Country Stampede!!

The summer after I graduated from high school a bunch of my friends and I went to this new town to a big country festival...country stampede. We had a blast, drank alot, camped, partied with tons of other crazy college kiddos and celebrated our new found freedom that graduation from high school had brought. 2 years later....I went back with Kyle and a bunch of our friends.......repeat of the 2 years prior, only this time I had a special boy with me. We got to see some big country stars while we partied like rockstars.
Well...that strange town we went to that we'd never been to before...is now where we live. Who would have ever thought?!? I know I didn't. So we decided to check it out again, about 8 years later or so and see if we could make some new fun memories. This time my brothers, Carrie, cousins-Am, Sarah, Little Ray and his girl Lizzy, and my aunt Martha all came for the party on the prairie. Did I mention they all stayed at our house?! And my mom was also there to watch the kiddies. It was a totally different experience this time....I actually remember all the singers. And since I am a nursing mama I never had more than 2 drinks the entire weekend. I even had to leave to go nurse the baby.....what a crazy life I live now:) But it was a ton of fun. Reminded me all over again why I do NOT use porta potties (hadn't used one since the last country stampede!) The people watching was a blast and made me laugh out loud several times over the weekend. And having everyone together to do something fun was the best part. We got to see Keith Urban who put on an AMAZING show, other favorites were Miranda Lambert and Montgomery Gentry.
Of course...as our luck with air conditioners would have it....it went out Saturday night...16 people staying at our house and a birthday party the next day and the AC decides to not work. NOT GOOD TIMING! Kind of like last year when it went out and it was August, in Phoenix and I was 8 months pregnant...not good timing!

"A Day out with Thomas"

MUDDY day with Thomas

Breck trying to look at Kayden's new trains...

Happy Boy!

Sir Topham Hat and Kayden

A Family Affair!

"The cheeky one"

Kayden and Daddy with Thomas

Seeing Thomas for the first time!

Kayden had a big surprise on Saturday. Daddy and I planned a day in Baldwin City, KS with his favorite train, Thomas. It was so hard for me to keep the secret. I wanted to tell him so bad! But also wanted to see the look on his face when he realized what was happening! I held it in, even though I was about to burst. Friday night we told him that he had a surprise the next day and he had to go to sleep to have energy for it. He woke up in the middle of the night and asked if it was time for his surprise:) So he must love surprises like his mommy!
We woke up the next day to RAIN. And lots of it. I remember reading on the website "rain or shine" and thinking there was no way it would rain. Of course bc I thought that way I got rain! So we packed rain jackets and umbrellas and headed on the 2 hour drive to Baldwin City. And kept in the surprise the whole drive there!
It was worth the effort for me to not spill the beans bc he was so surprised and so excited for his fun day. He couldn't stop smiling and couldn't take his eyes off of Thomas. It was so fun seeing him get to be around this character that he plays with EVERDAY. We got to ride on the train for 45 minutes and Thomas pulled us, check out fire trucks, meet sir topham hat, check out a petting zoo with some fun animals...a turtle, a kangaroo, a baby camel, calves, and of course the classic goats at every petting zoo, there was a thomas video and storytime tent, and a tent full of thomas the train tables with trains to play with. Kayden had a blast! That night when he was going to bed he told Kyle "that was a really good surprise daddy". Aww, my sweet, innocent little boy, please always keep that big open heart full of excitment.

"why are you crying mama"

Last night I was reading an older blog post and for some reason got sentimental. Probably Kayden's upcoming 3rd birthday, for some reason around his birthday I always get sappy at how fast time is going and how he is getting big so quickly. Well Kyle and Kayden "caught me" bc my mascara was messed up around my eyes. Kyle knew right away why I was tearing up, "mama is being all girly and crying at how big your getting Kayden". Well Kayden had to have me tell him why I was crying and when I told him it's because he's getting big so fast he told me, "it's okay mama I can be little again"...........awww I wish it was that easy. But I love that you just wanted to make me feel better no matter what. Love you baby boy!

Camping Trip

sunset with my littles

Night time sillies

2 of my loves

Ready for an evening lake swim.

They bonded over bugs.

Teaching Carson all about worms!

Not sure how he got the good end of this stick....

kayden feeling cool in his new camping chair by the campfire.

Our tent. Kyle put it up with almost no help:)

Breck loving life as usual.

So we tried it again. Last year we went camping at it was a bust. I mean not totally. Kayden loved it and loved the stars in the sky. But we didn't have lighter fluid, didn't have the right pump for the air mattress and I was 28 weeks preggo with Breck...need I say more? :) So we decided to try again. This year we planned and probably had more than we needed, but that is okay with me! We met the Rogges at Milford Lake in Kansas and stayed Friday and Saturday night. We actually knew how to set up our tent this time! Yay! Big accomplishment! And we could start a fire! We had fire wood! And the air mattress inflated. It was gorgeous, green all around us, a big pretty lake to look at and the weather was great. We spent 3 days outside with great friends and our little family and it couldn't have been a better weekend. The one downfall of the trip...TICKS. I HATE TICKS! They CREEP me out so much. I haven't been out doorsy enough to experience ticks in a long time so them crawling on Kyle's leg or on Didi was almost more than I could take. We learned we will not take Didi camping again b/c she is a tick magnet and this creeps me out too much. But other than ticks the weekend couldn't have been better! Sitting by the campfire talking about old times, new times and everythign in between. And Kayden had a buddy for the weekend! Even though he and Cole struggled with sharing their toys together I could tell Kayden REALLY enjoyed having a buddy around for 3 days. It made me happy to see him getting to play with a friend and sad bc I know how much he misses his friends from AZ.
Kayden loved fishing and swimming in the lake, bug hunting with Cole, playing with worms, driving around trucks and roasting marshmallows and eating all sorts of other stuff mommy normally never allows to camping is an exception. You can't take granola food camping, it just wouldn't be camping without the preservative filled graham cracker that can stay good for like 100 years and those artificially flavored doritos! Funny thing is though...he does NOT like hot dogs. I know, crazy. I actually do like a good grilled hot dog very well. I don't eat them often b/c I know how bad they are but when I eat them they do taste oh. so. good. Well not to my 2 year old. He wouldn't touch it. Ate his bun and watermelon but it was a no go on the dog. (don't worry about it, it wasn't wasted I helped him out :)

Breck is 7 months!

Baby boy you have now been apart of our life for 7 months. I really can already not imagine life without you. What did I do with out that precious smile in the morning and those chubby legs to squeeze? I feel like you've always been apart of me. Always belonged to me. I remember worrying before you were born if I could ever love another baby as much as I loved your big brother. But I do. The instant the doctor put you on my chest those worries went away. In that moment I knew. I knew that I loved you just as much, exactly the same amount of love for you as big bro. It is still amazing to me every day how different you and big brother are. I had imagined you both being so similar, I guess bc you are both boys I just assumed you'd be carbon copies of one another. But so far you are a very different little person than your big brother. I love it. I love that I have two little people to teach me different things each day, to show me the world in different ways. This month you showed us alot more about who you are as a little being. You are developing your preferences and likes and dislikes and I can't wait to keep finding out more about you!

You have changed alot this past month little man!

-You perfected sitting up and do it all the time now, you prefer that over being on your belly.
-You can get all over with your squiggles and squirms but have no interest in getting up on all fours.
-Say "mama" and "dada" alot. Sometimes it seems like you are using it with meaning but it isn't on command yet and I'm still trying to decide if it's just babbles or if when you are saying mama and i"m in the other room if your trying to get my attention!
-weight 20 pounds, 2 ounces
-are starting to let us know your preferences! I was reading you books the other day and you were loving it, I switched from animal touch and feel books to a short curious george board book and you got MAD. I switched back to the animal books and you were instantly happy and even squeeled with delight!:) I love that you are starting to tell us what you want!
-play peek-a-boo with us with your aden and anais swaddlers. You pull it up over your head and will bring it down and smile until we realize you want to play and then you do it over and over at the right times while we are playing with you!
-have gotten to taste a popscicle, ice cream and sherbert (I think your big brother had to wait alot longer for his firsts tastes!)
-are still trying to figure out the sippy cup. Since you have only had a bottle a few times in your life you never learned how to hold a bottle up so you don't really get the concept yet of having to lift the cup up to get the water out.
-LOVE your aden and anais swaddling blankies. You love to cuddle them, stroke them and get very excited when I swaddle you to go to sleep in them.
-wake up from your nap and greet mommy with a BIG smile everytime. I walk into the room and you hear me and crank your head back as far as you can to see me and give me a big, sweet smile that makes me instantly a happy mama!
-Like to lay on your back in your bath and kick like crazy! You make a big mess in your bath.
-are very content with whatever your doing, playing by yourself, with mommy, on the floor, in your jumperoo, wherever you are and whatever your doing are usually ok with you unless you are tired and then you want sleep! Or hungry and need some mama milk.
-nurse on demand and eat 2 meals a day of mommy made pureed foods. You have liked everything I've made so far....apples, pears, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes
-like mum mums and organic happy bellies puffs and just now got some cheerios for the first time and like those too!
-are good in the car still! Yay!!
-get really excited when daddy gets home from work.
-get really excited whenever Kayden gives you any attention!
-Laugh when Kayden cries...this doesn't make your big brother happy at all!
-wear size 3 pampers still
-for the past 2 months I forgot a big thing...you have seperation anxiety from me. You like me to be near you and like me to put you to sleep, not so into daddy putting you to bed right now.
-you will go to sleep at night in your crib on your own with your blankie and your fishies playing.

The morning bug hunt.....

Every morning Kayden wakes up and asks "Can I go outside and look for rolly pollies" and out he goes with his bug catcher and hunts and hunts for rollies. He usually comes inside with over 20 rollies in his bug catcher. He LOVES bug hunting. He thinks his rolly pollies love him and like the home he makes for them...I think the rolly pollies are worried about extinction from the bug hunter!

Summer!!

Is here! I'm so excited for summer this year! Popsicles, ice cold beer, lightning bugs, frogs croaking, late nights with pretty sunsets, sun soaked babies, greasy sunblocked skin, baby bucket hats and sweaty headed babies. Memorial weekend marks the beginning of summer so we had a Memorial weekend full of shopping in KC, running through the sprinklers, splashing in the baby pool, and shopping for our camping trip coming up the following weekend.