February, March, How About April?

 They may have differing feelings on the subject...

But they are mostly excited.  

And WE are definitely excited to meet our newest little one in early April :)

World Domination Summit in Portlandia

 PT and I flew to Portlandia to go to the World Domination Summit.  Yep.

I don't even know if I could really explain it...sort of for entrepreneurs and dreamers.  People that write, blog, podcast, do radio shows, and then -- me. 

It was fun explaining to people with BIG dreams to take over the world and all that I am happily a stay at home mom...{minds blown}.

The opening night ceremonies were at the Portland Zoo.  We didn't see any of the animals since the party was after hours, but it was a beautiful venue.

PT and friends: Adam Baker and Jeff Rose

We discovered the popular Salt & Straw ice cream shop.  And Oh. My. It was goooood. 

Y'all.  We went back 2 days in a row and *strongly* considered going back a third.

Did I mention that we waited in line for 30 mins?  

For ice cream that was odd flavors... like Roasted Fig, Sea Salt w/Carmel Ribbon, my fav Coffee & Bourbon...wow.  Crazy town but SO worth it.


We went to the closing party and it was a par-tay!  They had a Bollywood DJ that lead everyone in coordinating dance moves...PT sho' jumped in there.

They also had food trucks around the perimeter to choose from for dinner.  Fun times!

Jeff and PT again.  

We hung out with our friends Jeff and his wife Mandy most of the trip and yet I have no pics with her.  I think she had some on her blog, House of Rose.

The trip was educational and refreshing, but I was VERY ready to get back to our sweet babies!

A Lil July

We spent a few days prior the 4th with Philip's fam this year.

On the afternoon of the 4th PT and I flew to Portland for a conference while the girls stayed with Granny & Gepaw, their aunts and cousins!

Here are a few Branson pics...

 Throwin' rocks

Family pic at the Landing

We rented a boat & went out on Table Rock Lake

A coupla captains at the wheel...

Ready to go!

PT introduced Kate to tubing...she's a fan!

They talked Audj into going along too.

The big kids did a little cliff diving

The rest of us...did not.

We spent the morning of the 4th hanging out and had a little BBQ before flying to Portland. We attempted a family photo but really just tried to prevent anyone from getting stabbed with a flag...

When the girls got up from nap they all loaded up and went to The Promised Land Zoo

Kate enjoyed feeding the birds

 

 

Audrey wasn't so sure...

The fed weird animals

And touched weird animals

New coloring books!

They visited Aunt Hannah at the track

Appears Kate will need those extra 12 years to practice before getting her license... 

Martin and Kate

Kate Talked Granny into some rides that she would not have been able to talk mommy into...

And lunch at the pizza buffet with the Worlds Largest Banjo!

S'More iPhone fun...from June

Because I know that you are all dying to know what we did in JUNE and maybe because I hate to go on w/out documenting somewhat chronologically...hur iz June...

Grandpa Tom came to visit

I panicked and decided to sell our living room furniture and buy a new sectional sofa immediately.

  We also hung plain white curtains until I decide my sewing skills are sufficient for the fabric that I rrrreally want for our living room (first world problems, much?)

Took the girls for ice cream at the pirate McDonalds bc it was too hot for the park

Audrey gave me a Mooo-sauge at the library

Went to the mall to make returns and played in the germ-infested play place.  The kids LOVED it.

Couch with painted feet (they were birch) and other couches out of the living room. My thoughts.  meh.

Happy Father's Day to king of the monkeys!

We participated in VBS and the girls LOVED it!

Seems a little excessive, Audj...

Straight outta the bath and squeaky clean

Our churches Children's ministry donated a new Adventure Bible to my niece.  I may or may not have cried and their thoughtfulness...

Hope Park after dinner one night

Thug life in Frisco

May iPhone Fun

May, oh May.  We loved you.  

It was a apparently a month FILLED with iphone pics.

 Pretending to be puppies...often

They were WAY ahead of the game...in princess dresses and poured themselves some goldfish!

New shoes! which Audrey has already almost outgrown :/ 

Throwin' back the cereal bowl for that last bit of milk! Get it, girlie!

Tyler Zoo on our way to Louisiana.  We ate lunch over looking the giraffes...and smelling them...

Hey!!

Girls could not get close enough to the penguins...

We visited Grandma Lois in her new room. She loved seeing the girls

Kate drew a picture of...me.  She even added my 5 o'clock shadow!

Audj has also outgrown the pack-n-play.  Notice it next to the bed...and her snuggling with me :)

We attended Hannah's senior recognition service at church

Kate drew a picture of her feeding the giraffes some leaves :)

We went to the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson

 

We got to see Hannah's last soccer game - which she scored the winning goal!

Dinner out to celebrate Hannah T!

Audj was worn out with all our go-with-the -low business so she shrieked like a wild banshee -- until she finally fell asleep in my arms.  And I secretly loved it.

We went to Hannah's beautiful graduation ceremony

Our fam is SO proud of the graduate!

They cannot contain their excitement!

Deep conversations on grad night

The battery ran down on the dvd player, but Kate continued to wear the headphones. Silent protest

We skipped down to Arkansas to visit the Pietrowski clan and check out Crystal Bridges.  We loved it and the cousins loved playing together!

Audrey woke up and promptly STOLE Royce's bottle of milk...

The girls picked this flower to give me on Mother's Day. I said, "I hope my compensation is not directly related to my performance..." ;)

We got home and Audj found ALL of my headbands...and one glove. 

Since we were on the road for most of Mother's Day we celebrated the next day with my favorite cake in the whole world (Nothing Bundt Cake's chocolate chocolate chip...) and some gorgeous flowers

We also had the bright idea to drop the paci.  You can see how well that worked 24 hours later...

Kate had 2 weeks of swim lessons and did fabulously!!

We spent some time with the triplets! Audj wanted to hold them...
Here she is with Foster


And Graham


And here is wonderful Uncle PT with Paige


When everyone left we found an extra bottle in the fridge...

We FINALLY got around to hanging some pics!

And hi-five for PT's handyman skills -- he put knobs and handles in the kitchen too!

Pinterest FAIL. Adorable mini-pot pies biscuits.  Tasted awful

PT tested the sprinklers and Kate loved running through.  Audrey is still not sure about water that sprays :)

I painted a frame that we bought from a friend's garage sale and turned it into a corkboard

Bought these $5 dresses at walmart and I'm pretty sure they are my favorites now

We had Popsicles with Noah!

PT took Kate on a Rangers date. This picture melts my heart

Played hide and go seek with Audrey...surprise!

Audj wore this oversized hat for family movie night.  We watched Up.

Here's where we started to get serious about considering real patio furniture :)

The Major Toy Purge of 2013 began

Girls admiring the tall pines and beauty of Aimwell

Daddio tok them on a golf cart ride --- wheeee!!

A vision in purple!!

Kate was SO proud that she made my bed one morning.  Love her!