Muppet Movie

I am loving that my kids love to watch the muppet movie. It is so funny (even the 20th time ;)

What I love even more is that the lullaby I have been singing to my kids since they were little "Rainbow Connection" is moved to a whole new level. Caught Zachey singing it this morning...sweetest thing ever!

Parade Time

Every year Ankeny does summerfest the week after the 4th...why we don't know, but we do have a good time :) This year josh was gone, so I had to plan accordingly. Good thing we have family support!

On Friday night they have a sort of "pre-parade" that all the little kids get to participate in. Its just a 3 block walk and you have to be under 10 I think. They still thrown candy, and McKenna wanted to be in it on behalf of Dojos...soooooo badly! So Gona came down to help wrangle the boys! They were not happy to have to sit. Both did great during the parade and I told them that they could have icecream after. Well Grayson had a MELTDOWN. It was 7 o'clock...so Gona was nice enough to take the kids for ice cream while I took screaming Grayson home :)

The next morning I had planned to take the kids to the BIG parade. But Friday morning I had had the worst pain in my lower back. It last an excruciating 4 hours, before I could take them to Eski's and head to urgent care. Turns out I had a kidney stone! I thought the worst was over, but Saturday had the same intense pain at 3am. Luckily Auntie Em came to the rescue and took them to the parade. Finally started feeling better Saturday afternoon. The cause is stress (hmmm....ya think? LOL)

As usual I have to edit all the candy the kids bring home...this is JUST McKennas! I try to throw all the gum and hard candy away. Then I tuck it away in the pantry so they sort of forget about it. The Ankeny parade is turning more into a commercial parade than fun horses and clowns..we may opt out next year?

Thanks to all my wonderful family for saving me this weekend!

All I Want for Christmas

Kenna has lost 4 teeth now. We went to the dentist on Wednesday. Her front tooth was dangling by a thread! She was so reluctant to pull it worrying that it would hurt. We got there and they cleaned her teeth (we need to work on brushing...) and then they started talking about this magic gel that would numb her tooth. She was soooo nervous! Finally with coaxing from me, the dental assistant and the dentist she let them put on the gel. Then she bravely reached up and pulled it out with her fingers!

The tooth fairy brought her a dollar and a note saying that if she did better at brushing then her next tooth would be worth a little more. The tooth fairy doesn't much like dirty teeth :)

 

She wanted a silly one too :)

Kathleen Drives Through

Kathleen passed through Des Moines on Tuesday. She is making a cross country move with her family from maryland to washington. They are taking 2 weeks to do it, stopping along the way. Then they are stopping for a day here or there at the grand canyon or disneyland. Was fun talking about our days at Wendys 15 years ago. Man...that makes me feel old! Her kids are about the same age as Zachey and Grayson, and I think they just loved having a break from the car and destroying our playroom. Was fun to have them!

Kayaking through Island Park

Ian (one of Chelsey's friends) had the great idea to go floating down the river in Island Park. The river is right near Yellowstone and it is just breathtaking. Usually you see quite a few moose, and enjoy swimming and splashing eachother as you float the 5 miles. Today was a little different as it rained in the morning and was pretty chilly (probably 65-70 degrees.) And, since the water comes straight out of the mountains, it was REALLY cold! So, luckily we either bought or  borrowed sweatshirts and headed out!

 Josh, James, Ian and Chels

We saw moose just about the time the boys got high centered in the canoe...Josh must have drawn the short stick and got out to push. It was funny when we were all debating on whether to get life jackets or not. The attendant says...."If you start to drown..just stand up...the river is between 1 and 7 feet deep." We all laughed, but she was right. I got tricked into turning right into a sandbar.....thanks to my lovely husband...that was a trick to get out of!

I wish I had captured this on video. Chelsey was cruising along and got high centered on a branch. Ian came to her rescue attempting to ram her kayak...only to knock his over and tumble in the frigid water....How he didn't freeze, I have no idea! Luckily the other boys paddled upstream and helped him back in...he shivered dry by the end.

TOES!

It really was a peaceful fun day. I love this last picture...I could live here :)

The 4th in Menan

The 4th of July in Menan is a big deal :) My mom grew up here and most of her siblings still live here! Aunt Laura drove over from Boise, so we really did get to see almost everyone! We drove to Menan on Tuesday evening. Megan and her family were so gracious to double their family size for a few days and allow us to crash in her basement. The kids definitely enjoyed the ability to run and play with any toys they wanted! Their house is big, so we had plenty of space to spread out! Kenna and Zachey shared rooms with Isabelle and Hyrum (at least the first night ;) The girls did great, but Zachey wandered in to James and Megan's room at 6am one morning, so we moved him downstairs the last night.

Every morning we were treated to monster smoothies and really had just a wonderful time! Thanks to our gracious hosts! We even got a chance to sort of play cards one night...a treat that we rarely get with three little ones, and I think Josh got James addicted to Minecraft....sorry Megan!

The 4th we finally got to see everyone. Megan brought over these water toys, and they were a hit! We started the day at the festival outside the church. There was face painting, games, and surprisingly good food! Grayson took the longest nap in history...like 4 hours! And the kids all had fun playing in the water! Kendra has three kids, two of which are close in age to Megan's and ours, so plenty of fun to be had.

We played board games on blankets in the yard....team Skinner/Shoemaker dominated Guesstures!

Look at these two silly girls...they had so much fun together, wish we got to see cousin Isa more often!

waiting for the parade to start

hmmm, only in Idaho...although this would also happen in Iowa LOL

The face paint was so worth the $3.00 :)

Synchronized horse riding, it was pretty impressive!

FINALLY Grayson got up from his nap...he enjoyed the water too

What is this pose?

The kids had an ABSOLUTE meltdown before fireworks. Kenna's pants were too tight, then she burned her finger on a sparkler, Zachey was tired....but once they started they did okay. It was the longest show I remember, almost 45 minutes...not bad for a little town of 1000 people!

SPARKLERS!!

My family is so amazing. Each night a different family hosted dinner. We had pizza, barbeque, smores, Aunt Diana's famous mexican food, the most delicious desserts. It seemed like the week flew by, but was so good to see everyone, hear what all the cousins are up to and just have time to catch up! We are going to try and make this an annual affair. Hopefully we can work in more of Yellowstone as the kids get older. I have such fond memories of the park, hope they will too! Happy 4th to all!!

Grandpa Bobs

We just spent a week with almost ALL of my extended family! What a blast!! It started with the best connection I have ever seen from des moines to Idaho falls. We left at 630 in the morning and got in at 930! We only had a brief 40 minutes in denver...so there was some husseling..but we made it just fine! Took a little switch-a-rooing so that all of us could sit together, but people were very nice!

Grandpa Bob picked us up at the airport in his giant truck. All the kids fit and luckily their carseats and our bags made it! We got to see Grandma Mary, Julianne and Brooke and Hannah. We worked out a great sleeping system where Grayson would crash in the office in a pack and play, Zachey would fall asleep in Hannah's room (where Grandma slept) and Kenna would sleep out in the motorhome. We would move Zachey to the motorhome when we went to bed and everyone actually slept pretty well that way! 

The kids had so much fun swimming. Dad belongs to a pool with his 12 neighbors...so it is never busy and super nice!

They spent more time in the water than out I think! Zachey wasn't a huge fan. We brought his little floater suit..thinking he would jump right in. For the most part he stayed near the edge most of the time.

Poor guy...I HAD to shoot a picture of his cute little buns...how adorable is that! Lookout Michael Phelps!

 Grayson walked down with me for what I thought would be a minute...he instantly wiggled and wanted to get in! He LOVED it!

Kenna was fearless with water rings, noodles and goggles. She did the diving board, slide, jumped in, you name it!

On Sunday dad invited Cory, Trevor and all of their kids to a huge barbeque. A lot of Julianne's family came too. It was perfect weather and the kids all headed to the pool at the end of it all. Was great to see everyone.

 The cars cupcakes were a hit

On Monday night we went to Tautphaus Park to meet up with my best friend from elementary school Jenny Baker - now she goes by Jenn Galles ;) Was so fun to see her two little ones and meet her husband. It is funny how little we both really have changed. Obviously look different and have kids now...but we picked up right where we left off!

 Picture Kenna snapped of her HA!

We had fun on this rocking boat

 Jenn snapped a family picture for us and a few others below

After we got up on Tuesday, the second half of our vacation continued in Menan!