Konnor's birthday weekend

Look at me in that dentist chair like a big girl. I've come to love going to the dentist... I think it helps that there is a huge salt water fish tank, video games, movies, vending machine and best of all soft serve chocolate ICE CREAM. He makes my teeth "sparkle" with his special toothpaste! On the ride home I realized I had dirtied up my teeth with the ice cream and they weren't "sparkling" anymore so I told Mom that we had to go back so he could make them "sparkle" again!!!

Last weekend we went to Wichita for Konnor's 4th birthday party. Here we are entertaining ourselves on the ride to Wichita. Kellen likes to hide his books behind his head so I can't steal them from him!!!

We love playing on Grandma's swing set

Look at how much taller I am than Konnor... and we are only 3 months apart. Before long Kellen is gonna pass up Konnor :)

Yes Kellen and Konnor are wearing the same outfit. Konnor loves to match Kellen!!!

Kellen could swing with Grandma all day long, there is something so comforting about Grandma's lap

Kellen racing his cars on Grandma's floor... just imagine he's going "vrrrrooom, vvrrrooommm, vrroommm!!!!"

Mom and Grandma made one of Mom's favorite cakes from when she was little... popcorn cake! It's got cheese and butter popcorn, skittles, hot tamales, peanuts all held together by melted marshmallows. Mommy, Aunt Pretty and Uncle Klint were all in heaven, it brought back all kinds of memories!!

Kellen was busted sneaking a couple bites before the birthday party :)

This is Jammie (ok really it's Jami, but I call her Jammie) her and Mommy are bestest friends from high school. We all love hanging out with Jammie and her 2, soon to be 3, boys!

We all had a great time in Wichita, I just love hanging out with my Grandma and cousins in Wichita. Mom didn't get a good picture of the birthday boy, she was busy serving cake while he was opening his presents :(

Williams wedding in Indiana

This past weekend we all drive to Indiana for our cousin Kyle's wedding. We always have the best time in Indiana!!

Kellen and I both LOVE Grandpa Ron's cat, Nadine. Usually we only get to see her a couple times then she disappears and doesn't come back until we are gone :)

For Mother's Day Dad sent Mom and I to the salon for a manicure/pedicure. I loved the massage chair. I also loved getting my nails painted and getting to pick out Mommy's nail color!!

Of course I picked red polish and purple sparkles...who would have guessed.

Mommy and I waiting for the lady to start on her manicure! After that every time we drove by that salon I told Mom we needed to go back there sometime. I really loved getting to spend that special time with Mom.

Saturday morning we went out to Poseyville to spend some time with Grammy. I have been asking to go to Grammy's house for weeks now, I just love my Grammy so much!

Cousins Darren and Jenny were at Grammy's house too, Jenny even taught Kellen how to sign "more"! It was the cutest thing ever watching him ask for "more". Jenny is gonna be a great Mom someday, all of us kids LOVE spending time with Jenny!

This is what my pictures look like when I get a hold of Mommy's camera!!

Daddy and I waiting for the wedding to start

Andrea and Kyle being introduced at the reception.

I even got to dance with my Daddy, he's the best!!

My cousin Elizabeth and I always have the best time playing with each other. We had so much fun dancing together, I really wish we got to see each other more often!

All of us cousins dancing
Trey, Cailyn, Isabella, Kellen & Kendall

My new thing is picking up Kellen, Mom doesn't like it so much when I try to carry him around.

Last time we were in Indiana we left some toys at Uncle Kevin's house and he happened to bring them to the wedding for Kellen. Kellen and the little ring-bearer had lots of fun racing the cars around.

The Budweiser truck even made a stop at the reception...how cool is that??!!!!!
Patrick, Uncle Kevin, Daddy
Darren, Kyle and Andrea

Sunday morning we made a stop by Grammy's house again and got to play Scrabble with her. Grammy always lets me help her with her letters, I've got the best Grammy ever!!

On the way out of town we stopped by and said Hi to Papi. This was the first time we had seen his headstone, it was pretty amazing. I miss my Papi so much but we continue to talk about him and to him all the time.

All in all we had an amazing time visiting all of our family. It was a quick weekend and I hope that next time we can stay longer and spend more time with everyone.

Snickers

WE GOT A CAT!!!!!!!
I know none of you can believe it but Mom finally broke down and got us a cat. Actually we were looking for a dog but they didn't have any that we liked and kinda fell in love with this cat. You all know that I have been terrified of ANY animal since birth but after spending the night with my friend Gabrielle, whom has a wiener dog, I decided I liked little dogs!! I came home the next day saying that I wanted a dog. Mom was SHOCKED!!! She expected that from Kellen but never from me. We all know Dad loves animals and has been wanting one for a long time, so it wasn't him that I had to convince.

This is Snickers... she used to be "Patches" but we decided that due to her coloring "Snickers" fit her much better. Mom loves her coloring, looks just like chocolate with caramel swirls.

For the first 24 hours she hid behind the washer. Kellen and I were so excited to play with her but Dad said she was still getting used to the house and to just give her time.

After the first day Snickers found her way up to Mom's room and found the perfect spot under Mom's bed. She basically stayed in that spot for 2 days, Kellen and I kept going up there and petting her but we couldn't get her to come out from under the bed.

Snickers wasn't smelling the greatest and Mom just couldn't stand it anymore so she asked Dad to give her a bath... (there was NO way Mom was gonna give that cat a bath). After the initial shock of being wet she got over it and let Dad scrub her down. Mom is very grateful to have Dad around to help care for Snickers... he's been doing a great job feeding her every morning and even cleaned out the litter box today (I'm sure he's just waiting for me to get a little bit older so I can do those things for him).

Wichita

Uncle Klint got called away to go to Air Force school and had to move to Texas right away but he did come home the first weekend and we got to spend some time with him. Grandpa Cold Beer also planned a trip to Wichita to see all of us. So it was a great weekend spending lots of time with Uncle Klint and Grandpa Cold Beer

There is nothing better than waking up to breakfast at Grandma's house. Kellen LOVES his bacon, he even says bacon now. Mom thinks it the funniest thing when he walks around the house saying "baccconnn, Nama (that's how he says Mama), bacccooon...yum yum" That kid might just be the funniest kid around.

Saturday morning we got to go to Kourtnee's soccer game. In case you don't know Kourt is REALLY REALLY great at soccer, her team always wins!! The best thing about going to the kids soccer games is getting to play with Uncle Klint and my cousins. Uncle Klint is the best Uncle ever... maybe that's because he's just like one of us kids :)

Kellen getting a piggy-back ride from GrandmaKellen and Brayden wrestling around on the soccer field, those Davis/Castillo boys are teaching Kellen how to be a rough and tough BOY!!!

Kellen, Mommy & Grandpa

Konnor, Kellen and Aunt Pretty

We also got to go to one of our favorite places ever... the Wichita Zoo!! It was the perfect day for going to the Zoo. Everyone went with us... Uncle Klint, Grandpa Cold Beer, Grandma and the Davis/Castillo family.

Me and my Hippos. The Wichita Zoo has an OK hippo exhibit, it's pretty good if the hippos are in the water but it seems like every time we are there they are hiding in the VERY back of the pen. One of these days we are gonna be there when they are inside the building and we'll be able to see them up close. I can't wait to go back to the St. Louis Zoo, they've got a great hippo exhibit!

Mommy and Kellen by the Zebras

The Gorilla exhibit is pretty great too, they are always really active and love putting on a show for everyone.

Grandma and Uncle Klint swinging Kellen

After a brunch with some of our family we had to get on the road and head back to KC. This is how Kellen always sleeps, once again chewing on his blankets.

After a long weekend in Wichita we were both pretty exhausted. We love Wichita!!