Emma's Birthday

For Emma's birthday we waited to give her, her presents until Cody got home from work. Did I mention our AC quit working the day before? Our thermostat was at 86 degrees and all the kids were miserable. The plus to the AC going out was Cody left work early so then Emma's didn't have to wait as long to open her presents. And Cody fixed the Air.... that should have been present enough :)

Can you see how hot they were :(

Everett went to Kmart with me the day before her Birthday and picked out this Play Doh thing...She loved it :)

We got her this Little Leaps Fridge Animals thingy. ALL!!! Of our friends have either this one or the ABC one so we felt left out:) Side note see the profile in the upper right corner? It's Rett but doesn't it look just like me? I actually thought it was me for a second.

Of Course they had to play with the Play Doh afterwards :)

Then we went to my parents' house for supper.

Rett's face in this picture is priceless!




Don't you love the candle?

Present Time :)

Camping At Yellow River

My family and I went on a camping trip to Yellow River, it's in Harpers Ferry, IA. We only camped for the weekend and we had a BLAST!!!

My parents brought the horses for us to ride and their dog Dandy. Dandy is Dagen and Rylie's puppy. They take him riding with him...so he is MASSIVE compared to Dagen. Here is a picture of Dad and Rett beating up Dandy.

Retters swore this was a sand pile, I'm going to pretend I don't know how much horse urine is in that gravel :)

Making the fire. We all ate lunch at different times as sometimes we were in different places. But we all ate together at night :)


Dad, Everett, and Emma scoping out the campground.


Everett riding Rex all by himself :)

Yellow River has a couple COLD streams that run threw it. these are pictures of us in the water.

Retters showing off his swimming skills
Emma loved it where it was shallow, not so much in the deep water!



There was this pretty rock in the deep area that my dad wanted us all to take a picture on. The only down side was it was in 5ft of freezing cold water. (I don't think I am fully explain how COLD it was. Our skin was RED when we got out from being so cold. But the plus to a cold spring is, its clear/clean water.
Isn't this a great picture of all of us :)

While we were there Ashley, Chris, Cody, the kiddos, and I went into Prairie Du Chein for a little while. I couldn't be that close to Wisc. and not get some cheese :) Ashley, the kids and I also went to a swimming pool (the water was up to high the first day we were there to swim) while the boys went fishing. We all had a great time and I can't wait for the 2nd annual Meyer Camping Trip!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA

Since I know you don't like cheesy things I will just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY and we all love you very very much!

The Kiddos Party

Since I'm very far behind on blogging I guess I will start with the kiddos birthday party. We had the party in the back yard again, it seams to work out pretty well that way. It was so hot that we asked all the kids friends to bring swimsuits so they could swim. It was a blast, thank you to everyone that came, it really means a lot to Cody, the kids and I.

Their Cakes, Emma had Little Mermaid & Rett had Toy Story

Make A Wish

Yummy

Everett's gift from Chris and Ashley

Kevin's gift to the kiddos

Rett, Camden, and Emma in the pool

Our Guests


Emma & Auntie

I Love Spring!

I especially love Spring at my parents house. Spring means baby kitties to hold. My mom said Everett could name this little kitty so meet Gordon.(From Thomas The Train)


I don't think we named this one but Everett did inform me that his name ISN'T boots, spots, raindrop, Thomas, or Gordon.

Emma and Yukon like to fight over the ball. It's Yukon's ball, but Emma swears it's hers.


***Again with the Camera Phone

Mothers Day and Mothers Days Gifts

For Mothers Day I thought it would be fun to make garden stone with the kids hand prints in them as gifts. I went to K-mart (I hate Kmart but that would be a totally different post) and got two kits, the kits said it made four each... that was a lie! So to make the most out of it I convinced Cj to at least help me attempt to make them. The plaster dried before one kid, let alone the second could put their hand in it. Cody decided it would be much easier to buy Quick-Crete and I suggested buying "flower pot water catchers" as the molds. This worked SO MUCH BETTER! And was cheaper than what we spend on the plaster ones. (I was able to take one of them back.)
Cody mixing the concrete (told you he's good to have around)


It decided to rain right before we started "our project" so we had to resort to the garage. I know it's a mess I'm sorry.

The kids didn't seam to mind the mess

This is after they put there little hands in them. It was a two person job so I'm sorry there is no action shots of that :)


All done, aren't they pretty? Rett helped me paint the hands and Cody pointed out as we were walking up to his mom's house that Rett painted six fingers on Emma's hand. Awesome lol

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We had alot of people we had to hit for Mothers Day, My mom, CJ's Mom, and my two grandma's. We tried to fit everyone in Saturday so we could spent Sunday at home, we weren't successful. Saturday we went to My Grandma Lou's where my parents were building a new hitching rail for her.(my dad had stole Everett earlier in the day and taken him to Grandma's with him) After that we went to Grandma Ila's where my uncle grilled for us.(mmmmmmmm it was yummy) Then on our way home we stopped at Craig and Jackie's house. Sunday we woke up late :) that's a wonderful Mother's Day gift right there! Then we got ready and headed out to my parents house. My mom made lasagna(I know how crappy she had to cook on Mother's Day but no one makes it as good as she does.) Cody, Dad, and Rett went mushroom hunting and Mom, Ash, Em, and I stayed at the house and talked. My sister had to head back to Iowa City so we all called it a day there. Cody and the kids wanted me to pick out some flowers for my birdhouse at Thiesens but nothing really caught my eye so we were home bound. Cody decided he should mow before the rainy week ahead. While Cody is mowing the front yard I will move everything(TOYS!) out of the way, and pooper scooper. Yes!, pooper scooper you could say I get the shitty end of the deal lol.(I really don't mind) After that was dinner and then a movie. We watched Hachi (I'm not sure on the spelling on that) its a SAD movie about a very loyal dog! I had a great Mother's Day and I hope all the other Mommy's out there did too!
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(I would insert something mooshy her about my mom, but she doesn't like that soo) Thank You Mom for everything I love you!

My Little Cowboy

My parents invited Retters to go horses back riding or maybe he called and invited himself, none the less he went. My mom purchased this little Buddy Seat that goes behind her seat and has stirrups and handles. Everett thought he was top dog in his little seat. Emma and I waited at Mom & Dad's for them to get back. While waiting she chased "kitty" (the barn cats) and pet the "hosey" (the horses).


She was getting a little tired as you can probably tell.


Emma wasn't to fond of sitting on Rex or petting them, but if you walked away she whined to go back up to them. I promise she wasn't as scared as she looks in this picture though.

Retters had so much fun riding this is what I got from him on the way home.
Me: Did you have fun?
Rett: Yes
Me: What did you see?
Rett: I saw a tractor and Deer and Dandy (my parents dog...Dagen and Rylies baby) chased the deer and grandpa said "Dandy NO" "Come Dandy!" and Dandy came back.
Me: What horse did you ride?
Rett: The black one
Me: Does he have a name?
Rett: No
Me: I think his name is Ed.

Sunday Easter

Emma finding her Easter Basket hid under the table.


Rett Found his too, it was on one of the dining room chairs. The "Easter Rabbit" as Rett calls him also left a Easter Egg trail down the stairs like clues to his basket. :)

Brandee got the kids these SUPER CUTE outfits and wanted a cute picture of them. This picture was the best I could do in the time crunch we were under. Its my plan to get there 2 year & 4 year (wow they can't NOT be that old :( ) pictures taken in them. So cuter pictures in these outfits to come :)


On our way to Grandma Lou's, where we ate lunch and did an Easter Egg hunt, I don't know why I didn't take more pictures.


Then it was out to the pasture to "fly" kites. For Emma flying kites met running around in her new rain boots with Grandma.


My Brother In Law brought a "trick kite" but I guess the trick was getting it in the air. I think everyone tried to get the kite up at one time or another.


Emma and Her Great Aunt Pam (My Dad's Sister)


After Flying Kites it was on to my parents house where Cody, Chris, and Emma took naps. Mom, Dad, Ashley, Everett, and I all went riding. This was the first time Everett has gone on a "long" ride. We were gone for about two hours and he did so good! I was so proud of him. We started off with Rett riding with Grandpa but after some "owie pee pee" issues he then rode with my mom as she is smaller and didn't take up as much room in the saddle. Did I mention I was SOOO proud of him? I have always wanted him to ride ALWAYS, so now that he's finally showing an interest I'm excited. Hard to believe but both my sister and I were riding by ourselves by 3.