Children's Mercy Hospital Family Picnic

Each summer CMH has a family picnic out at the agricultural hall of fame.....way far away from us but still worth the drive out there. All my girlfriends usually go with their kids and so it makes it a lot of fun. Everything is free...and I mean everything...lunch- hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, baked beans, potato salad, chips, ice cream, sno cones, popcorn, drinks...jumpee things, train rides, carnival like games, rock wall, race car track...it really is a great picnic.

It was Saturday and the weather was gorgeous. Of course, Addison loved it as she loves everything we drag her out to. She usually just chills in the stroller and checks out her surroundings. She is enjoying her lunch here...grilled cheese, carrots and mandarin oranges. She will eat anything, anywhere.

As I mentioned the ice cream is free. Lauren wanted this popsicle that was almost as big as her. She only ate about 1/4 of it before passing it on to Daddy to finish.

Another snack, the sno cone that she gets every year. This year I asked for just a little syrup. The last two years she has ended up with sno cone syrup all over her...down her tummy, on her hands and arms, even to her toes...not this year. I have learned!

Lauren, Mady, and Sydney. Sydney is Lauren's favorite. She seems to see her the most since Sydney's Mom and I work together a lot and hang out here and there in our free time. Those three girls had so much fun running in the grass, giggling, laughing, and playing. So fun to watch!

I jump at any opportunity to get a good picture taken with my girls. Good meaning I have my hair fixed, make-up on and a decent outfit. Usually on the weekends I am so casual with no make-up that I don't dare pose for a picture. I love this picture. Little Addison is so sweet.

Lauren, Sydney, Mady, and Grant (Sydney's little brother) had a blast watching the train go under this bridge. They probably watched the train for over 30 minutes. They would laugh and scream each time it came by and would wave at all the people on the train. The had a great time!

Thank you CMH for a great time.

Pictures of the past few weeks!

I have tons of pictures of Lauren and Zoe, but hardly any of Addison and Zoe. One night I decided to snap a few. Addison is giving Zoe a hug here! Zoe is the best dog with Lauren and Addison. She is so laid back and tolerable of anything. We just love her!

Addison is watching her sister play outside. Mark was outside grilling while I was inside getting things ready for dinner. Addison just hung out at the door watching Mark and Lauren.

Lauren is my little Mommy. Addison can pretty much feed herself, but sometimes she needs help picking up her fruit since it is cut up so small and harder to pick up. Lauren is always willing and eager to help in any way that she can.

At the Kansas City Zoo

Lauren has a new favorite song that Ms. Morgan plays at school. It is a song by Hannah Montana...so yes...my 3 year old knows who Hannah Montana is. She is singing the song and dancing here in this picture. It is pretty cute to watch her dance.

I tried to snap a few pictures of the girls while we were taking a break and playing on the playground. I could not get Addison to look at the camera and smile at the same time...plus I was trying to make sure she did not fall off the bench she was sitting on...all for a good picture.

Lauren and Addison in the double stroller that we love looking at the monkeys. Lauren has a place behind Addison that she can sit or stand in the stroller. It is such a great way to have 2 kids in the stroller. Lauren loves it!

One of Lauren's favorite things at the zoo were the sea lions. She enjoyed watching them swim all around the pool and then come up for air and blow the water out of their nose. She was acting like a sea lion the rest of the day.

All tuckered out at the end of our day at the zoo. She just closed her eyes and went to sleep. Not a single fuss out of her.

A day at the Zoo

Saturday Morning when Mark headed up to Maryville for his fantasy football weekend I headed out to the Zoo with the girls. I was a little nervous because I had never taken them out together on a "fun" adventure. I have gone to the grocery store, Target, etc...but never somewhere fun for several hours at a time. If you have not been to the KC Zoo in a while I recommend it. We had a great time and both the girls did awesome.

Lauren really is a great kid. She listens very well and helps me with Addison. When we first got there we rode the train. I got Addison all unstrapped and out of the stroller and headed to get on the train...then Lauren says "I have to go poopy mommy" so I get Addison back in the stroller and start to leave to find a bathroom....then the train arrives and everyone starts loading up on the train. So Lauren decides she does not need to go poopy and wants to ride the train....hmmm...so I get Addison all unstrapped again and we head to the train. As the train takes off we come up to a very long dark tunnel and by the end of the tunnel I had the only 2 kids on the train crying and screaming "I want to get off Mommy, stop the train Mommy."

After the train ride we had a great time. Lauren liked seeing the tiger and the monkeys. She loved playing on the playground, and her favorite thing was the ducks and the sea lions. She really liked watching the sea lions swim on their backs and blow water out of their noses.

Addison just goes along with anything. She hung out in her stroller and was so happy. She ate lunch and finally fell asleep in her stroller around 1215. She only took a 30 minute nap all morning but you would never know. She is such a GREAT baby.

When the computer is up and running I will post pictures.

Computer is down

at home again so I can't post any pictures. It is always more fun to update everyone on the happenings of our life with pictures of the fun things we are doing on the weekends. So I sit at work with some downtime to share with you our wonderful weekend. Nothing too exciting but always fun. Mark and I attended a wedding Saturday night of one of my great friends Kori. She looked beautiful and we had a great evening together enjoying a wonderful dinner, wine, and wedding cake. The girls stayed at home with Gramps and Nana and had a good time. Lauren is filling me in on everything that Gramps and Nana left out...hmmm...Sounds like she had fun!

Sunday Mark and Lauren went to church in the pouring rain and Lauren said "we got soaked Mommy." They enjoyed donuts after church which is one of Mark's favorite things to do with Lauren. Addison and I stayed home, which was a good thing because she took an 1 1/2 hour nap. It is always hard to go to church with her right now because it is the middle of her nap time.

Sunday evening we attended the 2nd annual back to school block party. We live in a cul de sac with about 20 houses on the block so you can imagine how many people were there. The party was swarming with kids and they all had so much fun. Lauren is good friends with Jacob and Garrett who are brothers. They all rode their bikes around the circle which was so fun to watch. Addison's little friend Nathan was born 2 weeks before her and so those two sat in their strollers watching each other, smiling and laughing. They are going to have so much fun as they get older.

So there you have it. I hope to be able to post pictures soon.

10 months old

On Friday August 7th Addison was 10 months old. Wow the time has flown. She is moving all around these days. Scooting everywhere. She has a constant rug burn on her right leg from scooting all around the house these days. She says "Hi" and is waving goodbye, and finally I think I am hearing "mama" rather than "dada" all the time. She has started to pull up on things, but only a few times. She loves to take all the magnets off the fridge and make a mess on the floor. She also loves to play with her little people farm.

I can't believe I need to start thinking about her birthday. What kinds of gifts to buy and what kind of party to have. She is growing up way too fast.

Of course you can't take pictures of one and not the other. Lauren is completely into Tinker bell these days. She watches it almost everyday. If you have ever seen Tinker bell then you know that towards the beginning you meet the mouse. The mouse is a big part of the movie. Well apparently the mouse makes a face "the mouse face" that Lauren is making here. It is so cute when she makes the mouse face and laughs and giggles.

It has been another great weekend. Mark and Lauren went to the Royals game last night and had a blast. Mark was more worn out and ready to come home than Lauren was. When they got home Lauren was so animated telling me everything they did at the game. I was sorry that Addison and I had to miss it. She is a little sick this weekend...mainly just a runny nose and cough..

Well I hear Lauren waking up finally after a long nap. Time to head out to the Summit Fair shopping area for an outdoor festival they are having this weekend. Should be fun!

The Hands

The picture up above was taken in Mark's car last weekend on the way home from the pool. Mark has told me that many times Lauren and Addison hold hands while in his car. Whenever Addison is crying Lauren can always calm her down in the car by playing peek a boo or by grabbing her hand. I had my camera with me since we were on our way home from the pool. I took about 15 pictures of them holding hands. It is so precious to me. Lauren and Addison really adore each other and I think they will be very close in the years to come. Lauren always helps me with Addison. She keeps an eye on her while I get ready in the morning. She rushes to her side when she is crying, and she loves to play with her. The same is true for Addison. She loves to play with Lauren. If Addison is awake when Lauren is napping it seems like she is looking for her and misses her. The truly are the best of friends, even at such a young age. Mark and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful, healthy girls. They make it all worth while.

Good Times

The weekends that are the most busy and most exhausting are always the most fun. Saturday afternoon we had friends over for a BBQ and Lauren and Aiden had a blast. Those two always play really well together. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside on the deck and grilled out. What a great time. Lauren finally drove her car (that she got for her birthday, that has sat in the garage since her birthday) since Aiden was here to drive her around first. Once Aiden got to driving her all around she was ready to do it herself. As you can see here she loved it!

Addison watched them drive all over the yard and laughed and smiled as Aiden and Lauren were laughing and giggling. Mark and I could listen to our girls laugh and watch them smile all day long. That is what it is all about...

At one point Lauren even put her arm around Aiden as he was driving. So cute. She even stood up in the jeep and was holding on the purple bar on top...I had visions of her being 16 driving around in a jeep...standing up, holding onto the bar, hair in the wind....then I yelled at her and made her sit down!

Sunday afternoon after naps we headed out to Summit Waves in Lee's Summit. It was a lot of fun. We took the girls on the lazy river while Mark and I laid in the tube and they sat on our laps. They both loved it until we hit the waterfall and our heads were covered in water and then both girls were screaming...not so relaxing after that...trying to calm them both down...

Little Addison was so cute in her bikini. She did not really like the water because it was pretty cold so she just hung out in the shade.

She is trying to stand up and check things out. She loved being at the pool watching everything.

Moving all around...

She might not be crawling yet but she is scooting all around the house. I like to call her a frog, but today Mark called her a gorilla...which I don't really like. She gets her little legs moving back and forth like a frog and can get anywhere she wants in the house. Sometimes when she scoots around she rolls up on one knee and puts her hands on the ground and apparently walks like a gorilla...

Regardless she is finding a way to be more mobile and is starting to get into everything. I knew this day was coming and really I love it! It is so neat to me to watch her grow, develop and explore. She likes to take all the magnet letters off of the fridge and put them on the floor. It seems to bother Lauren because she says "Mommy look, Addison made a mess...we need to clean it up" So I let her clean it up...works out well!

Hmmm...what do I want for dinner tonight...I like everything...

She loves to be on the floor and take all of her toys out of the basket. We can put her all the way across the room and she will scoot to her toys and start playing with everything. Again, Lauren cleans it up....I sure do hope that will last as Addison gets bigger...her big sister cleaning up her toys.

I brought this hard hat home for Lauren with week from work. The hospital is doing a lot of expanding and one thing that is set to open in October is a new Cardiac Surgery suite. It includes two new operating rooms for open heart surgery and two new cardiac cath rooms. We were given a tour on Tuesday of the progress that has been made. It is going to be very cool with lots of new technology. Although I do not work in the surgery or cath areas I work in Cardiology and most of our patients have surgery and cardiac caths so it is great for our department. Also included in the expansion is another inpatient tower that will be 6 floors. That will increase our inpatients beds to over 300. We are becoming a huge hospital. It is amazing how fast the hospital is changing and growing...I am still holding out for CMH East to be built so I can start working there...it keeps getting put on the back burner...

Lauren was not too thrilled about the hard hat. She said it was too heavy...oh well...it was still cute!

Loved it!

Wonderful Weekend

How could you not love the weather this weekend? It was so great to be outside playing with the girls. This was one of the first times we put Addison in the swing and she LOVED it.

I thought Addison was a little too small for this car, but I put her in it anyway and she also loved it! She is so happy with anything, anywhere, anytime...what a great baby....

Lauren had so much fun pushing her around. Lauren loves to do anything that she can to help Addison and be a little "mommy" to her. She just adores Addison and is such a huge helper.

This is what happens when I attempt to take too many pictures. I have a tendency to take pictures of everything. I just don't want to forget a thing. Sometimes Lauren has just had enough! Oh well, I will continue to snap away....

Mother Daughter

Oh how I love this little girl. I asked Mark to grab the camera to snap a picture of us and it turned out great. I was down on the floor playing with her and she was grabbing my face with her 2 little soft hands and giving me big wet kisses with her mouth wide open and then just laughing. It was so sweet. I was hoping to get a picture of that but we could not, instead we got this which is great!!! Over the weekend Lauren and I attended Chicks Weekend with my aunts, cousins, mom and sister. We headed up to Atchison to go shopping and out to lunch. It was so much fun with Lauren there with me. I know that she really enjoyed it and I think everyone liked having her there. She was so well behaved...I was so proud of her.

I love having 2 little girls. We will get to do all the "girl" stuff as they get older. Shopping, lunch, nails, movies, dances, weddings, etc....the list goes on and on.

Taking Lauren with me this weekend to Chicks Weekend is just the beginning of many Mother/Daughter outings. Soon Addison will be joining us.

Tall and Skinny

That would describe my two girls. Addison had her 9 month well child check yesterday. Her are her stats:

• Weight: 16 lbs 15 oz (15%)
  
• Height: 28 1/4 inches (75%)

At 9 months Lauren was:

• 16 lbs 10 oz and 28 inches tall.

If I could freeze time with Addison right now I would. She is SO much fun these days. Here is why:

• She is FINALLY sleeping through the night!


• She has such a personality and is always full of smiles.


• She loves to dance (Kellie her teacher at school taught her how.)


• She is not crawling yet so I can put her down on the floor and she plays with toys forever and doesn't move!


• She scoots around on the floor, but doesn't get far. She just goes around in a circle.


• She is so laid back, easy going, and adapts to anything.


• She is on all table food...no more baby food...she is doing so great!


• She adores her sister and loves to share popsicles with her.
• Her favorite book is the Monster Book. When I pull it off the shelf to read it to her, her face just lights up. It is the cutest thing!

Lauren continues to adore Addison. Lauren is the sweetest, most caring big sister. Whenever Addison cries Lauren is at her side patting her on the back saying "It's OK Addison, I'm right here." It just melts my heart to see Lauren take care of Addison. She is the best.

4th of July in Omaha

We headed up to Omaha to spend the 4th of July there again. As always Lauren had a great time with all her cousins. Uncle Pat and Aunt Betsy hosted a 4th of July party and Lauren had the best time playing on this toy. When you get to the bottom you have to pick up the car and put it back on the track and go again. Lauren is so independent these days that she would not let us help her. She played on this little track over and over again.

My two girls...I just love digital photography. It allows me to capture the perfect shot, even if it takes 20 attempts.

Addison is starting to wave to everybody. She did so great over the weekend. She is so laid back and easy going. She really adapts to anything.

It is hard to get a natural smile out of Lauren these days...we have ended up with many corny ones like this...Oh well.

The poopy

This was my conversation with Lauren on Sunday...

Lauren: "I need to go poopy Mommy"

Ashley: "ok...then go poopy."

Lauren: "We don't eat poopy."

Ashley: "No Lauren we don't eat poopy"

Lauren: " I touched the poopy."

Ashley: "Oh Yuk...we don't touch poopy."

Lauren: "Why not...it did not get my hands dirty."

Ashley: "Was it your poopy?"

Lauren: "No Mommy...it was someone else's poopy. I touched the potty too."


So gross....and where were the teachers???

Father's Day Weekend

As part of my Father's Day gift, I asked Ashley if I could write this weekend's blog. She, thinking wow, a free gift, agreed without hesitation. So here goes nothing.

On Saturday, we went out to the newly renovated Kaufman Stadium to see the Royals play the Cardinals. Ashley had been there, but I hadn't seen it yet. Wow. Well done, city of Kansas City.

We had decided it was time we took Lauren to another baseball game. It was Commerce Bank "Day at the K"(cheap tickets and food tent), so we headed out. No, we didn't leave Addison home alone...we got a babysitter.

We never did end up in our seats. Lauren's best friend from school was there, with his parents, who also work for Commerce. Her pigtails are Daddy's favorite.
Below is the carousel out in the Outfield Experience. Lauren got to go on it twice, but absolutely refused to run the bases. But we did play on the playground out there and checked out everything else.

Lauren was so cute when she saw Killian. She just ran towards him shouting his name. I think they are absolutely adorable together.

On to Father's Day....

Lauren is the best. Today, she gave me a coupon that she made at school. It said "1 coupon--Good for picking up bunnies". After a few hours on and off of deliberation, I finally figured out this is a coupon for me to spot a bunny out the window over the kitchen sink, and to grab her and lift her up to look out the window. Nothing makes me happier than kisses from my Boo.

My Sweet little Addison. I tell you what folks, this little angel's smile lights me up like 4th of July fireworks. I think it is because she smiles with not only her mouth and cheeks, but her whole face. Her eyes get a little sparkle in them.

Well...we are now wrapping up Father's day and I have babbled on. But to quote Gary Cooper in Pride of the Yankees (I don't expect any non-sports fan or anybody under 60 to get this)..... Today, I consider myself to be luckiest man on the face of the Earth.