, second in line)

Then we braved a cool, misty evening to attend the Royals game.
Mary kept her ears plugged against any fireworks that erupted
when the Royals got a home run. The Royals won 3-1 over the
Cleveland Indians. Here are some more photos. . .

Mary and Megan with Slugger, the KC Royals' mascot.

Leaving the stadium as the rain began picking up
in the bottom of the seventh inning

KU football pep rally

As usual, we attended the annual Jayhawk football pep rally at Corinth Square late last month. But after the Jayhawks' unprecedented victory in the Orange Bowl, this year's rally was absolutely mobbed. At least we got our hot dog dinners, and the girls got to meet the KU cheerleaders and Crimson Girls. . .

Mary with Ken

The rally was so mobbed we opted to leave early,
even before the KU band played and Coach Mangino arrived.
So we went for ice cream, instead.

Kindergarten begins. . .

Megan is officially in Kindergarten,
at Dorothy Moody Elementary School
in Overland Park, KS.

Her first day was Aug. 18.

Here's another photo:

Summer fun

Yes, it's been awhile! We've been enjoying our summer and the girls are enjoying the spoils of gardening earlier this year. We've already feasted on sugar snap peas...
And now we're working on baby cucumbers, carrots and broccoli. We also planted miniature pumpkins, which hopefully will be ready later this fall. Ken built two raised beds for our garden (and we hope to add another this fall) and they're working very well! Here is the one for veggies:

When the girls aren't assisting in the garden, Ken has put them work:

During the week of June 18, Jill McCain (Ken's mother) visited from Vermont and was piled upon by eager granddaughters:
This was Grandma McCain's first visit to our home in Kansas since we moved from Texas, and the everyone was very excited that she was here. She didn't get away without sampling the fine barbecue (from Bryant's...where else?) and catching up with the Eblen in-laws. She also got to visit Hal and Marty McCain in Salina and see their beautiful new home. While in north-central Kansas, both girls frolicked at the community sprinkler park (Megan went right in, Mary mostly sat on the wall and watched everyone else play in the spray:

Megan enjoyed the slide near Hal and Marty's house

Mary and Hal

Last year at Christmas, Megan received a butterfly house from Grandma Eblen. We ordered the caterpillars in May, and they arrived in early June. They were let go into the butterfly house (where they did their thing and cocooned), and by the time Grandma McCain arrived for her Kansas visit, the new butterflies were ready for release in our backyard:

Here are both girls, releasing Butterfly No. 4 (of 5):
It's in the upper right corner of the picture.

Mary and Grandma McCain, June 22

The following Monday, Grandma returned to Vermont and the Confectionery in anticipation of a (hopefully) busy season this fall and winter. Shameless plug of delicious family business: Here's the Vermont Confectionery's website: http://vermontcandy.com.

The following week, we attended the annual Independence Day parade in nearby Lenexa:

Ken and Megan, waiting for the parade to begin.

The parade is a down-to-earth event that the kids always enjoy: The parade isn't too long, and they tend to acquire candy (especially at the end of the parade route, where we always sit...it needs to be gone, so it's dumped!). Here is Mary, excited about her nabbed loot:

A visit to Bartlesville

About 10 days ago (a long time if you're waiting to see these photos, but work and school intervened since our trip), we traveled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma to see family. Here are some photos depicting our 30-hour, whirlwind visit:

Sharon Warzel read a favorite childhood book (The Elves and the Shoemaker)

to Megan during a break from sorting through the household belongings of
Morgan and Floy Warzel (Sharon's parents), who recently moved from
their longtime house to a Bartlesville area assisted living facility.
Morgan and Floy are doing well in their new digs (Morgan spent
that Friday at the city's air show).

Aww! Megan shared a strawberry lemonade
with her Uncle Clyde during dinner at Mazzio's Pizza.

This was priceless . . . after refusing to nap and running wild
most of the day, Mary fell asleep at Mazzio's with fork in hand.

But she woke up for this . . .

Bartlesville's Kiddie Park: Awesome! This local amusement park with pint-sized rides (and inexpensive. . .no admission fees, 25 cents per ride) has been a fixture in Bartlesville for decades. With Sharon, her brother Kirk, and Grandma Jeannie Eblen, we converged on the park. Megan loved the rides, Mary wasn't as enthusiastic (not that we didn't try. . .it's just not her thing, yet).

But Mary was enthusiastic about waving to Megan,

while Megan enjoyed her first rollercoaster ride. . .

And her ride on the ponies with Grandma Eblen. She spent most of the ride
waving beauty-queen style to spectators looking on at the Merry-Go-Round.

Mary didn't much care for the Merry-Go-Round (too loud, made her dizzy, etc. . .)

but she loved the ice cream cone, and the helicopter that flew overhead.

Here's another shot of the treat-break we took.

Thanks to the delicious, blue raspberry sno-cone,
Megan's face was blue for the rest of the evening . . .
She also got her face and hand painted. . .

We had an absolute blast, and as always it was great to catch up with family. Sharon lives in the Denver area, and Kirk lives in Idaho Falls, so it isn't often that we see them.

We left Bartlesville the next morning, and enroute home to Kansas City we stopped at the restored Little House on the Prairie (just southwest of Independence, Kansas). It's accessible off U.S. 75 and also has a restored post office, school house and an extensive gift shop. Megan and Mary have always enjoyed the Little House stories that have been read to them, and Megan is starting to connect the dots that Laura was a real person. They both got a kick out of their visit, and Mary especially liked the rocking chair made out of a stump, on display in the replica of the Little House. Here are some of the pictures:

One of the exhibits, a replica of Little House on the Prairie,
located near where the original Little House actually stood.

Mary checks out the Little House.

Megan and Mary, inside Little House.

A few photos...

Just posting a few photos from the past few weeks . . . it's been the usual whirlwind!

Here's a photo of Mary going down the slide
at Loose Park (one of our favorite haunts).
We're looking forward to Loose Park's rose garden
being ready for our annual walk-through.

Megan and Mary always enjoy trips to Grandpa and Grandma Eblen's home,
where dozens of puzzles, puppets and books await them.

Megan will start Kindergarten this fall, but for now will continue attending
Village Presbyterian's Child and Family Development center,
where she is a proud Pre-K with beloved teachers Mr. Andy and Ms. Vrbanek.
The school held a "graduation" picnic for Pre-K students two weeks ago.

Another favorite stomping ground:
The Legends shopping mall in Kansas City, Kan.
The large fountain at the center of the mall
is always a hit with both girls . . .
and they get a bath out of the experience, too.

It was a pick . . !

We were going to get some cute shots of the girls wearing their new finery (t-shirts trumpeting KU's recent victory at the NCAA Championships). Megan and Mary chose the pink shirts. For the photo, Mary picked something else. . .

The preliminary shot...

The original pick...

Big Sister's discovery of said pick...

"Stop that!"

But Mary has two hands...

The shot of the shirts
(Mary wiped her hands on hers)