My Baby Cousin Got Married!!!

Labor Day weekend my cousin Kelsey married the sweetest man Mike.  The best part is I got to be apart of it with 3 of my other cousins! I loved every second of getting to be a bridesmaid for this sweet bride and spending the day with family.  It was a busy busy weekend but so much fun.

These are the bridesmaids at rehearsal dinner in order from left to right, Kara (Brides step sister), Kate (brides sister), Liz (brides friend), Kelsey (BRIDE), Kristin (Brides cousin), and me.

The morning of the wedding it started with coffee for everyone!  Thank you to Rob for driving me downtown so I could hold onto 5 coffees.

The ladies were then off to get our make up done.  I have to say I've never had my make up professionally done but man I would do it all the time if I could.  

The bride being walked down the aisle by her step dad and dad

After the ceremony we were all on the trolley for pictures and some fun!  

Sometimes a girl needs a cocktail or two

I'm so happy for Mike and Kelsey.  They are an amazing couple who will have many great years together!!

My good looking date!

The Ladies

The boys!

The Vander Waal women!

First Day of School

Well the end of August brought us the start of first grade.  FIRST GRADE!  Are you kidding me?!  Man was she ready to go to school (She gets that from her Daddy).  She got to come to work with me in the morning since she had a late start that day.  

Also that weekend Henry got moved into his preschool room at daycare.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME AGAIN!!  Who says that both of them can be in school.  Paige already talks about only 2 more years till Henry comes to school with me.

Now I get photos like this of Henry.  WRITING!  WHAT!!

We tried to get in some fishing and didn't have much luck.

This girl is gaining on me in the height department.  She checks weekly.

We've been working on getting back into the swing of things with reading.  Spending some much needed time together at night.

Look at this kid learning to spell his name!

Summerfest 2016

Summerfest is an event in Ankeny that they do the weekend after the 4th of July.  There are so many events and things to get involved in.  This year my kids were asked to be apart of the parade for our daycare center.  The kids were so excited to be able to pass out candy and be apart of the parade.  I don't think they understood how hot it was going to be as well as how much walking they were going to have to do.  I got nothing but great reports from all the girls from daycare however.  

The exciting part was my sisters girls were in town spending the weekend with my Mom.  So they were able to come up and cheer on their cousins and spend the day with us.

Carly even made them a sign

After the parade we went to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Man do these kids love wings!  Carly and Paige thought it was a good idea to get a wing challenge among the two of them.  I mean who am I to tell them that it was a poor choice.  I videoed it of course!  I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did when I was watching them.

Then there is Elise with her chicken strips

We then were off to Living History Farms just us girls.  These two road with me.  We had a dance party in the car as well as a lot of singing.

I love when I get time to spend with my nieces.  Those two are pretty great if I do say so myself.

Summer Photo Dump

Alright so this one is just going to be a brief overview of our summer.  It has been BUSY hence the lack of blogs.  Paige has been in more sports then usual, Henry is also very active. Learning what life is like with 2 kids and we're not even in the full swing of sports yet!

This kid thought he needed new sunglasses, they were $2 so why not!

I also had the pleasure of getting to see my best friend accept the Governor's Volunteer award.  Words cannot describe how proud I am of her and all that she does.  She has grown into one of the most selfless people I know.

This summer my sisters girls were on their first softball team.  They traveled around to tournaments.  They played their State tournament in Des Moines and came in 2nd place.  Man those girls can play!!  I had so much fun watching them and already can't wait till they are back in Des Moines to play again!!

Carly as the pitcher 

Elise as catcher

Henry has become obsessed with Star Wars.  I picked him up some pajamas and it has been a summer worth of entertainment.  This is his Darth Vader face he tells me, I was cracking up laughing as I took this picture.

This one is because I don't normally get time to fish.  I am usually making sure Henry doesn't fall in, or I'm helping cast a pole.  The kids were distracted with Rick and Gail so I ran down to the pond and threw a line in.  Super excited to catch a bass even if it was little.

We've had some weddings this summer.  Our good friends Sean and Bobbi got married on a HOT HOT July day (not long after we celebrated our 9 year anniversary!)

These are my friends since junior high.  Love them!

This is my best friend Craig.  He has always been the man to be with no matter what is going on.

I just love finding these types of random photos on my phone.  These kids are my world and I wouldn't be who I am without them.

So another wedding we have is my cousin Kelsey!  That will be another blog post.  But this is from her shower.  Got to spend some much needed time with my mom and sister that day.

Paige has started making friendship bracelets.  She learned at her summer camp and has been loving it.  Well she was in a video at work and earned some money.  I let her use some of that money to maker her own kit.  This girl is so crafty.

We spent a lot of time at my Dad and Pat's swimming this summer.  The kids love the pool and love having friends go with us.

Our family vacation this year was to go to Omaha just Rob, me and the kids.  We took an extra day off work so that we could get everything accomplished.  We went to the zoo on the first day and the kids had a blast.  They expanded the zoo last year so there were all sorts of new animals. The big change for us was not having to take a double stroller.  Paige walked the whole zoo and never complained once.  The weather wasn't too hot and everyone had a good time.  We then spent a lot of time in the hotel pool as well as a trip to the children's museum.

More to come!