Fourth Friday

We heard of this thing called "Fourth Friday" in downtown Olathe. No one had ever talked about it so we weren't sure what to expect but it was free and gave us something to do!

The Olathe library was there for story time and a craft. 

There was a balloon artist. Elsy choose the "Elsa" balloon. You can't see it, but Elsa is on the front of her balloon bracelet. 

There was face painting and Elsy chose to be a princess. I guess this is a crown?

Photo booth fun. Our friend Hudson was there with his family too. 

And a food truck! All of it was free expect for the food truck. Not a bad Froday night! I was fortunate to get off work early so I was able to go. We will do it again if we are free!

Erica Comes for a Visit by Cindy

Erica came by yesterday for a short visit, she was lucky to get to see Elsy too.

Elsy loved seeing her and Erica was nice enough to do chalk with her.

She was very creative drawing around Elsy.

Elsy decided Erica should have a drawing as well!

 

Elsy was very patient waiting her turn. Later in the day I noticed Elsy was tracing around her baby doll. She must have known this old aunt wouldn't be laying on the garage floor!

Thanks for coming by and visiting, sorry Elsy cried when you left, I know that tugs on my heart when she does that.

Grandpa is Here!

Grandpa arrived safely from the overnight train! We had pancakes at IHOP, ran some errands in Garden City, and even got to go to the zoo. We are all tuckered out and taking an afternoon nap. Let the fun begin!!

Brad and Kathryn's Chicago Trip

  Brad and I went to Chicago in the end of May. We had some credit on our Southwest account and it expired June 1st. We didn't realize that until the end of April. So that just meant we had to take a quick trip! Chicago was the destination we decided on. This was my first trip to the Windy City.

  We got in late on a Friday night and flew out Sunday night so we had two full days there. The weather on Saturday was so great! We walked down Michigan Avenue, ate Garrett's popcorn, did some shopping, ate amazing deep dish pizza, had drinks on the top of the John Hancock building, walked around Wrigley Field and my favorite thing we did - take a boat tour! I loved getting to hear the history of the city and all of the fun facts the tour guide knew.

It was awesome weather the Saturday that we were there

the Bean!

On our boat tour

outside of the coolest Starbucks

Needless to say, we will most definitely be taking another trip to Chicago in the future!

Repainting

Hi Family!

  It's been awhile since I've blogged but I know how much Dana loves it so I am always trying to think of things to blog about.

  My big summer goal this year was to repaint our living room (i know, crazy huge goal right??). They had been painted a light brown kind of beige color and I really didn't love it. When Abby was my roommate, she was awesome and had filled in all the nail holes with Spackle one Saturday morning so that saved me some prep time! I chose a light gray color that I had seen on the Fixer Upper blog and I really liked it. One of the great things about living in the KLIFE house is I don't feel a lot of pressure to make things perfect. Since Brad and I don't own this house I feel more freedom to do whatever to it - maybe that's not the best thought process to have though :)

So one Friday a couple of weeks ago i got to work. I was actually able to complete the whole project in one full day! Here is the before and after pictures.  I didn't take an official "before" picture so this was the best I could find, a picture from our senior brunch at the end of the spring semester. Notice the beige walls in the background.

Before:

 

After:

  

It felt so great to de-clutter the living room in the process as well. I moved out the bookshelves that were in the corner (you can't see them in the pictures) and it makes the room feel more spacious. I am hoping to soon add a couple of wooden wall shelves, handmade by my very own full time woodworking husband :)

 Thanks for being interested in my summer projects! I am using this blog to help me stay accountable on my next task- repainting the screen porch floor. Post coming soon (hopefully)

Haskell County Rodeo

A few weeks ago we went to the rodeo at the Haskell county fair. Cole got decked out in his boots and hand-me-down Cinch jeans (if you're in the rodeo sphere, you'll be impressed) and he fit right in. He LOVED it! (And I did too.)

We got some seats on the floor at the far end of the arena and they were great. The animals came right by us a lot! 

At one point during the evening, Cole ventured over to sit with his friend Savannah. He was so cute sitting over there. 

Cole showed grandpa around the animal pens beforehand. 

We got to see some of the kids compete in the goat show before the rodeo. 

What a fun outing and evening! Ready for next year!

Cole's New Trick

Here's Cole's new trick...riding on the front of the shopping cart. 

You can be sure I didn't teach him this. Not really sure where he picked it up. But he definitely didn't hesitate. Brave boy!

HelloFresh

From Dana:

A few weeks ago Katie sent me (and a few others) a link to get a free trial of HelloFresh meals.  I had never heard of it.  Of course, if Katie thinks it's worthwhile then that for sure piques my interest.  But, for whatever reason, I kind of forgot about it and didn't get signed up.  But then the girls came out and Rachel talked about how she had signed up for it and Katie talked about it some, and brought it back to mind.  I wasn't too late to sign up for a week's worth (three total) of HelloFresh meals for free, so I did!

On Thursday I came home to a big box on my doorstep with all these fresh ingredients to make normal yet fancy yet simple meals.  It was like Christmas.

We had our first taste of it last night with Honey Adobo pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted broccoli, and I was not disappointed.  The directions were easy to follow and the meal was really good and FRESH and healthy and normal.  I was concerned that it might not be enough food for us, but we had plenty, though no leftovers.  It's not a meal that I can make too much ahead of time (though I could have prepped some earlier), which is a little bit of a downside, since I like to do that while Cole naps.  But, Marc was around for the preparation to help and to help with Cole and the directions were so succinct and orderly that it made it easy amongst the distractions. I liked that it provided the entire meal, not just the main dish.  I liked that I still had to "do" something like cut stuff up and peel things.  And most of all, I liked that I didn't have to come up with the idea of what to have (and then wonder if I had all the ingredients)!

Another thing I liked about it was that it showed me or reminded me of things I could do on my own, that are really good - like roasting broccoli (yum!) or making garlic mashed potatoes.  (Mom, check out the instructions for the potatoes.  They had a really garlicky flavor without using a TON of garlic by cooking the garlic in butter for a moment before adding the cooked potatoes back in to mash.)

You receive three standard meals in your box.  If you go online, you can select three from a set of 5 or so.  I did choose to substitute one of mine out thinking that the standard meal was a little too "girly" for Marc (salmon on salad is all I remember from the picture).  I thought he'd appreciate the pork chop a little more, though he has nothing against salmon or salad.  I just wanted it to be good first impression on him.

Of course, I cancelled my subscription after the free week because that's what I do (don't ever let *them* win or get the better of me), but I will keep it in mind in the future.  That's the beauty!  You can cancel or suspend your subscription at anytime.  It costs $44 for 3 meals for the week, which is expensive but maybe not really when you think of all the value you receive.  I may do it here and there, every once in a while, or after the baby comes sometimes and just chalk it up to a worthwhile investment.  Maybe I'll ask for money/gift certificate for HelloFresh for Christmas or something!  It was fun to be in the kitchen with Marc again, which my current system doesn't allow for very well (or his work schedule this summer!).

We are headed to the pool after Marc and Cole wake up from Sunday afternoon naps, and I'm not completely sure what we'll have for dinner, but I have two completely viable and delicious options waiting for me in my fridge when we return, if I want to use them tonight!

If you want to try it (I'm picturing Mom and Dad loving it and Cindy and Charlotte and maybe even Julie and Anthony...and really anyone!) you can go to the website and type in PF93WU or it may be easier if I just send you an invitation in an email or possibly try this link (http://www.hellofresh.com/?c=PF93WU).  Let me know if you want me to send you an invite!

2nd Lake Weekend of the Summer

Here's a little report about our lake weekend.  It has an "Elsy" slant to it.  I hope Cindy and others will post other pictures and stories.

We had a great weekend at the lake and it was the first time Dave and I had taken Elsy on a trip without her parents!  Elsy was packed and waiting for us when we arrived at her house on Friday morning.

We had a great trip down.  Elsy was so good in the car.  We stopped at the Osceola Cheese Factory and told her it would be a good time to stretch her legs.  When we stopped later down the road to buy some tomatoes at a roadside stand, she told us she was ready to stretch her legs.  Funny little girl!

That afternoon we chose to let Elsy swim in the little wading pool instead of getting in the lake.  She was fine with that.  You can see Dave's foot was in the water, too. We all enjoyed the refreshingly cool water on our feet.

Brad, Kathryn and Abby arrived around 7:30 Friday evening. Eric, Christina, Eden and Tirzah arrived around midnight. The party just kept getting better!  Elsy enjoyed hanging out with the big girls before bed.  Tickles and giggles.

On Saturday morning it was overcast then started to rain. Dave and Eden did a bit of fishing before it rained.  Both of them caught a fish, too!  Cindy has the picture of Eden's fish.

Once it started raining we stayed inside until after lunch.  The sun came out! The "big" kids went in the lake while Elsy and Tirzah napped.  After naps, you can bet Elsy was ready to swim in the lake. Cindy bought a large swim mat, called a water carpet.  Everyone loved it.  This picture was taken by Abby - I stole it from her Instagram.  

Saturday night at 8:00 on the dock of Laura's store they feed the catfish.  Kathryn took Elsy down, along with Eric and family and Charlotte.  They said the catfish are three feet long and very big around and probably more than 100 of them!  You can see in the picture that the kids got to throw the fish into the water.  These photos were taken by Charlotte.

The feeding crew...

Dave, Elsy, Abby and I left on Sunday morning at about 8:15.  We all had our Royals outfits on.  You can't really see Elsy's too well but it's a Royals dress.  

Abby rode down on Friday with Brad and Kathryn but their car wasn't coming back to KC on Sunday. Kathryn drove it to Branson from the lake for K-Life training at Kanakuk camp.  Brad stayed an extra night and will ride home with Cindy and Charlotte on Monday.  

Our trip back was easy too.  Elsy was so good again, took a quick nap.  We dropped her off at Anthony's parents' house then headed up to the Royals game.  Julie and Anthony met us at the game. The Royals won!! That's our weekend in a nutshell!

Love, Georgann

Haskell County Fair

This was SUCH a fun year at the Fair.  Cole was the perfect age to take it all in and enjoy the festivities.

On Tuesday morning I continued with my annual responsibility of Fair Superintendent for the Fine Art section of the Open Class fair entries.  Basically, I check in all the art entries as people bring them, hang them up to be displayed, stay with the judge as she evaluates them, and then put the appropriate ribbons on the pieces when she's finished.  I love it.  I love being there and being a part of the fair and talking to the people and seeing different people come in and seeing what they bring.  It's a highlight for me every year.

Shirley watched Cole while I did this and was able to take him to the Fun Day activities put on by the Rec Center.

He got a snake painted on his arm and won a prize at the ring toss.

I entered maybe 7-10 flower entries and one chocolate zucchini cake.  My cake didn't win any of the top prizes, but my flowers did well.  I even got a few purple ribbons for best or second best in their respective divisions.  I was happy with that.  I think it's so fun to participate, and I came home $28 richer at the end of the week! (Maybe I owe some of this to Cindy and Charlotte since they are the source for most of my flowers!)

Tuesday night was a free hamburger feed and mutton bustin'.  Cole loved seeing the sheep up close and personal and seeing his friends.  Here he is with Trigger.

I had no intention of encouraging him to participate, and he didn't seem interested in riding the sheep himself, thankfully.  But there were kids his age or smaller taking their turn!  Maybe next year!  Wanna come watch?

Wednesday morning the 4-Hers showed up with their animals.  They were so happy to show them off to Cole.  Here Brecken is introducing Cole to his pig, Berky.

Cole loved walking through the stalls and seeing all the animals.

This little girl was more than happy to oblige Cole when he would ask to pet her rabbits she had entered in the fair.  Her and her siblings must've had over 20 rabbits entered!

We found some kids and sand toys to play with one morning.  These kids were keeping themselves occupied while their older siblings were getting their cows (or I should say, steers and calves and heifers) ready for the fair.  Cole loved it! 

I am so grateful for how easy it is to participate in things like this in a small town.  I LOVE IT!  And I'm glad Cole does too.  I'm excited for him to grow up going to the fair and looking forward to it each year like I do.