July - December 2017
The month of July started with a BANG!! We celebrated the 4th of July holiday with my Mama Tribe & their families. We had a potluck supper over at Sara's house first & then the kids lit off the fireworks. Later in the evening the big kids took over lighting the fireworks & we all enjoyed the HUGE display the boys had put together! I can definitely see this group making this an annual event!
A couple weeks later Mase & I headed to Winona, MN where we spent 5 days with my family. We rented a beautiful home overlooking the river & spent our days swimming, toured the Eagle Conservatory, rented a pontoon & did some tubing & riding up & down the Mississippi River.
Sadly Shane was unable to get vacation from his job so he wasn't able to join us :( We definitely missed his absence! Mason had so much fun playing with his cousins & us adults enjoyed hanging out together. It was the first time my entire family had been together in a long while so it was nice to all be together. Pretty sure we are going to make this an event every couple of years!!
August was a month that I felt just flew by! We continued to enjoy our weekends at the pool, spent some time at one of our favorite places Deanna Rose Farmstead, I had another birthday creep up on me on the 16th & was able to participate in the Solar Eclipse!
On my birthday, my Mama Tribe & the kiddos came over to my house for cake. The girls got me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen that was perfect for this Mama! It said "kinda classy, kinda hood"! Anyone who knows me, knows I love my gangsta rap & hip hop music so this fit me perfectly!
Also for my birthday, my Mama Tribe surprised me with a weekend getaway at the Lake of the Ozarks. They just showed up at my door on a Friday night, told me I had 15 minutes to pack a bag for a weekend at the lake & we were off. Shane had known about it for months & they all managed to keep it a secret from me!!
We stayed at my friend Dana's parents condo on the lake & had a super fun weekend tubing, water skiing, partying at Coconuts & some much needed relaxation. It was the best surprise ever & we had SO much fun!!
The once in a lifetime Solar Eclipse happened while I was at work & our boss was nice enough to allow us to go outside & watch it happen. It was an awesome thing to be a part of & so glad I was able to experience all the hype!
This little man officially started Pre-K on the 17th! Can't believe we have one more year & he is off to Kindergarten!!!!
The Mama Tribe managed to pull off a couples date night this month also! We are all starting to do more stuff together as couples & love how the hubby's all get along just as good as us Mama's!
September means end of summer & fall is right around the corner! Sad to see the summer coming to a close but excited for the next few months - my favorite time of year!!
Labor Day weekend was spent at one of our favorite campsites - Melvern Lake. We had my friend Sara & her family spend a day with us & we had tons of fun grilling out, riding bikes & playing games with the kiddos.
Early in the month I joined my Mama Tribe for the Color Run 5K here in my hometown. It was the first one the town had put on & it turned out to be a success. It was a fun night walking through the streets in the dark with our glow sticks on & hoping they do it again next year!
We made another trip to Table Rock Lake/Branson with our RV this month! We had amazing weather & had a ton of fun checking out some new places in the Branson area that we hadn't been to. We absolutely love coming down here to camp. There is SO much for us to do together as a family & it never gets old.
Mason started back up in fall soccer! He loves playing soccer & is quite the competitive little player! It is so much fun watching him & his friends out there learning how to play the game!
October was another super busy month! As I am updating this I can see why the months have just flown by! We are just way too crazy busy!! The monh brought us fall, the Down Syndrome Awareness Walk, annual school pictures, Janie Blue's 1st gig, family pictures, pumpkin carving & Halloween.
Mase & I made our way to WI the 1st weekend in October for the annual Down Syndrome Awareness Walk to support my niece Dana. Our team "Dana's Daisies" raised over $3400 for the cause! It of course was a cloudy, dreary day but temps were warm & there was no rain which we were all thankful for!
Mase & his cousins had a blast doing face painting, the petting zoo, rock wall climbing, jumping in the bounce houses & playing at the park. We always love making this trip every year & being able to see my sister & her family is always a fun time!
The day we were to leave WI we stopped at a super fun pumpkin patch where we went on a hayride, walked through the corn maze - which was a muddy mess, ate lunch & played on the fun slides! We left for the airport from there & made our way back to KC. It was a such a fun weekend but is always good to get back home!
Every year Mason gets his pictures taken at his daycare by Lil' Angels Photography & they always do such an amazing job. Going to be kind of sad this will be the last year he will be getting his photos done there :( Hard to believe how much this little guy has changed over the last few years!
This past May my husbands rockstar dreams came true when he became part of a band as the drummer. The bands name is Janie Blue & they are an alternative/blues rock kind of music. The practice every Saturday morning in our basement & had their very first gig this month at a local bar & grill! They did awesome despite some sound issues but have upcoming bookings each month for the next 6 months. They play all their own original music & are actually really, really good! You can check them out on Facebook for more info or to listen to some of their music!
We had our family pictures taken this month by Meghann Rebecca Photography & she did an absolutely amazing job! I just love all the fall colors & am SO happy with how the pics turned out! I can't wait to get our edited proofs so I can start making Christmas cards & update the family photos on our walls!
The end of October was a fun one with picking out our pumpkins, carving them, participating in a local church Trunk or Treat & then trick or treating on Halloween night with friends.
Mason wanted to be a Ninja Kid this year where his Mama wanted him to be something cuter. Gone are the days that Mama is able to pick out his costumes :( I would have to say that he still turned out to be a pretty cute Ninja!
November ended up being a little bit of a slower month as we celebrated Thanksgiving & decorated the house for Christmas.
Janie Blue had their 2nd performance at The Boobie Trap in Topeka, KS so I made my way there to support the band. They had a great show & sounded MUCH better than the last place they played. Must say it is kind of fun being a "groupie" & following the band to all their performances :)
Sadly the following week on Nov 10th, I received word from my Mom that my Grandmother had passed away. It was definitely bittersweet to hear because I was sad that my grandmother was no longer with us but yet I felt relieved that she was no longer suffering & was finally up in heaven.
I left for SD the next morning & had made the hard decision to go by myself. Shane stayed home with Mase so that I was able to go home & be with my Dad's family, help make arrangements for the funeral, spend time with cousins I haven't seen in forever & grieve for the loss of my Grandma without the distraction of a child. As much as I missed them both not being there, I was glad I had made the decision that I had.
I have SO many wonderful memories of my Grandmother from my childhood & the later years & will treasure those pictures & memories forever. She was a blessing to us all & she is going to be greatly missed by many.
We ended up celebrating Thanksgiving at home this year & I cooked the full Thanksgiving feast. We invited my friend Sara & her family over to help us eat all the food I had prepared & had a ton of fun hanging out with them eating & watching football while the kids played & watched Christmas movies.
For weeks Mason has been asking to decorate the house for Christmas & I had told him we had to wait until after Thanksgiving. So the very next day he asked again for the 100th time so we spent Black Friday digging out all the Christmas bins & decorating the house for the holidays. Jingle our Elf even made his appearance again this year.
And that leads us to December! Whew - almost done!!!
I will make separate posts for this month as not much has gone on thus far other than a work Christmas party & another Janie Blue gig!
If you have gotten this far thank you so much for reading. It has been so much fun looking back on the past year seeing what our family has all done & accomplished. I am going to really try my best to keep this blog updated & throw in some other topics other than just writing about chronicles of our life. Hope you all come back & check it out from time to time!
