Lake Of The Ozarks 2014

In early July, we escaped to Lake Of The Ozarks, Missouri for a few days of fun in the sun.  We met up with Allison and Tracy’s families for our biennial gathering.  We were able to celebrate Jess and Riley’s birthdays…only one day apart!

Gabby painted lots of nails…and not just girls got the royal treatment!  Actually, Brody still has black toe nail polish on my toe.

We took on a few go-cart tracks.

 

And enjoyed lots of baby snuggles with Caleb

We now must start planning for 2016…

Best pals

They call each other Co and Bro!  They are off to Kindergarten in less than a month.  They share a love for Legos and the great outdoors.

Riley and Eli.  They act like brothers and really do have the best time together.  They do have to reminded about a major rule more often than the others: do not touch each other!  What one doesn't think of, the other does.

Harper and Crewe.  These two could easily wear you out. As the middle children, they have joined their dad's and I in our exclusive middle sibling club.  They will appreciate the support in the years to come.

Sir Grant.  You can hold him as long as he does not see his mama.  If she is in view, then she is all he wants.  I think he is quite possibly going to be the tallest out of the whole gang.  

And then there is sweet Baby Adalynn.  She will grow up in the blink of an eye and will be right in on the action before we are all ready for it.  

FOUR

Our favorite matey, Riley, turned FOUR today!  He still let me rock him this morning for awhile as he woke up, so all is well in my world.  And now, me friends, this pirate better rest up for another full day tomorrow.  

The Fourth of July

2014 Father’s Day

 

Father’s Day Weekend was a busy one for us.  The boys and I went to see Cinderella at The Little Theater On The Square with Aunt Katy and Eli.  Kurt picked us up from the theater and we took off on an adventure.  First stop, Beachy’s in Arthur.  Always a hit with the boys because of all the toys the store has to offer and all the horses they get to see on the roads.  From there, we headed north towards Kankakee.  We found a Children’s Museum for them to explore and it just so happens that we were there on a day when it was not busy.  They were quite thrilled that they didn’t have to wait in line nor did they get trampled by bigger kids.  We finished off our day with a little eating, shopping and swimming.  Hotel stays are just exciting stuff to our kids so that in itself was a treat! 

The next day, we headed to Fair Oaks, Indiana to visit the Fair Oaks Dairy.  Fair Oaks sits on 19,000 acres and they milk 2800 cows continuously through the day.  Our animal lover, Brody, was disappointed that he didn’t get to feed a calf or milk a cow.  Our non-animal lover, Riley, was thrilled that we only got to see the cows through the bus window or behind glass in the parlor viewing room!  They had lots of outside activities for the boys, plus a birthing center.  We actually watched two calves being birthed.  The birthing center was quite the set up… the cows were behind glass, and we were sitting in stadium seating for optimal viewing.  After the fact, maybe it wasn’t such a wise move to let our kids watch the birth of these calves?  It has definitely sparked some interesting conversations! 

The drive home was a quiet one after all the excitement of the weekend.

Work Day

After some poor planning on my part, the boys had to come work with me part of the day in early June.  They didn’t complain. We had entertainment in the form of a cement truck, lots of exploring and little movie/work time at Grampy’s desk.  By noon, my assistants were done.  So off to Lake Shelbyville we went for a picnic and some exploring.  If given the opportunity, they would do this daily!  

40

Uncle Chris turned 40 a couple weeks ago.  It took lots of sugar: homemade ice cream, homemade donuts, texas sheet cake, dirt dessert, and sugar cookies to be exact, to celebrate!  We also needed lots of black candles.  So many candles, Eli needed sunglasses!!

Seven of the eight sat down together.  After a quick coral of the missing kid, we were able to snap a picture of all EIGHT!  Brody is often found sitting in that spot at Grammy’s with the baby on his lap.  A baby hog is what he is!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

It’s T-Ball Season!! 

No Training Wheels

Lazy Summer Nights…

Just lounging on the trampoline watching the clouds float by…that’s what summer evenings are all about! 

First Race

The boys, Eli, Grammy and I participated in the local 1 mile Fun Run a couple weeks ago. 

Prior to the race starting, my little running crew looked good.

Eli and Brody were ready to run.  Riley did not have any desire to run.  We left a disgruntled Riley in the dust with Grammy, who ended up carrying him a 1/4 of a mile to Merna’s because he was ticked off that we left him behind.  Eli ran/walked 3/4 of a mile before I hoisted him up on my back and ran him the last 1/4.  Brody ran/walked the whole race.  Anna came back and ran the last 1/4 of mile with Brody.  She had already ran the mile in 8 minutes.  Anna ran across the finish line for the second time with Brody at about 17 minutes. Maybe next year, they will be ready to run the 5K with Katy and I or maybe not...

Memorial Day Weekend

The boys and I decided to make Memorial Day Weekend a work and play weekend.  We did lots of yard work and household chores, but we mixed in plenty of fun too.  It made me think every weekend should be 3 days long!

Wiener Roast at the Jones’ Play time and lunch at the park after church. 

And then some tractor time with their dad! 

The weekend wore us all out and each night when we crawled into bed, we knew we had used almost every minute of the day to it’s fullest!

End of 2014 School Year

May 23rd marked the last day of Pre-School for Brody.  We rode our bikes to school to celebrate.  He had officially graduated a couple days before, but this very last day of school was a fun filled Field Day.  He got to stay all day and came home with a bundle of ribbons and lots of fun stories.  Onto Kindergarten…Riley’s last day of school was My 27th.  He refused all pictures and made it only half way to school on his bike.  By the end of the school year he still had days where he was extremely clingy and would occasionally cry when I dropped him off and then other days, he would give me a hug…or ten…and then go about his business. 

Side Note: Over the weekend, he ditched the training wheels!!

Gone Fishing.

Typical fishermen...their stories grew each time they told them.  They did both catch fish and they did both have fun.  Thanks to Kurt's grandparents for hosting us at the campground.

Mother’s Day

the goofy kiddos who made me a mama.

We celebrated the day with church, lunch with our special guest, Adalynn, and a wiener roast at my grandparents that included rides in the little car, which we drove as little girls up and down the runway and lane as often as we could!  We snuck in a little front porch swinging too.

Celebrating the Removal of the Cast!

B’s only request after his cast was removed was to go to the hospital to hold Adalynn.  Wish granted! He is now an old pro at holding her.