Halloween 2016

My three guys on Halloween this year.  From Right to Left...sigh this "fading phantom" needs to stop growing up!  Because ya know "All the 4th graders are going as something scary, Mom.  It's what we do."  Well, ok then.  I did my very best to lure him away from the dark corners of Party City where creatures of the night loomed over us, assuring me that my child would be doomed should I not convince him to turn back and pick a pokemon character, or Star Wars, or even the dang poop emoji for goodness sake!  But, he would not be swayed, and because I wanted to be the cool mom, we compromised.  I put my foot down on "soul snatcher" but conceded to the "fading phantom."  His buddy was a bloody sock monkey, so I still feel like I won. ;)

Onto that man in the middle...is he not the cutest little Mickey Mouse you've ever seen?  He's every bit as huggable as he looks!  He put on his brave face for the sake of candy and did a good job keeping up with the big kids going around the neighborhood with Daddy.

And, in my opinion, our star of the show...The Haunted Train Crossing!  Haunted because Daddy accidentally got a strobe light that made spooky sounds as well.  When we started asking the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween, he was unwavering in his desire to be a train crossing.  Well, buddy I don't really think they make train crossing costumes.  "We can just make one ourselves."  Google images provided some inspiration, dug up some black clothes, found that great metal sign at hobby lobby and I put Daddy in charge of figuring out the rest.  You've never seen a kid more excited than he was when he saw the finished product. 

Love them all and their very different little personalities!

Lil' Engineer

This blog has become a little bit like the usual state of the laundry in my home.  I'm so far behind and I feel like I'll never get all the way caught up...so what do I do?  Avoid it! Haha, here's my attempt to get back at it....this little guy's 6th birthday!  We celebrated with a train ride to St. Louis and a day at the transportation museum.

 

In his happy place...

Riding the train was fun.  It took us longer than if we had driven ourselves, but all of us enjoyed it.  The hubs especially since he was finally able to watch shows and hang out instead of worry about driving. :)  The kids thought it was especially cool on our return trip when the conductor whipped a set of seats around so we had 4 facing each other.

 

The transportation museum was what we did in lue of a party for peanut's birthday this year.  Biggest brother was very skeptical going in, but if that kid didn't have a good time in spite of himself. ;)  The little pedal train was his favorite part.

My boys!

Sigh. Pre-teens.

Surrounded by train books inside the library car.

It's technically a transportation museum, but it's a train lover's paradise.  And our little train lover had the best time!

Chattanooga Choo Choo!

We just got back from a fun little vacation with the in-laws.  We went to Chattanooga, TN.  Hubs and I have been there twice.  Once with C when he was just a tiny little toddler and again just passing through on our move from MD to TX.  We stayed at the same hotel and did some of the same things around the city this trip so it was fun to reminisce.  This time we got a real treat courtesy of the grandparents and got to stay a night in an old Pullman train car.  The two little boys loved that!  Here's the crew outside our train car room...

Exploring before our train ride.

This was our 3rd time at the aquarium and it didn't disappoint.  Everyone really enjoyed it!

Haha, the bowman boys takeover. :)

And of course, the water play area.  Again, a big hit. 

The two bigs were pretending to be stingrays and baby brother was petting them.

We visited the discovery museum for the first time on this trip and it was a lot of fun.  C enjoyed it, but was done pretty quickly.  I think the younger boys could've stayed there all day.

And just for fun, here are a few blast from the past pictures from our previous trips to Chattanooga...

Wow, that took a long time!

Am I reinforcing the stereotypes of Kansas being nothing but farmland in the middle of nowhere. :)  Seeing as how my blogging came to a halt right after we moved here.  Well, we actually DO have internet here...but what I don't have a lot of is TIME!  The boys keep me busy for sure.  And while they are all at an age now where they can play well without me...turns out that's still not possible as they don't play all that well with each other! Some days I feel like more of a referee than a mom.  Our move to Kansas came with lots of changes and it seemed to shake everybody up, some more than others, and it's been one of our tougher seasons.  So, blogging took a backseat for awhile.  And I'm not saying I'm back, but I'm hoping to reclaim this space.  I'll leave you with some photos from the past few months...

In April the hubs and I were able to get away together without the kiddos.  It. was. awesome.  We went to Brooklyn and spent a few glorious days with some of our besties!  This was us at the botanical gardens...the cherry blossoms were gorgeous!

All the boys did vacation bible school at our church.  I also did vacation bible school as the baby of the family refuses to do much of anything without mama in tow. :)

The decorations were amazing!  The theme was Submerged.

The boys have had a few trips to the farm.  Fishing is always a hit.

I got to take C to a Sporting KC soccer game.  Hubs was supposed to go, but he was still not walking after his calf injury.  We got the tickets at a fundraiser auction at our church.  A super deal on great seats with access to the shield club.  It was really, really fun.  Sometimes some time away from his little siblings is what this kid needs to really light up.  And I had forgotten how bright he shines!  I was so glad to get this special time with him.

Summer time snow cones!

Touch-a-truck with my littles, another great day for the Mom memory bank. :)

C did a week long basketball camp at the local high school.  He's really gotten into basketball the past year but other than with friends at our goal out front, he's never played.  It was a great first intro and he really enjoyed it.

Enjoying a summer morning at the park.