Botanical Gardens

 We spent the afternoon sunday at the Botanical Gardens with my parents and sister and nephew.

 Little Miss Independent

 I think she knew everyone kept waiting for her to stop picking up stick and catch up.

 Imitating the statues

 Saw a snake. The boys were the only ones excited about it. 

 Back in America. 

 A little unsure of the fountains

  Maybe it wasn't so bad.

  She ended up loving it.

 I did bring water bottles for them....

 Sleepy baby

 

 Trying to get one good picture of the kids.  Somehow these end up being my favorite - just looking at the expressions on each of them makes me laugh

Watching his cousins play in the water. 

Cousins

 The kids met their cousin for the first time on Saturday.  Isaiah told me I was his favorite aunt.  See just look at the face he gave me.  I wish the picture wasn't blurry but thats a face that clearly loves his aunt! 

 He wasn't so sure of Uncle Brent.  Uncle Brent made him cry at first but then he just studied him.  Its ok Isaiah, I wasn't so sure of Uncle Brent at first either. 

 Norah and Isaiah are about 6 months apart - maybe a little more.  Somehow after Norah turned a year I stopped counting months :) 

 Joel keeps wanting me to tell everyone "he saw his cousin and his cousin doesnt have any hair!" 

Isaiah is the cutest little baby. And incredibly sweet. Its fun to get to know him a little bit while he's here.

Camp out sleepover

 We celebrated Colin's birthday with his friends last night.  He had elaborate plans for his party but once you add all the kids in his class plus his other friends it got a little overwhelming and expensive so we talked him into have a camp out in our backyard with a few friends.  A little more manageable and probably a lot more fun too. 

 Joel and I made some signs while Colin was at school.  I had to really convince the boys when they were getting ready to sleep in the tent that our backyard didn't have bears or snakes.  The signs were just pretend. 

 

 

 The kids ate, did a scavenger hunt, ate some more :)

 Norah wanted to be in the middle of all the action... or just get to their cake and ice cream.

 We played this ring toss game where you have to get the bracelet over the root beer (which I had to really convince one boy it was root beer and not the beer his daddy drinks so he could have some) but they got to drink the root beer when they got the ring over it. 

 Mr. Tyler taught the kids how to shake up the bottle and then spray it everywhere..... you can see his son's excitement in the red shirt there.  It started a mad rush to drink what they had already opened so they could go get a new one and shake it up.  Joel poured his out behind the fort and then came and told me he had drunk all his and needed a new one. 

 We sent the boys home not only very tired but very sticky.  I'm sure the other parents love us right now. 

 They slept all night in the tent.  I was sure they would pass out early they were running around for hours. And then played flashlight tag for a long time when it got dark.  But they were up until after 11 and then at 6am I heard a screaming bunch of boys running around the backyard.  Brent and another father were asleep in the tent next to them.  All the younger siblings went home so it was just the older kids and Joel sleeping in the tent.

I think Colin had fun. There were lots of very excited happy boys running around last night. I have very grumpy kids today :) but it was worth it to see Colin beaming last night.  And fun to hear the conversations boys have. 

A girl and her blanket

 Norah keeps trying to take her blankets outside.  If you put them back inside she will go and get one.  So I've given up. Its a good thing she's not too picky since after being outside its usually in the wash. (but I was at a friends house and had forgotten her blanket and my friend offered her the same muslin blanket but with blue circles - norahs are white, stripped, starts, dots, but all pink.  The look Norah gave her was so funny.  Blue circles wont due for this little girl at all) 

But really - a baby walking around with her blanket is just adorable.  And for some reason this day she wanted the jump rope to come along too. 

Seven

Yesterday our boy turned seven. It's so hard to believe. It feels like he was just born. But in some ways feels like he's always been here.

Colin is such an amazing boy. I do miss my curly haired baby who had his own language and who always ran around outside without shoes. Now it's Joel who runs around without shoes. Colin always put his shoes on when he goes outside. And Colin likes his hair cut short now. I miss that little baby but I am loving the boy Colin is turning into. Colin is very sincere, he truly cares about people, always sees the good in everyone, loves to make others happy. Colin is a quiet leader with his group of friends. He doesn't look to being one but its fun to watch how the boys at church look up to him and the kids at school do the same. Colin is such an easy going kid and such a joy to be around. It's no wonder all of us get so excited for the bus to drive by because Bubba is coming home then. Colin is such a great kid to figure out this whole parenting thing.  We are learning with him and he's such a great first born child.  God knew what he was doing when he gave us Colin first. I wish I could put into words how much I love this kid. Colin we love you.  You are an absolute joy.

We missed most of his birthday.  Brent and I were flying back and got in early afternoon.  My parents made a cake and had balloons and presents and Ant Ant came and took her boy out for a breakfast of donuts.  Colin was really excited that he got to blow up balloons and that Ma-ma-maa thought it was going pop in his face.  For dinner, Brent and I took the kids to Chuck e Cheese for Colin's birthday choice.  So all in all I'd say it was a pretty good birthday for him. 

Colin was really excited about this $4 checkers set. We've been playing all afternoon.  Its been so long since I've played that I just let him teach me (he plays each Friday in school during their freedom Friday time)  I lost just about every time and then Brent came home and played Colin.  Apparently 1st grade rules aren't quite the correct way so Brent made Colin watch youtube videos on the correct way.  I think Colin liked playing me better :) 

Busy weekend

I told Brent this morning that I feel like I could sleep for days. We had spent all last week working on our bathroom and that required lots of late nights/early mornings.  And then flew to Kansas City for Regis and Lydia's wedding. The kids were having fun at my parents house. (which norah didnt want me when we got there - she only wanted my mom.  She's so attached to mommy it showed that she really had a great time without us.  i was glad. I was worried about her. she's come around today and I can't put her downt o use the bathroom but at least she had fun.  The boys loved it too. Thanks mom and dad. 

We also had the worst flight schedule - we had to get up and be at the airport at 4am both times. Some people thought we were crazy but it was the only way we could get back to Colin on his birthday at a decent time.  We didnt want to miss that.   It was worth it and we wouldnt have missed this wedding for anything. 

 Brent was the best man so I pretty much only saw him on the airplane and for dinner both nights :)  There were times where I was helping set up/clean up and had no clue where brent was or when he'd be back :)  I figured he wouldnt leave Kansas City without me.

I meant to grab my camera but wasn't thinking that early in the morning so I just got a few iphone pictures.  The wedding was beautiful.  Really beautiful. And I have to say I love Lydia even more. Can't wait to spend more time with her. 

I got a few minutes with this guy before the ceremony started.  We made a video of us singing Colin happy birthday.  And then I quickly took this picture.  The only one we took together all night.  We sent the video to my sister who was going to see Colin for breakfast so he could have us singing to him since we would be hopping planes to get to him. 

I think Colin loved it. He's watched it a few times today.  It made me feel better knowing he'd see our faces that early in the morning. I knew my parents were doing something for him but I still wanted to help start out his birthday.

I had a few more pictures but its not uploading them at the moment and I'm too tired to figure out what the problem is.

So fun that Regis is now married.  I wrote in a card (so if they actually read my blog they will read it twice) that I couldn't have picked a more perfect wife for not only him but me as well.  It makes life more fun when you absolutely love your husbands best friends wife :)

Nap time wake up

This is the face that greets me when I go get Norah after her nap.

Its no wonder why the boys typically race to get her before me.  I'm sure she smiles even bigger for them.