Gather together

We spent a little extra time at Mom & Dad's house mid July...Tim and Carissa's family were here and so all the family got together a couple times.

Jonah had a couple girls that really liked to watch and play with him.

Mia & Jonah playing the instruments.

Grandpa definitely got his work out in the pool...launching the kids in the pool.

Christian is soaring in this picture, and it looks like two more kids are lining up to go next! 

Poor Grandpa doesn't get a break.

Gia and Noah..she's a good lil' mama cousin.

One evening, we had frogmore stew...

a messy, but tasty meal. And the clean up is super fast, just throw away the paper!

Noah enjoys his cousins, however, he really likes to be by himself. Too much activity, and he is off finding his own thing to do. So during a moment like this, he piled up the chalk in the tricycle and made a "river for Grandma to 'wim in"

Jonah and Kade

Kade was saying to him, "you and me are going to be buddies when you get bigger."

Aunt Carissa reading Seven Sneezes (a favorite library book)...she's a pretty animated reader!

Summer fun

A glimpse of a few summer fun times....

One evening, we had planned to go to the airport restaurant (which ended up having a class reunion occupying the outside portion..which is kind of the best part of eating there). So, we ended up eating at Olive Garden (Christian's favorite) and then went to Barnes & Noble afterwards. It was a really fun time. We read books in the children's section, played with the Legos, and searched through the toys. Afterwards, we walked around near the water fountain and got a scoop of bubble gum ice cream from Marble Slab. It was a successful and fun night!

 We went to watch Mitchell play softball one evening. The Possums were smoking the pants off of the other team, so we walked to the nearby park. Oh Noah and his faces...he cracks me up. 

Just moments after this picture, Noah was going up the slide stairs, almost near the top when a fly ball flew over the fence, and landed at the top of the slide. My mama heart...aaaahhhh! I was thankful for the angels that kept him safe.

We went to the drive in on a Friday night to see Minions and Inside Out. These two stayed up for BOTH movies! Jonah needed some assistance to fall asleep, but then he was good to go. Snacks and drinks...made this outing complete. It was a humid night, but hearing their laughs made it very worth while.

I think the summer fun check list is probably not going to be completed this year..

but I'm grateful for the things that we DO get to do!

Wheat pictures [2015]

The wheat looked so pretty..Noah and I went out to look what field to take pictures in,

and that night it rained pretty hard.

When the fields dried up enough, we got our annual pictures in before they harvested.

Christian's face cracks me up.

This one really makes me laugh...how Ben and Christian have the same exact look.

Brothers

Oh my baby....you are getting so big! Crazy to think last year, we had just found out you were a boy around this time.

Love love love them.

Photo credit goes to our faithful photographer duo...Mom and Dad!

Progressive Day

Following our brunch with the Birky family on Saturday morning, we began our progressive meal process.

The first stop was Brent and Alyssa's house. It served as both the appetizer portion of the progressive meal AND a birthday party for Maddox! He turned 11 on Dec 19, but this way he had quite the family turn out...including Tim and Carissa's family and Alyssa's brother and sister-in-law's family.

Happy Birthday Maddox...we love you!

And originally, we were going to have our family pictures taken in the afternoon by the same lady that took ours in November. It had to be done outdoors...and it was QUITE chilly. So we cancelled the appointment. But really, it worked out, as Joel (Alyssa's brother) ended up taking our picture out at the BAMAK ranch. They found a relatively sheltered area, it was still cold, but it wasn't SO windy.

(Next two photos by Joel Sawyer)

 Of course a silly one..it cracks me up

There is just ALOT of areas to explore, climb, and enjoy nature out at their place.

This picture makes me smile..they were all looking down at the ground (not being told to do so).

After Brent and Alyssa's place, we went to Mitch's house.

There is plenty of space for us all to play.

 He was a pretty popular uncle for getting a new hot wheel set up for them to put together.

and a popular son for getting a pinball machine added to the collection of fun to play in his basement.

Pinball can be serious business. 

Jonah found a sweet spot on Daddy...

he's turning into quite the thumb sucker, and it is the cutest.

The chef busy in his kitchen.

Two different kinds of gumbo, sweet potatoes (they were SO good), homemade chicken fingers (for the kids), crab cakes, and boudin (pronounced bu-dan. It is a sausage from Louisiana filled with pork and rice stuffing. He is familiar with it from his work down there.) And Carissa brought a cole slaw.

I think he made enough food for another whole family the size of ours to enjoy :)

Noah had been playing hard..look at those rosy cheeks.

And lastly, they all came to our house for dessert.

Cherry crisp with ice cream or chocolate pudding pie.

The kids played and played.

This was a VERY full day of fun, food, and family.

I think we were all beat by the end.

Pre-Birthday Party!

Christian is turning FIVE very soon!

We thought we'd better celebrate early while Tim and Carissa and family were here.

The kids ate outside. It is one of the funniest things to see how Kade can get Christian to giggle so hard...that's what he was doing.

For his dessert...he got dirt (ice cream) cake with worms.

He's intrigued with real worms...and he is a big fan of ice cream (not so much of real cake).

After he blew out his candles, he handed out the candles to his cousins..asking if they would like to lick the ice cream off.

 He opened presents, and then we all went outside to play.

 It was a fun evening...so glad we could all celebrate together!

Family Zoo Day

Friday night we all went to the drive in to see the new Planes movie. It was a perfect, almost cool evening for it! 

Then Saturday, we all went to the zoo in Wichita. Tim even flew in while we were there, and joined us. It was a special treat to all go do something like this together!!

We started with a very tasty picnic that we brought with.

Uncle Brent was "getting" him...he loves it.

Hot, and ready for a nap...

we all had a very good time!