A Great Weekend

Last Friday night started our great weekend.

I co-chaired a Fall Hoedown with a friend of mine for our elementary school. This was my 2nd year doing the activity, so it went fairly smoothly (yay for committee members and their ingenuity--they thought to use bunches of sunflowers growing in empty fields by the school for decoration-how great is that?).

We used a great DJ that pretty much took care of the whole evening, she provided games and prizes and entertainment. I'm happy doing the hoedown every year as long as she can dj it!

Kierst with one of her best friends. Wish they were in the same class this year!

Abs dancing in front of the crowd. This girl has some serious rhythm and not a shy bone in her body.

The 5th Graders danced in front of the other kids, here's Kierst with a couple of her other friends.

Lisi got to help lead the chicken dance. Are those hats cute or what?

We left haybales at the entryway to the school for fall decoration. Unfortunately, Monday morning someone spotted a SNAKE in them--we hadn't thought about all the mice that live in the empty fields around the school!! Needless to say they were gone before the kids got to school!

Saturday we went to one of my favorite things--the NICU reunion at Chris' hospital.

On the way there, we rolled down all the windows, opened the sunroof and turned the tunes up in Chris' car. We've done this a couple of times and it has really brought out the girls' personalities. Kierst? Begging us to turn the music down and roll up the windows, she has a hard time letting loose. Abs? Singing at the top of her lungs, if there's a party going on, she wants in. Lisi? Well, look at the pics below to see what she thought:

Yeah, she likes the windows down.

Again, I love the NICU reunion. I get to meet these wonderful parents and their incredible children, many of whom have survived and thrived despite terrible circumstances. I also get to talk with the nurses and NNPs he works with--I have to say, he's pretty blessed to work with such great people!

The reunion is held in a large field adjacent to OP hospital. I'm not sure how many people attended it, I think it's around 500? Abs and Lisi checked out an ambulance and transport equipment...

They fished from a "pond" for silly bands...

They danced to Dino O'Dell...

Meanwhile, Kierst hung out at the "Dunk a Doc" booth. She was practicing to dunk Chris when his turn came to man the booth. All the kids got in on the action to make sure he got wet (and I'll admit I did, too).
I don't know how, but he managed NOT to get his hat wet the entire time!

Sunday we went to another NICU reunion on the Missouri side--see what I mean about a great weekend?? Getting to attend two NICU reunions back to back? How cool is that? This one was a lot smaller, but had some fun things for the kids.

Face painting was a huge hit. Kierst got a peacock painted on her face.

Lisi was up next, of course she wanted a purple cat (these would be her two favorite things right now).
Before:

During:

After:

Abs wasn't so sure she wanted her face painted, she's had it done before and doesn't really like it, but she thought that the other girls' faces looked so good she didn't want to miss out.

She also wanted a cat face. (I have to insert here that I really like Abs without her bangs, as you see her here because of the paint, but I can't convince her to grow them out and if you know Abs you know that if she has her mind set on something she's really hard to sway--and is it really worth the fight? Probably not, sometime she'll grow them out. Sigh:).

Besides the face painting, they also had a photo booth set up. You could try on hats, crowns, etc., the girls thought this was the best thing ever (and I have to admit that it was--I'm thinking about using it for 5th grade farewell??).

Chris and his girls.

Can't wait for next year's.