Thanksgiving

As always we went to Brian's family Thanksgiving and luckily this year his brother's family journeyed in from Virginia.  The have kids the next closest in age to ours.  I expected Ben to get along and hang out with their three boys, however Ashley was the star with them.  Guess they need a sister!  Ben instead hung out with the older cousins and typically was in motion so this is about the best I got.  Having some fun with both Wichita and Virginia cousins.

Matt and Ash got along like long lost best friends which was super cute.  Here are just some of the ridicuoulsy cute moments we caught, but more were had.

And I was hopeful that Ash would be a good judge in character, but she really really liked Cathy.  The wine glass should be a tell tale sign....

The kids even got to hang out the night after while the adults enjoyed a night out at a nice restaurant.  Win, win if you ask me!

Family

We took the train back to St. Louis to visit family and the kids actually enjoyed most of the ride.  Ashley was scared of the train arriving, but once on board they had fun and it's much easier to entertain them when not in the car although it does take a little longer.

Since it was the weekend after Halloween my parents had their party for all the kids and everyone wore their costumes.  Of course I had forgotten to pack theirs so a walmart sale had to do, but unfortunately I couldn't find a costume there for Ash.  I was able to create Waldo with the wardrobe we had on hand which was a huge hit and the adults had way to much fun with it.  The kids had fun with the games and even went on the haunted trail after dark multiple times!

We also got family pictures since the last time we had done that was pre-Ben/Ash.  The kids were all troopers and the weather cooperated really well even though it was late in the season.  Here's a few of my favorite pics.

Funny Faces!

Cousins chillin'

Tackle pic

 And of course - one of the whole fam.

Happy Halloween!

We made it to the pumpkin patch a few weeks back and the kids really enjoyed it, although it was the hayride and rides that they enjoyed more than actually being in the pumpkin patch.  Regardless it was a success and a lot of fun.

This past weekend we carved pumpkins and I let the kids pick which design they wanted for theirs.  Ben insisted on Chiefs (I think because we had just finished watching the game) and Ashley originally wanted Sponge Bob, but it was too difficult even for me.  So she settled for Shrek pretty easily.

And of course today is Halloween so the kids got all dressed up and we went out around the neighborhood.  At first Ben was more worried about running into dogs for some reason, but after the first house he was running and as excited as could be to go get candy from house to house.  Ash was a little more hesitant than that, but in the end got the hang of it and had a good time. Once they got home they gorged on candy of course, but no epic meltdown like a few years back when Ben was a cow.

Big Girl Bed

Ashley's been able to climb out of her bed for a while now, but never really did when we put her down.  Of late though she wasn't liking bed anymore and I attempted to turn her crib into a big girl bed by taking the railings off, but no luck on easing up bedtime.  I broke down and got her a toddler bed which she loves.  She climbs into it without any problem and has gone to sleep on her own like a champ since we got it.

Hopefully soon this means we can try potty training again, but the early attempts have not gone so well.  It always looks promising and she gets excited but quickly loses interests and insists on waiting to do the heavy duty piece until she has her diaper on.  Soon enough I'm sure we'll get there.

I know it's been a while since my last post and as the kids get older I will probably end my blogging days at some point in the future.  I'll do my best to try and keep it up with posts more frequently, but no promises.  I'll make sure to capture the holidays at a minimum and hopefully some of the other random fun times as well.

July

July was full of outside fun and the kids have loved every minute of summer.  We went back to visit my family for the fourth and we may have to do that every year.  The kids enjoyed swimming in my sisters pool and we basically had our own fireworks display from my parents deck.  Of course Ashley was terrified of it even though it was far away Ben couldn't get enough of it.  If that wasn't enough, their neighbors decided to put on their own display right over our heads bascially which even had Ben standing a little closer to us even though he said he liked it.

 

The kids with Momo - Ben was already tired at this point

 

And again we put the kids in swim lesson which took a little bit for them to get used to, but in the end was well worth it.  It showed at my sister's pool when they hung out in the water as long as they possibly good.

My company picnic was at worlds of fun and oceans of fun.  Ashley had just hit the height requirement for Snoopy land which was a good thing since she would've been really upset to see Ben go on everything if she couldn't.  It was ridiculously hot, but that made for no lines at worlds of fun.  By the time we got to worlds of fun it had cleared out enough that the kids could swim around without too much bumping into others.  overall it was way more successful than I anticipated and we may need to consider taking them there once or twice a year from now on.

Ben also finished up his t-ball season and did really well.  He is definitely better at hitting the ball when we throw it at him rather than off the tee, but hopefully we can get him to coach pitch early instead of having t-ball another year.

The kids have gone to a t-bones game (minor league baseball team) and we are always at the park. 

Little sisters pushing big brothers

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful father, my hubby Mr. Brian.  He does so much for and with the kids that I cannot express how truly great he is.  Ben absolutely loves playing sports with him and at times I think Brian even gets tired of it (which I didn't think was possible).  Ashley is a daddy's girl and enjoys just about anything she does with him whether it's dancing, walks, sports, etc.

Needless to say the kiddos love all the time they get with him so today we went on a long walk, went out to lunch and then even went out to dinner.  They did great at both restaurants and we enjoyed getting out for a bit from the normal break of cooking at home.

To celebrate the kids picked out shirts and I made them 'super' shirts for the family to wear.  The kids wore them all weekend and so did Brian (we did wash them).  Of course I only thought about the kids and Brian and forgot to make myself one, but there's still time, right?!

This weekend was also the annual Grant Open which is a great tribute to all the dads in their family especially Mr. Grant himself.  Gorb enjoyed the time on the course catching up with the groups and helping putt for each team on some of the holes.  He ended up making a few needed shots for teams as well.

And of course a small tribute to my dad since I believe he is an amazing father and person overall.  I've learned so much from him throughout my life that I can only hope my kids can learn as much from him as I did or we can instill half as much in them as he has in me.  I wish I could have as much patience as you always do.  Thanks Dad for everything.

Thank you to all the father's out there that I know, especially all my relatives on both sides of the family.  You are all amazing dad's.

Ben's 4th Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Ben's 4th birthday at Deanna Rose per his choice.  We had a small group to join us and he had a blast.  He was very excited to wear the new shirt I made him.  He even helped sprinkler his cupcakes and hand out the party favors.

Swinging

 

The boys

Only pic I could get of both Ben and Ash

We played one game which was pin the sticker on batman and although most kids enjoyed it due to the younger ages there had to be a little parental guidance with blindfolds on for some.  Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and ice cream.  I have to say this party was a lot better than the one two years ago, but I'm sure that's just my opinion since at the last one I was pretty sick and Ash and I had pinkeye.

Ben readjusting his sticker

Jack's turn!

Quick acting to stop Ash from hitting the posts (this time)

Happy Birthday!!!

More jersey's!!!!!!!

Look Jack - baseball guys!

a crowd for presents

Everyone got to enjoy the nice weather and see the animals.  We were able to have pony rides, play on the tractors, have a hay ride, feed goats and just have fun.  The kids enjoyed themselves which was great!

Mallory and Ashley watching everyone on pony rides

Pony ride

well my fish was this big!

Ashley, Isabella and Ben feeding goats

Ben's girlfriend, Isabella

Milo and Jack feeding goats

Mallory and Rory feeding goats

After his party we came home for a quick bite and we were off again to his last soccer game.  He proceeded to score three goals and had one assist!  I'm happy to see that he has made a huge progression from the first game to the last and actually understands how to play.  He's great at defense, but has started to do better at offense as well.  Between him and Jack they make a pretty good pair out on the field.  I'm pretty sure the reason he has done so well is because of Jack who is a stud at soccer.

Goal celebration for Ben and Jack

Overall it was a good weekend and he had a lot of fun playing with Deebo and Papa in all the spare time we had.

All the kids :)