Jamie and Aaron's Wedding

This past weekend we enjoyed the weekend in St. Louis and the festivities of my cousin Jamie's Wedding. It was so nice to visit with family that we rarely get to see and I wish we would have had more time as it seemed the day came and went. Jamie was a beautiful bride and Aaron a handsome groom and it seems that their event went without a hitch and as exactly as they had planned (or at least as far as I could tell). I have lots of pictures so I thought it would work best to make a slide show.

Customize your own picture slideshow

~ Springfield Cardinal Baseball ~

Even though the score of the Cardinals game last night didn't fare well it was a beautiful evening to lounge out on blankets and watch the game from the outfield grass. For part of the game, Jaidyn and Addy sat with Papa in his season ticket seats. There were lots of hits by both teams all evening so it was actually a nice game to watch and Jaidyn LOVED chasing down the many foul balls outside the left field line.











My roomate from college is in town from Florida for a family reunion this week and took time to hang out with us for a couple hours. I miss her very much and the time we had to spend with both her and Elise went by too fast.

~ Random Pics ~

The weekend away from home has put me a little behind on every day tasks so this will primarily be a picture post...

In the past 2 weeks Reid has found his toes and has rolled over from his back to his stomach.






We had a nice visit from the Great Grandparents




Celebrating both Wes and I's birthdays at Papa JR's and Lala's House.






Who needs a pool when you have a hot tub?? All the kids spent hours in the hot tub.






And many people ask me how I manage to get groceries with all 4 of my kids and this birthday card that I got from my mom and dad pretty much sums it up...



Last week on Wednesday we went to the Taney County Fair to support and cheer on our niece, Haven in the Miss Taney County pageant and we now have another pageant queen in the family...she is now Miss Taney County.







You can't go to the fair without eating a funnel cake.



Evening Rodeo





Not afraid of getting dirty!


Haven stayed all night with us after the pageant so we celebrated with ice cream. Jaidyn felt it appropriate to wear her crown too.

Jaidyn and Addy went to a 3 day Cheer/Gymnastics camp. Here they are building their pyramids in their presentation on the last day. Jaidyn is a base and Addy is a flyer.



Lake weekend at Papa & Nana's lake house. The kids did a little tubing and Jaidyn even rode the knee board. She didn't make it up to her knees but now tells us that she is ready to try next time.





The kids taking a ride in the water patrol boat.

Bobber

We took full advantage of having a neighborhood pool tonight. This was the first time that we had Reid out in the water and like the rest of our kids, I think he will turn out to be a little water bug. He was like a bobber out in the pool and just bounced up and down while Wes held him. All that cute chunkiness makes him very buoyant.


I finally had to just take him from Wes as his fingers were starting to wrinkle. And within minutes he was asleep all bundled in a towel.
The other three were showing off their newly acquired skills from swim lessons earlier in the week. Jaidyn was doing cartwheels off the side and pushing off the side to turn a back flip under the water and Addy was doing cannon balls off the side. In a matter of 3 days they have become very confident in their swimming abilities.



It took him awhile, but eventually he made it down to the 4th step and then finally was jumping off the side in to Wes's arms.

Levi found some guys goggles lying on the side of the pool and decided to try them on. He couldn't even open his eyes as he had them on so tight it pulled them squinty. Haha!

We spent the earlier part of the week in Lebanon with Papa and Nana who caught something nasty and were really sick the entire time we were there. And if I didn't have those days so jam packed with as much as I could fit in, I would have driven back and forth each day as I felt really bad being there as I know with 4 kids hanging around there isn't much sleep going on.

Swim Lessons

He threw the biggest fit when I would drop him off and his screams would echo so loudly in the indoor pool. It would only last for a minute and he was all smiles and would wave at me as soon as he saw me walk back in the door to pick him up. Levi loved the lessons, but just never wants him Mommy to leave him anywhere...he better get used to it as preschool starts up in less than 3 months.




Jaidyn attended volleyball camp and loved it. She has no problems showing off her camp award trophy!

Summer Kick-Off

Memorial Day weekend at the lake usually is our kick-off to the summer. Wes worked long days in Joplin to help with the tornado recovery efforts and was unable to join us for most of the weekend. And while we missed him, we knew that his long days were helping so many families who were victims during this terrible disaster. The kids look forward to weekends spent at the lake house during the summer and I debated on even packing their swimsuits as the water temp was only 62 degrees and I thought there would be NO WAY they would want to get in...wrong! But I remember a trip to the ocean out East when we were young and everyone was walking the beach in sweatshirts and jeans except for us crazy Missourians out jumping the waves in our swimsuits.

I had told them that they probably wouldn't get to swim and they were okay with that as long as Papa took them fishing. And from the dock they each were able to reel in at least one catch. Papa Dave even took Jaidyn out in the fishing boat the next morning for her very first fishing trip. Being six years old must be the magic number. The minute he woke her up, her feet hit the floor and she was ready, super excited. She came back as I had figured with some great fish stories. Papa had coached her up good!! I just hope she never catches more than he does as the one time I did that, I don't remember being invited back. Hmmm??











Reid had his first time out on the pontoon. I had bought an infant life jacket at a garage sale earlier this spring thinking it would be the perfect fit...





Hitting the waves out on the boat made a perfect rocking motion to put Reid to sleep.

Man's Best Friend!


Life is Good!


My kids love Ted! Ted may have started a new interest with the kids...Frisbee! Everyone else wants to just sit and relax and Ted is usually the only one they can talk into playing.



Helping Nana make the salad. Addy must have felt some ownership as she even asked to try it.

Uncle Jared and Reid


Yes, he has the Godparent touch! Or maybe he slipped Reid a little of what he was drinking...I'll have to keep my eye on Uncle Jared. :)


We hiked Ha Ha Tonka State park and picnicked at one of the lake bottom trails in the state park.




Eating at Bulldog's Beach House...they really need to bring back their happy hour special from the past couple of years.



So I thought once we moved from the month of May in to June that my calendar would all of a sudden bring some summer relaxation with things like sitting on the front porch watching the kids draw with sidewalk chalk, catching up on some Redbox movies and possibly picking up a book from the library just for my own enjoyment. Ummm, not so much! And while I might complain about how busy we seem to stay, I love the summer days with my kids and I know these next couple months will go by fast and I'll be wishing them all back.

With lots of ever turning creative minds we have lots of crazy moments at the house...


We aren't sure what inspired Addy to model this look.

Note to self...NEVER give Levi an ice cream cone in the van. I couldn't get him out fast enough.

Levi had "The Princess" of the tball team over (while she is the lone girl on the team she is the best slider in to home plate and never goes home with clean clothes) and they dressed up as the princess and prince.


Reid likes sitting in the Bumbo seat so he can be right in the middle of all the action. And trust me, he isn't going anywhere. It almost takes two to pry his legs out from the seat.

This is the first time that I caught him rolling over to his side. His 4 month check-up went well and obviously he was still topping the charts at both height and weight. He weighed in at 19 lbs., 15 3/4 ounces. I looked back at the girls baby books and Jaidyn was right at 15 lbs. at 4 months.

This picture was simply taken because Levi brought me my camera and wanted me too. I love his smile!


After only two days of high traffic use, our slip-n-slide bit the dust. We had friends over one evening and then the neighborhood kids along with our own all enjoyed it the next afternoon. And while the fun was interrupted with a tear across the plastic they all had a blast while it lasted.