Our week in photos

We’ve been pretty busy lately and I have a TON of stuff to blog about! We had a garage sale this weekend and I’m just exhausted, so a simple “our week in photos” blog post will have to do for now!

I got a new phone! And it’s awesome…which makes capturing moments so much easier! Here my kiddos are helping me figure out the front facing camera!

Check out my cute Mizzou fans!!

We took our kids out to celebrate our anniversary last week. We all had fun!

Cousin Gabe came and played with us a week or so before his parents came over from St. Louis. My kiddos got to meet their new baby cousin, Eli.

And I got to soak up baby Eli snuggles!

I took Jackson to tour the fire station the other day. He was excited, can’t you tell? {I can’t wait to share about it!}

  

This is garage sale… only half of what my garage looked like when we set it all up the day before we started. So much stuff!

Jackson was my big “helper” all week as I sorted and priced stuff. 

This was what my last three days have looked like… I need a break from math.

Belle climbed up on the tractor about a bazillion times. Not to be surprised, a fascination of all things John Deere runs in the family.

We went out to our community festival last night. I love funnel cakes!

And this morning we walked to main street to watch a parade.

Which was really just a moving political platform, but the kids enjoyed the candy! Jackson was literally covered from head to toe {socks} in stickers!

I’m looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow! I’m excited for the kids to give Daddy their Father’s Day present. {And I’m just as eager to give my dad his present too!}. But for now, I think I want to go to bed—and it’s still daylight!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! No one in our family is getting pinched today—we’re all sporting green! {my eyes closed in a picture… always happens. Ugh!}

We didn’t make it out to any of the larger celebrations around Kansas City like
last year, but we did go to our town parade! We had a good time. I love that downtown is super close. It’s barely over a five minute walk and we beat all the traffic!

My favorite St. Patty’s day picture EVER! {see how short she is?! These are capri pants, well, are supposed to be, but they almost fit like full length pants!}

Miss Cutie Patootie wasn’t too fond of holding still to take a picture. I love this shot—Jackson’s trying to so hard to get her to cooperate. I love these two together!

We got to kind of a grumpy start having to wait for the parade. And then the firetrucks came first with their sirens and Jackson really isn’t a fan of loud noises. Once the candy started being tossed, he loosened up and ended up having a good time!

Once she saw Jackson waving “hi” and getting candy, Belle started in on the action too. That little arm was waving like crazy!

And just because I can’t stop taking pictures of her cuteness, I snapped a few more on the walk home!

Along with St. Patty’s day, we’re also celebrating the anniversary of Derek coming home after spending nine months of Army training in Georgia!! I feel I summed it up best in my facebook status earlier today:

One year ago today Derek came home!!!!!! It was the longest nine months of my life, but I'm so proud to be the wife of an American Soldier. Jackson and Belle have had to sacrifice a lot too, and one day they will understand why Daddy has to go away sometimes. Great hubby, great kids, great country-- life is good.

Train, Bonfire, Zoo and Candy fun!

We had a very action packed weekend, which of course means it was super fun! Here's what we did:

Thursday Night
Celebrated Jackson's birthday at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. Basically, lots of trains everywhere and even a train to deliver your food. Chacey (and her mom) joined us, which made the night pretty much perfect for my little two-year old!

We sat next to a ginormous train track! Little boy heaven!

 Jackson was less excited about having to stop looking at the trains to take a picture.

Friday
My parents, sisters (and "ack" aka Zach, Ashley's boyfriend), Derek's parents, and Grandpa came over for a little bonfire to celebrate Jackson's birthday. It was perfect weather and everyone had a really nice time!

Saturday
Mom had free tickets to the zoo, so we headed out to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday morning! The costume I had planned for our Halloween festivities wasn't warm enough to wear outside for the day, so I had to improvise. Thanks to the overalls that Grandpa gave Jackson for his birthday the night before, we had a great farmer outfit!

The hayride with Grammy and Aunt Laura

Yes, Jackson. Please eat the corn that hundreds of kids have touched all over today.... not to mention that it's dried out and really just a decoration.

So, here is the conversation I had with Jackson at nearly every animal exhibit we saw....

Hey Jackson, Look, A Polar Bear!!!
Water!
Yes, but it's a bear!
Water! Water!
What sound does a bear make?
RAARRHH!! Water! Water! ......

Can you see the Hippos Jackson?
Water!
Yep, they're in the water. Can we count the hippos?
Wet!
Yep, they're wet.......

Seriously, kid!? You're so excited about stinkin' water!? We did get to ride a train (really, just a tram) and that was probably his favorite part. Whether he enjoyed seeing the animals, I'll never know... but we all had fun and that's what counts!

Sunday
We celebrated at the Fall Festival at our church. I love that our church has activities on Halloween. The kids enjoy playing silly little games and getting lots of candy, but we aren't out surrounded by lots of scary costumes or crazy people.

Check out the cutest little Danish soccer player that you ever did see!! (along with his cute little bee-friend!)

Eating a donut from a string

Making Fruit Loop bracelets 

Snack time-- Fruit Loops!

The bounce house that Jackson absolutely loved.

And squirt bottle races (I'm still not sure if I like the idea of him knowing how to work those things...)

Not all of the fun was about Jackson. Julie and I got to meet up with a friend for dinner on Saturday night and went to see the movie Secretariat, which is a great movie btw. Both Saturday and Sunday night, friends came over to roast s'mores, only we used our wood-burning stove instead of a bonfire. It was a wonderful weekend!