Jamie's 30th Birthday

Happy 30th Birthday to Jamie!
Karley and I went through some Photos today and came up with a few favorites of Aunt Jamie. WE LOVE YOU!!!!

2003

Disney 2008
on the shuttle at disney world

Karley's first dance recital. 2006

Spring Break 2006

Carnival Cruise 2007

mmmmmm.....PF Changs. 2004

Jamaica 2005....Beaches Resort in Negril.

Margaritaville in Negril, Jamaica

Jamaica 2004

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Congrats to the Carr's!

Short Blog tonight....I just wanted to say Congrats to Josh and Cory Carr on the birth of their adorable little boy. Brooks Robert Carr. Cory is amazing and made a video of the birth and delivery so I thought I would share it as well. Congrats again and we will see you guys soon!

XOXOX

http://www.heathercolephoto.com/slideshows/brooksbirth/

Branson Trip #2

A couple of weeks ago Karley, my Mom and I went to Branson to catch some shows that we wanted to see the last time we were there. We also hit up some museums and great restaurants. It was a nice, relaxing week. When we got into town we stopped at the Wax Museum. It was a blast and Karley was cracking us up by posing with the Wax people.....The first show we saw was Noah The Musical. I can't say enough good things about this show! It was amazing!
The 2nd show we saw was Peter Pan. This one was really cool because we had 6th row seats and Peter Pan would fly over the audience and sprinkle pixie dust on the crowd....Karley LOVED that! After the show we got to meet Cathy Rigby (peter Pan), Michael, and one of Captian Hook's pirates.
On our way home we stopped in Springfield, MO to visit one of the underground caves. This one was recommended to us by a friend and was really interesting. We got to ride on a train through it which was better than the 1000 steps that we took on the cave tour in Silver Dollar City!

All of the pictures are together in the blog because my computer isn't letting me separate them out. Sorry! We had a great time and now are planning for our upcoming Cruise in October!

Potwin Pottery Party

On July 1st (Karley's 6th Birthday) we had a few of her friends meet at Potwin Pottery for a girls day. I bought a certificate at the Junior League sale way back in February and thought it would make for a perfect birthday party but since she is miss popular we had to do the sports center because potwin pottery would only do 6 kids for the set price. So, my spoiled child got 2 birthday parties.....:)

After the party we came back to the house and set up Karley's new water slide. This thing is AWESOME! It is not so much fun when clean up time comes around though. It is amazing how many parents in my neighborhood will be very quick to send their kids over and then VANISH when it time to pick up........Thank God for Amanda! She stayed and helped us clean it all up and pack it away for another day.

While we were cleaning we decided to get out the camera for some photos. It was a blast just hanging out with her! We always have such a good time together and get caught up on all sorts of gossip! Thanks, Amanda, for coming to spend the day with us!

Party Day!

This year we decided to skip the traditional BBQ birthday Party and have one at the Sports Center here in Topeka. It was much, much smaller and A LOT less stressful. Karley had a blast too which is the most important. We entertained 15 kids and their parents......a major difference from the 50+ we were having for her BBQ parties. Here are some photos from the day.

After the party we came back to the house and went swimming. It was nice to cool off after a HOT day! Doug and Todd took the kids to the firework stand to buy our first round of fireworks. The kids had a lot of fun setting off fireworks. It was a great weekend!

A Birthday letter to my Daughter

To Karley:

Silly. Confident. Stubborn. Dramatic. Artistic. Life of the party. Talkative.
You are everything I wanted to be at your age. People flock towards you. There are days that I just sit and stare at you and I am so proud of the person you are today. Are you really my daughter? How is it possible?

Polite, bubbly, and beautiful.

I am so grateful for who you are. I am envious of your passion for life, your confidence, your ambitions. I want to bottle up your energy forever. You have taught me so many great things and opened up my eyes to a new world.
You make me laugh out loud when I look in the rear view mirror of my car as we are blasting the newest Taylor Swift CD and singing at the top of our lungs. I see you break out in song as your arms and legs start dancing and I smile at your honesty. You are always happy and I know how lucky I am.

BUT YOU ARE GOING TO BE SIX YEARS OLD!

How time flies. I remember when you were a few weeks old & all you could do was eat, sleep, poop and cry. :) I loved how I could hold & cuddle with you and although I really do miss those days---we are having so much fun now.
Fast forward six years, you are a vibrant and happy little girl. You have such a great personality & love of life. You are super funny (which I would love to believe is inherited from me) and you love running around & playing with your friends. I love how you are such a daredevil and you aren’t afraid to try new things.
But I think what I love most about you is the way you make me feel. You make me feel like a million bucks when you tell me that you think I am the most beautiful person in the world or just even when you say I love you or laugh. You are an amazing little girl.

Your dad and I are SO proud to be your parents.
Happy, Happy Birthday Karley

Love, Love,
Mommy (and Daddy!)

Summertime Fun

Hello All! We have been having a great summer!

Here are a few photos to show off what we have been up to.

First up is our new toy. Well, actually, it has been sitting in our garage for about a year and Todd decided it was time to fill it up with gas and get it going. This thing is super fast and dangerous.....but a whole lot of fun.

There were literally kids coming out of the woodwork to ride this thing. The only requirement was you had to wear the helmet. (although i am not so sure it would have helped if a crash did happen) and the only helmet we have is barbie pink. The boys from down the street who are in Middle school didn't care....they strapped on the helmet and rode for hours. And, of course, Karley was not one single bit afraid. The faster it went, the happier she was.

We have been doing some swimming at John (our neighbor's) pool. He is so sweet to open his pool up to all of the neighborhood kids at least one day a week and we take full advantage of the nice swim on such hot days. Here is a picture of Abigale, Ameila and Karley relaxing and enjoying the sun.

Last weekend Karley went to a birthday party at the beauty school. All of the girls got an up-do and their nails painted. Karley was in heaven and now wants me to do her hair like that everyday....the full bottle of hairspray and all.

Since it has been so hot we have been trying to find something fun to do. I think we have already seen all of the movies in the theatre so now we have been going bowling. Karley loves to do this and I love the AC. On Monday we met the neighbors there and the kiddo's bowled 2 games.

Today, since it was 195 degrees outside we went again. Just Karley and I. We had a blast. Watching her bowl is kind of like watching a shot-put game. She is not strong enough to hold the ball with one hand and she said the rolling it between her legs was boring so she just throws it down the lane. It is working out for her since she beat me on one game today.

I can't believe she is almost 6!!