Check out all the updates I have gotten done!!! They are backdated so scroll through to find the new ones!!
Thanks for reading,
Amy
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Where to Begin?!
I have been dreading updating my blog. So...I just didn't update it. How sad. There has been so much going on this summer and I really want to get it written down before I forget. Some advice I had gotten when starting scrap booking. "Don't go back and try and catch up. You will never catch up. Start from now and work forward and slowly work on the old stuff." So that's what I am going to do. Start over now and I will eventually at least get the big stuff written down for my records.
BIG STUFF going right now. Of course we are right in the thick of beginning of school, tractor shows, weather changes, and looking forward to the holidays. Oh, erase the last one, I don't even want to think about those yet. Then all the crazy everyday things, sickness, work, and life!
Most of you know, but we started a club. Every time I say that word it flashes back to when I was a kid "Do you wanta join my club?!" (annoying, bratty, sing-song voice) Well, we will let anyone and everyone in our club, the Kansas Tractor Club that is!! It's been fun but a lot of work getting something started like this. Maybe I will make a post all about THE CLUB :) some other time. But check out our web page. I'm really proud of all we have accomplished so far.
I started teaching Sunday School at our church in August. That's been keeping me busy. I'm teaching the preschool/kindergarten group. We have been averaging 10-12 kids each Sunday. It's been a challenge. You have one hour, once a week with a wide range of age in ability/attentiveness and keeping them engaged and wanting to learn versus playing, has been my struggle. I am almost ready to move or at least hide the toys in the room. Such a distraction. I want it to be fun but I want them to learn something too.
More church activities are beginning soon again as well. My UMW group just met last week again after having the summer off. I hosted 14 ladies at our house for our back together potluck and meeting. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed having everyone over. Plus, big kick in the pants to get the house cleaned! :) Mid-Week Manna starts in a couple weeks. I am looking forward to taking the Alpha class this year. And getting us back into our Wednesday church routine. Evan could start children's classes this year. But not sure if he is ready yet. We will see. Chris has his church obligations with Finance and Trustees every month. And then we signed up to chair our big fundraiser in March for the Spaghetti Feed. Lots of work but we enjoy our church and church family.
Check back and hopefully I will have some updates on the kids, Chris, our summer, tractors, and whatever else I can remember!!
Love, Amy
BIG STUFF going right now. Of course we are right in the thick of beginning of school, tractor shows, weather changes, and looking forward to the holidays. Oh, erase the last one, I don't even want to think about those yet. Then all the crazy everyday things, sickness, work, and life!
Most of you know, but we started a club. Every time I say that word it flashes back to when I was a kid "Do you wanta join my club?!" (annoying, bratty, sing-song voice) Well, we will let anyone and everyone in our club, the Kansas Tractor Club that is!! It's been fun but a lot of work getting something started like this. Maybe I will make a post all about THE CLUB :) some other time. But check out our web page. I'm really proud of all we have accomplished so far.
I started teaching Sunday School at our church in August. That's been keeping me busy. I'm teaching the preschool/kindergarten group. We have been averaging 10-12 kids each Sunday. It's been a challenge. You have one hour, once a week with a wide range of age in ability/attentiveness and keeping them engaged and wanting to learn versus playing, has been my struggle. I am almost ready to move or at least hide the toys in the room. Such a distraction. I want it to be fun but I want them to learn something too.
More church activities are beginning soon again as well. My UMW group just met last week again after having the summer off. I hosted 14 ladies at our house for our back together potluck and meeting. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed having everyone over. Plus, big kick in the pants to get the house cleaned! :) Mid-Week Manna starts in a couple weeks. I am looking forward to taking the Alpha class this year. And getting us back into our Wednesday church routine. Evan could start children's classes this year. But not sure if he is ready yet. We will see. Chris has his church obligations with Finance and Trustees every month. And then we signed up to chair our big fundraiser in March for the Spaghetti Feed. Lots of work but we enjoy our church and church family.
Check back and hopefully I will have some updates on the kids, Chris, our summer, tractors, and whatever else I can remember!!
Love, Amy
Friday, August 10, 2012
Vacation Part 3
Tuesday morning (7/31/12) we left South Carolina and headed north. We drove all day and stopped in Fredericksburg, VA. By now the kids are crazy hyper in the evening. Being cooped up in the car all day long and then stopping at night and being cooped up in a motel room where they can't run around and be noisy and crazy without driving someone insane. It had rained for most of the day and everything was a muddy mess or I would have taken them to a park and let them run. We tried the pool, but it was so full of chlorine, we couldn't stay but 20 minutes and then I had to run to Target to get medicine for the kids eyes. They were just miserable and burning from that awful pool.
Wednesday, we ended up splitting up with Chris' parents. Jane wanted to go to Delaware since we were so close and she hadn't been there yet. So they went there. We love going to Civil War battle sites and it kept us outside where the kids could run around and not bother anyone with their goofiness. We went and toured Sunken Road, a civil war battle site in Fredericksburg. Pretty neat but strange to know you we're standing in the same spot that so many men died at. The kids liked it. They have a neat Junior Ranger program at all the National Historical Sites. During our tour with the Park Ranger, Madi was able to learn something new and then go back to the front desk, tell them what she learned and she was able to collect cards (like playing cards) that had info on them about Sunken Road, Generals, etc. She was so excited, plus she paid attention better. Clever idea Mr. Park Rangers!
After Fredericksburg we drove over to Manassas, VA to another battle site. Very pretty area but we weren't able to stay too long. The heat and humidity were terrible and it almost made it unbearable to walk around for too long.
We left Manassas and headed for Alexandria, VA to meet back up with Chris' parents and have supper with his Aunt Linda. The original plan for the trip was to spend a couple days in D.C., but we knew we just didn't have enough time to get around to everything and would spend a majority of the day just trying to get to things. There are so many people, cars and craziness in that town. I was so glad Chris was with us to drive, it was madness trying to get just to Alexandria. D.C. would have been even worse! Plus the kids are too young to get anything out of the D.C. trip. That will be one of our destination vacations for the future. Spend a whole week touring D.C.
The next day (Thursday, 8/2/12) we went our separate ways again. Dan and Jane and Aunt Debbie went north to Pennsylvania to visit the area Dan grew up in and to stop at the cemetery and see the head stone for Tom and Betty. We continued on our battlefield tours. We went to the Antietam Battlefield. They had a nice driving tour and areas to get out and walk around. We climbed to the top of an old tower and could look for miles at the area. Madi was able to do another activity and earned her cards and this time she even got a Junior Ranger badge! So exciting!! After Antietam and getting lost and driving through the same town four times, we made our way to Harper's Ferry. Neat old town with a lot of historical buildings, re-enactors and another Junior Ranger Badge. She was hooked and loved doing the activities to get her badge. There is so much historically in this part of the US. You could easily spend weeks visiting all that is there. Definitely an area to go back to some day.
That evening we drove very late to try and get as close as we could to Lexington, KY. It was easier to drive late when the kids were tired and content to just sit and watch a movie. Then spend most of the day out and about. Finally figuring things out a week into the vacation :)
Friday (8/3/12) we drove the rest of the way to Lexington and spent some time at the Louisville Slugger Factory. They had a lot to see and a very nice factory tour. They even handed out little bats to everyone after the tour. Chris also got each of us a big bat with our names engraved on them. Madi picked out a pink bat, Evan a black one, and Chris got an original wood bat! Evan slept the entire factory tour, even though it was very noisy. Chris and I had to take turns caring him, he got very heavy. He woke up in time to pick up our souvenirs and take a picture with the big bat outside the factory before we hopped back in the car and spent the rest of the day driving to St. Louis.
We spent the night in St. Louis and then spent Saturday all day driving again. Since Chris flew to Atlanta, we had to make a large round about from Kansas City, down to Wichita and then finally home early evening on Saturday. But we were able to make a stop in Emporia and visit my grandparents at the cemetery. They were definitely guiding us to them. We haven't been back since Grandma's funeral 12 years ago and the cemetery had changed. Mom wanted to give up but we wouldn't let her, and we finally found them! I am so glad we stopped. We visited with Jason, Tabatha, and Jaxson for a bit and then we were ready to come home.
After such a long trip and lots of driving (11 days and over 3100 miles) we were ready to be home!! The kids did great overall, we were super excited that Chris was able to finish the vacation with us, we had a wonderful time spending time together, and I loved having my mom come with us!! Thank you for all your help Mom and hope you had as much fun as we did!
Love, Amy
Wednesday, we ended up splitting up with Chris' parents. Jane wanted to go to Delaware since we were so close and she hadn't been there yet. So they went there. We love going to Civil War battle sites and it kept us outside where the kids could run around and not bother anyone with their goofiness. We went and toured Sunken Road, a civil war battle site in Fredericksburg. Pretty neat but strange to know you we're standing in the same spot that so many men died at. The kids liked it. They have a neat Junior Ranger program at all the National Historical Sites. During our tour with the Park Ranger, Madi was able to learn something new and then go back to the front desk, tell them what she learned and she was able to collect cards (like playing cards) that had info on them about Sunken Road, Generals, etc. She was so excited, plus she paid attention better. Clever idea Mr. Park Rangers!
After Fredericksburg we drove over to Manassas, VA to another battle site. Very pretty area but we weren't able to stay too long. The heat and humidity were terrible and it almost made it unbearable to walk around for too long.
We left Manassas and headed for Alexandria, VA to meet back up with Chris' parents and have supper with his Aunt Linda. The original plan for the trip was to spend a couple days in D.C., but we knew we just didn't have enough time to get around to everything and would spend a majority of the day just trying to get to things. There are so many people, cars and craziness in that town. I was so glad Chris was with us to drive, it was madness trying to get just to Alexandria. D.C. would have been even worse! Plus the kids are too young to get anything out of the D.C. trip. That will be one of our destination vacations for the future. Spend a whole week touring D.C.
The next day (Thursday, 8/2/12) we went our separate ways again. Dan and Jane and Aunt Debbie went north to Pennsylvania to visit the area Dan grew up in and to stop at the cemetery and see the head stone for Tom and Betty. We continued on our battlefield tours. We went to the Antietam Battlefield. They had a nice driving tour and areas to get out and walk around. We climbed to the top of an old tower and could look for miles at the area. Madi was able to do another activity and earned her cards and this time she even got a Junior Ranger badge! So exciting!! After Antietam and getting lost and driving through the same town four times, we made our way to Harper's Ferry. Neat old town with a lot of historical buildings, re-enactors and another Junior Ranger Badge. She was hooked and loved doing the activities to get her badge. There is so much historically in this part of the US. You could easily spend weeks visiting all that is there. Definitely an area to go back to some day.
That evening we drove very late to try and get as close as we could to Lexington, KY. It was easier to drive late when the kids were tired and content to just sit and watch a movie. Then spend most of the day out and about. Finally figuring things out a week into the vacation :)
Friday (8/3/12) we drove the rest of the way to Lexington and spent some time at the Louisville Slugger Factory. They had a lot to see and a very nice factory tour. They even handed out little bats to everyone after the tour. Chris also got each of us a big bat with our names engraved on them. Madi picked out a pink bat, Evan a black one, and Chris got an original wood bat! Evan slept the entire factory tour, even though it was very noisy. Chris and I had to take turns caring him, he got very heavy. He woke up in time to pick up our souvenirs and take a picture with the big bat outside the factory before we hopped back in the car and spent the rest of the day driving to St. Louis.
We spent the night in St. Louis and then spent Saturday all day driving again. Since Chris flew to Atlanta, we had to make a large round about from Kansas City, down to Wichita and then finally home early evening on Saturday. But we were able to make a stop in Emporia and visit my grandparents at the cemetery. They were definitely guiding us to them. We haven't been back since Grandma's funeral 12 years ago and the cemetery had changed. Mom wanted to give up but we wouldn't let her, and we finally found them! I am so glad we stopped. We visited with Jason, Tabatha, and Jaxson for a bit and then we were ready to come home.
After such a long trip and lots of driving (11 days and over 3100 miles) we were ready to be home!! The kids did great overall, we were super excited that Chris was able to finish the vacation with us, we had a wonderful time spending time together, and I loved having my mom come with us!! Thank you for all your help Mom and hope you had as much fun as we did!
Love, Amy
Vacation Part 2
After the wedding we went to South Carolina and spent Sunday night, Monday, and left Tuesday morning.
Monday morning ( 7/30/12) Aunt Beth took us to Hollywild Animal Park. It's a small, local zoo but nothing like I have ever been too. When you walk in you buy bags of grain and crackers and there are all sorts of animals running free throughout the park and all most all the penned animals can be fed. The other unique thing about the park is that all the animals are stars! They are animals that have been in movies, commercials, or ads. The horse and the monkey from the movie Pippi Longstocking are there. The lions that Disney based their drawings for the Lion King movies are there. Pretty neat!
Once we walked through the whole park, they then took us on old buses with all the windows removed for a safari ride. Again, you buy big bags of day old bread and bagels and you can feed the animals that walk right up to the side of the bus. They had emus, deer, cattle, all sorts of free ranging animals. They even had a baby bison that was less than a week old! It was so much fun feeding them and the kids had an absolute blast. Again making memories, loved it!!
Thanks so much for having us Aunt Beth and Uncle Walt, we had such a wonderful time at your place! And we will definitely be back. The rest of our vacation was a lot of driving and we learned that driving vacations with young kids just don't work. They had more fun and were better behaved and less fussy when we stayed in one spot and did small outings. Destination vacations are the only way to go from now on! I better get it in writing and remember to read this next time when planning a vacation...
Monday morning ( 7/30/12) Aunt Beth took us to Hollywild Animal Park. It's a small, local zoo but nothing like I have ever been too. When you walk in you buy bags of grain and crackers and there are all sorts of animals running free throughout the park and all most all the penned animals can be fed. The other unique thing about the park is that all the animals are stars! They are animals that have been in movies, commercials, or ads. The horse and the monkey from the movie Pippi Longstocking are there. The lions that Disney based their drawings for the Lion King movies are there. Pretty neat!
Once we walked through the whole park, they then took us on old buses with all the windows removed for a safari ride. Again, you buy big bags of day old bread and bagels and you can feed the animals that walk right up to the side of the bus. They had emus, deer, cattle, all sorts of free ranging animals. They even had a baby bison that was less than a week old! It was so much fun feeding them and the kids had an absolute blast. Again making memories, loved it!!
Thanks so much for having us Aunt Beth and Uncle Walt, we had such a wonderful time at your place! And we will definitely be back. The rest of our vacation was a lot of driving and we learned that driving vacations with young kids just don't work. They had more fun and were better behaved and less fussy when we stayed in one spot and did small outings. Destination vacations are the only way to go from now on! I better get it in writing and remember to read this next time when planning a vacation...
Atlanta
We had such a wonderful time on vacation this year! The kids and I and my mom followed Dan and Jane and Jane's sister, Debbie and we left Wednesday morning and drove all day to Clarksville, TN, just outside of Nashville. The kids did a wonderful job traveling! The next day we made it to Atlanta and headed straight for the pool. It was so fun just hanging out at the motel and visiting family.
Friday we went to the Georgia Aquarium. What an amazing place! But the crowds! It was insane with all the people every where. Chris' Uncle Tom and Aunt Kathy and their kids were only 10 minutes behind us getting in line to get in, and they ended up having to wait over an hour outside because they stopped letting people in the building, it was so full. At times it was hard to see the tanks and animals, you just couldn't get close enough. But we lucked out after eating lunch. We ate in an overflow/conference room area and the room had two large windows to the Beluga Whale tank and the Whale Shark tank. It was AWESOME! The kids could have stayed there all day. They were able to get right up to the tank without a crowd. We stayed well over an hour just at those two tanks. Check out the video of the kids with the belugas! They found a new favorite animal that day. Love making memories!
Friday we went to the Georgia Aquarium. What an amazing place! But the crowds! It was insane with all the people every where. Chris' Uncle Tom and Aunt Kathy and their kids were only 10 minutes behind us getting in line to get in, and they ended up having to wait over an hour outside because they stopped letting people in the building, it was so full. At times it was hard to see the tanks and animals, you just couldn't get close enough. But we lucked out after eating lunch. We ate in an overflow/conference room area and the room had two large windows to the Beluga Whale tank and the Whale Shark tank. It was AWESOME! The kids could have stayed there all day. They were able to get right up to the tank without a crowd. We stayed well over an hour just at those two tanks. Check out the video of the kids with the belugas! They found a new favorite animal that day. Love making memories!
Friday night we ordered in pizza at the hotel and then the kids broke into groups, 4 girls and 3 boys, and we had a treasure hunt. I hope the kids had as much fun with it as I did! They had a picture treasure hunt where they had to do certain things and take a picture of it. And the second part was collecting items. I included the pics they took!
Chris did it again, he pulled one over on me and I had no idea! Everyone else did, but I had no clue! He has been incredibly busy this summer and had a job getting close to finishing up and inspections the week we left. He said there was no way he was able to leave and go with us. But I should have known. About 10:30 Friday night, he comes walking in to the hotel!! He made his first airplane ride to come down to Atlanta for the weekend to be at his cousin Tommy's wedding. Wonderful surprise! He was supposed to be on a flight back to Wichita Sunday afternoon, but once he was there, he just couldn't leave us. He worked it out with his guys and finished our vacation with us!
Saturday was the wedding. Fun wedding, with a gorgeous bride and handsome groom. I am so glad we got to share their special day. Welcome to the family Katie! Looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.
Sunday we left Atlanta and headed to South Carolina to spend a couple days at Aunt Beth and Uncle Walt's house...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Vacation
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we leave for VACATION!! We are headed to Atlanta, GA first for Chris' cousin Tommy's wedding. Sunday we leave there and head toward Washington DC. Spend a couple days in that area and then start making our way back towards Kansas. Unfortuntely, Chris isn't going to be able to make the trip. He is so crazy busy with work and has a job that is supposed to be finishing this week with inspections next week. So, my mom is going to go with us (YAY!) and we will follow Chris' parents. It will be a great time and we will have lots of pictures and stories to share when we get back. I also have lots of stuff to update from earlier in the month as well.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Independence Day
July 3rd we had our annual Fourth of July party at our house. Every year our party is growing and this year was no different. Because we were also celebrating Helm Electric's 10th Anniversary, we had lots and lots of people out this year, over 200!!! Big party, but so much fun. We also enjoyed having so many of our out of town/state family join us this year. I hope you can all join us again next year.
We had all the food setup in the shed this year. Huge difference not having that many people in the house! Much cleaner and more enjoyable to go inside after everyone had left. And I don't think anyone minded having the food sitting out. Must not, it was almost all gone this year!!
After eating, we had Helm Electric trivia and handed out gift cards to Jim's Chicken. That was fun, but some of the questions were a little hard, even for me.
Along with the food and trivia, we also had our hay rack ride going. The trailer was never empty. Actually, I don't know how they managed to get the amount of people on the trailer that they did, it looked pretty amazing seeing all those people up there and having fun. We also made a barrel train for the little kids this year. Also a big hit and a lot of fun. And then the toys, bikes, horseshoes, ladder ball, and just sitting around and visiting, and t-shirts, can't forget the t-shirts (I have a ton left over, please let me know if you would like more). Another successful year. The big hit of the night, of course, the fireworks!!! The guys did an amazing job putting on a spectacular show!
Thanks to everyone who joined us and celebrated Helm Electric's 10th year in business and also celebrating our wonderful freedom. With out the sacrifices of our soldiers, their families, and our forefathers, none of this would even be possible. THANK YOU!!
Love, Amy
Thursday, June 7, 2012
HARVEST TIME
Wheat harvest was early this year by at least a couple of weeks, maybe more. Seems last year they cut just the week before our 4th of July party. So it may have even been a whole month early. Obviously, I am not a farmer and don't have all the crop knowledge. But I LOVE seeing the combines in the fields. It is so cool to watch. And even more fun this year with Evan so enthralled by all the big machines. He also LOVE'S it! So last week, we were all super excited when we came home one evening and saw the combines in the field across the road from us. The kids were so excited, they ran to get their lawn chairs and sat at the edge of our yard, waiting for the big combine to cut right in front of them!! Who knew wheat harvest was now a spectator sport?! It was so funny sitting on our porch seeing them sitting way up there, waiting. Too funny!
Unfortunately, they had just enough daylight to cut a little section right off the intersection up the road from us. So they didn't get to see the big combine up close before having to come in for bed. :(
But they made the best of it and played patty cake games and sang to each other!
I love that they can play together. Sometimes nicely and sweet, makes up for the fighting times :)
The next morning we were able to make it outside to watch them up close. Made it a little harder to see since they were looking into the sun at them. But they were so excited!! Evan kept asking when they were going to come into our yard and cut our wheat (grass). Such a cute little guy!
Harvest is almost done. At least the fields in our immediate area have almost all been cut. If we want to see combines, we are going to have to travel to seek them out instead of just seeing them on our route to going somewhere. Too bad. I would love to get Evan into one next year. That would be so COOL!!
I hope harvest was a success for all the farmers out there. Still praying for rain. Our attempt at growing crops isn't going so well without the rain again. Our corn is pretty sparse. Luckily, our livelihood doesn't depend on it. I couldn't imagine the stress on farmers if they had to look at our crops, YIKES. So far the other corn fields around us look better than ours. But I am sure rain would be welcomed by all.
Happy Harvest,
Amy
I hope harvest was a success for all the farmers out there. Still praying for rain. Our attempt at growing crops isn't going so well without the rain again. Our corn is pretty sparse. Luckily, our livelihood doesn't depend on it. I couldn't imagine the stress on farmers if they had to look at our crops, YIKES. So far the other corn fields around us look better than ours. But I am sure rain would be welcomed by all.
Happy Harvest,
Amy
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
6 Years Old
I remember everything from my doctor's appointments, bed rest, labor, the weekend spent in the hospital with our new baby girl, to those first couple of days/weeks at home like it was yesterday. How could that possibly have been 6 years ago? Why does it all have to go so fast?
Madi has begun a new independence streak. Made me sad the other day when she didn't want to hold my hand while walking to the store from the car. "Mom, I am a big girl, I don't need to hold your hand." Stab to the heart :( "I know you don't NEED to hold my hand, but I like to hold your hand because I love you!" "Okay, I love you too."
She loves riding her bike, painting, helping Daddy, making crafts with Mommy, teasing Grandpap about her flip flops :), swimming or anything with water, gymnastics, going to lunch with Nana, and looking forward to first grade. The list could go on forever. Of course she also likes terrorizing her brother. But I guess what sibling doesn't. She really does enjoy playing with him and teaching him and helping him do things. But she can get a little bossy and overbearing and then they start to fuss with each other. Evan used to just do whatever she said but now he has his own stubborn streak and way to do things and enjoys pushing buttons.
We had a fun day celebrating her birthday. First thing in the morning she wanted to open her presents. Daddy picked out new boots, socks, jeans, and a sleeveless rodeo shirt. And a horse stamp set from Evan. Daddy did pretty good for someone who never buys the kids clothing. We then watched a morning movie and then headed to the zoo for lunch and a couple hours walking around. As soon as we got to the zoo, it sprinkled on us the whole time. Which was okay, I have been begging for rain for weeks. I would gladly have sacrificed being outside in a downpour if we could have gotten some rain. So we kept going and didn't worry about the drizzle. But then it kept getting a little harder and the kids were getting a little whiny-er (I'm sure that's not a word, but they were) So we walked up to the museum and went through it. Came home and not 15 minutes later, the sun came out and we didn't get any real measurable rain. Bummer, should have stayed at the zoo. That evening we went to Hong Kong for supper with Chris' family. Came home and had cake. Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpap came out and picked her up and took her shopping for her birthday gifts. She came home with a whole bunch of stuff and she was one happy girl.
Because her birthday fell on a holiday weekend and so much other things going on, I didn't get a party organized on her birthday weekend. So this last Friday, June 1st, we had a sleepover party with two cousins and a friend. She was so excited. All week she asked "Is today my sleepover?!" And everyday she would get bummed because she had to wait more days. I think this party was by far the best, I even had fun, Chris even had fun! The girls all arrived by 5:30. We had hamburgers and hotdogs for supper. The kids ran around and played, collected bugs, just had a fun time together. Chris got the bb gun out, they played some basketball, we took a tractor ride and picked mulberry's, they stood in the wheat field so I could take their pictures, played some more and then we started the fire. We made smore's and ate lots of marshmallows. Then we dragged out every blanket and pillow we owned and piled it all onto the trailer and had our own drive-in movie. It was pretty cold but with the fire and the blankets, it was a wonderful time. They all had so much fun!! Chris and I had so much fun!! After the movie we all came in and within 10 minutes almost everyone was out (helped that it was well after 11:00). Madi is the exception. She loves having sleepovers but she is the worst one getting settled down and asleep. I thought for sure they would all sleep in. NOPE! 7:00am they were up and going. We made breakfast and they played for awhile, took another tractor ride and then we packed up all their stuff and headed into town. Our last birthday activity was a trip to On the Pot. Madi loves going there, she loves painting. The girls all picked out a piece to make for their Dad's for Father's Day and we spent the next two hours painting. Parents picked up their kids at OTP and I was ready to head home for a nap. Fun time but exhausting!
Here's her birthday pictures, enjoy!!
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Love, Mommy
Madi has begun a new independence streak. Made me sad the other day when she didn't want to hold my hand while walking to the store from the car. "Mom, I am a big girl, I don't need to hold your hand." Stab to the heart :( "I know you don't NEED to hold my hand, but I like to hold your hand because I love you!" "Okay, I love you too."
She loves riding her bike, painting, helping Daddy, making crafts with Mommy, teasing Grandpap about her flip flops :), swimming or anything with water, gymnastics, going to lunch with Nana, and looking forward to first grade. The list could go on forever. Of course she also likes terrorizing her brother. But I guess what sibling doesn't. She really does enjoy playing with him and teaching him and helping him do things. But she can get a little bossy and overbearing and then they start to fuss with each other. Evan used to just do whatever she said but now he has his own stubborn streak and way to do things and enjoys pushing buttons.
We had a fun day celebrating her birthday. First thing in the morning she wanted to open her presents. Daddy picked out new boots, socks, jeans, and a sleeveless rodeo shirt. And a horse stamp set from Evan. Daddy did pretty good for someone who never buys the kids clothing. We then watched a morning movie and then headed to the zoo for lunch and a couple hours walking around. As soon as we got to the zoo, it sprinkled on us the whole time. Which was okay, I have been begging for rain for weeks. I would gladly have sacrificed being outside in a downpour if we could have gotten some rain. So we kept going and didn't worry about the drizzle. But then it kept getting a little harder and the kids were getting a little whiny-er (I'm sure that's not a word, but they were) So we walked up to the museum and went through it. Came home and not 15 minutes later, the sun came out and we didn't get any real measurable rain. Bummer, should have stayed at the zoo. That evening we went to Hong Kong for supper with Chris' family. Came home and had cake. Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpap came out and picked her up and took her shopping for her birthday gifts. She came home with a whole bunch of stuff and she was one happy girl.
Because her birthday fell on a holiday weekend and so much other things going on, I didn't get a party organized on her birthday weekend. So this last Friday, June 1st, we had a sleepover party with two cousins and a friend. She was so excited. All week she asked "Is today my sleepover?!" And everyday she would get bummed because she had to wait more days. I think this party was by far the best, I even had fun, Chris even had fun! The girls all arrived by 5:30. We had hamburgers and hotdogs for supper. The kids ran around and played, collected bugs, just had a fun time together. Chris got the bb gun out, they played some basketball, we took a tractor ride and picked mulberry's, they stood in the wheat field so I could take their pictures, played some more and then we started the fire. We made smore's and ate lots of marshmallows. Then we dragged out every blanket and pillow we owned and piled it all onto the trailer and had our own drive-in movie. It was pretty cold but with the fire and the blankets, it was a wonderful time. They all had so much fun!! Chris and I had so much fun!! After the movie we all came in and within 10 minutes almost everyone was out (helped that it was well after 11:00). Madi is the exception. She loves having sleepovers but she is the worst one getting settled down and asleep. I thought for sure they would all sleep in. NOPE! 7:00am they were up and going. We made breakfast and they played for awhile, took another tractor ride and then we packed up all their stuff and headed into town. Our last birthday activity was a trip to On the Pot. Madi loves going there, she loves painting. The girls all picked out a piece to make for their Dad's for Father's Day and we spent the next two hours painting. Parents picked up their kids at OTP and I was ready to head home for a nap. Fun time but exhausting!
Here's her birthday pictures, enjoy!!
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Love, Mommy
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Family Photos 2012
We got our family pictures back, YAY!! They turned out great and can't wait to get some printed and update my walls! Thanks Tony, great work!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)