Evelyn's Princess Party

Girls at the Royal Table

Trace with Princess Evelyn

The McGuire's (Merillat) invited us up to Ann Arbor this evening to be a part of their daughter, Evelyn's 5th birthday party. We were asked to arrive in royal attire and so we did. The girls had fun dressing up like princesses. Kaylee even got to wear the tiara I wore on my wedding day. She thought that was pretty cool. I also let the girls wear some of my fancy jewelry. Trace dressed up as a knight and was cute as could be. The girls had fun getting autograph's from Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. Even Prince Charming was there. It was a fun evening!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my 35th birthday. My day began with a pot of coffee, a homemade birthday card from Kaylee and a homemade gift from Kianna. The kids and I spent part of the morning at The Centre's 1/2 mile path working out together. I ran while Kianna rode her scooter, Trace rode his new bike, and Kaylee rollerbladed. Trevor took the afternoon off work and took me out to lunch and to watch the new Bourne movie. It was great getting out of the house for awhile. The kids had the house decorated for me when I got home complete with balloons, streamers, and a birthday banner. It was a fun surprise. We had hot fudge sundaes for dessert and spent the rest of the evening at VBS. It was a nice birthday.

Our Baby Girl is Six

Kianna wearing the shirt Kaylee made her for her b-day. Kaylee made sure it had the fruits of the spirit on it.

Mommy and girls

Boys- Don't Smile

Chuck-E-Cheese

Friend Party

Star Wars Buster Bar Cake

It is hard to believe that Kianna is 6 years old. I think this has been her most anticipated birthday thus far. We have been on the countdown for a number of weeks. Kianna's birthday began with me telling her the story of her birth. She enjoys hearing about she got stuck and had to be cut out of me. After that, just like on Christmas morning,  she opened her gifts first thing in the morning. The main things on her want list were a scooter without training wheels (two wheels vs. three wheels), a unicorn dream light pillow pet, and an electronic light saber. She was excited to receive each of them along with a few other items. Kianna has decided to try jazz dance this Fall and so she also received some jazz shoes, tights, and a fancy "jazz" hat, which she is excited about. She has been asking to take dance lessons since early this year, so it will be interesting to see how she likes it. We are entering unchartered territory for Trevor and I, as neither of us are the least bit musical. The only dance lessons we have taken are the ones preparing for our wedding reception, remember our waltz?

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The rest of the day was spent doing whatever Kianna wanted. She had Daddy make scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. We then went on a family walk/run/bike/scooter ride around the neighborhood several times. She loves her new scooter and didn't want to stop riding it! We headed to the Pizza House in Ann Arbor for some yummy pizza for dinner. Our waitress made Kianna's birthday extra special by giving her a free chocolate shake. She thought that was pretty sweet. The rest of us had a tough time getting a bite! After dinner, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and had fun playing games. It was a fun day spent together as a family.

Today Kianna had her friend party. She hadn't seen most of her friends all summer, so it was fun for them to reunite. She chose to have this year's theme be a Star Wars Pool Party. Our kids have all gotten hooked on Star Wars ever since Trace received the animated Clone Wars DVDs for his birthday in January. Her cake was decked out with Star Wars figures, which she thought was pretty cool. She chose to have buster bar for her dessert and even helped me make it. We love buster bar! My only complaint was that we only got one piece, although after calculating the calories it ended up being a good thing...

In addition to Star Wars and Jazz dance, some of Kianna's other interests include:

• Playing soccer- She played soccer this season and absolutely loved it. She especially likes scoring goals.  
• Playing with her brother and sister- Being the middle child she gets along great with both of them individually. Kianna is really good with Trace. They have developed a special bond and really enjoy playing together, especially Star Wars and super heroes. They also enjoy aggravating each other, things can go from good to bad quickly with those two! Kaylee and Kianna enjoy more of the girlie things together like dolls, tea parties, and doing crafts. The three of them enjoy playing Star Wars and house together, where Trace is the baby or the dog. Unfortunately, the three of them can only play together for brief encounters before trouble breaks out and man are they loud...
• Coloring and Crafts- She really enjoys to paint and is quite good.
• Singing- Kianna loves to sing and can often be heard singing loudly to herself. She enjoys making up songs, especially ones about how much she loves Jesus. 
• Stuffed animals- She has a lot of them and wants more.
• School- She loves school and is excited to start Kindergarten in a couple of weeks. She loves math and is pretty good at it. She has been learning to read and is quite good at sounding out words. We are currently on lesson 43 out of 100 in our reading book. We have a ways to go, but she is catching on fast. 
• Swimming- Kianna loves to swim and has learned to swim without her swim vest this summer. She has also learned to go down waterslides, dive under water for dive rings, and do somersaults in the water. She is a little fish.
• Climbing- Kianna loves to climb. It doesn't matter if it is a tree, on top of our monkey bars, or a climbing wall. If allowed, she will climb it.
• Snuggles- Kianna loves carrying our dog around the house. Snuggles can often be found cuddled up next to Kianna at bedtime. He is a good snuggler. 
• Dresses- Kianna loves to wear dresses or skirts. She loves to accessorize with jewelry and has recently developed an interest in doing her own hair. She is getting pretty good at ponytails and is learning to braid.
• Jesus- Kianna loves Jesus and enjoys learning about the bible. 
• Being silly- Kianna has the best smile and laugh.
• Snacks- Kianna loves snacks. She is a slow eater and has trouble finishing her meals at times, but this girl sure loves snacks. She especially likes pistachios and apples. 

We love our little Nana Bear! We are proud of the little girl she is becoming; she has a big heart and a kind and sensitive spirit. We love you Kianna! 

Yau's Visit

 

My good friend and college roommate, Jodi, and her family came to visit us for a couple of days this week. They are in the process of moving from St. Louis, MO to Knoxville, TN. We had just missed them by a day or two in St. Louis but thankfully Jodi's from Michigan and they decided to spend a few weeks visiting friends and family in this great state prior to settling down in Knoxville. We were excited to meet their newest addition, Hannah, and to get to know Mila, their two-year-old better. It was fun to hold a newborn baby again. Kaylee and Kianna even took turns holding her, which they enjoyed. I sure don't miss those sleepless nights though. I could tell how exhausted both Paul and Jodi were and don't miss that at all. We had fun with the kids swimming, playing outside, going to the park, and taking a hike in the woods. Jodi and I were able to enjoy a quiet walk just the two of us and the guys got away and played some frisbee golf, which they enjoyed. We had another fun visit with friends. We are truly blessed!

School Shopping with Kianna

Kianna and I snuck out just the two of us today to do a little school shopping. She had fun giving us a little fashion show. She is quite the little diva!!! As you can tell from the pictures, she loves to wear dresses and accessorize...

Issa's Visit

If you look closely you can see me in full sprint mode right after I passed the 1st guy and determined to catch this older guy ahead of me...

Ouch I pulled my hamstring

Racers

Trace right after he found out he was going to get a medal

Kianna running

Kaylee running hard

Girls' Summer Running Club

Our good friends, The Issa's, came to visit us this weekend. They like to come for Community Celebration Day at The Centre. On Saturday morning, the kids all had their races. Kianna and Trace ran the 1/2 mile race. Kianna made it the whole way without stopping or complaining, which made us proud. Trace on the other hand decided he didn't want to run right after he started. We teach our kids to finish what they start, so he did make it around eventually, even it meant being carried across the finish line. Thomas, Kaylee, and Gabriel all ran the mile race this year and did a great job. Thomas got 1st place, Gabriel got 4th place and Kaylee made it the whole way without stopping and ended up getting 11th out of quite a few kids. We were proud of all the kids. They all received medals, which made Trace pretty happy. Unfortunately, Jonathan broke his arm a couple days before coming to MI, so he wasn't able to run this year.

I ran the 5k for the first time and ran it in 27:26. Apparently, I am a little too competitive for my own good, as I ended up injured. I decided to sprint the last 500' and try to catch the middle aged man about 30' ahead of me. After catching him, I decided to try for the older gentleman about 30' ahead of him. I did catch him right at the finish line and that is when I felt a "pop". My leg gave out right at the finish line and I almost took the older man out as I was trying not to fall. I'm sure it was quite the scene. I'm a little embarrassed by just how competitive I am and yet I know that I would do the same thing next year given the chance. I spent the rest of the day in a significant amount of pain with an extremely sore hamstring. In fact, it hurt so bad that I missed the rest of the days events. I felt bad having to miss out on time with our friends, but knew it was necessary.

Everyone else spent the rest of the day getting faces painted, jumping in bouncy houses, swimming, and attending the evening's festivities of "Minute to Win It" games. Unfortunately, the concert and fireworks ended up getting rained out. On Sunday, the adults hired a sitter and had an evening out. We went to the new Batman movie and out for a nice dinner. It was another good weekend with friends!

Our Trip to St. Louis

Kianna and Kit with their ears pierced

Souvenirs

St. Louis Arch

Kids at the arch

Family Picture

City Museum

Us all climbing in tubes

This is the ball pit where Trevor's glasses were broken

Six Flags with Scooby Doo and Shaggy

Trace on the carousel

Mommy and Kaylee riding Superman

Getting ready to ride the swings

Boo the swings had technical difficulties 2x when it was our turn to ride them.

Since we moved to MI and our good friends, The Hayes, moved to Dallas, TX about five years ago, getting our families together has become challenging. As a solution, we decided to meet them halfway in St. Louis, MO for a few days. It was so good seeing them again. Even though our kids hadn't seen each other for nearly three years, it was as if no time had passed. We soon discovered that their kids are nearly as obsessed with Star Wars as our kids, so they had an instant bond.

Our days were action packed and a bit of a whirlwind. We left Bloomington on Sunday morning and arrived in St. Louis that afternoon. We went directly to The American Girl store to surprise Kianna with  an early birthday gift. She has been wanting to get her doll, Kit's ears pierced since she got her own pierced in the Spring, so we thought this would be the perfect chance to get that accomplished. She didn't know their was a store in St. Louis, so it was quite a surprise. It was so cute how she immediately knew what store we were going to just by seeing the red building with its large white star. We also gave both girls some money to pick out a souvenir from our trip. They had fun shopping. Trace and Daddy did some shopping of their own. Trace ended up picking out two Star Wars blasters, as his sourvenirs, which he and Graysen had a blast playing with all week. Kaylee was exciteded to learn that their was a Cheesecake Factory in St. Louis, although I don't think she was surprised. It is tough to keep secrets from here, since she now knows how to read and do her own google searches. She had told me that she saw that I had recently done a search on The Cheesecake Factory. Sometimes I think she is too smart for her own good. We had so much fun going there last Fall, that she had been wanting to go there again. It just so happens to be one of my favorite places, so I was happy to oblige. I was proud of Trevor and I, as we actually ate off of their new skinnylicious menu and looked up the calories of our cheesecake prior to ordering it. I actually left there not stuffed for the first time in my life and yet my belly was still happy after eating my turtle cheesecake. Yummy!

Monday, we met the Hayes in downtown St. Louis so we could see the arch up close. We took a quick tour through the arch's museum prior to heading to the City Museum. The latter was amazing! It filled with tons of crazy stuff. We were told it has the largest non waterslide in the world, at 10 stories high. It was quite a climb to get to the top, but the kids must have enjoyed it because they wanted to do it again right afterwards. There were some neat caves indoors to explore, as well as, lots of things to climb through. Unfortunately, none of our vacations would be complete without Trevor losing or breaking something. Trevor ended up getting one of his lenses knocked out of his glasses after Trace threw a ball that hit him just right wrong. Once located it had some really bad scratches and was deemed unrepairable. After a trip to Lenscrafters and ~$400 later, Trevor had a new pair of glasses and was good as new. Ugh!

We spent both Tuesday and Wednesday at Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor. We had a great time. The waterpark provided a nice respite from the 103 degree temperatures and led to no lines at Six Flags. We stayed in an air conditioned cabin at Jellystone Campground. We had our own kitchen and firepit, so we made our own meals with The Hayes. We spent our evenings swimming at their pool, making Smore's, and after the kids went to bed chatting it up by the fire. It was a great vacation and fun times with friends!