Happy 5 Birthday Annisten

 Annisten is the big 5! That is a magic number at our house. So many things can happen. Teeth fall out, school will start, and she can finally sleep on the top bunk of the bunk beds. Annisten loves gymnastics. What better place to have her birthday party than at a gym. She loved every minute of her party. I'm just sad that my pictures all turned out blurry.

Look how are little princess has grown over the years. We love you Annisten!

 

Happy 7th Birthday Peyton!

 On August 25 our little man turned the big 7! This was the year of friend birthday parties. I'm glad to say that it was not at my house! The kids all had a great time!

 Look how our sweet boy has grown. We are so proud of him!

 

August

I Do It!

Maddox thinks he is as big as the other kids. He tries so hard to do everything Peyton and Annisten are doing. One of things he insists is eating by himself. This has been a tough one for me because I don't want the mess, but I had to let go. Let's just say we don't call him Mad Max for nothing. 

He loves to eat his food from containers or bowls.

 

Royals Night

The weather has been terribly hot and our family has not gotten out much at all. There was finally a break in the weather. So we went to the Royals game and had a great time. Here are a few snapshots.

A Week of Ouches

 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and finally cooled off to the 80's and even some 70's! Our family has spent a lot of time out doors. Maddox has dirt and bumps of plenty to show all the fun he has had playing outdoors. Every time Corey and I turn around he is saying "Ouchy" in a sad  little voice. The left side of his face had a knot so big it scared us. The right side has been scraped three times in the same spot in his attempts at jumping. His little legs and arms were beat up by the end of the week as well.

Pumpkin Picks

Our family is trying our first garden this summer and everything has turned out tiny. From tomatoes and strawberries to watermelons, they are all the size of mini marshmallows. Ok the watermelons are the size of baseballs. I blame the heat and not my expert gardening skills :)!

Maddox loves to check the garden to find something to pick. Even if it isn't ready, he helps himself. Look at our first pumpkin! This one grew a bit early but everyone was thrilled about it. There are several more growing too.

Back To School

Its that time of year and the kids are going back to school. Peyton is in 2nd grade this year. Annisten has one more year of preschool; she just barely misses the cutoff date for kindergarden.

Peyton was very excited about seeing all of his friends but really nervous about his teacher. Turns out that she is a great teacher and might be one of his favorites! Peyton even has several friends in his class this year. His goal this year is to have a nice and neat desk. This I can't wait to see!

Annisten just can't wait for preschool! All morning she wore her backpack and talked about how she is going to wear the dress her Daddy got her for school.  She had a great first day. When I went to pick her up she looked exhausted and had bright rosy cheeks; even though she claimed that she was not tired at all.

A Trip to the Zoo

The kids and I took a chance and ventured to the zoo with some friends a couple of days before school started. It ended up being a great day for the zoo.

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

One night while brushing Annisten's teeth, I noticed that her bottom tooth felt lose. I looked at it again and sure enough it was lose. Corey and I are were shocked because she is only 4! Annisten started crying. We asked her what was wrong and she said that she was so happy about her tooth being lose! We started laughing. Corey and I thought that maybe when her tonsils were taken out that the tooth was somehow knocked the loose.

After many days of wiggling.... the tooth came out. The Tooth-fairy left a huge pile of glitter and a couple of brand new dollars. Annisten was beaming with excitement. She wanted to put her new dollars towards the family's trampoline fund. The tooth fairy came back the next week because she lost the second bottom tooth as well. So crazy!!

This is a picture of the Tooth-fairy visiting our house.

Snow Day in August

The weather has been record breaking hot in Missouri. Actually on the news the weatherman said it has not been this hot since the early 1900's! Oh so lucky for us. Well I have been running out of activities and ideas to keep the kids busy. So why not a snow day. We are all wishing it.

 
We built snow forts...

Wore winter coats .... ate chili and cornbread....

... and watched Home Alone. It turned out to be a great day.

Summer Fun!

Getting Caught up
I'm not sure why I have fallen so far behind on my blog. It has been in the 100's for the last two months and we have not ventured outside much.  Maybe its because I have three kids and I am trying to find ways to entertain them inside the house.




May

Said goodbye to school and hello summer!

The kids loved playing outside! Peyton has found a new friend that just moved in a few houses down. They have become instant best friends. Peyton always tells me, "Mama, Derick is the best friend that  kid could find."

June

Annisten had her tonsils out. She was so brave!

My Grandma had her 88th Birthday!

July 
We had a family get together with swimming and fireworks.

Maddox wants to be independent and do things on his own. This is one that we do not encourage!

For the Love of the Game!