Nebraska Day 3

Have you ever heard of ALCO? No?  Well you are definitely missing out. It's a local store that we always go to in West Point. I never realized how small the carts are.  Melissa and I had a fun trip with Evan on August 8th. We weren't sure how we were going to put the carseat in the little cart.  We made it work and enjoyed our shopping experience.

After shopping we picked up the rest of our families and went to lunch. From there we went to the fair where we got to see animals, eat fair food, and ice cream.  Where else can you get $1.00 cones?  Even Evan had to get in on that action.

That night we had dinner at Great Grandma's new residence. Only in small town do they set up the Chapel for your family dinner.  I even got a picture of my parents together. What a wonderful night!!!

Nebraska Trip day 2

Our trip to Nebraska was filled with quality family time.  Kristen loved playing with Evan. Since we got in late when we flew to Nebraska we went to see Great Grandma on day 2.  She was sitting in the hallway waiting for us.  All she wanted was to hold Evan.

Kelsey's luggage was lost when we got to Nebraska.  Luckily we went to Levi's house for dinner and got to borrow some pajamas and a swim suit. I had an extra outfit for Kelsey in our carry-on in case of an emergency.  The luggage was eventually found and brought to us by 4 o'clock the next day.  We're so glad we borrowed the swim suit because the kids went swimming that afternoon and Kelsey was all set as a surfer girl.

The kids haven't seen Grandma since June 8th so she was more than happy to hold Evan for his nap.

Safari VBS

Kelsey went to a safari VBS. Unfortunately she only went one day due to getting sick this morning. The outfits were so cute. This is at a church where Kelsey goes to bible story hour during the school year.

Nebraska Trip

On August 6th we packed the kids up and flew to Nebraska to visit our family, especially my Grandma who will be 97 at the end of the month.  When we arrived my cousin Kelly picked us up so we could borrow one of her cars for our trip.  Her son is Levi who shares Kelsey's birthday.  The two of them played a while and then we were off to the hotel where we took our annual picture of the kids on the bed.

 The picture below is not Evan, but Kelsey her first time at the hotel at 6 and 1/2 months.

 Now it's Evan at the hotel. They look SOOOOO much alike as babies.

Picking Crabs

I grew up picking crabs and it's my dad's favorite thing to do, so before he left for his trip to Nebraska and for his birthday we had friends over for crabs.  Kelsey loved eating it, but didn't do much of the picking.  I have some friends who also have birthdays the same week as Dad so I invited them over as well to celebrate all of their birthdays.  Sarah and Dave are from New York and have never picked crabs before. It was fun to see them pick for the first time.  

Ella

On February 9th 2007 we brought Ella home from the shelter. She was possibly 2 or 3 years old at the time and we knew she needed a princess name because she acted like one.  We choose Ella since it wasn't one of the most popular princess names and we had seen the movie "Ella Enchanted."  She was petite and very cuddly. This was the reason we took her home, she walked right into my lap and we knew she was the one. We always said she was the next best thing to a dog because she was always around people and followed you.  There were some rough times of her bothering us through the night, especially when Kelsey was a baby, but we loved her just the same and got through it.  Meghan and Dan were always kind enough to take her when we were away or going through sleepless nights with Kelsey.  She was over there so often we discussed joint custody of her.

April 25, 2011

Sadly today we had to say good-bye to Ella due to her having two tumors in her intestines and kidney failure. She was the best cat and will be remembered.

Kelsey has been really good about everything.  Tonight she said that Titus, Gypsy, and Ella will meet and play in heaven together. Thanks Kelsey for putting a child's perspective on it. They are all sharing crazy stories of our families right now.

Family portrait before going to the hospital to have Kelsey: January 20, 2011

Below: June 20, 2011

Going to the hospital to have Evan on March 8, 2014

July 24, 2014

August 1, 2014

Love you Ella!

Kelsey the Big Sister

Kelsey doesn't hold Evan very often so of course I have to take pictures the moment it does.  Later that same day, July 25th, Mark measured Kelsey because we've noticed she's reaching things she couldn't reach before.  For example, she can get her own water from the refrigerator as well as turn on and off lights around the house.  Turning on lights today, pushing the lawn mower tomorrow. :-)

Cheverly Pool

On July 24th Kelsey and I got to go swimming with Meghan at her childhood community pool.  She does swim lessons there so we met her to have some swim fun while Evan had some Granpa time.

Blowing Raspberries

This is Evan's new trick, blowing raspberries.  He just does this on his own and it's super cute. This video was taken on July 21, 2014.