Mizzou Homecoming

Nate and I took a trip this weekend - Scott has friends in town for the Bruce Springsteen concert, so it was just the two of us. First we went to Linn, MO to see our good friends the Bakers, who were so nice to host us - Nate and Myra get along so well and had a great time playing.

On Saturday, we headed to Columbia for the Homecoming parade. What a perfect Mizzou day - the trees were gorgeous in their gold leaves and the sun felt so nice. Heidelberg for lunch, one of my favorite places on earth!

Reid, Myra & Nate on campus...


The trees made such a beautiful back drop. Nate of course is cheesing - he's into asking "Is this a good smile?" Uh, no, not really what I had in mind, but just glad he's not screaming.

Nate & Myra running on "free speech circle" - we reminisced about all the pontifications we heard on that spot in college.

It can't get any better that gold trees for the fighting Missouri Tigers

Can he get any cuter?? Nate on Lowry Mall with Memorial Union in the background. We got him a Truman the Tiger at the bookstore and he hasn't let it out of sight since.

Sadly, the Tigers are struggling right now, but hopefully the rest of the season will be less painful on the fans! Go Tigers!

Scott's Birthday

We celebrated Scott's 33rd birthday on Tuesday. Seems the years go by faster with every birthday. I make this cake once a year, that's all the extra calories we can handle! It is the Better than Almost Anything Cake and it is Scott's favorite. It is better than almost anything and Scott wishes I would only make half of it because you just can't let it go to waste.

Nate was really excited for it to be Scott's birthday and I normally don't put candles on the cake, but Nate wasn't having any of it. There were 5 candles. No significance to the number 5, just how many candles I could scrounge up around the house.

Happy Birthday Scotty! We love you - Ab & Nate

Enjoy the Ride

One day last week when we were coming home from school I was doing the typical Mom commentary...How was your day? What did you eat? What books did you read? Were all your friends there today? After Nate answered "Good" to the first question, he said in an ever-so-polite voice, "Mom, if you don't mind, I'd just like to enjoy the ride."

Okay sweet boy, I said, trying to ignore the fact that he might have just told me that he didn't want to talk to me. But he said it so politely, I laughed and moved on. And maybe I should learn a lesson from this little boy that I don't have to talk all the time, that sometimes it is good to be still and enjoy the ride. Lessons learned from a 3-year old, who is seriously too big in these pictures.

Boyle-Odom Fall Visit

Wow - a lot to catch up on - a few new posts below. September was very, very busy for us mostly due to travel for work & play. We are ready for some downtime in October - riiiiight, it is football season which = no downtime!

Mary, Amanda, Noah & Gavin came to visit us this weekend. We really enjoyed spending time with them and watching the cousins play.

Swinging at the park on Friday...

We went to Grant's Farm on Saturday - of course the first cold day of the year. Trying to get a picture of the 3 of them. They are all looking, well, sort of.

Gavin is a smilely baby - we so enjoy getting to know him as he grows.

My hair is a little wind blown in this picture but I couldn't resist posting this great picture of Gavin.

Part of the crew at the zoo on Sunday. The baby elephants were both out and about for us to see.

Noah has a great "shake your bootie" dance. Here he is bustin-a-move at the zoo.

Finally, a picnic after the zoo on Art Hill with the Peach family.

It is very difficult to get a picture with everyone looking at the camera now. I find that the pictures turn out better if I stand beside the person taking the picture and get the side view!

Thanks for coming to visit! We love you and miss you already!

Go Dawgs!

Despite Nate's best efforts with his 2-year old zebra costume and our Georgia Bulldog car flags, the Dawgs could not pull it out against LSU on Saturday...

Impromptu Zoo Visit

Most of our visits to the zoo are impromptu, but I'm always thankful when Nate wakes up from nap and we can decide to go to the zoo. He wanted to ride the carousel this time, he doesn't often want to ride it so I jumped on it.

We adopted the river otter this year and he was nice enough to entertain us personally.

It is hard to get a good picture of him, but I tried!

Lee's Visit

My aunt Lee had a meeting in St. Louis and stopped over to stay with us. We were so glad to have her as our guest and Nate loves spending time with her! Luckily, she was here for our last concert in the park, so we took a picnic and enjoyed dinner and music.

The ultimate...glad we are teaching him good relaxation skills...

Reading Salt & Soap, a book Lee brought back from the Grand Canyon for Nate. It is already a favorite!

We love you Lee!