Puddle Jumping and Mother's Day

The day before Mother's Day brought HUGE amounts of rain to Prospect. I was actually out during one of the big storms and I had to pull off the road, because I could not see more than about 2 feet in front of my car! Once I got to our neighborhood, I found many areas flooded. Thankfully, the rain stopped and the water was able to drain from the streets. Once the sun came out, we took the boys on a walk, where they had lots of fun jumping the puddles! SO much fun!

Evan has been on a walk where he was allowed to jump in the puddles, but this was Preston's first time. Both boys had a great time!

I kept trying to get a good picture of Preston's face, because it was SO dirty. Of course, he barely stood still. He was having too much fun playing in the puddles! These pictures show a dirty face, but really, it looked SO much dirtier in person!

I love that something as simple as jumping in the puddles, can bring so much joy and laughter!

I love Mother's Day, because I love being a mom. I am so grateful for my wonderful boys and I love them very much. I am reminded each Mother's Day of how fortunate that I am to get the chance to raise these sweet boys. I love the snuggles, hugs, wrestling, singing, yelling, climbing, teaching, helping, etc. I have been given two amazing gifts and I am so very thankful for them!

Our Mother's Day was pretty laid back and included a picnic, playing at the park, a nap, and dinner with my family. It was very nice and I certainly enjoyed my special day.

Preston liked climbing the steep stairs to get to the slide and the bridge. As he climbed he kept saying, "I did it!" SO cute!

Preston's favorite part of the playground was the slide. All smiles!

Evan was nice enough to pose for a picture. He was so busy playing, that it was hard to take his picture!

Grammy/Mom and her "little girls"

Happy Mother's Day!

Field Trip Fun

Evan's class recently went on their final two field trips of the year and I was lucky enough to get to go on BOTH trips! (Once again, we are very grateful that Grammy and Granddaddy could watch Preston, so that I could have some special time with Evan.) We went to The Louisville Zoo and to Slugger Field to see a Louisville Bats game. We were so fortunate to have great weather for both trips and everyone had a great time at the zoo and the game.

Louisville Zoo

Evan's Class - Silly Picture

Evan and Cadence got to see many of the animals VERY close up!

These two buddies are almost always together!

Evan was so happy to get to pet a snake!

This guy was our guest at lunch!

Evan and Cadence

"Am I as big as a gorilla?"

Evan, Ty, Cadence and Kalilu

The petting zoo was lots of fun!

Sweet Friends

Evan had fun on the field trip, but he was so tired, that he fell asleep on the way home!

Bats Game

The kids had a blast at the game, but they spent a lot of time eating and playing on the playground, in addition to watching the game! We were happy that the Bats won!

Ty and Evan were so excited to see the game! Go Bats!

Evan took lots of pictures with my camera! This one turned out pretty well!

Evan and Cadence kept finding each other throughout the day. As Mrs. Stone says, these guys are "human magnets."

Ty and Evan got a good view of the game from the picnic area.

Ty offered to take our picture!

Derby Festival Fun

We were able to participate in many Derby Festival activities this year, including The Great Steamboat Race, Evan's Derby parade at Chancey, The Kentucky Oaks, and a Derby party. (Carl also went to Dawn at the Downs and had an additional day at the track with Humana.) As always, we had a lot of fun, but I am pretty sure it took us several days to catch up on sleep!

We met Carl downtown for The Great Steamboat Race. We got there right just in time to cheer for The Belle of Louisville as both boats began the race. After the boat race began, we got some drinks and snacks and headed over to the games, bouncers, and rides. Evan really enjoyed the games and he was able to win several prizes. He also, enjoyed the rides, but not nearly as much as Preston did! Preston REALLY liked the rides. As soon as he got off of one ride, he would happily ask to ride again by smiling and  shouting, "Ride!" He rode the carousel many times and I also took him on the giant slide. Unfortunately, the weather was unseasonably cold, so we did not stay too long, but we had a great time while we were there.

I just adore this picture of Evan. I asked him to turn so I could take his picture and he did this! He said, "This is because I am SO excited!"

Preston was SO excited to see the boats!

The rides were the best part of the evening for Preston.

Winner!

On Thursday, I was able to go to school to see Evan's Derby parade. He made a Star Wars float and was very excited that I could come to see him and his friends! (The parade was during nap time, so I am grateful that Grammy was able to come and watch Preston, so that I could see the parade.)

Evan's Derby Parade

Evan's Star Wars float was super cool!

Evan's Kindergarten Class

Once again, Carl and I made a fairly last minute decision to go to The Oaks. It was a beautiful day, but it was once again quite chilly, we decided against dressing up and put on comfy clothes and headed to the infield. We enjoyed watching the races, eating, drinking and making some new friends. One of the funniest things to happen while we were there was that people had hidden bourbon in a very large shrub/tree near where we were sitting. When some kids played in the shrub/tree, the bourbon began falling out! It scared the kids, but the people closest to the tree got some free bourbon! Thankfully, they were nice enough to share the wealth!

The weather was cool, but not too bad when we arrived. This is what we looked like when we first arrived.

The weather go so cold that I put in the sweatshirt that I brought and Carl had to buy a sweatshirt! We still had fun! Cheers!

This kind gentleman shared the bourbon he found in "the bourbon tree."

 On Saturday, we had a Derby party. We were so excited to have the Congelton family come in town to visit, as well as have Rachel, Teddy, Caroline, Ron, Greg, Alison and their house guests join us too. The kids had lots of fun playing, while the adults watched the races and enjoyed each other's company. It was a fun day, despite the fact that no one chose the Derby winner!

All of the little ones enjoyed the wagon!

Me and Carl

Rachel and Teddy

Greg and Alison

Me and Terri (It got cold as the day wore on, so we all put on jackets!)

These boys sure had fun! So glad to have such good friends!

Happy Birthday, Preston!

Preston recently celebrated his second birthday. Honestly, I just can't believe that he is already 2! He is SO big now! He adores his brother and wants to do everything Evan does. He is talking like crazy now and can correctly string together 4 words at a time. He loves to sing, watch The Wiggles, dance, play outside, see school buses and big trucks, play with rocks and take baths. He is almost always happy, is such a sweet boy and he loves to cuddle and give hugs. We are so thankful for this amazing little boy. He is such a blessing and we are so grateful to have this sweet addition to our family.

On his birthday, Preston got to spend the day with Grammy and Granddaddy, since Carl and I had to work. Of course, he had a great time and they took him to choose a special birthday toy. In the evening, he opened presents, which unlike Christmas, he was totally excited about! We also made dinner and dessert. The evening ended with a whipped cream "fight" outside, which was lots of fun! We all had a good time!

Preston was all smiles on his birthday!

 

Opening presents was fun!

 

 

 Preston and Evan enjoyed playing with the car play set.

All of the bus gifts were a hit!

"Whee!"

Preston enjoyed his cake AND the whipped cream fight that came next!

This guy had the best time during our little fight!

We celebrated Preston's birthday on Saturday, with our extended family. Since Preston LOVES school buses, we had a school bus themed party, complete with a school bus cake! Preston loved the decorations and cake and he enjoyed playing outside with Evan, Jackson, Emily, Caleb, and Caroline. We were grateful for a beautiful day and for a good time with our family.

Preston LOVED this birthday cake! We eventually had to hide it, so he would stop trying to play with it!

 

Since there are not school bus birthday decorations to purchase, we made our own! Preston liked them, so we were happy!

Preston enjoyed playing with his bus and big truck at his party.

We loved having all of the kids together!

Caleb took Preston for a ride on the cart!

Caroline helped Preston open his presents! (This was after they fed each other candy! Those two are so sweet!)

Yummy! The cake looked good AND tasted good!