First week

Our first week in Kansas has flown by rather quickly! We've been busy visiting with friends and family and taking full advantage of grandma's backyard and all it has to offer (including chiggers)! We haven't even begun working on the projects that we came to help my mom out with yet, but we did squeeze in a trip to Lowe's last Saturday to order the supplies for Dave to put in a new laminate floor. I'm excited to watch that project start to come together when everything gets here later in the week.

In addition to the pictures below, we also got to spend some time with a friend of mine from high school, Jill, and her son Alex. Alex is such a cutie and a VERY smart kid. The last couple of trips I haven't been able to see him because of scheduling conflicts and boy has he grown up since the last time I saw him. Jill is doing a GREAT job! We also were able to attend a baptism of one of my old roommate's (Julie) 2nd child. It is crazy to think that my friends and I are old enough to have not one, but two kids that are of baptism age (which is 8 years old in our church). Where does the time go? I'm so glad we could attend that baptism because this family currently resides in Louisiana on an army base. Julie's husband is currently stationed in Afghanistan and is on leave for 14 days for R&R. It was great to catch up with him as well!

Miles all set for a LONG trip with a blanket up to block the sun, snacks to eat, his favorite stuffed animal watching over, and his favorite DVD to watch!

Day #2 and fast asleep

Miles really is a great traveler!

Grandma has a great old claw-foot tub

Miles playing on grandma's fun teeter-totter

Laiken playing with one of grandma's fun books

Keaghan petting grandma's dog (Pickles).
She is a tad bit scared of dogs if you can't tell.

I don't think I've ever mentioned on the blog Miles' way of comforting himself. I want to mention it because it might be one of those cute things that we forget about after he outgrows it. He doesn't take a pacifier or suck any of his fingers, but he loves to take his big toe and rub it on his lips. Sometimes he'll even just rub his pointer finger on his lips which is actually how it started, but then he moved on to his big toe. It sure is an interesting form of comfort, but whatever works!

Miles and grandma

Miles and mom

First trip to Menards. Apparently this hardware store is popular in the northern mid-west part of the country. We had never heard of it before and weren't real impressed, but we did get a swing for grandma's backyard there.

Impromptu visit to the splash pad in Hesston

He had a lot of fun playing with the cannon

Getting wet



Grandma even got in on the fun!



Gotta love Dave's song writing abilities

He loves the swing

He loves his pool and the slide

Just chill-axin'
What a stud muffin!

Miles got his arm stuck between the wall and the crib! Oops!

Miles and his great grandpa

We spent the 4th of July on the lake with my dad and his wife, Lisa. I was so excited for Miles to be on a boat for the first time. He had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it. Here he is wearing grandpa's hat.

My dad riding the air chair

Mom, Miles, and Grandpa in the boat

Miles on the knee board. Lisa wanted to see if he would ride it while being manually pulled back to the boat. Towards the end I think he got the hang of it. He might be actually water skiing before we know it.

Dad and Miles driving the boat

My stud muffin!!!

Happy Independence Day!!!