Des Moines

 We decided to take a weekend trip to Des Moines to visit our friends the Wadsworths.  They use to live in our neighborhood here and we became good friends.  Brayden and Makenna have missed their friends Bryan and Emily and it was great to have them back together for a weekend.  The first day we were there we visited the Adventureland amusement park.  It rained on and off but was otherwise a perfect day.  Everyone had a blast.

On the first ride of the day Emmitt was not so sure.. but it didn't take long for him to warm up to it and enthusiastically ride every ride he could.

 These soaking wet girls rode the Log Ride 6 times in the pouring rain.  They wouldve kept going all day but the park was closing.  On the last round Makenna begged to go just one more time claiming she still had one spot on her that was dry!  Silly girls.

The next day we visited the Des Moines Farmers Market.  It is quite the event.  We had a great time seeing the sights and sampling the snacks.  Here the kids are eating ice cream sandwiches.

 

Megan and Lisa.  Wonderful Hosts.

Brielle and Makenna. Sweet Sisters.

Brayden and Bryan.  Buddies.

Later that day the kids went swimming and then Megan babysat while the grown ups went out for dinner.  We got to join them for church the next day before heading home.  It was a fun weekend.

Makennas Gymnastics Showcase

This year Makenna took gymnastics.  She always had a good time especially since she was in it with her BFF's Natalie and Emma.  We loved watching her show off all she has learned.

Way to Go Makenna!

Scotts Graduation

 It is with mixed emotions that we celebrated Scott's graduation from Creighton Law School this past weekend.  We are proud of his big accomplishment and are so happy to celebrate that with him.  But, we are so very sad knowing that this marks the end of his time here in Omaha.  It has been so wonderful to have him close and so special for the kids to get to know their uncle so well.  But while we will miss him dearly we are happy to see him get to move on to another new and exciting phase of life.  He is off to Arizona to take the bar exam and then find a job.  We wish him all the best and thank him for letting us be a big part of his life for the past three years.

Graduation.

We went to "Blue" for his post graduation celebration.  Delicious!

WE LOVE YOU SCOTT AND MISS YOU ALREADY!

10 Years Old!

Its hard to believe it that we have a child in double digits.  Brayden is 10!  It sounds so old.  We celebrated on his birthday with presents, dinner at Cracker Barrell and dessert at Orange Leaf.  

Outside Cracker Barrell.

Scott joined us for the big birthday dinner

 

 On the weekend we did cake. Grandma and Grandpa were in town and Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jay and Aurora came too to wish Brayden a happy birthday.  Brayden requested a cookie cake which I picked up at a cookie store and decorated according to Brayden's specific request- Clowns playing basketball. 

This year we phased out the friend party.  We let him instead pick one fun activity and one friend to bring along.  He chose to go to a new trampoline place called Defy Gravity with the Williams twins Jake and Zack.  They are moving soon so it was nice to spend some time with them before they leave.  It was a great celebration all around and it is so fun now to have a 10 year old in the house!

Bring your Kid to Work Day

Brayden was thrilled to be finally old enough to go to ConAgras "Take your kid to work day."  The night before he even asked to go shopping for an outfit to match his dad.  He had a blast doing the fun activities they had planned and meeting all of his dads coworkers.  He had breakfast, made gummy bears, did some sensory testing, made ice cream in ziploc bags and designed some kid cuisine meals.  It was a great day for him.

18 Month Emmitt Update

 Yesterday was the big exciting day we have been counting down.... Emmitt went to nursery!!!  He cried pretty hard for a few minutes when we left but he recovered and did great the rest of the time.  It was nice to enjoy our classes at church instead of roaming the halls.  I am realizing that while he did well in nursery it was traumatic for him.  Last night he wouldnt sleep.  He could not bear to be left alone.  I hope that was coincidence and not directly related to nursery but hopefully he will adjust.  Here is his first church "artwork."  Though I am skeptical that he was the one that actually colored it- he was definitely the one to carry it out, so we'll take it!

In other developmental developments...
-He has just now finally transistioned to one nap a day 90% of the time.  It seemed to take forever and everyday would be different but I think I can plan on him being a one napper now most of the time.  He sleeps through the night most nights but is an inherently early riser no matter what time we put him to bed.
-He has 8 teeth- which also seemed to take forever and I think teethwise he is still way behind average but I am just happy he has got what he's got.  Teething has been painful (for all of us :)
-He is learning words slowly but surely.  His first word was "uh-oh" at about 12 months.  Now he says many things like fishy, doggy, daddy, birdy, etc though they all come out sounding like "dee-dee"
-He's a cutie patootie still and loves to entertain us all.  He has the best expressions- especially his "O" surprise face.  He keeps us smiling all the time.

Curb Appeal

So Kevin and I decided to try our hand at a little landscaping.  Our front yard is already landscaped but we decided to have some curbing put in.  We also put in new mulch.  We are mostly happy with how it turned out.  On the left side of the house we created a new flower bed and got experimental at the garden center and bought a dark knight butterfly bush and two peony plants.  We are excited to see what they grow into.