Kylie Gets Baptized

My sweet little niece Kylie was baptized on May 2nd. Our family and Dale's gathered at the Catholic Church in Eudora for the ceremony after mass. I was honored to get to be one of Kylie's godmothers. She did a great job with little to no fussing.

After the baptism everyone headed over to Christy and Dale's house for a party. It was great weather and the kids and some of the adults enjoyed playing with bubbles, washers, balls, etc. We had a nice lunch and time enjoying each others company.

Earth Day Celebration!

Sam moved into a new school building this last December. The school building was built according to "green" standards and they are doing many things that are environmentally friendly at his school. With that being said, Earth Day, was a big event that they are hoping to make even bigger each year.

This year the Conservation Department donated many small trees for the children to plant on the new grounds. Ella and I went on a very cold morning to help assist in the planting. I helped dig the large holes and supervise while the kids planted. They learned about reusing newspaper as a weed barrier and the value of mulching plants. I think they had a good time.

They also had an Earth Day Open House where each of the classes had things on display about taking care of our Earth. There were some really neat projects going on that I enjoyed seeing. Sam's class had a display on how long it takes different materials to decompose. That is what you see in the pictures as well as a poster he made about using rechargeable batteries.

Bridal Weekend!

Laura & the shower hostesses

Mia, Sam and Ella enjoying the back deck.

Opening gifts!

Bachelorette family photo

In just one week my little brother will be a married man. A few weeks ago the kids and I headed to Kansas City to celebrate with my future sister-in-law. My sister, cousins and some of Laura's friends got together Saturday night for a bachelorette party in Martini Corner. It was a nice time by all and fun to have some "girl time". Sunday we had a bridal shower at Lauren's house. The shower was beautiful (Lauren is quite the hostess) and Laura got a lot of amazing gifts. We are so excited to welcome her into our family!

Driveway Project

A before shot- lots of gray.

After shots!

We have a lot of driveway that just seemed like a massive piece of gray. We decided that we would like to get our driveway stained and etched. It was quite a process getting it done. We were off of the driveway completely for a few days and couldn't drive on it for over a week. Of course, that would be a week with lots of rain. You don't realize how great a garage is until you can't use it. The results though were well worth it. I think the driveway really warms up the house and brings out the colors in the brick. We have received many compliments and a neighbor has already signed up to get their driveway done too.

Parade!

What to do on a beautiful, sunny day? Have a parade! Sam decided to take some jump ropes that they had received for Easter and use them to tie some toys together to make a parade. He and Ella made signs to put on the front and sides of their "floats" and rode around our driveway and across to the neighbor's house. They kept themselves entertained for quite a while with this project and it was fun to watch them working so well together.