Discovery Depot Donation

In June, Addysen and Peighton had a lemonade and cookie stand where they made quite a bit of money.  This is their second year of doing this.  They have a blast running their stand, asking people to buy from them, filling glasses of lemonade, handing out cookies and collecting money.  This year we decided to donate the money they earned from their stand to the Discovery Depot in Galesburg, since they both love going there so much!  So we planned a day to go there, donate our money and play! To our surprise, they made a big deal about the girls donating their money and thanked them many times.  They even took pictures of them and put their story on their facebook page.  It was great for the girls to see that what they are doing is really important and special.  We are very proud of them!!

Holding hands and walking in... Could they be any cuter?

Peighton and Addysen showing off the card they made and all their money.  ( & a Tate photobomb)

The girls doing their good deed and donating their money!

Morgan & Caleb's Birthday Party

Morgan and Caleb were in Florida for their birthday, so we celebrated their birthdays a week later.  Morgy turned 12 and Caleb turned 8.  They are awesome little kiddos - that we love very much!

Morgan and her french silk pie and Caleb with his 8 candles in one mini cupcake.

Time to open gifts! Both kids just wanted $$ this year, as they had their eye on something BIG!

Caleb showing the card that Addysen made for him.  On the inside of the card, she drew him with a football and she drew him with a basketball because she knows he likes both of those sports:)

Morgan showing off the card Addysen made for her - beautiful and colorful, just like Morgy!

Ainsley's Ouchie

We went to a party on the 4th of July & had a lot of fun hanging out with friends, eating and watching fireworks. Unfortunately, I did not take one picture.  However, I did get one picture the next day of Ainsley's nose.  She had a little accident, fell & got an ouchie.  Aaron and her were walking to the house and he had her hand and was swinging her up and down (something they always do). Except this time, she slipped out of his hand and landed face first on the gravel driveway.  :(  I'm not sure who felt worse, Ainsley or Aaron...  We cleaned her up, put ice on her and gave her some Tylenol and she seemed okay, so we stayed at the party. The next day, her nose was still pretty swollen, so I took her to the ER at Saint Francis.  The doctor saw her and said she was going to be fine. He said they do not normally x-ray children's faces.  He said that it could be broken, but if it was, they wouldn't do anything about it, unless she can't breathe or if it was deformed. After it initially happened, she never really complained about it, so I think that explains the face she is making in the bottom picture....she is such a nut!

Addysen & Coco

A fun afternoon on the 4th of July playing in the water with Coco! 

Church in the park

The end of June, our church and the United church held a church service in the park.  I was a little worried how it would go, since the playground was right next to where we were sitting, but the girls did great.  They were patient and were able to wait until after the service to go play.  The girls sang with other members of the church and they sat with their buddies, Ava and Lauren. It was a fun way to change things up a little and enjoy the weather.

Ava and Addysen

Ava, Addysen, Lauren and Ainsley

Happy Anniversary Aunt Kathy & Uncle Doug

At the end of June, we celebrated Uncle Doug and Aunt Kathy's 40th wedding anniversary!  Their beautiful, thoughtful daughters put the party together for them!  It was a nice party and a happy celebration! Love you Aunt Kathy and Uncle Doug!

Brad, Meggan, Aunt Kathy & Uncle Doug  (Sarah and Lucas were not able to make it because they just had their twins)

Our little trouble maker

Ainsley decided it was okay to paint her nails all by herself... I was not as impressed with her work as she was.

St. Louis!!

We finally made it back to St. Louis for the Johnson trip & we had a GREAT time!  This was the first time for the girls and their first major league baseball game!  They were so pumped up and had so much fun!

We went for just two nights, but still did a lot and made it worth our while! Our first stop was the pool!  This day was also Father's day, so Aaron guilted me into getting him beer while he went to the pool with the girls.  SO... out of the goodness of my heart, I walked about 4 blocks, in the hot, humid weather (all by myself) to fetch him some beer. Then I walked 4 blocks all the way back in the hot, humid weather (all by myself) carrying a case of beer for my dear, loving husband:)  Your welcome dear!

Emma, Lexi and Addysen

Aaron and Ainsley hanging out in the hot tub!

Addysen, our little fish!  She did so well without her life jacket... Those swimming lessons are paying off!

 The next stop was one of our favorite steak houses, Tuckers Place

Lexi, Addysen, Emma and Ainsley

Erin and I ....  missing our Meggan and Sarah

Addysen and Lexi coloring before supper

Our large, loud group - "We're FAMILY"

 The next day we headed to the zoo and of course it was HOT!

petting the stingrays

What do you know? We found Tammy hanging out at the zoo :)

Addysen found a buddy!

Addysen and Lexi riding the carousel

Ainsley and Aaron riding the carousel

The little guys in tuxedos :)

What a cute bunch!

Smile Ainsley..... "no!"

The sea lions were so cute!  And so is Ainsley

I LOVE ELEPHANTS!  And the baby was so cute!

giving her new zebra a bath:)

 Next stop, the Cub vs. Cardinal game

The game was due to start at 6pm, but it was raining... GREAT, just GREAT!  The whole reason we came to St. Louis was to go to the game, and now it is going to be cancelled.  But luckily the clouds separated and the rain ended.  The game finally started at 8pm. I was a little concerned about it being so late since we were out in the heat all day at the zoo. So I figured that we'd go in for a couple of innings of the game and then go back to the hotel. Well that didn't happen... our little champs, LOVED the game and we stayed for the whole thing.  The Cubs did lose (big surprise) but we still made some awesome memories.

Without even planning it, the little cuties had matching cubbie shirts!

We met up with Caleb while we were there.

The first view of the field.

SISTERS, BEST FRIENDS!

I have no idea where she gets her weirdness from ;)

Ainsley hanging out with Emma

Hunter and Addysen... fight & wrestle like brother & sister.

Addysen and Grandma K.

Daddy and Ains, giving her best cheesy smile.

looks like someone photo bombed our picture.

Another fun night with my handsome husband.

The next day, before we left, we went to check out the arch.  I was going to try to skip this part of the trip but realized that I couldn't after talking with Addysen at breakfast.  I said, "Addysen, what was your favorite part of the trip?"  She said, "swimming, going to build-a-bear, going to the game and going to the arch."  Okay..... she really liked going to the arch, before we even went there, hummm.  So going to the arch was put back on the schedule.  I'm glad it was, the girls liked it and so did we as we haven't been up there in years! Plus, Uncle Doug wasn't there to make us have a family meeting in the sun.;)

so cool, so pretty.

Before heading in, the kids did a safety check and attempted to push over the arch. The arch is still standing, safety check, complete.

family pic

Ready for the ride up?

The kiddos at the top.

At the very top!

Time to go;(  Hot day, tired Daddy, tired kids. But Aaron was a champ and carried both girls all the way back to the hotel because they both wanted him to carry them.  BEST DAD EVER!