August

August started off with a lot of trips to the store to buy school supplies and to prepare for our third and last trip to Dallas, Texas for JR's seminar for his PhD program. We were spoiled in Washington with school starting after the Labor Day weekend, and we were almost certain school would start in late August like in our childhood when we lived in Missouri, so when we learned school starts the first week of August here in Kentucky we were not prepared..........

Here are my two sweet nieces Madeline and Ava heading off to their first day of school in Missouri like good little kids do.....

And here is our over joyed son heading off to Lego Land in Dallas, TX instead of heading off to his first day of school........So we didn't expect school to start August 3rd!!!!

Grant had a blast and I can say it was a much needed family time trip for us!

Ryan didn't know what to think of this place, there were kids running every where and screaming their heads off. I tried taking him to the toddler area but we found it to be just as dangerous.....

My favorite part of Lego Land was the miniature set up of Dallas. They did an awesome job and I compared them to my actual pics of down town Dallas and they look so much alike!

Our nephew Brody has been busy growing by leaps and bounds. The last time I saw him he had just learned to sit up on his own and now he has taken off crawling and pulling himself up on furniture. It is amazing to me how fast they grow up and how quickly they learn to be on the move after they take that first risky step...

For instance.......

For Ryan's first birthday his cousins Jill, James, and Jeanette bought him these awesome roller skates. He couldn't even stand in them about three months ago but now he can stand up, walk on the carpet, and even cautiously glide around the kitchen floor in them.

A wipe-out or two was to be expected;)

July

For the Fourth of July we loaded the boys up and took them on post at Fort Knox, KY. They had a live band playing and a carnival going on all day and at night they ended with a fireworks show.

The boys had fun passing the time with football, baseball, and running around chasing each other. When the fireworks started Ryan clung to daddy and insisted on getting back in the car. He is so much like his mommy. That is why we don't do our own fireworks....Mommy is not a fan of explosives:)

We took a trip to MO to see family and a trip to Grandma Cindy's and Paw Paw Tim's is always on the list!

Here Kitty Kitty ! I won't hurt you.......

June

 Mommy sometimes gets bored and dresses little man up. This is Ryan in his brother's old Halloween costume as  Eeyore.

We had to make a trip to Dallas for Daddy's PhD program so we made the best of it and added in a trip to the Medieval Times and it was a blast!

Ryan couldn't get enough of the soup; he had three bowls!

 This picture is my favorite. It sums up why we take the boys to places like this. The boys faces lit up many times and melted mom and dad's hearts. We are very blessed and will miss this when they grow up!

 The trip was a success. Dad learned a lot at his seminar and as a family we had fun...... Good Bye Dallas!

May (part two)

After I finished painting the kitchen red JR and I decided that furniture shopping was long overdue. We have learned in the past that having rowdie boys in the house calls for the "less is more" motif so we picked up a few pieces to fill the space. Above is the kitchen table and below is my favorite living room chair.....

We thought leather couches worked best as Ryan likes to leak fluids from time to time;)

Then we moved on to JR's office. He finally has his own space to hang up his manly military paraphernalia and it was exciting to finally unearth the awards and posters from storage. This is just the beginning stages as we have so much more at Micheal's waiting to be matted and framed.

I am proud to say that Ryan has been doing great sleeping in his own bed since he was 6 months old but he is now in the climbing everything stage so we thought it was best to turn his crib into a big boy bed. He was confused at first and loved the novelty of getting in the bed all by himself but when night time came he was a little upset by it. It only took two or three trips back to his bed so I say he is doing great!

May (Part One)

We started May off with celebrating Easter. The bunny brought the boys a lot of candy and outdoor toys to play with this summer. The boys always get wonderful things from their Meme, Uncle Terry, and Uncle Chucky too!

I started May off with finally getting Grant's dresser painted. Grandpa David and Nana gave him this dresser before he was born and it was white with flowers and ribbons on it. I have always kept it inside his closet and year after year said I'm going to paint it. Once we moved he decided he wanted a more grown up room so out with the spider man and in with the military.

Next, it was time to tackle the Kentucky Red (pink) kitchen. I know we are just renting but if we are going to stay here for two years I cannot stomach this color so......

I painted the kitchen red!

Last of April

Well I fell of the blogging wagon once again but the blogging bug bit me today so today I will catch it up from April to August. Here is what we closed April with......

To avoid the mundane task of unpacking once again JR and I decided to take the kiddos to Louisville for the annual Thunder Over Louisville festivities. We got a call from my dad and he decided to make the drive from Missouri and join us! We packed the car with lots of blankets and coats because the clouds had rolled in and the prospect for rain was obvious. Grandpa and JR were kind enough to stand in the cold and rain while I took Grant on some carnival rides and boy was it cold!

Next we headed over to the stadium to watch a minor league game and the air show..........

You would think that Washington had prepared us for the cold and rain but Kentucky kicked our bottoms. We couldn't hold out long enough for the night time firework show. We packed everyone up and headed home so that we could watch it on television from our comfy couch in our PJ's. From what I hear we made the right choice because the Fireworks were so loud that Ryan would have been a little more than scared.

Next, we decided to take Ryan to get his first big boy hair cut. Even though I was holding out to see if he would get any more curls it had to be done. His long locks were turning into a certifiable mullet and while those seem to be popular here in Kentucky we just didn't want to blend in that well.

We wrapped April up with beginning our quest to obtain our Bourbon Trail Passports with our first stop at the Jim Beam Distillery in Bardstown, KY. We took a tour and learned a lot and mommy and daddy sampled all the different types of bourbon and chocolate they had to offer. I have to admit I am not a fan and will forever be a wine-o, but it was a lot of fun.

Kentucky Derby Museum

 The Kentucky Derby around here is like the Super Bowl so like true residents of Kentucky we are getting ready for all the events. We thought we should get educated about it's history and learn all we need to so that we could hold a conversation about it with the local people. Yes, it is that serious. This picture is of Anna Nicole Smith's Dress and hat that she wore.

 They have wall after wall of hats worn by famous people and this is by far my favorite part of the Kentucky Derby. You are not required to dress up, but it is part of the tradition to dress up and wear a hat.

This horse has placed third in the Kentucky Derby. He is well respected because a typical race horse wins about a million dollars in their career. This bad boy has won eight million! May not have placed first but he did very well for himself;)