Babysitting & Hayward Memorial Day Weekend

Here's Emily singing some songs for all of you:

I babysat my nieces a few weeks ago so my sister Cori and her hubby Jeff could have a morning to sleep in! It was so much fun. Granted the girls were all up at 6:15am, it was still a fun day. The morning consisted of playing barbies and doing art work - then we went outside since it was a gorgeous day.
Here are some pics from our outside adventures:

The girls all ready for the ATV ride with Uncle Kory

Neighbor kids over helping us fill water balloons

I just love this pic of Braenna. She is having so much fun!!!

Kory left with 2 boys and 3 girls and came back with our neighbor Barb in the wagon. We have never laughed so hard! She was out weeding her yard and the kids told her to hop in...so she did!!!

After playing outside all morning - it was time for the girls to nap....and for me and Kory to rest. Apparently Otis was a little tired. He was sound asleep with his bone in his mouth - LOL!

After nap the girls went back out to play and we had a BBQ with Cori, Jeff, Casey, Mike and my neighbors. It was a wonderful Sunday!!!

Memorial Day Weekend - Hayward

Em is just loving her jeep this year - FINALLY! She has had that thing for like over 2 years so I'm glad she is enjoying driving it around. Here she was trying to squeeze it between two trees. She did eventually make it!!

During nap time - hanging decorations for Braenna's 4th birthday party - Pinkalicious style :)

Kids are awake! Time to P-A-R-T-Y!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet niece, Braenna. Love you girl!!!!

Emily in her party hat, party tiara and of course a pink dress!

Mikaiya all ready for her sissy's party - even her American Doll Girl got a hat!

Well if Mikaiya's American Doll girl gets a hat then so does Emily's Hello Kitty :)

The Pinkalicious girls!

Emily picking which cupcake she wants to decorate first

Very carefully decorating....

Singing to the birthday girl

Opening presents....

Our girls...

All of us in pink! Daddy, Uncle Jeff and Grandpa avoided the pink clothing option

Pinata time! Uncle Jeff hanging it up in the garage.

CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeff - get out of there! It's for the kids!!!!

No party is complete without a bouncy house!

 Later in the weekend it finally warmed up enough for the girls to play outside.

Love this picture of them! Action shot!

awe....bathing beauties!

Sun-tanning...they all lasted about 30 seconds before they were up and running again.

Emily all bandaged up after her nasty fall on the gravel driveway - she is "reading" to Braenna. So sweet!

Happy Mother's Day 2012

A friend of mine did an album with the photos from each Mother's Day year and I thought it was a neat idea...so here are mine:

1st Mother's Day 2008

2nd Mother's Day 2009

3rd Mother's Day 2010

4th Mother's Day 2011

5th Mother's Day 2012

 We celebrated this year by going to brunch at Buckhorn in Edgerton with Bonnie & Tom, Kacey, Tony, Zander & Maddox, and us. We had a great time. Afterwards, we went back to Kory's mom's house and hung out for a few hours. It was a gorgeous day. Here are some photos....

Kacey, Bonnie and me - of course Kacey is the #1 child since she spent Mother's day with her mommy :)

Emme and her G at brunch

Emily took little Maddox for a ride in the wagon...he loved it!

Here is a video of the wagon ride:

Two of my favorite people - Zander and Emily -- soooo cute!

And the little big man...Mr. Maddox! Love that smile.

Em and Z even got to swim in the hot tub.

It's hard to believe I have already had 5 mother's days. I have the best job in the world - being a mommy to my sweet Emily. I can't imagine anything more important. She makes me proud each and every day. Being a mom is the best! Thank you to my mom and to Bonnie (Kory's mom) for being such great role-models. You both continue to amaze me and teach me how to be a better mom. I am so thankful to have you in my life!

Indiana Trip - May 2012

This past weekend we went down to Indiana for a Marion Family reunion. For those of you that don't know, both of Kory's grandparents and a  lot of his extended family live down in Indiana as that is where his parents are both from. So we took Friday off and drove down in the morning. We spend Friday with his mom's parents and had the reunion with his dad's side of the family on Saturday.

We didn't take a ton of pics, but ended up getting a few good ones!!

Love this picture of Gramps with Briar (Kory's cousin's daughter) and Emily

Grandma, Gramps, Em, Briar and Kim

We were attempting to get a nice pic of the 4 of us but Briar wasn't having it!!!

Playing Uno, of course. Em did great keeping up with the adults. She loved it!!

 The reunion on Saturday was a lot of fun. The weather was HOT, but it was fun! It was at an elementary school so Emily and I played outside a lot while Daddy socialized inside with all his family. It was nice to just hang out for the day. Then afterwards, we went to his Grandma Marion's farm for some fun!

Em swinging at the family reunion

Here she is riding her bike...it was so funny because when we got it out of the truck she suddenly had a swarm of little kids around her and she was kinda freaking out! LOL! Apparently they all wish they had their bikes there too!!

Talking tractors....

Emme and Daddy all ready for a tractor ride

Can you hear the tractor sound she is making???

Kory's dad showing him how to drive the tractor before his ride with Miss Em

One of my absolute favorite pics ever!!! Kory's dad, Em and Kory! LOVE!!!!

This was in a massive combine - Kory didn't get to drive it - he's just pretending :)

Here is a video of Kory driving Emily in the tractor: http://youtu.be/CF5TYf_QjGU

Here is a video of Em riding on Grandpa's electric wheelchair: http://youtu.be/1e_fjQByFkQ

Enjoy!!!