More From June

Look at me!  Two posts in one month!  Most of these are from the past week or so.  I put some at the end from awhile back.  I found them on Nick's phone.  

We had a visit from our Florida Family!  We were so excited to see them.  We also got to celebrate Kaia's birthday at our house.  It has been a busy week and I loved having everyone here!

While Nick's mom was here, I took her on to campus and showed her the Columns in the Quad.  We saw Thomas Jefferson's original grave stone and went into Jesse Hall.  This picture is of the Columns with Jesse Hall in the background.  Jesse Hall is where the registrar's office is, as well as the chancellor and provost for the university.  The columns are part of the original structure that burned in 1892.  Jesse Hall was built three years after that.  I actually had a tour the previous day with the course that I'm assistant teaching for our student-athletes, so all the information was fresh in my memory.  The kids played for awhile and enjoyed being outside.

Gracie and Owen with a statue of Thomas Jefferson

Happy Birthday Kaia!

She is 1!  I'm so happy that we got to spend part of her birthday with her.  I can't believe it has been a year since she was born at just 34 weeks and weighed 5 pounds.  She has grown so much!  Annie and Chad drove down from Iowa to retrieve the rest of their belongings from their house before closing.  They spent a couple hours here and Annie stayed to watch Gracie dance that evening, while Chad took the kids to the lake.  It was a really fun day!

One of the picture fails.  Owen is trying to make Kaia look at the camera.

Another fail.  It looks like River is strangling Owen, Gracie is laughing and Kaia almost has her feet in the cake.

Kaia is not so sure about the ice cream cake.  It must be really cold!

Maybe???

Dance!

Finally Gracie's dance recital is here.  She did a great job and her tap routine was great!  She was a beautiful dancer in their Peter and the Wolf ballet, as well.  They were on stage for a really long time.

Gracie with Grandma Deb

Both Grandmas with the star

Another recital missed by Owen.  Again this year, he couldn't make it through.  

Maybe next year, buddy.  He did perk up a little when we stopped at Wendy's though.

I should find all of the pictures I have of Owen sleeping through Gracie's recitals.

Gracie's tap dance

Grandma got to have fun on the acreage!

She took the 4-wheeler out while she was here.

We got so much done while Deb was here.  I can't believe how much motivation she provides!  She brought down tons of plants that had to be put in pots because our yard isn't ready for landscaping yet.  She moved rock for us, and dug a few out of the ground.  We went to a few ball games with her and had some family dinners together.  I love having her here!

Nick did that....

Sunday night we had more visitors from the south who were on their way back home.  Owen waited at the end of our driveway for about an hour for Grandpa Norm and Tony to get here.  It was pretty late when they arrived, but Nick had plans for keeping the party going into the night.  They got here just before dark, so saw a little bit of our new home from the outside.  We let the kids stay up pretty late to enjoy having both Grandma and Grandpa here, and especially Tony!  We were so happy to have all of our guests during the past week!

A few random pictures

This must have been toward the end of April.  That's about the last time we brought in hay for the horses.  Looks like Owen had fun helping unload.

Owen cuddling with Tom in the hay.

I really don't know when this was taken, but thought I would share.

Nick went on Owen's field trip to Runge Nature Area by Jefferson City. 

I think they had a fun day!

I think this was Mother's Day.  We went out for Mexican food at El Espolon in Jefferson City, then went exploring down by the river.  The state capitol is in the background.

Nick and Owen climbing a tree by the Missouri River

We found some sand!

Nick and Owen found a huge snapping turtle in our pond.  Gross.

All of our family is now gone, so we're somewhat back to normal.  Owen has been sick for the past two days, so has missed summer school and a baseball game.  He's been on medication since yesterday, so hopefully he'll be back to normal tomorrow.  Gracie doesn't have any games again until Monday next week and gets her hair cut on Friday.  I think it has been almost a year since we chopped off 9 inches to donate.  She has been a bit resistant to get it cut again.

Gracie's scheduled tournament is cancelled this weekend, so it should be pretty low key and we might be able to get more done at our house.  Nick has started staking out the barn and we hope to move the piles of dirt that are blocking our view of the neighbor's lake. :)  I have started painting more trim inside the house and will continue to work on that.  There will always be things to do.  I'm not sure it will ever be finished.  I'm pretty happy with what we have right now, though.  I love being able to sit on our back porch in the evenings and wake up in the mornings looking out of our bedroom window at our timber and pond (although it is completely covered in duckweed).  I also get up knowing that I'm going to a job I enjoy and I can make a difference in some of these students' lives.  I get to watch my kids doing things they love every day and help them learn when they make mistakes.  I'd say we're doing ok right now (or maybe a little better than ok.)  We really are blessed.  ❤