August with Family.

Every year my nieces come to visit for a week.  This is our special time.  We have our favorite song that we play over and over, our shopping, our trip to the skating rink, and this year, a trip to Worlds of Fun.  I just love being an aunt!

my momma got to join us for the end of our Worlds of Fun trip!

That Sunday, we had a little party for my new nephew, Colin Jude.  Just before he was born, my brothers family was so busy moving and starting new jobs, that there wasn't a very good time for a baby shower.  So we just had a little after-party ;).  It kind of worked out for the best.  This way all the family had a chance for snuggles! One of our favorite baby party games is bobbing for binkies.  It's a fun way for all the kids to get involved in the festivities.  For the adults, we had the "fashion a baby out of play-doh" game.  The winner is the designer of the baby that the new mom picks out as her favorite.  We had a pretty great family day!

Over the weekend my grandma passed away, just shy of 94 years old.  I had the wonderful privilege of growing up just two doors down.  For the past few years, she has only been about thirty minutes away in a nursing home.  One of the most caring and beautiful women ever.  I'm so glad that she had the chance to spend some time with my girl over the last two years.

All of the family made a trip back to Concordia to yesterday to celebrate granny.  Though we were sad, it was a so nice to see all of our aunts and cousins.

My dad got rooms for mine and my brothers families at a bed and breakfast just north of town.  Out back, she had a baby lamb and pig that the kids were able to bottle feed and pet, and cows, goats and turkeys.  My nephew, Danny, even got to milk a goat!

One of our August highlights was learning that our new baby will be a girl!  We are so excited to meet our little Hannah Jo! 

We are very blessed indeed!

We are so excited to get to do all of this over again!  Nothing like a sweet little girl.  I know that Emma is going to love her baby sister!

Emma loves to listen to Hannahs heartbeat <3

20 weeks!

August with Friends.

August has been extremely busy.  We are planning on a move to Oklahoma in the next few months, so we have been busy getting the house ready to sell.  I'm so excited to be closer to family, but my heart aches at the thought of moving so far away from all of our friends.  August has been full of potlucks, barbeques, play dates, evenings outside with neighbors, and fun days out with friends.  Of course, the only things I have pictures of are Emma and her pals ;). 

One thing I am going to miss the most about our neighborhood, is the access to sweet friends when you need to drop your kid off with somebody for a meeting.  It is not uncommon for the mommas in the hood to make a last minute call to another hoodie momma to watch her little ones for those little unexpected things that pop up.  Just a couple of weeks ago, Emma's best friend Seger came over for an evening.  They had a great time dancing (with a lot of enthusiasm) and having a little movie & popcorn date.  They are too sweet together!

My friend Toska and I took the kids on a fun day out to the hot dog stand in North Kansas City, then to Wonderscope in Shawnee, KS.  What an amazing place!  Each room had a different theme.  There was a ball room with ramps to teach space, movement and gravity.  There was a farm room where the kids planted and harvested fake vegetables out of the ground, then took them to the super market to be bought.  There was a space room with a little space ship to play in. A room with building parts to make their own houses (think lincoln logs on steroids with velcro roofs).  A room designed like a nursery and pediatricians office.  This was the kids favorite I think.  They measured and weighed and rocked and dressed and bathed their babies.  So cute.   An art room that even had a face painting station. A veterinarians office with kennels and stuffed animals everywhere that they could put on an examining table.  They could even look at x-rays of broken animal bones with the little lighted wall with x-ray slides!  Then there was a submarine room.  I could go on about all the details.  Needless to say, we spent hours running from room to room!  Here are a few pictures of our fun adventure.  The lighting was poor and there was a lot of running, so please excuse the quality of my poor photography ;).