The Regina Game

Students at Regina were excused from classes to attend the semi-final state championship football game to cheer on the Regina Regals high school football team. Those pep rallies did their job on him, because Peter showed great interest in going. So, Sam took Peter to the game that was at the UNI Dome.

They first stopped at the concession stand. Someone was excited about that.

Enjoying the game and a pretzel.
(looks like a bad play happened right at the moment)

Peter even found a couple of his kindergarten classmates.

Fun times for all!

Sister Crazies

This is what sisters do during their morning play:

1) Wear a crown her own way,

2) try to see who can scream the loudest through the vacuum hose,

3) wear a crown the other way,

and
4) strike a pose!

Albert's Iowa visit

My cousin Albert told me that he would have a week long break from Princeton and planned to visit us the first week of November. YAY! What exciting news! We love having family visit us! It proved to be a fun week for all.

While Peter was off to school, the girls and Albert got some two-on-one time. As Albert tossed leaves up in the air, Elaine found the concept of gravity hilarious.

Natalie had a nice picnic lunch with Albert, talking about who knows what!

A little bit of chase was good fun. Elaine showed her "fierce side".

Who wouldn't run from this little monster!

The ever-popular duck-duck-goose...at least our kids' version of it!

Albert was impressed with Natalie's gymnastics class stunts and tried some himself.

It was fun to see Natalie show her stuff, and a quick way for me to realize how old my body is and what it's not capable of anymore!

One day, we ventured to Pheasant Hill Park in search of the "Mighty Sword" geocache. With so many clues and exact coordinates, we could not find the geocache. We searched high...

and low...

with no luck but some good times in a park on a nice evening.

Despite the chilly air, we headed toward a park one day for some playground and (finally) soccer action. Since Albert had played soccer for ten years, we thought it would be good for Peter to learn a few things from him!

Natalie showing us a treasure she found in the sand.
(if by chance you are reading this, and see that this is your lost bouncy ball, please let me know and I'll return it to you!)

A nice afternoon topped off with a good tire swing.

Another fun and most popular fun the kids had with Albert...hide-and-seek. This by far was the best time had by all. (I got some free time to actually clean up the kitchen every night while they played). Elaine had some crazy counting skills (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14...).

No trip to Iowa and the Burer house would be complete without the John Deere tractor drive. This may not be a big deal to most Iowans, but to us, it's cool to have a John Deere. It completes the "Iowa" in us and is something we like to share with visitors.

Sam gives the lesson to Albert on how to operate the mower.

Albert took a couple laps around the property and loved it.
I think his words were "This is awesome!"

Thank you cousin Albert for visiting us in Iowa! We hope you had a great time! The kids loved having you here and surely do miss you, "Abert"!

It's a Halloween! Let's a go!

"Wii" are the new Super Mario Bros!

We started off the festivities with a neighborhood party. Amazingly, in attendance were over 50 people (30 of which were children)! We got most of them in the group picture!

Peter "Mario" might have met his match in Jakob "Darth Vader"!

Elaine "Toad" most definitely was having fun trick or treating. She even managed to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!" very clearly! I guess the positive reinforcement of a piece(s) of candy was all it took!


With the largest loot to date, we made it back home just in time for the kids to enjoy some of their treats before hitting bedtime. Natalie "Princess Peach" gives this year's Halloween a thumb (and sucker) up!

Peter's Halloween parade and party

Again, in organized chaos style, the elementary school had their Halloween parade outside. Amidst all the fairies, princesses, zombies, and Jedi masters, I found my Mario!

Mrs. Poss (and her baby jack-o-lantern) with my Mario.

Peter B. and Peter K. striking a pose.

Back in the classroom after changing out of costume, the kids did some games and decorated cookies.

Then it was treats time!
Elaine is not too far behind!
All three got loaded up with treats.


It was very obvious that the sugar crash had begun in Peter. I seriously thought he would fall asleep just like this:

Natalie's Halloween parade

Preschoolers had their Halloween parade in the morning. It was a bit cold to have it outside, so through the halls they went!

Here's our Natalie, Princess Peach from Super Mario Bros!
(Side note: Her hair did not start off like that in the morning. Somehow, in the course of two hours, the band and sparkly barrette that held her hair up had lost its battle with her hair!)

After the parade, all the kids filed back into their classroom and onto a square. As they demonstrated the pin the jack-o-lantern game, Elaine, the ever-ready pre-preschooler, took a square and join the class.

Pretty close, Natalie, I mean, Princess Peach!

Princess Peach and her 'Friend' Toad enjoy a lollipop after a long morning storming the "Bowser castle" (aka school).

Lunch with Kindergartners

Regina is great. It freely allows parents to drop in and have lunch with their kids at school. Lunch (rather, it should be called brunch since it's at 10:45am) with my kindergartner was pretty cool. I got to see how he gets through hot lunch line and enters his 4-digit code for payment. It's amazing to see how much he just knows how to do now...on his own!

Elaine got to join us for the mini corn dog bites, peas, applesauce, pretzels, and bug bites (graham crackers).

Peter with his friend Nick (from preschool days).

After lunch and an orderly chaotic line formed from the lunchroom to the playground. I must say it was the mind spinning and long walk with all those kids and Elaine. All of Peter's friends were eager to watch over Elaine on the playground since she was "little". Everyone wanted to catch her at the end of the slides.

Elaine had a different opinion; at times, she enjoyed the attention, but she wanted a bit of freedom.

Before I had to leave, Peter wanted to show me that he could do the monkey bars. I must say, I was really impressed by both this abilities and how much my baby has grown!