Happy Fourth of July!!

We always have fun on the 4th of July!  This year we started the day celebrating with some of Maddie's  school friends.  We watched the parade in Parkville and then enjoyed snowcones!

The rest of the day was spent swimming and playing with our neighbors...

and of course daddy let off a few fireworks of his own!

Maddie's Fourth Birthday!

Maddie was so excited for her 4th Birthday!!  We had lots of fun things planned for it!!

We started her birthday 'weekend' by picking up Uncle Joey at the airport!!  She had been missing him so much since he has moved to Michigan...thank goodness for FaceTime, they are able to talk often.  Grandma took Maddie to the airport and we made this cute sign to welcome Uncle Joey home!

That night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Smiths house to celebrate!!  We had a yummy taco dinner, cake, ice cream, and of course some presents!  Maddie loves riding her bike so grandma got her a bike to keep at her house...and it was a spiderman bike which is her favorite!!

Grandma and the birthday girl!!

The next day (Sunday) was Maddie's birthday party...we had a Hello Kitty party at Mercury Gymnastics.  The kids had so much fun playing at the gym!  We played for one hour and then had cake and icecream and presents for 30 minutes!  It was perfect!!  And mommy was super happy not to have a mess to clean up in her house!!

Maddie's birthday friends!

Our Family!

The next day (Monday) was Maddie's actual birthday!!  When Maddie woke up she realized the 'birthday fairy' had visited her room overnight and left tons of balloons and streamers!!

Presents!!

Donuts!!

We had a busy day doing what four year olds like to do...

We played in the fountains at Zona...

Went swimming at Grandma Smith's house...

Went to grandma burris' for more swimming and more presents...

And of course...some cake and ice cream!!

I can't believe my little girl is already FOUR!!  It blows my mind!!  She is such a sweet heart and has the most outgoing personality!!  She makes everyone laugh!!

Happy Birthday Pretty Girl!!  Love You so much!!

We Love Summer!

We have had such a fun summer so far!!  I am so happy we still have another month of fun to go!!  The kids are at a really fun age so I am enjoying taking them out and about!!

Our days have been filled with play dates, water parks, picnics, swimming, the bounce house, running in the fountains, and playing at the grove!

These kids are keeping me B-u-s-y!!!

Art Party

Maddie has made some great friends through preschool this past year!!  One sweet little girl invited her class over to their house this summer for an Art Party!!  The mom is an art teacher at the high school and is so creative!!  The kids had a B.L.A.S.T!  They painted with water guns, dinosaur feet, cars...anything they wanted!!  Maddie's favorite was definitely the water guns filled with paint!  

She loved getting messy!!

A great group of kids!  They are having toooo much fun!

Painting & Playing & Snacks!!!

While the paint was drying all the kids went on a fun tractor ride!

(Holy Smokes...are all 7 kids looking AND smiling at the camera?!?)

Showing off our Awesome Art Work!

Playdates with our preschool buddies...another reason why I {heart} summer!!

Royals Game with Frankie Joe

We were so excited to go the Royals game again...and even more excited to have our friend Frankie and his mommy join us!!  The kids had so much fun watching the game.  

We enjoyed Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy, and Slushies!!  The kids had a ball and it was hilarious to watch them and listen to their conversations!!

Maddie and Mommy!

The four of us!

Frankie and Shannon

Best Buds!

Perfect Summer Evening!!

I {heart} Summer!!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Grandma Smith and I took both the kids to the Royals game on Monday.  It was a BEAUTIFUL night!!  We enjoyed hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones!!  The kids both did such a great job sitting and watching the game!!  A Royals player even hit a home run so we got to see some fireworks - thank god!!

Instagram Love

Anyone else love instagram as much as I do??  I think it may be my favorite APP...

Here are some of my favorites...

Maddie's First Recital

We were so excited for Maddie's first recital with Diane's School of Dance!

Maddie had so much fun back stage with all of her friends!!  It was fun getting all dolled up!

Maddie with her friends:  Leah, Wren, Rylee, and Maggie...and of course her wonderful teacher Ms Megan

 On the big stage!!

She had two dances: Baby Take a Bow and Jake and the Pirates

Maddie & Mommy backstage - Love this sweet girl!!!

ENGAGED...finally!!

I am so happy that Joey and Emily are finally ENGAGED!!  Joey & Emily have dated forever...longer than Matt & I!!  I have always loved Emily!!  I am so I excited to be getting a sister (in-law)...and even more excited for my kids to have an AUNT...and possible one day maybe cousins too!!!

Joey did a great job planning the proposal.  They went golfing and at the 9th hole he had a surprise waiting for her!!  I was lucky enough to hide in the woods and capture some pics of the awesome moment!!

The next weekend Emily graduated Medical School from MU.  Seriously - words can't explain how proud we are of this girl and excited to have her officially be a part of the family!!

A Quick Catch Up...

Now that summer is here and I have a 'little' more time - I am hoping to be able to blog a little more!!  Here is a a little bit of what we have been up to the past few months!!

SNOW...we finally got some snow in February and mommy got a snow day!!  Although at the time I was hoping for more than one snow day...I was pretty thankful about not having more when my summer started May 24th!!  That is the earliest I can ever remember getting out of work!  Maddie had tons of fun playing with her buddy Stone & Myana in the snow!!

SOCCER...Maddie started Smart Start Soccer this year!  They met one night a week and worked on different skills and towards the end of the season played some games with a lot of help from the parents.  She LOVED every minute of it!!  She is definitely going to be a sports girl!!  We are looking forward to playing again soon!

EASTER...Of course the Easter Bunny found our house and filled our baskets with tons of goodies!!  The kids were so excited to walk down stairs and go through their baskets!

This year we decided to have an Easter Egg hunt with the neighbors!!  The kids had so much fun looking for eggs together and then we enjoyed some juice and donuts!!  I definitely think this will be a new tradition for our neighborhood family!!

After our Easter Egg hunt we met Grandma & Papa Smith at The National for Brunch.  The Easter Bunny was there!!  Miss Maddie loved him...Cooper not so much!  We went back to their house for a bit and then headed over to Grandma & Papa Burris' house!!  We had a fun day filled with many presents, Easter Egg hunts, and yummy food!!

AND....

I helped host a baby shower for my BFF Bethany!!  I am so excited for her to be a mommy!!  She has been waiting a long time for this little man to come and we were so excited to celebrate this day with her!!

Winter Break

Winter break flew by and we had tons of family fun!!  Matt and I were both off the entire week between Christmas and New Years so we had a fun spending time with the kids!

Maddie and Cooper playing with her 3-D puzzle!

The weather was UNBELIEVEABLE!!  I couldn't believe we were able to play outside at the end of December...without coats on!!  It was so nice to be able to go outside and get rid of some energy!  Maddie always loves to playing with her buddy Noah!

Maddie got to practice riding her new bike!!

She did awesome - but we definitely need to go get her a new helmet that fits!!  I am sure there will be a few crashes in her future!

We had a playdate with Frankie Joe & Anthony at AirZone!

On New Year's Eve Day we went on a lunch date with Noah at T-Rex!

(I forgot my camera - so here are a couple pics off my phone!)

On New Year's Day we went bowling with the Smith's!  This was Maddie's first time bowling and she loved it!  It was fun to spend the afternoon with Grandma & papa and Uncle Joey & Emily!

Happy New Year!!  Looking forward to a great year!!