Natural trail

So finally after 2 years, we have made our way to the Nature Trail in our neighborhood.

And, of course, we do it during the 3 weeks that Maggie has a full leg cast on (translation...we had to carry her the whole time because of the uneven terrain).

It was a workout to say the least!

We had family pictures taken this morning and we promised the kids that if they were good, we could go to do some exploring on the nature trail.  Well, they were good enough.  Not great, but good enough.

We stopped about every 8 feet to see a bug, frog, butterfly, cool rock, spider web, etc. 

It took us a while, but the kids had a great time.

 Colin insisted on being the leader and quickly found us all some walking sticks to use during our hike.

Such a good hiker!

 There was this really cute bridge that we came across about 1/2 way through the hike.

 We spent a TON of time right by this lake  - that was covered in algae and green moss, or 'barf' according to Colin :) 

We all threw a ton of rocks in there, trying to skip them across the water.

Daddy did awesome, the rest of us, not so much.

 Such a trooper in that awful cast - It was really hot out and she didn't complain at all!

A super cute pic of the boys before we headed back up to the car.

Overall, we had a great time.  Next time we'll go when we don't have to carry Maggie the whole way!

silly nights and VBS

I had the camera out the other night and caught some sweet pics of the 3 of these goofy guys:

Last week, Colin attended VBS at St. Therese (thanks to Grammie and Granddad for taking/picking him up every day!)  They had their performance on Thursday night, and we weren't planning on going because it started pretty late at night.  But, Colin convinced us that he would do a great job participating in the show (and not just standing there looking awkward).  Well, joke was on us, cause that's all he did.  I'm pretty sure he only wanted to go because there were cookies at the end! :)

We were pretty far away, but you can see Colin and Olivia smack center in the bottom row

And of course, he looked even more disinterested because he was standing right by the best little performer, Olivia.  That girl loves to be on stage :)

Summer swimming nights

These pictures were from a few weeks ago, but we have been trying to hit the pool as much as possible.  Colin is SOOOO close to just taking off by himself in the pool, and we definitely know how important water-exposure is to feeling comfortable in the water.

Anyway, we watched a co-workers little boy one night and we headed to the pool to cool off...

 Maggie just LOVED playing with Baby Isaac in the pool (and he LOVED watching and imitating her, too!)

 Maggie doing a little "surfing" on the kickboard (obviously prior to her cast)

 Colin and Daddy "talking" to each other under water

 My water babies

Everybody having a blast at the pool

Our crazy life lately...

So I was looking through my phone and our Ipad and found some pictures I hadn't posted yet, but wanted to make sure I put in the blog somewhere.

It's going to be a picture heavy post, but our life has been pretty crazy lately (and I secretly love it!)

 Saying our prayers at bedtime one night

I remember when all 3 of us used to fit into that chair much easier, and now we are squished!

 I went to a bridal shower one night this week with Maggie and Colin headed over to Grammie and Grandad's to spend some time there with his cousins (Johnny, Colin, and Peter)

 Tiff came over to our house on Friday to help Meemaw with gimpy Maggie.

She sent me this picture that she took before they headed out to do some swimming at our neighborhood pool.  Love this!

 Meemaw and Gordy were at the house too.  Sometimes I can really see Tiff in Gordy (mainly in his eyes), but then again, he looks a TON like Chad!

 A Holiday Island picture that Brian had taken - it stopped raining for just a bit so we headed out to play some mini-golf.  The kids did about 2 holes then ran for the playground.  Oh well...

 Our neighbor, Deb, gave Colin some really cool toys that her son Ethan used to love to play with.  This is an awesome marble track that you can build your own designs with.  It provides lots of entertainment...

 A few more pictures of the body art from Olivia's birthday party

 They sure do look alike in the face - just with different coloring

 My cousin Catlin came into town for one night a couple weeks ago - we were able to meet up for dinner once she arrived from the airport.

She had us laughing the entire meal - made us all miss our extended family that we don't see often enough.

 Chris and Caitlin's new baby, Daniel, was baptized tonight.  Katie and Michael are his godparents.

It was a wonderful ceremony and Daniel did fantastic (he really is a great baby!)

 The proud parents

 This was about the only time Daniel made a peep during the ceremony

 Chris and Caitlin's parents and Father Joe

And...in other news...

Maggie has a super bright pink and purple full leg cast on her right leg.

We saw the ortho specialists on Thursday and they decided she needed a cast for about 3 weeks.

She did great during the entire visit and had no issues with getting her cast put on.

 Here she is with her waterproof underlayer.

Yep, she has to get it wet on a daily basis (or else it might start cracking), so that means a lot of swimming time and baths!

 The finished product

She couldn't decide between pink and purple so she went with both!

It took her about 1.5 days to really feel comfortable walking with it, but she's doing great now.

She will be heading back to school on Monday, so hopefully all her friends will sign her cast!

I'm just glad she's walking with it because it nearly doubles her weight.  My arms just aren't used to carrying that! :)

 A sweet picture of Maggie and her GGRita at the baptism

Oh, and Maggie got her awesomely decorated dance bag from Meemaw this week, but I had to call and cancel her dance class that was supposed to start soon.  I had her in the June session, but have her moved tentatively to the July dance session, but that may have to get moved back to August depending on how her leg is healing.

And...Colin was supposed to start T-ball on Monday but that got pushed back a week because the baseball fields are a bit swampy from all the rain we have gotten the past week...

Can't wait to celebrate Father's Day tomorrow with Brian.  I think we've got one of the best ones around!

Holiday Island 2014

We went to Holiday Island, Arkansas for a family vacation last weekend.  

Despite the cooler, rainy forecasts the 4 days we were there, we had a wonderful time.

All of Brian's immediate family went, and there were 21 of us in total.  It was definitely a bit chaotic at times, but that's part of the fun! :)

The guys were only able to squeeze in a few rounds of 9 holes of golf (and one of them got them pretty darn wet!).  The weather didn't let us spend much time at all outdoors.  I know Colin and Maggie were disappointed they couldn't go out on a boat on the lake or go swimming in the pool, but they got lots of quality time with their cousins playing playdoh and looking for bugs underneath the deck.  There were plenty of slugs in case you were wondering :)

We all stayed in 2 houses that were very nice.  The house we stayed in was decorated in a unique outdoorsy (think LOTS of stuffed wild animals mounted and displayed throughout the house), log cabin feel.  It had an awesome front porch and we saw tons of deer grazing in the front yard each night.  

The adults spent their time playing Rummikub, mafia, Uno, Skipbo, etc.  

I only got a few pictures while we were there, but I think that's a good thing.  That means I hardly had my phone by me at all the entire time we were there.  Nothing like a few relaxing days 'unplugged' from reality!

John and Luke

The younger cousins enjoying a little movie action one night before bed

Oh, and we had one little "accident" while we were there.

Poor Maggie fell while running down a wet hill trying to catch up to her cousins.

Brian and I weren't around to witness it, but were told she just slipped and fell on her bottom.

Anyway, long story short, it appears as though she broke her leg.  The urgent care doctor (we took her in as soon as we got home yesterday) couldn't be 100% sure of the fracture, so we are seeing an orthopedic specialist tomorrow afternoon.  Until then, she is in a full posterior leg sling and she can't bear any weight on her leg until it is checked out further.  She has to be carried everywhere (she loves this!) and looks so pathetic with this huge wrap on her leg.  I haven't heard her complain once, she's such a tough little girl.

Maggie was being silly during the 4 hour urgent care visit.  She had 2 different sets of x-rays done and was given a small dose of narcotic pain medicine to make her more comfortable.  She was acting so silly after she got that medicine - she was talking a mile a minute and thought everything was hilarious.

Here she is getting her sling put on.  The doggy she brought in got one, too.  They didn't cut her sling long enough the first time so the doggy got the extra one put on her.  

And here she is, happy as a lark on pain medicine, eating her grape popsicle that she talked the nurse into giving her.

We'll let you know what the specialist thinks, but for now, she can't go to school (since she's not mobile on her own) and has Brian and I at her beckon call.  Sounds pretty good to her!

Despite the rocky ending, we had so much fun on vacation.  We are so appreciative that Marvin and Kathy scheduled this time together with the entire family to make wonderful memories!  Hopefully next time the weather will cooperate a little better :)

Parties and trips

 The last couple of weekends we have been pretty busy with parties and other trips.

Memorial Day weekend we had 2 birthday parties to attend, plus, we had Brett and Andy over for dinner on Sunday.  We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives for us to celebrate with.

The first party was at a bounce house-type place called Cosmic Jump.

Our kids were so excited to go jump some energy off (and they definitely did!)

 Once the kids figured out they get much better traction with their socks OFF, they ran like crazy all over the place!

 Maggie is that little blur at the top of the slope, she was trying so hard to make it up there

 She made it!  Hard work!

 Colin was taking a little rest from the action - that place wore him out

A different part of Cosmic Jump had huge inflatables to play on - you can't really tell, but they are standing on top of a very big slide.

After this party, we had cousin Olivia's 5th birthday party on Sunday at Michael's arts and crafts store.  

The kids had a lot of fun personalizing their own flower pots and decorating sugar cookies.  

They even got their face painted (or their arms, in Colin's case), which was a lot of fun!  There were many tears that night when I told them they couldn't sleep with their body art on.  Mean mom, party of 1!

Then, on Wednesday, I attended at work conference in Orlando, Florida for a few days.  It was super hot and humid there, but I had a blast meeting up with my friends from undergrad and graduate school.  There seemed to be a lot of topics this year that related directly to my job - always a good thing to stay current on the research.

Here are 4 of my closest Exercise Physiology friends (we all had the same advisor at Truman State) and we've all stayed in touch all these years.

I ended up getting sick one day in Florida (must've eaten some bad fish tacos), but I did a 5k Fun Run the next day and the headed home on Saturday.  The flight back was ridiculous, we were delayed both legs of our return flight for more than 3 hours (that we spent on the tarmac, stuck with a bunch of screaming kids and families coming back from DisneyWorld!)

But, I was able to get this awesome caricature of the kids drawn by some talented artist in the Orlando airport.  I absolutely love this thing - I got a frame yesterday and had Brian hang it up in the play room.

I think Colin looks identical to this picture - Maggie's face is much thinner in person, but the artist did a great job of capturing their personalities in the picture.