July Photo a Day

July 12th
The long drive back to KC. It rained off and on the entire drive home. But a rainbow greated us on the northern edge of the city!!!



July 11th
We were in Fort Dodge now visiting my Dad and his wife! Cousin Maxx came to "visit" with Quinn! He is about 2 months younger than Quinn. He was pretty unsure of her at first, but slowly warmed up to her. Unfortunately she then put him in a head lock and that was about the end of that!

July 10th
Today was Minnesota Aquarium and Mall of America Day. This photo was at the end of our time there. We saw a crowd of kiddos and saw they were having a dance party!!! Of course Kay jumped right in there with Kennedy! Owen later joined too!


July 9th
We all went to Como Park Zoo today! It was HOT but super fun. Some seals were swimming in this tank so we parked Quinn's stroller in front of it while most everyone else looked at different tank. This particular seal swam right up to the window (which was disgustingly dirty) and just stared right at Quinn for almost a minute! Pretty cute!!!


July 8th
We went to Mpls today!!!! We stayed with Kay and Kevin and Owen - sooo fun! For dinner we met Pam, Deb and Rich and ate at a fun Greek restaurant! I am bummed this was the only group shot I took and it didn't turn out the best. :(


July 7th
This was the day we spent in Red Wing. We have many fun photos to share, but this is photo a day, not photoS a day! We started our morning at this park with THE BEST playground I have ever seen!


July 6th
First leg of our vacation. We left KC at 4pm and arrive in Red Wing, MN at midnight. LONG LONG drive. But the girls were awesome passengers! Quinn took a cat nap before dinner and then crashed for good at 9pm. Kennedy held out until 10pm and Jeff was close behind her!

July 5th
It was the last t-ball game of the season - a make up game. Only problem - the other team didn't show! So our girls played each other and it worked wonderfully!!! Seriously, how cute is she?! And look at those big girl teeth coming in!!!

More July!

July 4th
For the 4th we had a par-tay with the families from Kennedy's soccer team! We ate some delicious food, the kids did Sharpie tie-dye, jumped on the trampoline and blew bubbles. Before we knew it, it was fireworks time!!! We went to the Corporate Woods display - it was my first time! They were amazing! Quinn loved them again and the kids had tons of fun!!! If you want to know about Kennedy's festive outfit you can see my post HERE.

July 3rd
I simply can't believe how big she looks! She is doing the army crawl everywhere - I think she might just go from that to walking!


July 2nd
My girlies getting clean!!!

Made it to July!!!!!!

July 1st
Jeff, chilling before the fireworks! We went to Falcon Valley Golf Course where they have a little shindig before the 4th each year. Kennedy played on some inflatables, got her hair painted and had a snack. The fireworks were really nice - not too long. The years we stay in KC for the 4th we try to attend this event.

June 30th
Last day of swim lessons! Kennedy's teacher, Daryn, was signing her paperwork. Kennedy made it to the next level!!!!!! And she loved each day of her lessons!

June 29th
We tried a fun new project today! Sharpie tie dye!! I will be sharing more about this later!!!



June 28th
Today was a playdate with the mom's group from church. We met at Ernie Miller Park - a favorite spot of ours! I created some scavenger hunt things for the older kids and I think they enjoyed it! This is Anna and Kennedy crossing the creek!

June 27th
The master bathroom. This is the new tub preparing to be installed!


June 26th
Look how brave Kennedy is!!! She is making it through the laser light obstacle course!!! Ok, so those obviously aren't laser lights...just crepe paper! But it was fun to imagine!!! Even Dad and Mom gave it a try!



June 25th
Kennedy and I have been learning about worms! We were looking at a website to learn about a worm's body. Quinn decided she wanted to learn too!

More June Photo a Day

June 24th:
Our first time to Black Bob Bay for the summer - with friend Kelsey!!!!


June 23rd: Don't you love the old rocker I inherited?! It was my great-grandma Bess's! And the little girl in it pretty darn cute to boot!

June 22nd: Swinging on Papa Jim's tree swing! This tree swing is amazing - can you tell how long those ropes are?!?!

June 21st: Kennedy has been loving to play games on Martha Speaks. :)

June 20th: Bubble fun in the backyard!!!


June 19th: My little swimming beauty!!

June 18th: Q enjoying Grandma Lori's toys!!!

June 17th: This was the end of Kennedy's week at Grandma Camp. I surprised her and Quinn and I just showed up at Grandma's house the day before she was to go home! We enjoyed an afternoon in the yard and pool!!!

June 16th: I got this old window when I went junking with Janet. I can't wait to get working on it more! I had to scrub it and take out all the panes since one was missing. Hope to share with you the finished window by the end of the summer!

June Photo a Day Take 1

June Photo a Day...

June 1st
Sweet little Quinn in a fun summer outfit! One of her favorite things to do is stand up (with help) and bounce, bounce, bounce!!!!!

June 2nd: no photo

June 3rd
Driving up to Iowa for my cousin's funeral.


June 4th
The only positive thing about a funeral is that family all come together. It was refreshing to see so many family members....wish we could see each other more often under different circumstances. Below are Marin and Kay! (with Mom and Gigi in the background)

June 5th
After the drive back to Kansas we headed to cousin Elijah's 6th birthday party. Quinn was a happy camper because we were outdoors!

June 6th
Pool fun! There will not be as many pool shots this summer. It is much too hard to watch Quinn AND get photos of my other fish!

June 7th
Pink Panther T-Ball game!!!

Playing Catch Up

Trying to catch up at my Photo a Day......rounding out May.

May 31st
We met some friends from church at the KC Zoo today! It was a warm one! We ended up spending the majority of the day just the 3 of us and I totally enjoyed it! Kennedy loves animals and the zoo is always a hit. She enjoyed feeding deer, riding the train, riding the carousel with Quinn, and her favorite animal was the Squirrel Monkey. Feeding the Lorikeets is one of Kennedy favorite things to do. You get a small cup with a liquid in it, hold it in your hand and extend your arm. The birds just flock! At one point she had 2 birds on her arm! I love this shot because she wasn't expecting the bird to take flight and Quinn was looking too! We only got to enjoy half the zoo on this trip. Unfortunately on the Africa side a gorilla got loose! They stopped letting people head that way, so we headed home. But not until after we enjoyed some free Dip n Dots!!!



May 30th - Memorial Day
The pools opened this weekend so Kennedy was beside herself! The water was QUITE cold - I didn't even get in! But it was Quinn's FIRST trip to the swimming pool! Considering how cold it was she really enjoyed it and had lots of smiles for us!

May 29th
Celebration at the Station! One of my favorite traditions!! This year we talked the Elliott's into joining us! Kennedy and bff Taylor had a great time goofing off!!! (Hopefully I will have a post soon about Kennedy's outfit...Quinn was matching!)

May 28th
Doggie mini spa day! Kennedy and I brushed the dogs today...forever! They have so much hair it is ridiculous! We have always joked that Izzy has so much hair we could brush and never stop and still not get all the hair! Later Jeff played doggie dentist! He has a great tool that helps knock the plaque off the dogs' teeth. Kennedy helped out by shining a flashlight on the dog's mouth. And Quinn was extremely interested...can you see her trying to work her way into the mix?!


May 27th
Birds!! We have started our bird watching - hooray! Miss Kennedy and I have our trusty bird book out along with the rockin' binoculars . This year we will be keeping a bird journal. We will track the date, the bird type, where we spotted it, what it was doing and the time of day. Currently there are 4 bird feeders in the yard and one bird bath.

May 26th
T-Ball Season has officially begun! Be on the lookout for lots of photos of the Pink Panthers soon!


May 25th
A bad weather day! The horrible tornado had just struck Joplin days earlier. Storms had been cropping up all over the Midwest over the previous weeks and were all over the news. On this morning, the gals and I had gone to a friend's for coffee and playtime. We moms were discussing how our hostess's home didn't have a basement and what they would have to do should a tornado head their way. I kid you not, just then the tornado sirens sounded! We all just looked at each other and no one spoke! Someone turned on the television and we tried to make sure the kids were unaware. It appeared the storm was East of us so we started to breath easier. That is until the Sheriff's office called into the news station and said they were taking cover!!!! We all decided to throw the kids in the car and just head to our homes - and our hostess had a safe place to go as well! I snapped this shot as we were driving home. The gals and I spent much of the afternoon in the basement watching the news!




May 24th
Oops! Forgot to take a photo today!

May 23rd
Last day of Kindergarten!!!! There was a family picnic on the playground - even Mema attended! This is a shot of 2 of Kennedy's friends, Ava and Brady. Seriously...kindergarten is over???

More May Photo a Day!

May 22nd
Are these 2 not the cutest?!?! We attended a baby shower for our friend Stephanie and Jeremy. It was a very fun time! Quinn and Alijah are finally getting old enough to show some interest in each other. Quinn kept trying to grab his hand...it was pretty cute!!! BTW, Alijah was born the day before Quinn!




May 21st
Soccer!!!!!!!!!!! I love this action shot of Kennedy's kick! This week's match up was fairly even - other than the fact that the pink was super aggressive and physical! After getting shoved and pushed numerous times I told Kennedy to go ahead and shove the girl back! But luckily she didn't need to! Only one game left!


May 20th
Jeff's office had a "Carnival" to raise money this Friday! They really went all out and had a great set up! There were MANY carnival games like spin the wheel, balloon darts, rubber duckies, ring toss, face painting, tattoos, fortune telling, a cake walk and more!!! Kennedy even played a game and won 3 goldfish (which is an entirely different story!). In the photo below, Kennedy had just won the cake walk!!!!! She chose a chocolate Kahlua cake! She actually tried the cake walk again later and won a 2nd time! But I think the best part came later in the weekend. We didn't tell her at the time, but she had won 2nd place overall for number of points from the games. She ended up with $100 in winnings! We had been watching about the devastation in Joplin from the F5 tornado. When Jeff told Kennedy she had won all that money, he asked if she would like to give some of it to the people in Joplin that had lost everything. She enthusiastically said "Yes!!! All of it!!" What a girl!

May 19th
Today was Field Day for the Kindergarteners. It basically entailed lots of silly relay races. It was super fun for me to watch all the kiddos try their best to skip, balance things on their hands and heads, scooter on their tummies and scooter backwards! It was a hoot!!! And the kids had a blast!

May 18th
Birthday Party!!!! Sweet Catie had her 6th birthday party at Zonkers!!!! Most of my photos didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea. That is Kennedy in the last car with Adam's little brother, Aaron.


May 17th
Do you remember the nest outside our front door? Well, there are babies! Can you see it's fuzzy head peeking out?!?!


May 16th
Kennedy's class has a bear that travels home with the kids and then they write about it. Today was Kennedy's 2nd turn to have Mr. T-Bear. She wanted me to photograph their fun together! We have many photos of T-Bear now...going down the slide, playing in the playhouse, hiding in the bushes.....at least it kept her occupied for awhile!


May 15th
Birthday Party! This time it was Lily's 6th birthday party! It was in the gym of her mom's school and they had an inflatable! Kennedy is the one jumping while some of the kids curled up on the floor!


May 14th
Babies!!!! This is mama bird and you can just barely see the baby's beak in front of her!!!