Like Father Like Son

I love to see my hubby with the kids! He's extremely patient, loving, proud, and just so darn adorable to watch play with them. I fall more and more in love with every interaction. OK, okay- enough of the mushy stuff... but anyway.

Thursday night Eric came home and decided to mow the yard. Maddox loves to be with his dad, especially when they are going to be outside. It's only a matter of time before he can do all the outdoor chores himself!

helping fill our sink hole... notice his shorts, he had on some jean shorts but wanted to change his shorts to be like his dad

helping push mow. His cousins gave him this play mower when he was 2. Every time Eric pushes the yard, he's right behind him, pushing his.
Maddox uses this as his riding mower. For the last 2 years he has followed his dad and grandpa whenever they are riding the yard. It looks like he might be training the next generation. I love seeing my 2 boys playing together. (Linc is on there- he does seem to be blending into the rocks though)

and I know you wondered how our kitties were doing. We made them a little "temporary" fence around our swing set to keep them safe from the wildlife. However, they have learned to climb out of their safety net. Here they are sitting on the top watching everything going on. Luckily, they seem to be able to climb back in, so no more worrying from me!

Parade Time

I remember as a little girl loving our annual Wellsville Day's! There was a parade, and rides, and always fun to be had with my friends. As I got older, the town did away with the rides, but it was still a weekend of fun enjoying the outdoors, and everyone in town being in one spot. I can already sense that "fun" in my kids as we went to the annual CPA Picnic in Eudora. A fancy word for the town carnival. We made it our 2nd annual trip with the Shuler family- who happen to be Eric's best friend, wife, and daughter Blayne.

Waiting for the parade to start. In the back you can see Chasity (in yellow) Brook (in orange) in the front is Blayne (in pink) Maddox's head, Maci, and Lincoln. You can tell the success of a parade when there is candy left on the ground after all the kids have taken their share and chose to leave it behind. Each of our kids left with a quart size freezer bag overflowing with candy. Like I said- there was probably another bag full of candy that was left on the street. We had plenty of sugar to get us thru the night.

The rides of course are a big hit. As I've mentioned before, Maci loves the big rides and got her share, but she even enjoyed the little rides with the little ones. This was Lincoln's first ride- the boats with Blayne, Maci and Maddox. From the looks of these rides, I think they were probably the same ones we rode when we were this age!

We also met up with my best friend Beth and her family. Here's Oliver tickling Lincoln in their strollers. These two did so good just sitting in their strollers enjoying the surroundings.
And you can't end the night without the street dance. Here's Blayne and Linc dancing the night away. I wish I had a picture of Maddox. He told us he found a girlfriend, and was later walking around the dance floor holding her hand. Maci being the shy one decided to sit the dance out. The girl loves to dance but if anyone is watching then she won't show her talents.

We had a great night and will be looking forward to Wellsville Days now.

We Caved!

Several weeks ago we went to the Farmers Market in Lawrence and a couple were giving away kittens. Maci and Maddox fell in love immediately and of course started asking for one. As we walked around the market, we discussed the idea of having a kitty. We do live in the country, have a ton of room, lots of rodents, and no animals. However, we do live in the country, have lots of wildlife, and the winters are cold and the summers are hot. (Sorry no though of having an indoor pet! Eric won't even consider that option!) So on our way back we arrived just in time to watch the 2 last kitties taken by their new owners. I'm sure you can guess how upset our kids were. I myself knew exactly how hard it was to want a pet and walk away with out one. I always had a dog growing up, but I felt the need to have ALL OF THE DOGS and cats out there that needed a home. Anyway- daddy's little girl won him over, and we left with him agreeing to find her a kitty.

Daily Maci has asked us, "when are we going to get our pet?" so I finally decided to find her a kitten. I found out that a friend of mine (Brandy) had a kitty factory. She said they had several litters and I was welcome to come get what we wanted.

We picked Saturday as the day we would go get our cats and our kids could hardly sleep. They were so excited. Maddox ran in first thing in the morning to give me a hug and said "I'm so escited (his wording not my bad spelling) to get my kitty! and later said "my heart is so happy because of my kitty" How do you turn that down???

I think Eric had been talked into 2 kittens by the kids, but in my mind, we needed 3. 3 kids needs 3 kittens right? Well I'll let you guess who one that battle. Okay, Okay... it wasn't even a battle. We went, we each picked out one (it's to hard to give up the control) and we walked to the car with 3. Easy as that.
Here's Lincoln in the kitty pool with the kittens. We put them in here until we got their "new home" ready and Lincoln plopped right down with them. I think he enjoyed the little kitty toys more then they did.

This black one is Maddox's cat. His name is Maddox. Maddox chose it himself- I'm so amazed by his creativity. It's funny to hear him saying "no, no, Maddox!"

This black and white kitty is Maci's. She named him "Payton." Her list of names was Beautiful, Climber, Fluffy, so we were so proud when she actually gave it a "real" name.

And this beautiful kitty is Abraham. Abe is Lincoln's cat. I hate to admit it but he's my favorite. He's very calm and quite. Just the way I prefer my kids-ha!

Thanks Brandy for the new kittens. We promise we will take good care of them!

With their help

My kids love to help out around the house. If it's cleaning, cooking, or whatever, they are right there and ready to assist. Today I decided I was going to take advantage of their help. I wanted to make dinner and homemade ice-cream and new that they could take care of both of those for me.

We started off with the ice-cream. They loved taking turns putting in the ingredients and stirring it for me.

Notice Maci's "Dancing with the Stars" dress. Mimi gave that to her for her birthday and I think she has worn it everyday since! If you see it in every picture it's because he wears it CONSTANTLY! Don't worry- it stays clean. She wears it in the house only. And we wash it about 3 times a week!
Maddox loved the "man's job" of ice cream making. He loved putting the ice and salt in for me. I didn't have to think about it once, he was always there watching it for me.

When Maddox moved on to watch the ice and salt, Maci started dinner for me. We were making meatballs and I hate to smash it all up. The slimy meat and the ketchup all between my fingers. But my hubby loves them, so I do it! (lol) But now I have someone else who actually loves it. Maci loves to cook, and was so serious about following the recipe and doing everything just right.

Our finished product of yummy yummy ice cream!

Maddox is a big help

I was putting the babies to bed today and I asked Maddox to go get their sippy cups and put them in the kitchen for me. I told him they were on the back steps. He came up really sad because he said "I just can't find them ANYWHERE!" After getting him settled in for rest time I went to the steps and this is what I found!

Wordless Wednesday (brotherly love)

Toot my own horn

I'm so proud of my productive self lately- that I have to show you what I've accomplished. Okay, okay, I've accomplished more then this lately, but these are some of my favorites. I'm a dreamer and could spend spend spend, but then another part of me is a tight-wad!

I love to paint the rooms, but when you use a $10 can of paint, it costs a lot more to get everything else in order. Take my family room below. My family room and kitchen area are open to each other. My kitchen was red and my family room tan. However I decided to paint the whole area a blue. My accents and chair were all red, so it was time to replace. Instead of buying new candles I decided to just use my paint and paint them. What's amazing is you can't even tell. Now I have candles that match exactly my wall color! No I won't burn them so it's not a problem.

And below is my next masterpiece. Maci's room is pink with zebra accents. I haven't felt like it is complete and have been looking for something more for it. I thought it needed more zebra in it. So I decided to do it myself. I had a big canvas that wasn't used for anything so I put some zebra fabric and pink ribbon on it and now have it set. For $4.00 I made a nice big piece of wall art to cover up part of her wall, and give her something to put all her pictures and notes she seems to find.

Worlds of Fun

Eric and I were planning a mini vacation for the family for this coming weekend. We tried to decide where to go- Omaha, Branson, St. Louis??? Then we decided to just stay home. Do a staycation of sorts and do a lot of the area stuff with the kids instead. However the staycation started today and guess who's out having fun, and guess who's home running errands with 4 boys???



After visiting the carnival last week Eric decided he was ready to take his girl to Worlds of Fun and enjoy the rides. You see, I'm the type of person that doesn't like rides. I like to keep my feet firmly on the ground! No heights, no speed, and as Eric says, "NO FUN!" The last time I went to Worlds of Fun was my first year of teaching when we took the 6th grade class there as a field trip. If that won't ruin Worlds of Fun for you, I'm not sure what would. Being in charge of 135 6th graders and making sure everyone makes it home. Anyway- I let Eric go with us on that trip as a chaperon, and he got to ride all the rides with the autistic kid in my class. They were best buds by the end of the day! But anyway... he was thrilled to have another rider in the family!

They left bright and early to get some breakfast and be there when the park opened- and she was thrilled. I didn't see them until 12 hours later, when they were soaked to the core. Even their underware was drenched! (sounds fun doesn't it?) But the rain didn't get them to leave. They enjoyed the empty park and being the first in line.
Maci was so excited to show me the map when they did get home. She walked me thru their whole day, step by step. Nothing was too much for her. They rode the Prowler 3 times, the Boomerang 5 times, the Timberwolf, and the Mamba 6 times. Nothing was scary to this little girl! Needless to say, they both had a blast and I'm so glad Eric has a buddy to ride the rides with now.

Somethings in my nose!

What's the fascination with the nose? The holes in the nose and what you can fit or not fit into them? The idea's that come to what we can put into them?

This sweet little perfect boy had a scare last night. The babies (Lincoln and Trenton) decided to break one of Maci's necklaces which had about 30 little pearl sized beads. Of course with all the cleaning you always leave one some place you can't find, and Maddox seemed to find it. After being in bed for an hour last night he came down with a Kleenex and crying. He "can't get it out." Not realizing it was a bead- I assumed it was a regular visitor in his nose so I told him to just blow it. After he did and kept crying that it wouldn't come out, I lost my patience and told him to go to bed, we'll get it in the morning. When he got more and more upset I decided I better check it out. Little did I know he had a bead in there. Luckily it just required me pinching the top of his nose and out it popped. I let him pick it up off the floor, throw it away, then clean the floor. YUCK! I'm sure it's not the last thing we'll get stuck in our nose!

Royals Fun

My brother offered us some tickets to the Royals game on Sunday so we enjoyed a family outing. Well, everyone but Linc. We new he would enjoy the day with his grandparents instead. So off we went to enjoy the new Royals Stadium!

The kids loved the putt putt. Maddox seemed to think it was okay to hit the ball, pick it up, place it next to the hole, and hit it in. So he just so happened to get a 2 on every shot! Maci played it the correct way and got about a 10 on every shot!
You gotta love the carousel. I told Eric the kids were big enough to ride by themselves, but he insisted they needed his help. I think he was bummed he didn't get to ride a horse- ha!

This little activity is to race a ball player. You pick the one and a light races you down the field. Maddox did this at least 3 times and was so funny to watch. If you could see his face in this picture you would see a HUGE grin. He just looked at the people and smiled the whole way. I don't think he new the purpose of the game, I think he just thought it was his own little parade. A ton of people watching you run, cheering you on, who wouldn't love that attention (except Maci!) I will give it to him- he had to run with his flip flops on because the grass was too hot, and his flip flops don't fit his feet like they do most people (he has really thick feet) so he was definitely slowed down a lot.

The kids playing at the seat. We were SKY HIGH and Maddox preferred sitting on the cement. He's like his momma- a chicken! Cousin Maverick and him played with tractors on the ground while no- fears Maci decided to sit upside down and enjoy the game.

My brother Josh, Heather and Maverick joining us at the ballpark.

Game time! Today was ball glove day so each kid got a Royals glove. Maddox set like this for the first 10 minutes before he asked- "when are they going to throw us some balls?" We finally convinced him we were so high up that he wouldn't see one, so he went on to enjoy the game.

We also got the kids face painted and a charactature of each of them. The kids outfield area is amazing and our kids had a blast.

We had such a great time. Thanks Uncle Josh and Aunt Heather for taking us along!

First Sleep Over

When you are as high class as Eric and I, you gotta go to the Musicals! Okay, okay, we are no high class, but we do enjoy our occasional outside dates at Starlight Theater. We went this past Friday evening to "Anything Goes." We are so lucky to have such good friends in town that enjoy being with our kids! (doesn't everyone?) Eryn and Justin wanted Maddox to spend the night with Camden, so they took him for the evening. Maddox tried spending the night with another friend about a month ago and decided to come home around 10:45. But this time he made it! Let the sleepovers begin!

Maddox and his best buddy Camden

Papa's Birthday

Papa Craig is now another year older! The numbers are getting harder to count, but we still enjoyed a fun day.

Poor Lincoln was the comedic relief on such a big day! I guess you can tell when your the 3rd child, when your mom actually buys the girls swim diaper (with ruffles on the tush) because it was on sale. (Truth be told there were no boys ones left and I was sick of trying to find them). I figured these would work just fine, and he would have swim trunks on to cover them up. But wouldn't he of been so cute if I would of just put a big bow in his hair! Off to swimming. We love summer parties because we always get to have them at Uncle Josh and Aunt Heather's house. We love their pool because it's always the perfect temperature. Not the cold water that you have to jump into so you kill all your senses at once.

Under Maci is Uncle Josh- I think she's about to get him down. Poor Josh- he's always getting beat up by Maci. My child is a sweet, good natured little girl, but bring on my brothers and they turn her into a tough little wild child!

Lincoln spent a lot of time "feeding the puppy". I kept telling him it wasn't a puppy- but he insisted by excitingly yelling "puppy" every time he saw it. If you look closely- his bloomers are covered up by MANLY swim trunks!

Off to dinner! Josh always b-b-q's the BEST hot dogs and hamburgers. We had a great meal of the biggest hot dog's I've ever seen, and all the good yummies to go with it. We ended the evening with some YUMMY home made ice cream and birthday cake.

And you can't end the night without a picture of the birthday boy and his grand kids. The kids think Josh's house is the coolest because of his 4 wheeler- so we've learned if you want to get a picture of the kids together, send them to the 4 wheeler!

Happy Birthday Papa Craig!

Carnival Season

As the kids and I were going to the mall on Wednesday we noticed that they were going to have a carnival set up. We can't pass up a good carnival, and with this amazing weather- we loaded up when Eric got home and went to enjoy the evening.

The first adventure the kids took to was the slide. Maddox loves slides but is afraid of a lot of rides, so we knew this would help get him started.

The look on his face was priceless- I knew he had big eyes, but didn't realize they could get as big as they did!Poor Lincoln, he never gets to have any fun! Although he did get a big messy sucker that kept him happy.

Maddox went for the motorcycles next. He was so intent on driving them. I don't think he realized that they were attached and he had no control. He wouldn't look up, or take his hands off. He told Eryn today that he got to drive a motorcycle and go up a hill over some water. Some imagination, but glad he loved it.

Maci is not my daughter. I'm a chicken when it comes to rides, but not this girl. She rode the ride below all by herslf- she's in the top of the picture. You lay on your stomach and go up and down. Nothing I would do, but she loved it!

Maddox wanted to get into the monsters stomach and ride it, so he and Maci went that route. He's not to eager to ride anything on his own yet.

And to end the evening, Maci chose the farris wheel. She loved it all and was a little sad to end the evening, but luckily the Eudora carnival comes to town this weekend. That of course didn't make her happy, but Mimi offering Ice cream always helps.

Fun Weekend

We had such a fun weekend. I started off the weekend going to see one of my best friends little guy playing baseball. Her little boy is the same age as Maci and it is so much fun watching kids Maci's age playing sports. She's not much of a sports gal, but some day, I'll have boys to enjoy watching. I shouldn't say she's not much of a sports gal, because as I was watching him play baseball, Eric and Maci were playing Tennis. So bring on swimming, dance, tennis and basketball and she would be thrilled!

My parents took Maci shopping all by herself. She loves to shop and try on clothes, and when I take her, the other 4 boys (during the week days) don't enjoy the event. Of course Mimi, the constant shopper, loved the oppertunity to take Maci and spoil her. Below is the outfit Maci came home in. Mimi and Papa let her pick out the outfit she wanted, so she found this dress and hat and hasn't taken it off yet (on her own free will).
Maci and Maddox adore Lincoln, but don't care so much for each other. They can fight over who's sitting in who's seat, who's taking up more room, who's eaten more grapes, or who brushed their teeth longer. So when we saw this moment, we had to get snap. When Eric came over and grabbed the camera I knew there was something amazing going on. I'm the picture taker- ha!

A big event at our house is dancing. Maci and Maddox and Lincoln LOVE to dance, so typically the music is on and they are dancing around the house. I'm not so much the dancer- so I'm usually doing the "mommy" thing- cleaning or cooking. Last night Maci talked Eric into dancing with her, she thinks they are pretty good "ballroom" dancers. However last night I was pretty impressed with their dance they made up. Sorry honey- but you guys were so cute!

She had a perfect little spin she made him practice over and over again. It was quite impressive when they got the timing right!

She's definetly been watching "Dancing with the Stars" cause she's got the moves down.

Later we went to my parents for dinner. The problem with being with my family, is my brother, Uncle Travis, loves to spoil the kids. He is so much fun, but the kind of fun of fun that parents hate! ha. A prime example is the picture below. Lincoln does great feeding himself with a spoon, but Uncle Travis thought it would be fun to show him how to eat his pudding and applesauce with his hands. He also showed him how much fun it is to rub it in his hair, on his belly, and ever where. This was the end product of what I got to clean up. However, Mimi did do the bath. Eric thought we should just go throw him into the pool and call it good, but he was out voted.

Before bath time we spent some time outside. The kids love to use the water from my parents water fountain to "paint" their deck. They will do this for hours. It's turned into a tradition. If we want to go outside we just pull out the paint brushes. Once again- there's uncle Trav- ready to cause some trouble.

And the kids favorite part of the day... the walk with Mimi. They love riding their bikes and scooters down the street. My favorite part... enjoying the peace and quite while they were gone.

On our way home I noticed it was the perfect setting for some more pictures. When I took the older kids for pics earlier in the week Linc was sleeping and now he was awake. So after much pleading and begging- Eric finally agreed to stop so we could try some more. Here's some photo's of all 3 and of Linc.