1st Day of School

Carson and Ryker will get to ride the bus together every day and they are even in the same class.  They are both very happy about that!

We are so proud of this boy and looking forward to a great year for him!

I only cried a little this year after he got on the bus. Yay me! ;-)

Last Day of Summer Break

I told Ryker he could decide what he'd like to do today since it's his last day of summer break.  He wasn't up for the zoo but bowling with the Rush's sounded great to him.  We drove out to the bowling alley in Greenfield only to find it closed.  Apparently they need to update their website! Since we were already out that way, we decided to try That Fun Place in town.  It worked out great and the kids had a blast.

They all fought over this game.  Camden's celebration every time he scored was hilarious.

Ryker was really good at this naval battle simulation game and won tons of tickets playing it.

Amber and I had fun with the air hockey table and pretty soon Ryker and Carson got in on the action.

We finished up the fun with lunch and ice cream at Culver's. 

Later on, it was time for Back to School Night.  Ryker met his new teacher, Mrs. Rose and put his school supplies away in his classroom.  

Camden wanted in the picture too.  He's such a ham!

After much consideration, we decided to have Ryker repeat Kindergarten this year.  He is so young for the group that he was with last year and since it wasn't an easy year for him, we feel another year will give him time to mature and learn at his own rate.  Besides, I can't imagine why having him under our roof for one more year before he goes off to college would be a bad thing.  We feel very good about the decision and are prayerful and hopeful he has a great year of tremendous growth with Mrs. Rose.

Family Cookout

Dave and Kate were in town this weekend visiting friends.  They came over to Mom and Dad's this afternoon for lunch.  They invited Grandma and Grandpa and us over too.  We had a great meal and lots of fun cousin time.

Ryker has become quite the expert on driving Papaw's zero turn radius mower.

Cam and Hudson were loving the tractor rides.

I made Grandma take a picture with me too.  She doesn't love having her picture taken but I like to soak up all the time I have with her.

We said our goodbyes to Dave, Kate, and the boys and left Cam and Riella with my parents while we took Ryker to get some new shoes for school.  He's grown a ton this summer!  I can't believe summer break is almost over too!

Fishing with Papaw

Papaw picked up Ryker yesterday and took him fishing.  

He barely talked about anything else the entire day.  He couldn't wait to go!

He spent the night at their house and Papaw woke him up bright and early to go again this morning.  

Nana brought him home earlier today and shared this picture with me.  He told me all about catching 3 red-eared sunfish and how Papaw only caught 1.  He apparently also mentioned to Papaw that he didn't have a b.b. gun.  I think it was his way of hinting that he wanted one.  He said he wants to go hunting with Papaw.  He was a bit disappointed when Nana said that was still a ways off.  He definitely inherited his Papaw's love of the outdoors!

Lady Antebellum Concert

I met up with some friends and took in the Lady Antebellum concert tonight.

Anna, Katie, Nicole, Cindy, Tessa, and I in the parking lot beforehand.  We grabbed Jimmy Johns on they way and had a picnic before going in.

Tessa and I sitting on the lawn.  We started out the night there and enjoyed some good people watching.

We made it to our pavilion seats just as Lady A was coming on stage. 

They put on a great show and it was a lot of fun, but shorter than we would've liked.  

Potty Training

I mentioned in my post about our trip to Kentucky, that Camden decided he wasn't a fan of diapers any more.  I decided to start having him wear underwear the day after we got back to see how he did.  He did amazing!!!  He had one accident the first day and second day, but he was golden after that.  He has been going all on his own all the time.  I kept saying I was going to wait until he either did it on his own or turned 3 and then I'd work on it with him.  I'm so glad it worked out this way!

Today has been an entire week in underwear and he's close to a pro.  Woohoo!

Picnic with Daddy

A picnic lunch with Daddy downtown was on our summer fun list.  The weather was unseasonably mild today and Ryker had finally been fever free for over 24 hours so we packed up lunch and met Robert at the park behind his building.

The kids love this fountain!

We went to Robert's office for a bit to visit with his coworkers and then he took us on a short tour of the building.  

It is truly beautiful!

We decided since we were already downtown we would stop over at Methodist and visit Nana at work too.

She loved getting to show off the kids to everyone.

Sadly, Cam started acting puny and running a fever while we were there so it was home for ibuprofen and a nap. :-(

Park Date

Ryker continued with his fever and soon the virus claimed Robert.  They both lounged around all puny all weekend.  Cam, Riella, and I were fine though so I took Cam to church tonight while Riella napped.  I came home and picked her up and then we went to the park for some play time.

He's getting so big!

He is a riot!  He can be a very frustrating child at times but he can also make you laugh like crazy!

Kentucky Trip

We missed out on Hudson's birthday party over the weekend so we decided to go down for a visit this week.  We thought it would be nice to go and stay a while.  We loaded up and headed out mid day Tuesday.  

The kids always do so well in the car for me.  We tried something new this time and I checked out a few audio books from the library.  First up was a Boxcar Children mystery.  Ryker was immediately hooked!  We stopped just over half way for a potty break and lunch.  We arrived mid afternoon while Hudson and Cord were napping.  We settled in and visited with Aunt Kate a bit before they woke up.  They were all so happy to see each other.  We headed outside to check out the cows and play.

 

Hudson loves a good selfie with Aunt Mamy.

The best part for the boys is always the cows.  They are obsessed!

Riella loved getting to swing.

Uncle Dave came home and took all the boys for rides on the 4 wheeler before we came in for baths.

These two shared a bath. Aren't they so sweet??

The boys had a hard time falling asleep the first night so it was a late night.  Cam was still snoozing away in the morning after the rest of us woke up.

Then it was back outside for more time with the cows.  This is one of the calves Ryker bottle fed the last time we were there.  They are off the bottles now and Ryker helped Uncle Dave feed them their new feed.

They got some good cuddle time in with Josie and Annie too.

I LOVE this picture.  It's fun watching Hudson mimic the boys.  He thinks Cam hung the moon.

Speaking of Cam, he decided while we were down there he was over diapers.  He kept taking them off and going to the bathroom.  Hoping this means good things in the future.  

We got up this morning and started packing up.  Kate and the boys drove up toward Cincinnati with us and we stopped at a placed called Otterville in Covington, KY.  It's a children's museum/play place.

It's all imaginative play based. The animal hospital was our first stop.  We had a hard time getting them out of there.

While we got food for lunch, this guy started looking kinda rough and fell asleep like this. He refused lunch and sat on the floor the whole time we ate.

He bounced back and was fine while we played outside. The fishing attraction was so much fun for the boys.

Proud fisherman!

They had sandpits to dig in, and this water spraying area that they all had a blast in.

We headed inside to play in the indoor playscape/ball pit area before heading out.

Kate and I enjoyed some adult conversation while Cam and Hudson played.  Ryker was back to acting puny and laid down on the bench and fell asleep again.

She cracks me up!

Riella wasn't as amused by her antics. ;-)

Ryker felt really warm to me and I wanted to get some meds in him so Kate followed us to Wal-Mart and stayed outside with the kids while I ran in to get some medicine.  I gave Ryker some Tylenol and we hit the road.  The kids did great on the way home too.  Of course, they both said they would've rather gone back to the farm. They love it down there!