Labor Day Weekend Party - Part 2

It was great to have the whole family together again. That hadn't happened since Dad's 70th birthday party. We need to make this an annual event!!

Our fall birthdays - next year we'll be adding Miles to this picture. Yea!!

Happy 50th Birthday Deb!! You turning 50 makes me dread it less :)

It warms my heart to see kids use our toy set. Megan & Ryan are just too big to use it anymore. Zella and Cooper played on it during the weekend. Zella loved the swing.

Her eyes are saying "weeee...."

....this is fun...

...can a little kid get a push here.

Yea! Big cousins to the rescue!
We ate a lot!! But the best part was the homeade ice cream. How many guys does it take to make ice cream? The answer is these 4!

Actually...it's only 1. Art was the mastermind behind the ice cream & the other guys just did what he said - haha! I know Bruce learned a lot and the ice cream turned out perfect :)

Are there more Labor Day pics? I'm glad you asked - why yes there is, keep checking our blog :)

Finally....Labor Day Blogs!!!

First of all, Bruce & I are thrilled everyone was together for Labor Day weekend this year. Ya'all come back anytime!! It was so much fun with celebrating Deb's 50th birthday & Mom and Miles' birthdays. Mom's got a few years on Miles but they'll be sharing birthdays for many, many years!!

(Warning - these pics are not in order. I should fix this but have to do this quick since I have a work deadline today & am procrastinating on it!!)

We started the weekend early with a visit from Mallory & Mom and Dad on Friday. Megan had a pep rally at the high school so they all came with us.

Cousins! You girls actually look alike. Megan is more blonde now so they would look even more similar. She was thrilled Mal came to watch the pep rally.

Mom & Dad attended the pep rally & the football game that night too. They are troopers cause our football team isn't doing too good this year. They enjoy watching Megan cheer.

Bruce's brother Dick was generous and sent his Chiefs tickets to us for a Thursday night game. Mom & Dad came into town early to go with us. Dick has great seats - right next to the Chiefs' sideline. It was fun & has spoiled us for any other tickets in the stadium.
Eveyone says Ryan looks like me but he definitely has some of his dad's mannerisms. I don't remember the play they are watching on the jumbo tron but they are reacting exactly the same!

They now have a horse ride around the field - cool but surprising re: turf damage.

Mom & I enjoyed watching this boy in the yellow jacket during the game. The poor kid had to stand with his back to the field the whole time. His expression never changed. I did catch him with a little smile once on a Chiefs' touchdown. That's a long time to stand - even for a security guard.

The Chiefs not only have a horse - they have a drum corps. It was cool. My favorite pastime during the games is watching the news crews on the Chiefs' sidelines. Oh yeah - and the game!

Always up for a new adventure - this was Mom's first trip to Arrowhead for a game. She thought it was fun. Using Dick's tickets does make it a more enjoyable experience. It's like a circus with stuff going on all the time while a game is being played.

More Labor Day Weekend pics to come....

Happy 17th Birthday Trey!!!!

Trey - We hope you have a great birthday! Card is in the mail :) Love ya!

Recent pic of Trey with Ryan & Drew. Glad to see you're a Hawkeye fan Trey :)

4th of July wouldn't be the same without you!!

You're such a good cousin to Ryan!

You must be alluding my camera since most of my pics are from years ago. I should have gotten a picture of you on the way to the Royals game during Labor Day Weekend!

Have a great bday!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for both kids. Ryan is taking his first class of the day at the high school (Geometry just like Meg did). But, he doesn't have to ride the bus like she did cause he's got a sister who drives. Lucky boy!

They let me take one quick picture before they left. Classes start at 7:40am so this is early - 7:15 or so.

And in the car they went...

I didn't get one heading down the street but they made it to and from school safely and both had a good first day.

Hard to believe she's a junior and he's an 8th grader. Thank goodness we aren't moving her to college yet. Some of our friends moved kids to college this past weekend. That will come soon enough!!

Megan at Cheer Camp

Megan spent most of last week at cheer camp. It was in town but from 8am until 6pm everynight. She is a captain this year which means lots of work for her and Emily the other captain. Here's some photos from camp.

The varsity girls stunting on 3rd day of camp.

Megan designed, ordered, and collected the money for these shirts and long socks. It was "fun day" at camp so they went with a baseball theme. The shirts turned out cool & she needed very little help from me. Being a captain has been a good experience for her so far.

All the girls didn't make it to camp. There are 21 girls on varsity but only 17 at camp this day. Megan is in the 2nd row, 2nd from the right. The eye black was to go along with the baseball theme. They look really cute in the shirts. Here's the back of the shirts.

Happy captains - Megan & Emily worked really hard to get everyone ready for camp. The varsity was named champs for the chant competition and won the Spirit Award which is voted on by all the teams at camp. We went to watch and they did great.

Excited girls - the varsity didn't win a single award at camp last year so they were super excited for the big wins this year.

Meg's friends Abbie & Jessica are the girls to the left of her. It's been a fun year to have her friends on varsity with her this year. Abbie was on varsity last year too but Jessica was on JV.

Get ready for lots more cheer pictures in the near future. It's her big thing - she loves to cheer!

Ryan's Golf Tourney

Ryan played in an annual youth golf tournament in early August. This is his 3rd year to be in the tourney. It's basically a trophy fest and a great deal. Three days of golf for $30 with a free item given each day. They flight the kids based on scores from day 1 & 2. The final day's scores are added and they give trophies to the first 6 places in each flight.


Ryan got 5th place in his flight. He was in the fourth flight and shot a 152 over 3 days. Not bad but there are some amazing golfers in his age group. One kid shot under par on a regular 9 hole course over 3 days. Wow!

Ryan receiving his trophy. This pic is funny cause the guy handing out trophies had on basically the same shirt as Ryan. See his sleeve? Just a little darker.

These pics are taken with my new blackberry so the quality isn't great. Notice Ryan's hat -- he was powered by Pioneer Seed Corn :)

Ryan's friend Jake always plays in this tourney too. This year both boys got trophies.


Ryan has worn a green & white stripped shirt on the final day of the tourney for the three years he's played. We call this the luck of the green shirt.

2009 - Last year's trophy & medium green & white stripes.

2008 - His first year in the tourney with wide green & white stripes.

How the heck am I going to find yet another green & white stripped shirt for next year??? :)

A New Post from Us -- Finally!

We can't believe it's almost time for school to start. Both kids are sad summer is almost over but looking forward to school. Registration was last week and they both like their schedules for this year. Yea!

July is truly a "down" month for us in terms of activities. While we felt busy, it's nothing like the months ahead. Ryan's football practice started & Megan worked on cheer stuff but nothing too exciting.

August has brought new activities and adventures. And, with that, new things to post about.

Megan's new job is one. She just started working at a local Houghlihan's as a hostess. I had to snap a few pics of her on her first day. She complained but hey, it's a requirement.

She has to wear all black which meant new clothes. She's always ready for that!! So far, so good on the job. She comes home from work happy but exhausted. She said it's really confusing but I'm sure she'll pick it up quickly.