Deanna Rose Farmstead

As part of Asher's birthday weekend, Shauna and I took the kids to the Deanna Rose Farmstead, a wonderful outdoor adventure for little people- and it's totally free!! They fed goats, walked with butterflies, and saw all sorts of other animals.

It was a gorgeous day that started out cool then warmed up enough to play in the water. After all that splashing around, the boys pants were sopping wet all the way up to their thighs- I don't think they noticed...

It Rained and Poured for 40 Daysies, Daysies...

So, most of you know a little bit about the flooding that happened here in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Michael has been working like crazy these past couple weeks out on the river, surveying the damage. He took many pictures of the devastation, and I wanted to share just a few.

The first one, taken May 15, is a trailer washed into a bridge on the Nodaway River, north of St. Joseph, MO. The water is still about 9 ft above normal after already dropping about 8ft.

The second one, taken May 7, is in Rulo, NE. The water is about 18ft higher than normal (this was taken at the highest the water reached here and about 1 hour before the levee directly across the river broke and lowered the water level about a foot and a half.) If you look closely, you can see the very top of a pick-up truck next to the house on the right and a man paddling around his house in a little boat.


The third one, taken May 8, is a riverside park in Parkville, MO. The water is about 20ft higher than normal.

Happy Birthday Asher!

On the actual day of Asher's birthday, we headed out to Antioch Park for the annual Turkey Creek Festival. The whole park was blocked off and filled with all sorts of fun things for every age!

Here a handful: Train Ride, Petting Zoo, Pony Rides, Jumping Castles, Pedal Boats, Vendors, Face Painting, and Charicature Drawings.

The kids stopped by to visit a very friendly clown who made them some balloon shapes and animals. I think we made it home with two after the others had popped completely (or lost a limb somehow).

One of Asher's presents was a striped t-shirt from his uncle Martin. This is the same shirt he got Josiah for his birthday and the same shirt he bought Andrew- so we had to make them wear the shirt on the same day! Ahhh, don't you love matching children?!?


I think the kids enjoyed the food, too. Ellie and Andrew found the cotton candy and we found the funnel cakes (I really should say I searched for the funnel cakes and shared them with my family...) Messy, but delicious!!


One of my favorite moments of the afternoon was when the boys had a charicature drawing made of them. It was just so darn cute!





We had a great afternoon, but man- were we wiped out! I guess that's how a birthday is supposed to be right?

BASEBALL!

(I just added this picture of Michael- he was there, too...)

At the last minute, Michael and I were offered 4 free tickets to a Sunday afternoon Royal's Baseball game. It was raining when we left church, but we bundled up the kids, grabbed an umbrella and lots of snacks and headed for the stadium. I couldn't believe that we actually did it! Two Toddlers. During Naptime. In the rain. I know we must be changing (or going totally nuts) because we are never that free-spirited.

I'm so glad we did it because it was such a blast and the boys did great. They watched a little bit of baseball, made friends with some kids around us. They even got a stuffed koala bear when they came in, which they can take to the Kansas City Zoo and get in for free! We also got free kids meals from Bob Evans restaurant. We gotta do this more often...

Birthday

These are some pictures taken at a birthday get together/BBQ at Drew and Lauren Timberlake's. Paul Spears and I were both celebrating our 30th birthdays this week, so we thought it was a good excuse to hang out. It was a rather rainy evening for grilling, but Drew was determined to cook the all-natural hot dogs and brats he'd bought.

Haley Spears, Me, Lauren, and Ezra in his infamous sling (he's nestled in that sling most of the time, so we have to be fast to get a look at his sweet face!!)


Drew, Paul Spears, Michael. This was taken just before they polished off the whole package of "chorizo dogs" that they ate. They were pretty darn spicy- I think they were very proud of themselves!


Instead of a birthday cake, Lauren made cupcakes, and we each decorated and frosted our own. Josiah was totally into this. He's got two kinds of frosting, and he's toppping it off with sprinkles! Yummmmy!


This is a picture of Oliver Timberlake and Josiah during one of their calm, gentle moments with each other. They slowed down enough for us to take a picture of them, then they were off again!

New haircut!

So this is a picture of me with my new haircut. It was a little birthday treat for myself! I was hoping to put it next to a picture of Michael. I guess I thought was ironic that I chopped my hair and he hasn't cut his in months! He will not let me take a picture of him, so I don't have a picture to show you. Sorry. You'll have to remain in suspense (I will tell you that it's getting all curly by his ears and the back tickles his neck) Weird...