Missouri Town

The kids went on a field trip to Missouri Town and got to take a step back in history to 1855. The got to see a Blacksmith, the stables, school house and many other buildings from that era. Of course the most fun they had was climbing a tree with all the other kids.

Day at the new Drumm House

Our friends the Drumm's built a new house and moved into Kansas this spring. The house was beautiful and it had lots of land for the kids to explore and play on. The kids had a great time playing together again--they always get along so well.

Kitty Love

Dominic is still in love with his "Sugar" kitty and carries him around a lot. He is not nearly as attached to his kitty as Isabella was to hers at his age...but then again he does have that little blue blankie he is super attached to to make up for it!

Fruity Girl

The kids had a blast today climbing on the giant fruit at Zona Rosa. Isabella was very proud of herself for finally being able to get up on that apple all by herself. Of course Dominic had to show her up by climbing up it all by himself too. He is quite the little climber.

Global Living Rosary

Here are some pictures from the prayer day at Kauffman Stadium. All the kids did really well, given that it was hot and they had to stay contained to a small area for three hours. It was a beautiful day and so awesome to see so many lifted in prayer.

Global Living Rosary

It was a great day of family, friends, song and prayer. So amazing to see so many people united for the love of Christ. I think over 25,000 attended!

Our short haired girls

Emma got her cut recently and now the little cousins both have shorter hair for summer. They both looked so cute today at the shower.

Andrea's wedding shower

Heather and I threw a wedding shower for Andrea. It was a lot of fun. We had a really cool game we came up with that was a version of Deal or No Deal. It was a lot of laughs and Andrea walked away with a good deal.

Turtle Mania Again

Our neighbor found a turtle in his yard and brought it over for the kids to play with for the day. This was really exciting for the kids. They had a grand time "taking care" of him and giving him grass to eat. But the turtle was pretty intent on being free so we let him go that night. These are the pictures of the kids letting him go. The turtle ran off in a hurry. Dominic chased him for awhile....he wasn't so happy losing his pet turtle.

Rainy day tent party

It was a very stormy, rainy day today and the kids and I celebrated with making a giant tent in the living room. We had story time and popcorn and the kids played with their toys under the giant canopy. They were a bit sad when I told them we needed the chairs for dinner and we had to take it down until the next rainy day.

All we need is a fishing pole

We took a little path in the woods and it led us to this great little fishing spot. To bad we didn't have a fishing pole. It made for some cute pictures anyway.

Little kids on the Prairie

The kids loved running in the tall grass and picking wild flowers. Dominic thought it was funny that when he fell down he disappeared from sight.

New gosslings

We got to go to the park today and feed the ducks and we were so surprised to see baby gosslings. We had a lot of fun until we were terribly outnumbered by geese and they started to seem angry that we were out of bread. So we retreated to the car until they backed off. Dominic was pretty fearless and got pecked in the tummy when he wouldn't let go of his handful of bread. He thought that was hilarious!

Wrestling an elephant

After our big hiking trip was almost over, Dominic spotted a wild elephant and was able to wrestle him to the ground. It was only a baby elephant but we thought it was pretty impressive for a 2 1/2 year old to take down something of that size.

In case you tried to call today.

Someone called today and I went to the phone base to pick up the call and this is what I found. I guess Dominic thought the pink phone needed a charge. Apparently it is compatible.

Gimme back them cupcakes matey!

This is what an average night is like at our house after dinner. We follow up pirate cupcakes with a round of sword fighting before we make the kids walk the plank into the bathtub! Everyone does that right? Arrrrr

Congratulations Adam!

Hard to believe that the little baby used to babysit is going off to college. We were able to attend his graduation reception this past weekend. My how life flies by!

Visit to Grandma & Papa's

Traci and Trista met us up at moms for the day and the kids got a chance to play together. Grandma gave them a special treat: an ice cream party, with full access to lots of sprinkles.

Beautiful Mother's Day

The kids and Michael helped me to have a wonderful Mother's Day. I didn't cook any meals or do any dishes. The kids showered me with creative pictures and a handmade bouquet of flowers. We finished our day with a picnic in the "big woods" behind our house. Here are some pictures from our picnic.

Lifting logs

The kids had a great time helping in the clean up effort. I sometimes caught Dominic trying to lift logs that were almost as big as he is! They were hard workers today.

Just like daddy

We have been working in the forest area behind our house to clear a space for the kids to play to have adventures. Isabella likes to call it the Big Woods and the Prairie, she has asked if we can have a little house in the area. (She really thinks she is Laura Ingels sometimes.) Michael borrowed a chainsaw from a friend and started cutting the fallen trees in smaller pieces as soon as Dominic saw the chainsaw in action he started screaming "mine, mine, mine" and took off running for the house he came back with the little chainsaw he got from Papa for Christmas and his orange sunglasses. He looks just like daddy now! It was pretty adorable...in a very manly way.

Creative writing

When I left the room both kids were quietly drawing pictures on paper. When I came back I found that Dominic had decided to be a bit more abstract in his work. If you can look closely you might be able to see that the marker actually went UP his nose.

Little babysitter

We got to babysit the neighbor's baby, Carson again. Isabella is quite the entertainer. She is going to make a great babysitter in about 7-8 years.

The fruits of his labor

Look at him go at it!

Can't get enough fire

We got to have a second bonfire at Grandma & Papa's. The kids were pros by now. However Isabella needed a bit of help getting her hotdog "in" the fire. Since she insisted that it was too hot near the fire and held her hotdog about 2 feet above the fire. Papa was happy to help.

First Fire of the Season

Beautiful spring weather is here and the days are getting long. We celebrated today by having our first bonfire in our back yard. The kids did a great job cooking on the fire. They needed a bit of help finishing the cooking but over all they did awesome.