Memorial Day Weekend

My birthday always falls on Memorial Day weekend, which is kind of depressing I guess but I went up to north Missouri and put flowers on all of the graves last week and so this weekend was for food, family and fun. :)

When you have five kids (plus 2 additional friends of the oldest) the best things in life ARE free, so we headed down to Union Station in Kansas City yesterday for "Celebration at the Station".

The Kansas City Symphony plays a variety of patriotic music at Union Station with Liberty Memorial in the background with an awesome fireworks show when it gets dark.

We packed the kids all up in a couple of cars and headed downtown...Here's my friend Sherri with my daughter on her shoulders, my friend Bryan and his girls came down and met us too.
The littlest in shades...hilarious...
Bryan and his girls, aren't they pretty?? My middle child has a big crush on the one on the left and he would love it even more if he knew I put that on here. :)
Here is what a pile of boys looks like sprawled out on a picnic blanket.
Miss Priss was loving the music and the crowd and all the excitement.

Brotherly love...

I played around a little with my camera once it got dark and we got the kids all those glow in the dark necklace things....I thought this one turned out kind of cool with the flash off.
Liberty Memorial, the only WW-I memorial in the nation...you can see the eternal flame lit at the top.
Union Station with stars and red white and blue...so neat!
The fireworks show with the Memorial...so pretty.
I had a great time with my entire family together and we really enjoyed the evening. When they played "Taps" towards the end of the concert, it made me a little teary remembering my dad, uncle and all of the other veterans in my family who have passed on; however, this was a celebration of their lives and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. ~Francis A. Walker

Kansas City Dinosaurs Unearthed!

We were looking around last Sunday afternoon for something to do inside that was out of the rain. We got together with my friend Sonya and her boys and headed down to Union Station in Kansas City for their current exhibit "Dinosaurs Unearthed".

These things were awesome and they moved and growled and had placards with information on them. It was a great learning experience as well as fun!
Here are the kids in front of the t-rex outside.
We got our tickets, had some lunch, checked out some other parts of Union Station (coming to a later blog) and headed downstairs for the exhibit starting at 3:00 pm. Here is "the talk" from Dad a/k/a the hubs. "No running, no acting like fools, stay together, keep your hands to yourselves..." all that good stuff.
This is one of the five fully articulated skeletons in the display. Sooo cool!! The kids thought they were awesome!
Here they had a panel of all sizes of dinosaurs. Here are my two middles with the Stegosaurus.
And my littlest testing out his "dinosaur stomp and roar".
Here are my friend Sonya's boys, all smiles over the dinosaurs.
Here's Sonya's oldest next to a leg bone. Yikes! This thing made me feel tiny!
They had a stand set up where you could use paintbrushes (or your hands) and sift out the dinosaur bones underneath.
The littlest hard at work with his brush and the daughterling checking it out too...
She was not so much a fan of the 24 animatronic dinosaurs and spent most of the exhibit roaring back at them from the safety of Daddy's arms. :)
This triceratops looks like it's about to chomp the 7-year-old's head off. He doesn't seem to mind...strange, isn't it?
I will admit I'm not much of a dinosaur guru but dinosaurs with fur? Bizarre...
I had to practically bend over backwards to get the shot of this tall guy.
The exhibits were very kid-friendly and interactive and the boys all loved them.
This is the face we got...
...when this bad boy growled at him! PRICELESS!
Another one of the cool skeletons.
Union Station is a gorgeous old building and holds much history in Kansas City. I got some more cool pictures and info that I'll post in a later blog. I think I'm on picture overload as it is.

The kids all definitely gave "Dinosaurs Unearthed" at Union Station in Kansas City 12 thumbs up (we took six kids)!

Delaney's First Baseball Game!

At Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, twice a year they put on an event called "Girls' Night Out at the K". It's a great way to get ladies out to the ballpark and a portion of the proceeds from the evening goes to charity, usually the first event of the year goes to Susan G. Komen Foundation and the second goes to the American Heart Association "Go Red for Women" campaign. Since Miss Priss is now 3, I thought we would try to take her and see how she did trying to sit through a baseball game. Here's the color guard for the National Anthem:

Wrong hand on the heart there, Sis. :) Hey at least she was being respectful and paying attention to what was going on.
In the first few minutes we were there, we had to make 2 trips to the bathroom and as soon as she sat down she said, "I'm hungry and thirsty, Mommy." So here she is enjoying some "machos" (which is what she calls nachos) and watching the game.
They handed out free bunny ears at the game. Also the first 10K in the gate get a free t-shirt but we were running a bit behind so we didn't get there in time, darn it.
When Alex Gordon isn't playing, our favorite player defaults to Billy Butler. She was into it too, she was singing the "Let's Go Royals!" chant and everything.
We went to walk around the stadium to burn off some energy when she started getting restless. Thankfully at the K there is a ton to do and see. I really love it since they have redone things out there. Here she is checking out the letters outside of the Royals Hall of Fame exhibit - really cool inside if you have time to check it out.
They also have a section out at the K called "The Outfield Experience" specifically designed for kids. Kind of pricey but fun for those "once in a while" times...You buy tokens to do the specific activities and I think they are like $2 each but taking into consideration what it is to ride things/do things at other parks I guess it's really pretty comparable. Here is my little future softball player in the making:
And we couldn't pick the cool baseball themed carousel spots to sit...we had to pick the "pretty horse, Mommy, with pretty flowers on it!!" I might get her to play softball but she's a girly girl through and through...
Every Friday night at the K after the game is over (we won by the way, 6-1!!) they hit the lights and turn on music and up in the sky....
It's FIREWORKS FRIDAY! I was a little worried about this, because my daughter tends to be kind of a chicken when it comes to EVERYTHING and I was scared to death of fireworks when I was little.
However, as you can see, she thinks they are "Just booooo-ti-ful!!" She didn't want them to be over.
And on the way home, I had one tuckered out little girl who thoroughly enjoyed her first baseball game and first time out at the K.
Oh and as a side note, if any of you here in KC or the surrounding area bring your little ones to the K for their first game, if you take them to the Guest Services office in the stadium and tell them, they print out a certificate with their name on it and the date saying that they are an "Official Royals Fan" and thanks for your attendance at your first game. This is a free service that the stadium provides and is really a neat keepsake to have. I wish I would have scanned it but I forgot...

Random Thursday Thoughts

• I typed this entire post, decided to add a picture to it, and then accidentally deleted everything I had just typed. Super.
• Here's the random picture I wanted to add to the random post. It made me laugh when I took it because it looks like a 2-headed giraffe.

• The terrible three's are way worse than the terrible two's ever thought about being.
• I'm paranoid that my camera battery is going to run out when I'm out somewhere and want to take pictures and probably need to think about picking up a spare.
• My hubby will be happy that I ordered the daughterling a one-piece swimsuit for this year.
• I wish if people wanted to know things about me, they would just ask me instead of trying to put someone else in a bad position. However, just because you ask, doesn't mean you're getting an answer, some things just aren't anyone else's business.
• Saturday is Rockfest and I'm afraid it's going to just be one giant mud-pit. I'm still super-excited to go though.
• My daughter should have taken a nap today and didn't and now is a complete bear to deal with.
• There is a door-to-door salesman wandering the neighborhood. I'm going to let my dogs out on the porch so he won't knock on my door.
• Tomorrow night is Girls' Night Out at the K. I'm bummed because it's going to be too chilly for my daughter to wear the dress I've been making for her. Guess she'll have to wear it to a warmer weather game.
• I'm still getting used to wearing glasses. They feel weird on my face.
• Monday is my hubby's birthday. He doesn't like cake.
• I won a giveaway on Twitter MONTHS ago and never got what I won. I've even asked the person about it. I ordered a product from someone else's website as a result because I don't think this person is reliable.
• Trey Hillman just got dismissed as the KC Royals manager...too bad they can't dismiss the cheapskate owner too.
• We've had too much rain the past few days and I think my poor little garden is drowning.
• My 2-year old needs to realize that he in fact cannot fly like Buzz Lightyear. Being able to say the words "To infinity and beyond!" does not grant you the ability to fly. I am afraid we may require an emergency room trip before this phase is over.
• It is 5:00 and I have made no plans and have no ideas about what we are doing for dinner.
• Today is my hubby's first day of a nine-day vacation from work. I'm so excited! Just think of the honey-do list I can make!! :)
• If I ask you a question that requires a "yes" or "no" answer, a "yes", "no" or even "I don't know" will suffice. If I want an opinion to go with said answer, I'll ask.
• I need a different shirt to wear to Rockfest this weekend. With the temps being in the 60s, the original tanktop I was going to wear is not going to work out.
• The kids trashed the living room today...sighhhhh.
• Where in the hell are Max and Ruby's parents? Did they abandon them because Ruby is such a little witch??
• The word of the day today is "gobba" - only Brittany is going to get this.
• I hate when people who have never had children try to tell me what I need to be doing or not doing with my kids. It's a super pet peeve of mine.
• I'm looking forward to going to the zoo Sunday with some friends.
• My terrier has a serious case of Napoleon syndrome.

Wordless Wednesday

I took this picture the other day at the zoo and I love how it turned out!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Quiet morning

I love mornings like this. I'm enjoying my first cup of coffee of the day and everyone is still asleep but me. I can turn on the news and not listen to, "My shows, Mommy, I watch MY shows!" I can check email, catch up on my google reader and sip coffee in peace and quiet. This is a particularly quiet morning. There's a gentle rain falling outside and it's still nice and dark outside, so hopefully the kids will sleep a bit longer and let me enjoy my peace.

Gardening with the Kiddos

I knew I wanted to put a garden (or three) in this year so I went shopping yesterday for the supplies we would need. I didn't buy enough dirt for all 3 of my gardens, but we at least got 2 done today. Here's Keegs dragging some dirt to the back yard.

Liam opted to spend most of his gardening time doing this and Keegan, who was the one who wanted to do the garden in the first place, lost interest shortly after he realized it was WORK and at least managed to entertain Liam.

He did manage to come around again when actual tools were involved. I'm not sure why he needs his tongue sticking out to do anything that resembles work...see above photo also.
Jaidie and Miss Priss were good helpers. Here they are after putting the tomato plants in.

Here is our herb/salad garden with a rhubarb plant also. We've got basil, oregano, cilantro, lavender, rosemary, chives, dill, sage, spinach and lettuce in this one.

Miss Priss asked for a rose bush, so we obliged and got her this one and put it out by the driveway. She was pretty mad that she didn't actually get to help plant it but dang, that thing was thorny...

Here are my potted impatients, impatiens, I can't ever remember which it is....

And a hanging basket of those also for the screened in front porch...

Since we didn't have enough dirt to do the 3rd garden, I went ahead and planted the seeds to get seedlings for when I can finish things up. Here are the zucchini and cantaloupe...

And then green onions and cucumbers in this one. I think I might need another trellis too...not sure yet.
I also planted some ground cover plants and a couple of butterfly bushes. All in all, everything turned out great and it's supposed to rain the next couple of days so I didn't bother to water, yet. My dad loved to garden and I think on his birthday weekend he would have been happy to see the grandkids out digging in the dirt.