Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

I have loved you since the moment we met...

Sisters by birth, best friends by choice!

I hope that you have a wonderful day!

aahhh memories! Everything I do, I do it for you.....
Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

P.S. I hope the adoption goes well! You are a fabulous mommy!! Call me!

Small town fun!

I just wanted to start out saying I think Missouri has the most beautiful sunsets! They are amazing!

Saturday our town had a family fun night. The Police, YMCA, Walmart, Firefighters etc. sponsored a night of free swimming, free food, and a concert in the park. SO the kids and I took a walk down to the park and pool. They had a blast! What kids don't love to swim and eat hot dogs?! We also enjoyed the band...they played all kinds of variety...mostly country but, it was so fun to sit and eat and listen.

Sometimes I wish to live far out in the country but, that night, I was lovin' city life! (he he he)

SLEEPOVER FUN!!!

My sweet sister Hillary came into town for a visit, and somehow I was lucky enough to get her for a night! It was so much fun, we talked crafts and sewing while our children enjoyed each other and played. We only ignored them a little! She has four little girls so of course we had to have a girly girl sleepover. Katelyn got to come too because her play practice ended early! We tried and tried to settle them down but it was well after midnight when everyone finally conked out! Aren't these girls SO CUTE!!??? (just ignore the boy in the back! he he!)

We had a lovely day of fun the next day too...shopping and lunch with my mom and sisters! What could be better than that!?

Happy Happy Birthday Hannah!!!

I know, I'm late on the birthday blog...two other people beat me to it!! But, really I am a good mom! (I swear!)
Hannah turned six on July 19th! I can easily remember the day she was born...she broke our boy streak! We were so happy to have her and I am amazed when I think of how fast time flies. She will be starting the first grade in a couple of weeks and she is such a little grown up. She says the most amazing things. For example, when we were getting ready for her party I asked her to go put on something nice to wear for the party (cute, clean, dressy) well, she came downstairs in her Jammie's so I said, why don't you go try again to find something nice to wear...to which she quickly replied, (in THAT tone) Mom, its MY birthday...I can wear whatever I want! Thus the messy hair and Jammie's at the party.

Even with a last minute party and last minute invites we still had a great time! Hannah wanted a white cake with green flowers...she got her wish...she also wanted a sleepover...she got that too! Katie spent the night and the girls had a ball! She got all kinds
of wonderful gifts, Thanks so much to all who came! It was a great night for her! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah is happy, smart, tall, lovely, full of ideas and stories, quick witted, fun, affectionate, helpful, sweet and tenderhearted. I just love this crazy kid!

Swim Conference!

Here are a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!
How many people can you fit into a three man tent? (For three hours!) We seriously looked like clowns coming out of a clown car! Too much fun!
MMMM! Nachos in the rain!

Swim Conference!

The day started beautifully! We got up around 5:30, got ourselves ready...including shelter from the sun, food and entertainment! We had planned on a long hot day!
Everything is looking good! The girls are happy!
Then as we were lining up the third race of the morning...a huge drop of rain, then another, then buckets and buckets of rain! We ran to the tent threw in all of our stuff and hunkered down... It was a massive thunderstorm! The event was delayed three hours and we spent most of that time stuck in our tent. We got very wet, muddy, and grumpy! It was a little bit terrifying...The kids did really great though considering the circumstances...I kept telling them what an awesome adventure this is...and it worked.

We finally got hungry, ran through the rain to our van, and went to McDonald's for lunch! We ate inside which is a huge deal to the kids (we NEVER do that!) It was probably the highlight of their day! They did have fun, and all the boys did a great job! They improved their times and Noah even won a heat! They were great!

We resumed the conference around noon (still raining!...it continued for most of the day) and we finished up around 9pm. (It is an hour drive from our house) So we were pretty exhausted by the end of the day! We made it home alive!!! (barely;)

Hannah Swims

Hannah started her swimming lessons this week at the Hamilton Pool. She thinks it is the best thing in the world!
She is such a cute girl. We love swimming!!! Happy Summer!

Swing baby

Swinging, Swinging....Birds are singing...Singing in the old apple tree!

Jenna would swing all day long if I let her!

Fireworks Show!

Uncle Tom and Uncle Nathan put on a fabulous fireworks show at Sarah's house last night! They gave each of the kids their own parachute man to catch...the kids thought that was great!














The boys all laid on the trampoline to watch the show...they jumped watched and wrestled all night!





















Jenna loved the fireworks...she clapped and cheered throughout the whole show!
...just a few of us...

Thanks to Tom and Nate for a great show! It was amazing!

The Star Spangled Banner

This is a picture of the actual flag that was flying when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

On Sunday, we were happy to be invited to the baby blessing of Ashelyn Ann Doan and so we attended church in Kearney. The closing song was the Star Spangled Banner. We all stood to sing and I couldn't help but get chills. It is such an inspired and emotional song. I love our country and the freedoms we enjoy. and I am so grateful to live here. The final verse of this song was especially meaningful to me...because of the time in which we live and the things that are happening politically in our country...


O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the wars desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

May we remember the "power that hath made and preserved us a Nation" and continue to trust in God as we go through these trying times.

More festive fun...

After we got home from breakfast we did some decorating...I love to paint the girls nails red, white, and blue. But, this year we went a step further and added face painting! The kids loved it...(my older two boys are waay to big for this kind of stuff!) ha ha ha ha! After face painting we all walked down the street and found a nice spot under a tree in front of our friends house and sat down to watch the parade! It was a great parade this year! My favorite is always the horses, I guess it takes me back to the horse parade in Salinas. I loved that parade. Grama Doan would always take us...and I was just in love with all the horses. They would dress them up and put glitter and all kinds of costumes on them. I would think that we would have more horses here in Missouri but, I think we had more tractors in our parade than anything...maybe politicians...anyway, we LOVED seeing Katie and Sarah marching with the King and I cast, they were so cute! I can't wait to see her play!

Well, after the parade we headed home for a late afternoon barbecue...which was delicious, of course! and then we all just hung around waiting for the fireworks to start! The grownups watched 10,000 BC and the kids played games. Sarah and I sewed, and we played a little football. The weather was fabulous! I don't think we have ever had such perfect weather for the fourth of July before. It was a beautiful day.

We all walked down to the Cameron middle school where we watched the fireworks show! It was awesome. They did a great job and all the kids thought they were in heaven! It was the perfect end to a perfect day! Happy Independence Day!!!

Happy Independence Day!

We always go to the Far West breakfast on the fourth of July and this year was no exception!
We had a wonderful morning with a couple of inspiring talks and some beautiful bagpipe music. The kids marched behind the bagpipers (Jimmy and his daughter Mari Riddle) in the parade.
We proudly pledged our allegiance to the flag.
Then we enjoyed a lovely and yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and juice. It was a lovely way to start the day!

Here they are waving and bringing up the end of the parade!

Jenna and Claire Aitchison climbing trees and chasing frogs!

Hannah is super festive this morning!
Happy fourth of July everyone!

More Day Camp Pics

Isaac loved every minute of the wrist rocket, arrow shooting, bee bee gun shooting, rope climbing, axe making, wallet crafting, painting, hammering etc.!!! He was in heaven!

Isaac said,"My favorite part was shooting the bee bee guns and the bow and arrows!"

Noah is an old pro at this stuff, but he had a blast as well! He got to hang out with his friends and do lots of cool stuff!

Noah said,"I don't know, it was all so fun, I can't decide...probably bows and arrows. Yeah, that's my favorite part!"

Lucky me, I got to go with them on Saturday and share in their glee! It was a great day!