Weekend Visitors

We had our friends Chris, Jennifer, and Ben visit from Columbia, MO this past weekend.  The guys hunted Saturday and Sunday mornings, but otherwise, we all just hung out and let the boys play together.  We had a great time with them and are hoping to visit them this summer after Ben's new baby brother arrives!

This photo was taken in April of 2011 when they visited with us. Kaleb had just gotten his wagon for Easter, and Ben got to share Kaleb's first wagon ride with him!

This year Ben got to pull Kaleb in his wagon.  We were headed to our neighborhood playground.

Ben is a pro at the rock wall!

He tried to teach Kaleb, but I don't think we're quite ready for that apparatus yet.

Ben had to stop and take a break on the way back to the house.

Saturday night before bed, I read "The Tickle Monster" to the boys.  Ben and Kaleb had fun taking turns tickling everyone with the Tickle Monster Gloves!

Kaleb's turn!!

All dressed up for church...  We were trying for "Cheese" but instead we got "Go Dogs!"

Melissa

My latest sewing project

I found this cute MS State fabric at Hobby Lobby last time I was in Mississippi.  I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but I couldn't pass it up.  I think it worked out great for these cute little shorts, and I have a bunch of fabric left for when Kaleb grows out of these or maybe even for a pillow case dress if we ever have any little bulldogs of the female variety!

Melissa

Old McDonald Had a Farm

Kaleb's favorite song goes something like this...

"ee i ee i ee i oh, woof woof, jabber jabber, bock bock, jabber jabber, ee i ee i ee i oh, moo"  followed by hysterical laughter.  He finds himself pretty funny!

Bruno's favorite place to nap in the basement is in Kaleb's farm on his John Deer blanket... had to share!

Kaleb is proving to be quite the country boy like his daddy, complete with his love for a big Ford truck!

Love these two!!

This face is saying "Honk, Honk!"

Melissa

Happy Easter!

We weren't able to spend Easter with our families in Mississippi this year, but we have great friends here that we celebrated with.  The weekend before Easter we had our friends, the Rukes and the Koskies, over for lunch and an Easter egg hunt.  The weather was perfect and the kids had fun hunting eggs in the back yard.  Kaleb played with his eggs for a week after that!

Jackson hit the jackpot!

Paisley and Jackson both shared their eggs with "Baby Kaleb!"  They are both seasoned pros at this egg hunt thing.

My big boy!

This is about the time we realized that ants had gotten into the eggs and were eating the Goldfish hidden inside.  Oops!

Paisley teaching Kaleb how to work the balloon!

Paisley's Mommy, Brandi, hanging out with Jackson's brother, Ethan, cheering on the big kids!

My Strawberry Lemonade Bunny cake!

Easter weekend was a busy one.  Saturday we went up to the Perkins Farm for Lily's first birthday.  I forgot my camera so I don't have many pictures from that trip. The Perkins just moved to Topeka a few weeks ago, so it was great spending an afternoon with them.

Kaleb enjoyed the dogs at the farm, and this one loved him!

Sunday morning we went to church.  Kaleb is usually pretty well behaved in church, but I think the crowded church got Kaleb wound up.  He was quite busy and loud.  Thankfully, the people around us were very understanding.  I was worried that the woman behind us was going to get really aggravated with Kaleb as he jumped up from under the pew and yelled "Boo!" at her quite a few times.  She just smiled and kept on singing!

After church we went to our friends, the Farmers' house for brunch.  We had yummy food and visited with them for a while.  Kaleb had a great time chasing their cats around.  Again, no camera... It would have been a good opportunity to get a family picture because their yard is beautiful, but I didn't think ahead very well.

We headed home for naptime, and then gave Kaleb his Easter "basket", a wheelbarrow full of goodies!  He was most excited about pushing the wheelbarrow around and eating his Goldfish Grahams.  We took Kaleb out front and took a few pictures of him.  He's in that stage where he doesn't want to stand/sit still and smile for the camera, but we did our best.

Later that evening, we had dinner with the Rukes at Kathy's parents' house.  The weather was amazing, and we were able to eat out on the deck.  Kaleb and Jackson had a great time playing together, and we enjoyed visiting with everyone.

I couldn't get Kaleb to take a picture, but Jackson gave me a GREAT smile!!

Kaleb and I didn't have time to dye eggs before Easter so we did it Tuesday after Easter.  He didn't know the difference, we got to make our Jungle eggs, and I got pictures of him doing it!

It's great that we have so many friends here in Kansas that have turned into our family away from home!  We have spent many holidays with all of them here when we haven't been able to make it "Home" to our families in Mississippi.  A great big thanks goes out to the Perkins, Farmers, & Rukes for inviting us to holiday happenings in your homes!!

Melissa

Spring Break

Kirk had spring break in mid-March, and it rained every day.  I had big plans for us: picnics in the park, the zoo, morning jogs, playing in the backyard, etc.  Instead, we sat in the house and watched it rain.  Finally, on Saturday, the sun came out.  We headed to the zoo!  Wichita has a great zoo, and we've been a few times.  We've never had time to see everything though.  Kaleb took his first trip to the zoo when he was about 7 weeks old, and he slept in the stroller the whole time.  This was his first real zoo experience.  I won't say he loved it, but he did enjoy himself.

 

Kaleb's first trip to the zoo in November of 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaleb's second trip to the zoo March 2012.

Our family picture... haha!

Watching the elephants with Daddy.

We spent the most time watching these guys strut around.  The turkeys, of course, were Kirk's favorite exhibit!

The funniest part of the day was when we were watching the chimpanzees.  There was a Mom and newborn that were in a separate cage from the rest, and we watched the baby for a while.  It was the first time Kaleb really reacted to any of the animals.  He pointed right at the Mommy chimp and called her "Pawpaw."  Of course we called my dad and picked on him about that.  Ever since Kaleb started saying "Pawpaw" he uses that word in funny ways.  Daddy often gets blamed for things.  For instance, one day I caught Kaleb throwing his shoes from his closet over the baby gate and down the stairs.  I started fussing at him, and he said "jabber jabber jabber paw paw, jabber jabber jabber jabber paw paw."  He was either telling me that Pawpaw did it or that Pawpaw taught him to do it!

I guess Spring Break wasn't a total bust considering I spent it with my 2 favorite guys huh?! 

Melissa

Not a Writer

I am not a writer.   I'm pretty crafty, and scrapbooking comes easier to me than writing, but I don't seem to find make time to get much of that done.  Kaleb's "baby book" is a scrapbook... that I haven't started yet.  He'll be 18 months old next week.  So, I have decided I will start blogging to keep record of happenings in our lives.  I'm still going to make time to complete a scrapbook of Kaleb's first year, but from now on, this blog will hopefully take place of that.  The other purpose of this blog is to keep our friends and family back home up to date on our "life on the Plains."  Kaleb does have a few admirers that ask often to see pictures of him.  So here goes... enjoy!

Melissa