Gardening...I hope!

Aunt Lissa and Gunkle had bought Braden and Kendall some gardening bags with seeds and tools. The kids were so excited I hated to tell them no, even though I usually kill anything green or plantlike when I look at it. We decided to give it a try (mostly because they wouldn't let up about it!) and plant our seeds. Braden's bag was Oscar the Grouch and he is growing green beans and Kendall's bag was Abby Cadabby and she is growing pumpkins. Here are the kids during the planting process (with some help from Mommy and Daddy).

Putting stickers on our posts to label them while we wait for the soil pods to suck up water.

Braden's gardening bag.

Kendall's gardening bag.

Planted!

I am happy to report that each pot has at least one sprout in it! We need to find some time this weekend to transplant them into our backyard garden. This is probably when they will die, but maybe the kids will forget about them...

Before/After Pics

Dustin has started a new fitness routine, so he always has me take before and after pictures of him. Braden and Kendall were enthralled by this and insisted on showing off their own physiques for posterity. I will not post Dustin's pictures, but the kids' were too cute to pass up!

Gateway Grizzlies

One of my students gave me 4 free tickets to the Gateway Grizzlies game on June 17th. We packed the kids up that evening and headed for the ballpark. We had never been before, but it was a lot of fun. I'm not sure if we saw more than an inning of baseball because we spent most of our time at the playground area. There is a really nice playground, bounce slide, and other crafts and activities for kids. We hung out with our favorite pals - The Rodgers Family. The kids and Dustin had fun while I sweated my preggo rear end off...it was HOT! Right before we went home the kids wanted to get their faces painted. That led to an interesting bathtime just a short 30 min later :) Here are some photos of the kids at the game.

Braden with his dragon and Jack with his Spiderman

Kendall was so excited about her flower she couldn't look away from it while I took her picture!

Only Kendall, Olivia, and Jackson were brave enough to stand by the SCARY Izzy the Grizzly

Fireflies!

Each night when we sit down to read before bed, Braden notices the fireflies outside. He VIVIDLY remembers catching some with his Mimi and Papa when he was camping. After promising him we would catch some, I had to find a jar. Luckily I am not good at cleaning out my fridge and I had some pickles that had a date with the garbage can. While the kids took their tubby, I tossed out the rotten pickles, rinsed out the jar, and put some air holes in the lid of the jar so the bugs could breathe. Kendall wanted nothing to do with the "firebugs" as she calls them so she was happy to watch from the living room. When Braden and I went out, the birds seemed very loud and active in our trees. We are guessing maybe they wanted to eat the bugs we were trying to catch? Anyway...we were able to catch a few and then (luckily) Daddy came home and helped Braden catch a few more. Here are some pictures of the lucky bugs who came to live with us for about 24 hours before meeting their maker!

Kendall watching "firebugs"

So proud of his catches.

Telling the bugs to say "cheese"

A close up of the bugs

Year 9 and Counting...

Nine years ago today I said "I do" to my wonderful husband. I'd do it all over again and again. We've grown a lot, but like a fine wine we only get better with age! I can't believe we've spent 15 years together! We've seen and done a lot, but I think the best years are yet to come!!

We love to play at the YMCA!

The kids started their summer classes at the Y this week. Kendall had her first dance class Monday morning and Braden's swimming class started right after her class was over. His class was everyday this past week, but Kendall's is only once a week for the next 5 weeks. The kids did great! I'm so glad I signed them up since it gave us something to do each day. This week will be a bit different since Kendall will be the only one with a class. I may sign them up for more classes in the next session, but we'll have to see how ambitious I am after a new baby joins our family in less than 5 weeks!

Kendall with her class. They are standing on circles to hold their place.

Braden with his group. This is a BIG class, so each set of 5 kids had their own instructor.

Mouse Race!

Last Saturday we attended a benefit to raise money for my godmother who has ovarian cancer. This benefit was a mouse race, which we had never been to before. What a great idea for a fundraiser! There were 10 races with 6 mice in each race. You could bet on the mice like you would on horses at the track. It was so much fun!! I think we ended up winning $14 (way less than we spent) but it was still worth it. After the mice races there was a silent auction, a live auction, and a band. We weren't able to stay for the whole thing (this preggo was tired) but we heard they were able to raise a LOT of money, which was the whole purpose for the event. We were so glad we could be there to show our support for Tracie!

The mouse race track

Laura trying to stop the mice from getting out

Sarah and me listening to the band Hicktown (really good by the way)


Sarah and Dustin