Back To School

I can't believe we have a First Grader!  Carter has a wonderful teacher & has already made new friends in his class this year.  He was nervous about starting First Grade, but seems to have adjusted well.  

A fun Throwback Thursday from two years ago...

 Carter & Mr. Sweetman

 Davis is in his final year of Preschool and has Ms. LaDonna & Ms. Teresa again this year.  He walked right in as if no time had passed & barely stopped to hug mom good-bye.  I keep telling myself that's a good thing.

 These boys love each other to pieces...when they're not fighting.

Goofballs!

Just for fun, see how much our little $15 tree has grown in three years! This was last year's back-to-school picture.  Below is when we first planted the tree in 2011.

We love our school!

Celebrating Mimi

Mimi paid us a visit last week, so of course we had a very belated birthday celebration for her!  We didn't get to do as much partying as we would have liked (life kind of got in the way), but drinks and dinner on the patio were just our speed!  

 Mimi & Sister

 Mimi and her favorite Son-in-Law

 Just the girls!

 Mimi and her rowdy grandsons.  The only way we got them to sit still was to bribe them with dessert.

 Mimi's birthday pie. Yummy!

Even Captain America wanted to help Mimi celebrate! We love you, Mom!  

New Splash Park/Playground

There's a new public park not too far from us that is soooooo cool!  It has two awesome playgrounds AND a splash park!  The boys and I checked it out recently and had a blast.  

 Climbing & pole sliding with no fear.

 Davis was hiding under the frog waterfall & Carter was operating one of the sprayers (far right,close to top of the screen with the grey rash guard on).

 Davis being king of the mountain...or toad stool.  Whatever.

So lucky to have such great parks nearby!

Kelsie's Birthday Par-tay

Kelsie Rae turned 24 this month...I can't believe it!  We had a small family celebration at our house, complete with chocolate birthday pie and cake.  Davis really wanted to help her blow out the candles.  

 Photo bombed by Aunt Sister.  Love it!

Just the girls!

Cozy Cow Dairy

One of my coworker friends organized a play date outing to Cozy Cow Dairy in Windsor.  We met everyone up there (it's quite a drive) for a fun tour of the dairy. It is quite an operation! They do everything from birthing calves to selling ice cream, cheese and fresh milk in their farm store.  

 Getting ready to learn about the different types of cows & which ones produce the most milk.

 The older calves.

 The baby calves.  We got to pet one that was only three days old!

 Silly boys!

 Watching the cows get milked.  (I felt sorry for them.)

 Carter apologizing to the pony for being out of feed.

 Davis got to feed the big horse.

 Sampling the fresh milk, cheese curds and ice cream after our tour.

 We even got to see how they bottle all of the milk.  Very cool tour!

Beautiful day in Colorado.  So lucky we get to live here!  (Not that we live on the actual dairy...you know what I mean.)

Crown Center Coolness

I've said it before & I'll say it again, Kansas City has a lot to offer families.  We always have fun going to Crown Center--there's so much to do!  First stop, posing by the Lego people of course!  We didn't make it to Legoland this trip, but I promised the boys we would go next time.  

 We had a great time at Fritz's for lunch.  Having your meal delivered by a train running along a track above your table just never gets old!

The kids' exhibit this Summer was borrowed from The Magic House in St. Louis, so we knew it would be cool.  The theme was Saving the Planet.  Too bad Sean missed it!  (He was playing disc golf with Uncle Josh.)

 Sorting items to go into the recycling truck.

Let's back this thing up!

 My little scientist.

 Is this supposed to be foreshadowing?

 Grumpy Darth Vader football player.

 Beautiful waterfall inside the Crown Center hotel. 

We had a fun afternoon!

Shrink It, Dink It and Call It a Craft

I remember LOVING Shrinky Dinks as a kid, so my mom got the boys a space-themed kit to try at her house.  It was pretty awesome, actually.  The boys loved every second & the only negative was when Davis lost Robo Doggie (his favorite) outside in the back yard.  It took a while to recover from that, but I'm sure we will live to Shrink another Dink someday. 

 Coloring before baking.

 They insisted on standing there to watch their creations shrink.

 I can't remember why Carter was mad, but it made for a funny picture.  Thanks for the cool project, Mimi!