Parish picnic!

 This year the parish picnic was a little harder to go to.  Chris always talked about how much he loved the parish picnic when he was growing up and it was a favorite thing for him to do with the kids ever year.  I really didn't want to go, but I knew I couldn't do that to the kids.  So I sucked it up, put on my big girl pants and headed out to the picnic.  It was actually a really good thing for us because we were surrounded by people who love and care about us so much!

And of course the kids had a blast playing games and riding rides.

 Adriana was able to meet up with some of her friends.  Yes, these girls are all the same age.  My little girl is just very tall and beautiful :) hehehe!

 I really am glad we went and the kids had such a wonderful time and we stayed late into the night!

Adriana and Andrew's first race!

 Back in Oct. was our parish picnic and the kids decided to do their first race which was a 1 mile fun run.  The kids were very excited to do the race and both did great!  They were both able to finish in the mile...Adriana ran it in 9:30 and Andrew was 10:30.  Not too bad for a 5 and 8 year old!  Here is a few pictures of my runners.....

New swingset!

 One of the things Chris always wanted to do for the kids was buy a new swingset for them.  The one we currently had in the yard was at the house already when we bought it 8 years ago and it was very used then.  Chris would often sit at the window and talk about how he didn't like the kids swinging on it because he was so worried it would tip over or break on them.  Well at the time we couldn't afford a new singset so we continued to let the kids play on it. 

Well after Chris passed away one of the things I really wanted to do with the fundraising money friends help raise for my family was to buy them a new swingset.  So we looked at lots of different swingsets and finally found one that everyone could agree on and wasn't very expensive.  We also were able to get someone to build it for us for free!

Here is Joey helping to take down our old swingset.

And here is our brand new swingset! I know Chris would be so happy with it and the kids will have many years of play out of it!

Happy 8th birthday Adriana!!!!

 This year for her birthday, Adriana decided to have her birthday party at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch.  She also decided to give donations to the ranch rather than receive birthday gifts.

Although it was a very long drive, it was a very fun birthday party.  Because it was a little rainy that day, we had most of the ranch to ourselves.  We got to tour the ranch and also do a hayride around the property.  It was a lot of fun for all the kids!

Before the party started, Adriana was able to get her picture taken with some of the animals.  The horse in this picture is Twist of Fate aka Twister.  He actually has a book written about him and how his mom was saved from heading to a slaughter house while she was pregnant with him.  Its a very uplifting story!

This is one of the many lamas living on the property!

 Adriana with a few of her friends visiting all the horses.

 The kids on the hayride.

 Adriana's birthday cakes.  We weren't sure how many people would be coming so we bought two just in case.



Andrew's kindergarten welcome mass!

 Way back in September Andrew had his kindergarten welcome mass.  It's a mass to welcome all the kindergarteners to church along with their 7th grade big buddies.  Andrew was very excited and really enjoys being with his big buddy, John!

Here is the kindergarteners and 7th grade buddies.  Andrew has one of the tallest 7th graders which is good considering my kids are so tall too.

 Father John, MawMaw, Joey, and Andrew.

 Andrew, his buddy John, and his teacher Mrs. Gotsch.  He looks like he is up to something :)

Andrew and his buddy, John!

Great wolf lodge!

 For Labor Day weekend this year, my parents took the kids and I to the Great Wolf Lodge over in Kansas City.  This was our first time at Great Wolf Lodge and the kids had a blast.

We had the room with the bunkbeds and the kids thought this was the best thing ever!

 There was so many fun activities to do around the hotel that we only left once.

 All the kids including their cousin Jacob!

 MawMaw and four of her grandkids.

 The kids working hard on coloring their pillow cases.

 The one time we left the hotel was to go eat lunch at the T Rex restaurant.

 I thought the huge water park in the hotel would have been the best part of staying there, but I was wrong.  The kids could not get enough of the wizard game.  They would run around the hotel for hours playing.  And to make it more dramatic, my mom bought all the kids wizard outfits to wear.

Thanks to MawMaw and PawPaw for a great weekend!

Andrew's 1st dove hunting!

 Chris had talked all year about taking Andrew dove hunting for the first time this year.  Unfortunately Chris passed away before he was able to.  Well Chris' family stepped in and made sure Andrew was still able to go.  Chris' dad took Andrew down to Uncle Roy's house where they have a huge opening day event each year.  Lots of Chris' friends, Chris' brothers, and other family members were all there to make sure Andrew had a great time.

Uncle Roy helping teach Andrew how to shoot his gun PePaw bought for him.

This is one very excited little boy!

Andrew says he got two doves, but I was told otherwise :)  Hunts like his daddy.......hehe!  But I know for a fact that Andrew had one of the best days of his lives and has been talking about it non stop.  I'm so thankful there is so many wonderful people in Andrew's life to help with this experience!!!