This explains it all.....

My boys

There is nothing better than a long nap on a Sunday afternoon at Grandma Marcia's house......

Hancock County Fair

Last weekend we ventured up to Grandma and Grandpa Bartlow's house for the weekend to spend some time with cousins Addie, Brenna, and Braden and attend the kids day events at the Hancock County Fair. The kids enjoyed riding rides, getting their faces painted, and participating in the pedal tractor pull. The day was great except for the masive rain storm that came up in the middle of kids day. We had to run for shelter in the domestic arts building. This summer has definitely been a wet one! We also had fun eating pizza and watching Ratatouille that evening before bed. Blake and Braden enjoyed teasing Grandma's dog Lucy!



The kids enjoying the tractor pull. Braden and Blake were too little to actually participate but they had lots of fun sitting on the tractors on the sidelines!

Clinton County Fair Parade

It has become an annual tradition for us to attend the Clinton County Fair Parade. It is a very large parade lasting nearly two hours and yields a healthy amount of candy and freeze pops! The kids love it and Grandma has to walk in it for her work so its a win win for us to attend. This year Lauren decided to make a sign showing her love for her favorite local restaurant Dairy King. They encourage the kids each year to do this so they can earn a free ice cream cone. Lauren was thrilled to receive her free cone coupon. The parade was lots of fun except for the near mishap we had with Blake when he darted in front of a float trying to get a piece of candy. I nearly had a heart attack.

Puppies!

Our local humane society has been advertising a litter of puppies that are up for adoption. So I took the kids to a meet and greet event they had recently. Of course, Lauren fell in love with all of them! Lucky for me I did not have to bring one home that day but in her mind we were definitely getting a puppy soon. So I began searching the internet and discussing my different finds with Bradley. We found a litter of rat terrier/austrailian shepherd mix puppies about an 1 1/2 south east of here. So I called an inquired and we went to visit them a week or so ago. We discussed it some more and Lauren finally decided she wanted to get the puppy named Sadie. So after we return from vacation we are going to get our new puppy! I'm not sure we're really ready for all of this but we are moving forward regardless. More pictures to follow once we pick up Sadie.

"I Pray"

Bless his little heart, Blake is obsessed with praying. Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing! It's absolutely adorable that every time we eat whether it be a meal or just a snack he always says, I pray! So we oblige and I'm so thankful he reminds us to do this. Today in the car coming home from swim lessons, he and Lauren were dining on their lunchables and he says, "I pray." This was a new first since we had not done it in the car yet. I hope he remembers for the rest of his life to give thanks to God as well as he does now!

Cousin Time Round 2 - The Magic House

Although we were supposed to keep Blake quiet at home for the first 24 hours following his injury, we ignored the doctors orders given how well he was behaving and went on with our plan to meet Addison, Brenna, Braden and Aunt Brekin at The Magic House on July 8th. We had a great time exploring this wonderful place. The kids all loved it so much. I was hoping for a light crowd but wrong we were. It was the most crowded time yet that we have been there and it was a weekday! Thank goodness Grandma Marcia was able to go with us and help with crowd control. With two very different ages of kids we had to split up often to keep everyone happy.

Afterwards everyone came back to our house for some more play time and pizza! This is the third year in a row that Brekin and the kids have come to see us in the summer time which has been awesome. I'm so thankful there are so many fun things to do in St. Louis for kids!

Crash!

Wednesday July 7th, Lauren returned from visiting at my mom and dad's for a few days. She was so excited to see her little brother (she honestly loves and adores him very much) that she picked him up, spun him around and CRASH into the dresser in Bradley's closet. (We had just finished bath time and he was talking to Bradley who had just gotten home from work). Blood gushed everywhere and we quickly headed for the ER. The doctor choose to fix his forehead with glue rather than stitches to minimize the scarring. Luckily he did not have a concusion which we were fearful of because of his dazed state after the crash. He did so well in the ER he even fell asleep waiting for the glue to dry. This picture was taken a couple days after the accident but you still get the effect of the injury. Not a long cut, but rather a deep cut. I hope this is not a bad sign of more ER trips to come.....

4th of July Festivities

We celebrated the 4th of July by making red, white, and blue tutus, attending a parade, playing with fireworks, cooking out with friends, cooking out with family, and boating! It was a fabulous weekend.

The parade was in Albers, the first one ever for the town on the 4th. It was a really good parade! Then we hung out at the Gaines' house and enjoyed the town fireworks show. Then the next day Andy and Julie returned from Virginia so we hung out at home and then sat on our front lawn and enjoyed fireworks from several miles away and some close by. It's one of the benefits of living on a hill!

Then on the 5th, we took to the waters for the first time this year and enjoyed boating with our friends the Poletti's. Lauren went home for a few days with Grandma Marcia so Blake had us all to himself for a few days. He wasn't a fan of his life jacket but did enjoy the water.

Cousin Time!

My niece Delaney came to stay with us a few days over the fourth of July. Andy and Julie traveled to Virginia to attend a wedding so Delaney hung with us. We had a fabulous time. We spent lots of time playing outside on the swingset and at the water table. We even attended a local peanut butter and jelly festival! It was an awesome opportunity for the cousins to spend time together and for me to really bond with my niece. I hope we can make it an annual event with all my nieces and nephews!

Gardening

Blake and Lauren have really enjoyed helping in the garden this summer. Unfortunately we have had disease hit and we lost all of our zucchini plants! So that was disappointing. But our tomatoes, green beans, sweet corn, snap peas, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, pumpkins and watermelons (only1!) have hung in there. I have been able to make several batches of salsa, spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes for the freezer as well as bread and butter pickles. This was all a first for me this summer so it's been a fun learning experience. Our generous neighbors shared their vast blackberry crop with us as well so I've made several cakes, cobblers, and batches of freezer jam from that as well. It's been fun picking in the garden each night and letting Lauren and Blake carry in the many ice cream buckets full of our goods. Now if I could only get Blake interested in actually eating a vegetable besides corn.......

Holiday World

Following Lauren's VBS closing program we jumped in the car and headed east about 2 hours to quaint Santa Claus, IN to visit Holiday World! We spent two days there and the kids loved it. We spent one day at the non-wet section of the park and the next in Splashin Safari. It really was a great place for us since it had a lot of rides that Blake could do as well. He loved, loved, loved the bumper boats and even had to learn the meaning of wait your turn because he did not want to wait to ride them! He wanted them now and nearly jumped in the pool to get to them! Lauren loved the rides and can't wait for next year when she will (hopefully) be tall enough to ride the bigger roller coasters. She just didn't quite make it this year. Perhaps one of the nicest things about holiday world was the free soda all day long! This was such a nice perk! We truly enjoyed our visit and can't wait to go back next year!

I don't have any pictures of us in the water park because I didn't want to risk hurting my camera. But I have to say it was a hit! They had lots of zero entry pools, several lazy rivers and the hit attraction of the day for my kiddos was the under 48 inch water slides! They loved them!!!! Blake regularly says pool now desperately hoping someone will take him to water!

VBS 2010

This year our theme for VBS at our church was Planet Zoom using a buzzing bee character each day. I was asked to teach the 5 year old class. It was great fun! I truly enjoyed the 15 students I had in my class each day learning all about Jesus' love. We had lots of fun and it was great for Lauren and I both. Lauren took her friend Makenna along with was great.

Blake was not as fond of the week though as it was his first time for me to leave him with a sitter every day. He had to be peeled off me each day when we left because he didn't want me to go. Luckily our sitter Alyssa could always get him calmed down with a sucker (aka ga-ga to Blake) and a tractor movie!

T-Ball

Lauren finally got to partake in her first t-ball game on June 22nd. She did great for having not touched the ball in nearly a month due to her surgery and then two rain outs in a row. She said she had fun, which is really all that matters. I'm fairly confident playing ball is not her thing which is okay with me. I just want to expose her to it all right now and let her decide what she likes best.

Riding my big green tractor

This is one of those sets of pictures that we will look back on and cherish down the road. As everyone knows, Blake dearly loves tractors and being with his farm buddies. These pictures just melt my heart. These were taken on Father's Day 2010.

Macie Taylor

My newest niece arrived on June 9th. She is such a doll. Congrats to Andy and Julie and big sister Delaney!

Delinquent

This is me. I have gotten incredibly behind on blogging!!!! I've been putting it off because we've been so crazy busy lately and needless to say now I'm really behind! So stay tuned, lets hope by the weekend I'll have some new posts for you.

Here's to wishful thinking!