Two Thousand Fourteen (Yes, the entire thing)!

Wow...I can't believe it's been so long! Yes, about this time last year was the last time I wrote anything on my blog. I feel so ashamed! Now you'll have to suffer...this might just be the longest post in world's history! I feel like that is the only way that I can catch up!

Let's begin with March of last year! Since Logan's birthday is in March, it's usually all about her so let's start there!

This year the girls have been really getting into hockey so she wanted to have her party at the hockey rink. It was so much fun! The kiddos liked showing off how well they could skate!

Logan's actual birthday was also spent at the hockey rink because they had practice for their 4 on 4 team. Grandma and grandpa came to watch!

 Birthday Morning...

Logan participated in her first hockey tournament (which she got in on special invitation), her talent show, carnival, volleyball, and...I did say March was all about Logan didn't I!!

The girls finished a season of volleyball...

Zakk was excited that papa showed up to watch him while mom went to the bead show...just to much girly going on there but papa came to the rescue with legos.

Over spring break, we sent the kids to grandma and grandpa's and we took a short trip to Hannibal, Missouri for some Ghost Hunting!

Our Relay for Life team earned $13,644.12 in the fight against cancer this year. These amazing ladies inspire me every year with their dedication and effort!

Saint Patrick's Day parade in Leavenworth with grandma!

Tyler is super excited to get more involved in church as an acolyte. I can tell that it's something that she really enjoys! Me...I'd be scared to death of setting the place on fire but she does excellent!

 This little sign has been a funny little joke between Fire Papa and Zakk. Next time you see him, ask him about it, it's sure to get a smile from him. How do you really know it's Spring, according to Zakk...

April began with our yearly trip to the Royal's Home Opener! Little did we know they would make it to the World Series this year. I think it was my 1985 Championship shirt!

 

Easter was super fun as usual as it's about this time of year that we've had to long a break from family visits and we squeeze them all in here. We went to Grandma & Grandpa Farr's for the annual egg hunt with the Easter Bunny! And we took a trip to Alma for the annual hunt at Aunt Becky and Uncle Donald's!



 

 

 

 Logan LOVES her candy...

And at the end of it all, we took a trip to Cheeseburger in Paradise (which is sadly closed now) and I had this...ahhh!

Zakk and I took a trip down to The Plaza with mom so we could visit all the bunnies which they have on display every year. I think they are just a little bit creepy! But Zakk didn't seem to mind and we at lunch at Cheesecake Factory so I didn't mind either! :)

Grandma joined Tyler, Logan and I at the Romeo & Juliet Ballet and although it was fun and a nice experience, I now realize that I'm more of a words/singing person!

Zakk in "Group 1" which now he is "Group 2" and is doing much better than this. It's nice to see that he's improving and loving it! He goes around the house singing, "H-O-C-K-E-Y...group 2!"

We saw Sidney and Payton play soccer...and they're pretty good at it to!

Our first trip to Worlds of Fun for the year! They opened up the dino exhibit free for season passholders so we saw that for the first time. The kiddos loved it! We didn't renew our passes this year and I'm getting a little sad, although with all the kiddos activities, it'll make it hard to go as much as we have been.

This month I also took a trip with my best friend to Auntie Mae's (we both worked there) in Manhattan for their 40th Anniversary! We had such a good time! Here's an old picture of us back when we were in college...

Tyler and her Novel Navigator buddies (minus Kaitlyn). It's like a book club and the librarian assigns them 10 books to read in 3 months and then there is a competition at the end. They took first out of Pioneer Middle School and 2nd in the district...I'm so proud of them! I'm their parent leader so I get to read all the books with them and quiz them over them and I have such a great time discussing them with Tyler.

Tyler took her first communion this month...next up confirmation!

Logan learned to ride her bike!!!! She was so excited!!!

 Spring pictures that I don't buy anymore because they're just too darn expensive!

May started out with this super cool all expense paid trip to Coronado Island that Kevin received when he was awarded the Circle of Excellence Award at Sprint. It was amazing, we were spoiled with this beautiful beach front hotel, all the food we could eat and more, sunglasses, a Samsung galaxy tablet, kayaking, a trip to the Midway. It was such a great trip and even greater that we didn't have to pay for it!

The month of May (among many other months) will forever remind me of my grandma. On May 8th, we laid Oma's weary head to rest and heaven gained an angel...which was surely the best birthday present my grandpa Ivan has ever received! I know that sounds odd so let me clarify...grandpa has been there since I was about a year and a half and May 8th is his birthday! I'll miss her every day but I know I'll see her again!

This is an envelope that I saved from grandma. Every year for my birthday, she would decorate an envelope like this and put a little money in it. Every year it was always the same but with different colors. I always knew what to expect from my grandma! Grandma was a strong woman, an excellent cook, loved helping mom with ceramics, easy to please, didn't make much of a fuss about much of anything and always greeted me with an excited and loud, "Schatze!" when I walked through the door and I knew that she loved me with all her heart and I'm gonna miss her!

Guess where we were on Mother's Day this year? The hockey rink!!! They were nice enough to make a sign for us!

May means the end of the school year, awards, field trips, summer planning...etc. My kids make school seem so easy...I'm so proud of them.

Tyler's class took a field trip to see King Tut at Union Station. I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the $7 rate that we got from school. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pay the $20 normal price for it though!

Zakk also had his Pre-K field trip to Deanna Rose! Normally he would be going through graduation with his classmates but we decided to keep him in another year of Pre-K and at this point now, I'm really glad that we did. That meant one more year with Mrs. Susan and this year his class consists of 12 boys...yes, 12 boys and that's all! More about that later! He does still talk about these friends though!

We attended Memorial Day Weekend services in Alma where Kevin joined the Sons of the American Legion to honor all who served. We also made it to the Memorial Service at Fort Leavenworth this year and visited Oma and Grandpa Ivan and Grandpa Harold who are buried up there.

And after we took another fun trip to Worlds of Fun! You know Zakk is having fun when he starts acting like that!

 Zakk is so funny! Anytime he sees Snoopy, without fear, he runs up to him and give him a big hug!

 Tyler's missing but don't worry, she's having fun on the Thunderhawk with everyone!

Tyler discovered that she likes science and she's getting a A+ and her science teacher is sending home information about a science camp this summer!

And Zakk had his first dentist appointment which he did excellent at! I always had to fight the girls with this stuff and he just accepts it...must be a boy thing!

The rest of May and June and part of July were filled with softball games! Logan and Tyler discovered that they were pretty good catchers.

Krispy Kreme Donuts because they were giving away a donut for every A (up to 6 donuts or we would have wiped them clean)!

We Spent Father's Day at the Legends with a couple of my favorite dads and mom and kids. We at at Yard House for dinner and then we played at Dave & Buster's.

It just so happened that we were out of school for some reason and the weather was excellent so we took a trip to the zoo!

 Sidney and Payton joined us for a sleepover during VBS and we went to McDonald's, Celebration Park, ate at the school, went to the Gardner Pool and VBS!

 I'll never forget, we were taking this picture and Zakk gives Payton a big hug and says, "Me and my best friend!"

Annie came down to KC for a little birthday treat and we all went to Worlds of Fun!! And Tyler, Logan and I went on the ripcord (their first time and they loved it). I do remember being a little nervous that the kids (yes, kids) that were attaching me to my cord were a lot younger than me!

Fourth of July was low-key as usual with just a few over at our house to watch the fireworks display! This is Zakk at the fireworks tent picking out a few fireworks. I distinctly remember him saying, "This is the best day ever!"

 Grandma made these fun little gumball and gummy treats for the kiddos!

 Tom and Sue brought over their bags games and we had a friendly little game!

One weekend in July we went camping with Tyler's girl scout troop in Dearborn, MO at Camp Winding River. I love going to camp with the girls, we always have so much fun. And I love going with Tyler's troop because her leaders are always so good at planning fun stuff to do and eat and making sure we stay in the cabins with running water!

 This was Logan's first time at the zipline and she pulled it off like a pro!

 They also went horseback riding...

 And ate a nice and clean version of a banana boat...the Campfire Cone...chocolate chips, marshmallows and bananas all tuck inside a waffle cone. Then we wrapped them in foil and stuck them on the fire!

While Kevin went with me to Tulsa to run sell jewelry, the kiddos stayed with mom and dad and had some fun of their own. Don't worry, I took Kevin to the Hard Rock Casino to ease his pain!

Payton's birthday was a blast as usual with the Annual Gigantic Slip-N-Slide! No major injuries to put on record (there were a few close calls with a piñata bat and uncle marcus) and we all made it to the Platte County Fair afterwards.

Look who's working the café The Platte Purchase...one of the many perks of being on the fair board is that you get to work!

August was a whirwind with one thing after another and it didn't stop until school started. Or maybe that's when I thought it would stop but it never actually did. First, Kevin and I took our annual trip to Vegas for my wholesale show and guess who else came to town. I'm a huge Aerosmith fan so we couldn't pass it up! And the rest of the time we ate, and ate and ate!

 

While we were away, the kiddos also had a good time.

Paul McCartney was also coming to town and we couldn't miss it this time because Kevin still complains that last time Sir Paul was in town he was with me in Chicago at a Jewelry Show.

The concert was the night before we left on our big family road trip so Tyler stayed home and babysat Zakk and Logan. They were so good and were actually in bed when we told them to be...or were they?

The next morning bright and early we loaded up the car and we headed to Tennessee! Our first stop was Graceland and I loved it. It was a lot smaller than I thought and the decor reminded me of my grandma. I think she might have had some of the things that were in there.  Zakk was definitely not impressed with the pool...kids these days. I would like to go back again.

The jungle room...and now my kids want to carpet their walls.

Next stop was USS Drum and Alabama...

Then on to Pensacola  where we stopped off at the National Naval Aviation Museum and then over to Pensacola Beach where Kevin booked us a beach front hotel.

One of the kids most favorite parts of any of our vacations are the breakfasts so we always make sure to get a hotel that serves free breakfast! Zakk took his turtle to breakfast every morning and the only way we could get him to eat anything good was to tell him Donatello was hungry and he'd pretend to feed it to him and then would eat it himself. It's the little things that get me excited...like not having to force good food down my child's stomach!

As we were walking along the beach one evening we spotted some crabs. They were pretty neat!

The girls got their t-shirts airbrushed. Tyler picked out the turtle and just so Tyler wouldn't think that Logan was copying her, she picked out the turtle with a different outline color!

 On this pier we walked out and saw dolphins swimming. If you look closely, you can see them to!

 I found this sand dollar on the beach in one piece!

On our way back home, we decided to go through Memphis again so that we could go to the Gibson Fatory and walk down Beale Street.

 

And the Saint Louis Arch. Last time we went through, we didn't make it to the top but this time we did. Dad and Zakk were a little scared.