Happy Halloween!

Fun times tonight.  Mom & Luke stayed home, Dad & the rest of the crew hit the streets for a while.  WAY too much candy.  Happy kids.

Fun day at Legoland Discovery

We took advantage of the day off school to head here on Monday.  Perfect that it was pretty much empty! The kids had a great time.  We followed it up with a late lunch at Fritz's.

Happy Easter!

What a beautiful Easter!  We had a wonderful time with family.  Grandma Donna & Grandpa Jerry came and stayed with us for the weekend and we all loved having them.  They and the Lees joined us for Easter lunch at Aunt Stacy's with the Robinsons.  We went to the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening again and the kids really enjoyed it.  They did really well and especially enjoy the Liturgy of the Light (just makes mom & dad slightly nervous to have the kids all holding their open flames!).  I tried to catch some photos, but as you can see, the only possible group photos didn't even catch everyone in the shot.  Oh well.  It's tough sometimes to catch them all at once!

Twas the night before Christmas...

What a lovely evening.  Mass at 6:30 (which wasn't over packed, so it was wonderful), then home for snacks and bedtime.  Anne went in to brush her teeth and I had to enjoy: "Goodnight Santa who's watching me."

Our joyful little three year old.  Merry Christmas!

All the Cousins at Thanksgiving

Well here they all are -- all fourteen of the cousins together in Wash MO for Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa's.  We had such a nice time and it is always special when we can all get a chance to spend time together not only in the same state but even in the same house!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful holiday we had celebrating in Washington. We filled Grandma Donna and Grandpa Jerry's house with people and probably emptied it of plenty of food. Thanks so much to them for having us! We actually were able to get the whole family together as Uncle Gary and Aunt Lissy and family and Beth and Robert and family were there and we also got to see Uncle Ben. Eighteen people stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We arrived Wednesday evening. Thursday was a beautiful day so we were able to enjoy time at the park before the big evening feast. As usual, Grandma prepared a delicious feast. We tried to help, but she has big family holiday meals worked out like a well oiled machine.

Friday was colder, but we still got to enjoy family time. Friday evening we were able to go to the Parade of Lights in downtown Washington. Cool, but very fun. The kids all really enjoyed it. When we headed back to the house, Patrick made hot chocolate for everyone and we had a little birthday celebration for the babies - Catherine, Sara, and Blaise. Too bad Blaise was a bit under the weather. We missed them!

Saturday we decided to head home. Time to settle back in. Truly another great opportunity to make family memories with the kids and it was great to see them enjoying the visit and the fun with cousins. Pictures to come!

Happy Halloween 2012!

School night this year, so not a late night, but definitely a fun night.  I stayed home with Catherine and the rest of the crew hit the streets with Patrick.  They were troopers and had a lot of fun.

Fun with the Lees

Sure is always fun to see our friends!

14 Years and Counting

So Patrick & I celebrated our 14th anniversary this week. Time flies when you're having fun, right? We were able to go out for dinner over the weekend - thanks Grandma & Grandpa for watching the kiddos. We spent some time reviewing what plans we had for past anniversaries and reminiscing back to when we started dating in college. Funny how we were sure we had "so much to do" back then. We laughed about that for a little while. I reminded Patrick where we went for our first anniversary & then eating our frozen top layer of the wedding cake, etc. He was then wondering how many he could recall. Then I "dialed back" as he calls it and spouted off a number of our other anniversaries: dinners, trips, etc. I think he was impressed with my memory!

On January 3, 1998, I never could have envisioned that we'd be where we are today, but it sure is wonderful to have him as my husband, friend, father to our six wonderful children. He really works hard for us and I appreciate that very much. And like Patrick's parents always say, they sure are glad (as am I) that I was an engineer first! I can't imagine life without my trip through Rolla to meet him!

Happy Halloween! 2011

Well the weather was beautiful this year for Halloween. We spent some time at a neighbor's house for dinner & snacks before heading out to trick or treat with them. It was a lot of fun. The kids did great - more walking this year than last, but still were content to head home before 8pm - which was great since we had school the next day! Everyone got a good dose of candy. Probably one of my favorite things was how Leah wanted to really give out candy at home. When we arrived home, she sat on the steps with the big bowl of candy and was "waiting for customers." Then when someone came, she would give them their candy, then return to the steps to wait for the next "customer." She did tire out, though, but we knew she was really hoping for more people to come. We let her lay on the couch and wait for a few more customers. It was just the cutest thing seeing her so excited about it. We didn't have a uniform theme this year, but that gets a bit challenging with more & more people to plan! As far as all the jack-o-lanterns, we probably had 8-10. The kids had drawn faces on all of them and Dear-ol-Dad carved them all - probably about 4+ hours on Sunday. The carving was followed by him making pumpkin soup, toasted seeds, pumpkin bread, and later pumpkin pie. We had PLENTY-o-pumkin! Great job, Patrick!

Fall Fun in the Leaves!

Every year since Leyton & Nathaniel were about 20 months, I've managed to at least take a few pictures of the kids in the leaves. I think this year is probably fewer than I typically get, but still managed a few. We have plenty with this yard given our nice, huge, leaf filled oak trees in the back plus plenty of other trees and such. I enjoy them most of the year, but the leaves sure are a lot of work! We get a pretty good carpet multiple times per season. Oh well, all ways to enjoy the beauty of every season, right?

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made it to the pumpkin patch in October and we went to the one out in Gardner this time. Amazing to me that it costs $10 per person to get in, and that doesn't include any pumpkins. Sor for our 7, the coupons were very helpful! And, we did, however rack up some pumpkins - about 21 including some small ones. Each kid picked about 4 and Leah wanted to bring one home for the new baby. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.

June is gone...

So a month has gone by and it sure was fun filled and busy. We wrapped up vacation bible school and two weeks of swim lessons, so July will be a bit slower paced. The big boys have 3 baseball games left, and other than that, we get to make our own schedule. Leyton is debating some tennis lessons and Nathaniel is debating more swim lessons. We'll see. We've been swimming a lot and I'm sure that will continue. The last couple days are giving us a real taste of summer as we've been up near 100 degrees and very sunny. I'm just hoping the rest of summer doesn't go by too quickly! I know the 4th of July always brings thoughts of the impending return to school in August, but we'll make the most of it!

Memorial Day Weekend Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, I took the kids to see Grandma Donna & Grandpa Jerry. We had a great time visiting and finding fun things to do. Patrick stayed home to get some projects done - the long awaited painting of our master bathroom & bedroom. It's been a work in progress since we moved in almost two years ago! It really looks nice and I love the colors. Just need to finish putting our room back together. He worked hard while we were gone!

So, while we were gone... On Sunday, we went to the Science Center in St. Louis and the kids had a great time checking out the mummy and all the hands on stuff, but I think their favorite was definitely the experiments/demonstrations. They had ones called, "Energy out of control" (they made a fire tornado using a mesh trash can, record player, tuna can, alcohol, and a lighter), "Boiling Hot, Boiling Cold" (used a lot of dry ice & fun stuff), and "CO2 where are you" (info on recycling & impact of us and cars on CO2 type stuff). They wanted to watch all of them. It really was a fun time. Then on Monday, Leyton & Nathaniel got to go fishing with Grandpa & Uncle Ben. It was their first fishing trip and they caught a combined 13 fish! It was a special time. That afternoon, I took the kids to the park to play and there was an American Legion baseball game going on, so we also watched that for a while. They boys really liked watching the baseball game. It's so fun watching them get so interested in sports these days. On Tuesday, we came back home and brought Grandma back with us so she could watch Mya for a few days.

The kids were really excited to go and I know the way the trip went, it won't be long before they'll be ready to go again - they're always ready to go there! And don't forget - plenty of dessert to keep your heart content! Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa for all the fun & great hospitality!

Back-tracking to Mothers Day & my birthday

So I didn't want to totally leave out the wonderful celebrations we had in May for Mothers Day and my birthday. Patrick sure made them special. Mothers Day was sure a busy weekend. We decided to make a trip to TX to watch our godson Nicholas make his First Communion. On Friday night at 6pm we decided to go and we left at 7pm. We arrived at the hotel at 3am, got everyone back to sleep by 4am, and headed to Mass at 10:30. We had a nice day visiting with the Grahams and the kids could have all played for days. I got to check out the infamous Ikea so loved by many, and before we knew it, it was 6pm on Saturday. That's when we decided to head back home to KS. We made it home around 2:30am and that was the start of Mothers Day. We went to Mass followed by brunch at Barbara's with Natalie, Stacy & Jon, Greg, & Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan. After that, it was back home to settle in a bit before Patrick started making a wonderful dinner for all of us. I'm sure I've said it before, but it always sinks in that I don't need any kind of gift on days like that because the kids giving me the opportunity to be their mom is all the gift I need. They all made the day so nice. Each of the kids did make me a little something, though, and I loved everything.

That same week I got to celebrate again for my birthday! Another nice day. I had the day off work so I had lunch with the boys at school and Patrick came home from work early to make another great dinner. The kids got to have their once-a-year cake for breakfast, too, since we started doing that on Mom's birthday. A fun treat. It sure made for a very special week.

Happy Easter 2011!

We had a wonderful Easter celebration with family. On Saturday evening, we celebrated Mya's first birthday. The kids really enjoyed their cousin's party. An extra special treat was that Uncle Ben was able to come visit for the weekend. It was so nice to have him here with us & to be with family. We went to Mass Sunday morning followed by a very quick egg hunt at home. Then went to Uncle Robert & Aunt Beth's for lunch with Ben, Grandma Donna, Grandpa Jerry, and us. The kids were excited to get a bit more candy and some clothes from the Easter Bunny there. Then it was on to Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan's for a visit with the Robinsons...and another egg hunt. It was a wonderful day.

Happy Easter 2011!

April 24, 2011: what a wonderful day to celebrate the Resurrection!

Glorious Day by Casting Crowns has been on my mind.

No School today!

So the boys are out of school today for MLK Jr. It is so much fun having them home. Last week they had two snow days, on Mon. & Tues., and that was a lot of fun, too. I enjoy having them home & I know they enjoy an extra day to play. This morning, they've already played Blokus, Flip Uno, Sorry, and Chutes & Ladders. Then they played matchbox cars in the kitchen, and now they have moved on to Light Saber battles - that could go on for a while. I love hearing them playing and having fun. The girls have been playing playdoh and pretend kitchen stuff. Anne pretty much just tries to be part of whatever is going on. Sometimes, it happens to be destructive to others' efforts (like a lineup of about 30 matchbox cars getting kicked apart - not intentional, but you know). She's a hoot.

The only bummer of the day...I don't get to stay home for all of it...I have to work today. At least I get to spend the morning with them.

Christmas 2010 in Pictures

Christmas Morning at Home

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Robinson's

Christmas Eve at the Lee Home

Christmas Cookie Preparation

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was another wonderful season filled with many new memories. We went to visit Beth, Robert & Mya for lunch and they were wonderful hosts. Chicken nuggets, pasta with sauce, fancy cupcakes, and much more. We had a great time spending the afternoon with them and sharing in Mya's first Christmas. We went to Christmas Eve Mass and then traveled to Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan's for evening festivities with the Robinsons. It was a wonderful time. Then, we nestled in our beds in hopes that St. Nick would make an appearance...he did. Christmas morning was fun at home. Leah slept in until almost 9am, so the boys were REALLY anxious to get to the presents. Then, when she did get up, I actually had a big breakfast ready to eat, so we convinced the kids to eat first (can you believe that?). So we ate breakfast, then enjoyed the festivities. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed spending the day together at home. We are so blessed and really felt the spirit of Christmas. The next day, we were even suprised by a trip from Grandma Donna & Grandpa Jerry as they came through on their way home from Texas. Always nice to see them, too!