My New Obsession

I'm blaming the fact that I can't get the blog updated more often on the fact that I'm officially obsessed with I-Tunes. We bought Matt a new IPod for Father's Day because he washed his other one in the laundry, and I think Dylan and I have used it more than he has! Dylan has picked up all of the words to a few songs, and his favorite is "I Kissed a Girl." (Yes, I know this song is sang by a girl...he hasn't figured that out yet!!)

Oh, what have we been doing. Dylan just completed 2 weeks of swimming lessons in Olathe. He does really good swimming on his stomach and under the water, but he hasn't quite figured out the back float yet. I feel bad because we haven't been swimming as much in the month of July. He goes to pool with summer camp 2 or 3 times a week, so I don't want to wear him out by going during the evenings too. It's supposed to be really hot this weekend, so Matt said we could spend it at the pool!!

Collin is now running around on two feet!! And he talks like crazy!!! He loves to answer questions from his Uncle Steve (Brady's dad), and we're still not sure why he calls Uncle Steve "Ba". Not sure where he got that.

This is what it usually looks like in the mornings...a lot of crying and carrying on!

We visited Chris, Mandy, Megan, & Erin one Saturday night for a cookout. I got my baby fix by holding Erin the whole time. It's been so long since I've held a baby who will actually stay in my arms and not want to wiggle the whole time. She just slept so peacefully.

Megan and Collin jumped in and out of her wading pool. Collin decided to show off his muscles to all of us.

Here he's saying "How do you like these guns?"

Last weekend Dylan & Collin stayed with Grandma and Papa in Marquette. It was Marquette's 130th Birthday Celebration, so they went to the parade and BBQ in the park. Auntie Bev, Uncle Rod, and Cousin Susan came down from Des Moines to visit too!!

Matt & I went with Jenny, Steve & Adrienne to Jenny's dad's on the Lake of the Ozarks. OMG!!! I could live on the lake all the time. He had a fabulous house, boat, dock, jet ski, everything. They cooked us prime rib on Saturday night, and entertained us with the best adults only weekend ever!!! We went out on the boat several times, rode the jet ski, went shopping in Osage Beach, Matt & Steve took the paddle boat out fishing, etc. It was the best weekend!!!

Dylan starts school next week, and the boys have all decided to skip soccer and just play flag football. It starts in mid-September, but Coach Elder (Cayden's dad) is going to start practicing on weekends, so we can get the upper-hand. I'm in charge of teaching all of the moms about football. Now I know why Matt loves me so much...it's my football knowledge!!

Goodbye for another week!

The Summer Always Goes So Fast!!

Well, let's see now, I think I need to finish summarizing our June activities, followed by what's happened so far in July!

Swimming, swimming & more swimming! Either at our pool, the Gardner pool, or Kohlton's pool. We're all turning sunkissed bronze, and the boys are both fish.

Matt & Dylan went fishing a couple more times in June. Here's a picture of one of their catches (this is the only one that has come home with them).

Collin has learned how to ride his bike standing up...ha! He's our little daredevil. Dylan is still tentative about things, but I think Collin would climb up on anything!!

Our long 4th of July weekend was so much fun!! Steve & Lori Harris were in Kansas visiting all of their families, and they stopped by on Friday to see us. Bowen and Reese came along with them. Reese and Collin hadn't been together since right after Collin was born. Reese is a little more than 3 months older. Check out the difference between these two pictures!!

We went to our annual 4th of July party at the McAtee residence. It was cool and cloudy and Collin slept through supper!! He didn't take an afternoon nap (YIKES!), so we took his pack'n'play with us. We laid him down at 5:30, and I had to go wake him up at 8!!! It was great...we were able to eat supper without having to chase him around, and he woke up happy and ready to watch the fireworks!!

Our 2nd vacation of the summer was last weekend. We rented a camper, as did the McAtee family, and we headed down to Bennett Spring, MO for the weekend. We had air conditioning and plumbing and electricity in the camper...my kind of camping!!! We let the dads do a little fishing (not as much as they wanted), and we went swimming, and we just hung out together and relaxed. Collin finally started walking 100% of the time, and he loved camping!! He followed the big boys around and got muddy and played in the water and rode Bubba's scooter (with help from Daddy) and just loved being outside.

I had a little bit of change at work the last couple of months. FBD Consulting, Inc. is no more...my company was bought by DailyAccess Corporation, a pension firm located in Mobile, AL. We are their Kansas City office. I always thought I rolled with the punches, but boy, "change" is hard. I thought I would be working at FBD until I retired, and I guess I kind of am, but yeah, it's hard. I think we're safe with our jobs, so I'm trying to be positive.

Matt & Dylan went to the Pretty Prairie rodeo tonight, so Collin and I spent the afternoon shopping at the Legends with Adrienne. I got Dylan his school shoes already...that boy has some stinky feet!!! The boys have decided that they don't want to wear their sandals after they go swimming, so they wear their tennis shoes without socks to summer camp. YUCK!!!! His shoes stink up his whole room!!!

Dylan has lost two teeth within the last week. He looks like a vampire with fangs on the bottom. He starts swimming lessons on Monday with Brady. They are going to do so good!!! (Mijkin, you would be so proud of my little fish!!!) He loves diving into the pool to get his diving sticks. Good grief, I'm scared to even stick my face in the water!! LOL

Well, I'm going to go sit on the deck and have some ice tea. I had big plans for tonight after Collin went to bed, but I think I'll go to bed!! More school shopping tomorrow!!

Good night!

Vegas Baby!!!

Matt and I went on a "mommy and daddy" vacation last week. Matt had a couple free flights for Southwest, and we found really great rates for Mandalay Bay (the hotel where we stayed for our honeymoon).

We went out on Wednesday and came home on Friday. Dylan and Collin went to Marquette to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Papa (they had a great time at the zoo and at a movie and at Pipers).

Matt & I spent the majority of our vacation at the Mandalay Bay Beach. As soon as we checked in, we put our suits on and grabbed lunch at the pool. We also rented a cabana on Thursday. It was sweet!!! We had a refrigerator stocked with pop and water, a flat screen TV, a couch, table & chairs, and 2 lounge chairs just for us. We didn't have to worry about finding chairs at the crowded beach. I stayed outside the whole day, and Matt went back and forth between the pool and the casino.

Wednesday night we went to see Terry Fator. He won America's Got Talent a couple of years ago. He is a ventriloquist and celebrity impersonator. It was a packed house, and it was a great show.

Thursday night we went out to check out the Vegas nightlife. We went to GhostBar, the Playboy Club, and Moon Nightclub...all at the Palms Hotel and Casino. Of course, we started early...at 8:30, so the places weren't very busy. We did win $100 at the Playboy Club...and had free drinks. That made up for the $10 drinks at GhostBar!! I can't believe how much food and drinks cost in Vegas. The hotels and restaurants sure haven't lowered their prices in order to attract more tourists, since the economy has affected the tourism in a negative way.

Dylan's enjoying t-ball, summer camp, and swimming. We only have one more t-ball game left. Then the next week is July 4th, and then the next week we have our camping vacation. The summer is going so fast!!

Here's Dylan's soccer team the last game of the season.


Here are the boys celebrating their successful soccer season at the soccer party.