January & February

Because sometimes, you just need to wear a bow tie to first grade!

I posted this before, but I love his smiley old-man face for the 100th day of school!

Bella getting her badges at the mid-year ceremony for AHG.

The Children's Museum never gets old for us, especially the new Pirates and Princesses exhibit. Bella was all pirate!

The hat. The face. She never ceases to crack me up.

She loved this as she is obsessed with "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Captain Ryan steers his ship.

With his pirate face. Aargh!

The kids love this photo app on my iPad and I frequently see these weird/funny/creepy photos show up in my photo feed.

MLK Day! Which is basically an excuse to be off school and go explore a new place! This is Recreation Unlimited - it's a showroom for basketball hoops, trampolines, play houses, sand boxes, gazebos, etc., but kids can play on everything. And they have comfy chairs and magazines all over the place for us moms. It was a great time for all three of us!

Trampoline AND basketball hoop! Does it get any better?

Yep! Train tables like this! There were a few smaller ones around the place as well.

Swings are always fun. I took a slow motion video of them swinging that was fun to watch.

And some days, you're just too tired for school...

Bella visited her old AHG troop, which gave me and Ryan some much-loved time together. Starbucks for warm chocolate and hot coffee!

Valentine's Day Dance. I LOVE this picture. Ryan didn't want to dance with me because he was too busy busting a move on his own. I'll put the video up on YouTube soon.

Valentine's Day Lego kits from Daddy!

Bella's new hat. It's totally her.

We play a lot of games at night. This one helps Daddy with his detective skills, and teaches the kids to be gracious winners and losers (we're still working on that one).

President's Day! We had gotten a whopping two inches of snow, but Bella had been so bummed about not being able to sled that we headed out.

This place had outdoor exercise equipment that we all had a blast playing on.

But it wears a kid out! I sat on the couch with this cutie in my lap until my arm fell asleep! And then I moved and held him some more. Love every minute of it.

And some days you just need footie jammies and your puppy.

Every afternoon the secretary "draws" mustaches on Ryan (she keeps the cap on but he doesn't know that). They always "blow off" in the wind when we get outside. One Friday he asked for a "sticky" mustache, so I let him have one.

And of course Bella wanted one too. In bright green. That almost didn't come off...

The local mall hosted their first annual outdoor "Winter Bash"...when the weather was in the 60's...in February. They went ahead with it, so we visited in short sleeves and soaked up the sunshine.

Hot chocolate with toasted marshmallow fluff and a graham cracker!

This is so Bella. A foot-long s'more. They made their own marshmallows, rolled them in chocolate and graham cracker crumbs, then blasted them with a blow torch. It was awesome.

Bella chose to play in the fake snow while Ryan was the crossing gate for the ride-on train.

I had to get one last picture of this cute little smile and I did it just in time. Two days later...

His front tooth was gone, and two days after that, he lost a bottom tooth. My little snaggle puss!

Stay tuned for more adventures!!

August

August! We had two weeks before school began, and we squeezed every bit of summery goodness out of them! First, we had a camp fire.

We bought some light-up balloons at the beginning of summer and we finally got a chance to enjoy them!

Bella and her stuffed animals are watching a movie.

This kid and his crazy hair. This is what I see when he comes in to ask, "Mom? Can I watch a movie/play XBox/have some screen time/have something to eat?"

The two of them sharing my office chair in order to watch something on my tablet.

State Fair! We have to do some of the same things every year. Here are a few highlights...

Every.single.year. They love this and I think it was Bella's last year to participate (although we didn't tell her that). And here are some pictures from the past

2014

2012

And here's how they looked in 2011!

Can't skip feeding the goats!

Ryan was particularly excited to get in this car...

And every year we visit the calves. This picture reminds me of one of my favorite ones of my Little Man...

Bella was laughing because the calf kept licking her leg.

And every year we all ride the Mousetrap.

This year the kids were tall enough for bumper cars. Someone had to stay and take pictures...

Football evaluations! Ryan is on the "Tigers" and will play every position by the time the season is over.

And then he hung his head out the window like a dog on the way home.

The last day of summer break dawned bright. What did the kids want to do? Visit The Children's Museum, of course! So, for the 2,957th time since we've been members, we went.

It was the last weekend for the HotWheels exhibit, and I love that they built this box to look like a HotWheels toy!

Bella examined rocks while Ryan dug in the mulch pile.

Celebrating our pit crew victory.

First day of school!! Just to compare this year with last...

I found these while I was cleaning out some things in the loft. Bella actually wore those shoes, and I think I have a picture somewhere of Ryan in that onesie. The dollar is there just for size comparison.

They just opened up a Cabela's near here, so the kids and I stopped in on their grand opening weekend.

Ryan driving a boat in his dreams.

Bella practicing her casting.

I love the fake boat they use!

Both kids took turns with a bow and arrow.

You can't really see the kids' arrows, but we are safe from fake animals!

Both kids shoot a BB gun. Bella was ready to go in the store and buy one!

Bella put her stuffed animals in a shoe box, tied them to her bike, and took them for a ride. It was hilarious to watch.

Football practice! Can't wait for the first game on September 12th!

This is "Chalk Talk" where they have devotion time. Coach Mann is on the right in the green shirt.

Bella and I had an opportunity to run the FoamGlow 5K. We walked/jogged it. Well, most of it. We took a short cut that divided the race in half!

Gettin' our glow on!

At the starting line under the black lights.

At various points of the course, we got blasted with foam.

Bella at the "after party."

These were some people from our church that we went with.