Sunflower Fields Forever

How absolutely happy it is to be surrounded on all sides in big beautiful sunflowers!  We visited the sunflower maze in Paris on a hot, hot afternoon.  We had to squeeze it in before our vacation because the season for the maze is so short.  Kaiden went with us and he and Evangeline ran through the whole maze.  They were utterly exhausted and sweating profusely when I found them.  It was such fun despite the heat. 

 

 

 

Family Reunion

Off we went to Moberly, Missouri.  It was a five hour car ride of which the very thought still sends shivers down my spine.  We decided to turn Jed forward in his car seat thinking the new view would thrill him for awhile.  It worked for a few minutes.   We also had never used the DVD player in our car.  Kyle rented a few movies hoping that would help ease the pain of the long trip, but that didn't seem to work either.  Let's just say we were ALL happy when we reached our destination.  This was a practice run for our big upcoming drive to northern Michigan....YIKES!  

 

When we arrived in Moberly on Friday we attended a party at a cousins house.  There was so much for the kids to do...peddle boats, trampolines, hayrides, a bounce house, toys, a sandbox, other kids to play with.  Evangeline had the time of her life.  Jed enjoyed this swing where he spent much of his evening.  He started saying "off we go" and said it every time someone pushed the swing for him. 

 

The next day we drove around the countryside and shopped at the little stores in the large Amish community in Moberly.

 

We went to a painting studio in downtown Moberly.  We decided to paint some pictures for Evangeline's big blank wall in her bedroom.  It was fun to spend the afternoon with my aunts and cousins. 

 

Evangeline had such a wonderful time playing with Avery.  She's already looking forward to two years from now when they can play together again.

 

Ha!  This was the best picture I got of my little part of the family.  There were almost 90 people in attendance this year, which made this the largest attended reunion yet. 

Cute Babies

Kyle decided Jed might enjoy and sand table for the back yard so he took Jed to the toy store to look for one.  They came back with the sand table, a baseball and tee set, a slide and a little chair.  Sometimes it pays to go to the store with Daddy.

Lesley came to visit me along with her daughter Madisyn.  It was so lovely to see them.  Madisyn has grown so much since Christmas and she and Jed had fun scampering around together.  Evangeline enjoyed listing to Lesley talk about her career as a puppet sculptor and animator of cartoons. 

Visiting Grandpa

We FINALLY made it to my dad's house!  It's not as easy to see him now that he's moved, but well worth it when we can make it happen.  Jed enjoyed carrying this squash around almost the whole time we were there.  He really only put it down to eat or play with potatoes and onions.  We enjoyed walking back to Dad's garden where Dad so generously let Jed eat all of the ripe cherry tomatoes off of his plants.  Jed so enjoyed the "mum no nos" (yummy tomatoes) and shed many a tear when they were all gone.  Evangeline had so much fun playing with my old toys.  Dad treated us to a delicious blackberry cobbler made with his berries and pickled zucchini from his garden.  We will be back soon. 

Mornings, Music and a Mischievous Cat

I love being home when my kids can wake up and stumble in all sleepy faced on their own without the alarm clock.  Evangeline has been in to wearing one of my old pinafores to sleep in, but she likes to wear it backwards with the buttons in the front.  She thinks it looks better that way. 

Sometimes when we go into Jed's room in the mornings and he isn't too eager to get right out of his crib, I sit in the rocking chair and Evangeline climbs in with him and reads him books.  It's a scene I could watch forever. 

This cat is one sweet little pain....when he's not sleeping and looking all adorable he's usually getting into something or making a mess....kind of like Jed....

Evangeline has started piano lessons again.  This time she is taking lessons right around the corner at Mrs. Manuel's house.  She is really into it so far.  She is insisting that she will practice without resistance.  So far so good, but we'll see if she can keep it up. 

Jed's working on his letters...

 

Colleen gave Evangeline a piping set.  She wasted no time getting right down to business making Ammie one of her favorite cookies, meringues.  

Art Camp at ISU

Evangeline attended her first all day camp last week at Indiana State.  It was a three day long art boot camp.  She came home with all kinds of things she created over the course of the 3 days.  It was a fun experience for her.  She even cried a little when it was over.  One day while she was there I walked around campus with mom and Jed.  It has changed so much since I attended school there and is really a pretty place now.  I always love hanging around with my mom while Evangeline is at camp in Terre Haute.  

 

 

If you look closely at this picture you will see the cutest little "y" there ever was....

League Champs

Evangeline's softball team were league champions this year.  Evangeline was on the winning team last year too.  She must be a lucky charm.   

 

They celebrated with Dairy Queen after the game. 

 

Then I took Evangeline and Jed to the uptown to the band concert.  This was Jed's first one of the year.  Boy!  He was mesmerized.  He loved the procession.  He kept clapping, pointing and squealing with joy.  He was not happy when it was over.