powell gardens

Right before Sabrina fell and broke her little arm, the kids and I decided to venture out of our nice little bubble of Olathe, Kansas and drive out to the beautiful gardens of Powell Gardens in Missouri.

In college, I studied Landscape Architecture and I just love visiting and walking through gardens. I even studied the landscape and gardens in Europe for a couple of months, so when I was told how beautiful the gardens where at Powell Gardens, I just had to go and see them for myself.

Chase loved watching and looking for butterflies and they were everywhere! We had so much fun just watching them fly from one flower to another and they kept us entertained. 

Sabrina loved getting out of the stroller to stretch and explore. She loved all of the flowers and was so happy during on our walk.

Powell Gardens is an absolutely beautiful place with an array of colorful and spectacular vegetation and flowers. It was fun just being able to stroll through the many different gardens and even the kids enjoyed themselves as we watch the butterflies and dragonflies visit different flowers. It was a relaxing and wonderful trip for sure.

cast

Our poor sweet baby girl had to get a cast on today, and she did absolutely amazing. Sabrina took a little tumble and despite the fact that she fractured two bones right below her elbow, this little girl has been full of laughs and smiles and trying her hardest to move to be where she wants to be.

She definitely isn't letting this cast get in her way.

When we first took her in to the urgent care and had her x-rays done to determine if she broke or fractured her arm, they placed her in this temporary sling to help the arm heal. We had to wait till today to get her in to a pediatric ortho to place her arm in a cast.  I am so grateful for that, the splint was just too bothering for her and kept slipping down.

This girl is still full of smiles, even though she has this hard and uncomfortable purple thing on her arm. Most of the time she doesn't even notice it there.

And she is still determined to crawl and move and get to where she wants to be. She doesn't want to miss out on any of the fun and excitement, no matter where it is.

Besides... it makes for a very useful bottle holder.

Sabrina is our little trooper. She has been absolutely amazing and so easy going with all of this. I think I am more of a wreck than anyone. I am just so thankful for all of the great support we were given and the amazing doctors who just helped us with this new and scary process. We have been blessed for sure.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend! May it be fun and worry free!!

deanna rose farmstead

When we first moved to Kansas City, everyone(and I mean everyone) told us that we just had to go to the Deanna Rose Farmssted. Well, it's now our favorite place to go and we practically go there at least once a week.

This is our favorite place. It's close by, it's free during the weekdays and there is just so much to do here. The kids(and adults), stay entertained for hours.

Every morning the big white barn gives a showing of how to milk a cow. We love this part. There are baby cows to watch and pet and we learn everything we need to know about cows and their milk. And right by this barn are huge tee pees to run and play in.

And after we walk around the tee pees and watch the cows play, we wait patiently to feed the baby goats.

This just happens to be Chase's favorite part. He talks about it constantly and just loves feeding the little kids baby bottles. They are pretty cute and surprisingly gentle with the little kids.

We also love to feed the big goats too!!

And when we are done feeding and watching all the farm animals we go and play. This farm has loads of tractor bikes that the boys just love to sit and play on.

Looks like someone is just a little bit too small still...

Then we stroll by the duck and fishing pond to go play on the playgrounds and giant slides. This farm has four different playgrounds throughout the farm. They make nice little breaks as we walk around the farmstead. Our favorite is the shaded park that is next to the hidden swings and water playground.

The kids love riding the fun play animals and running through the jungle gym.

But we just love walking across the bridge to the giant red slides. These slides are so fun and they are surrounded by sheep, bunnies, pigs, goats and turkeys. The kids run up and down the stairs just waiting to go down the two big slides and they stop and stare and just watch all the animals around them. It's a wonderful place to just stop and play for sure.

We also just love walking through the gardens and admiring all of the different and beautiful flowers. We stop to watch and feed the fish and turtles. We look for all of the prairie dogs running and hiding, and wait patiently for butterflies to land on our favorite flowers. 

The coolest part of this farm is tucked away within the many gardens. They have a bobcat and peacocks to watch, and eagles, hawks and owls perched on top of their tree branches. They have an amazing kid garden for kids to create, run and play. And even a magical wind chime garden to make beautiful sounds.

We absolutely love this farm. I am so glad we were told about it. It's become our favorite place and every visit is different and new. If you come out this way, make sure you stop by this farm!

We had so much fun that we just worn out Sabrina. She tries her hardest not to sleep so that she doesn't miss a thing. But she is just so sweet when she does finally succumb to the sweet temptation of napping.

Hope you all are doing well!! We miss you guys!

the state fair

A couple weeks ago, Wayne and I decided to cross the state line and head to the Missouri State Fair. If anyone really knows me, I love me some state fairs, and the Missouri fulfilled that love of mine times ten. It was seriously one of the largest and insanely fun fairs I have been to. I am just hoping that the Kansas one can deliver as well.

I loved that this fair had so many types of farm animals to watch and see. We got to watch chickens hatch, baby goats get fed and cows washed and brushed.


The boys loved watching the cows, and the donkeys and the goats. Pretty much every animal they saw they got pretty excited.


This fair even had an aquarium. They exhibited all the local fish, and amphibians and snakes. Probably Wayne's favorite part of the fair. Hmm... fish? Wayne? I don't see it?


The fair also had a really cool and really big tent that had all of these science programs for kids and it was put on by the local colleges. The boys just loved this part. They got to play with water and magnets, make music with trash cans and sticks and even play with water. They had a blast.


I had a pretty good time myself I might add. The fire guys let me get in and test out their truck. I might have to change professions, I like how I look in a firetruck! ;) And of course Sabrina had a blast. She always has a blast!


I can't wait to ride the rides. One day my boys will be big enough and we will be screaming and laughing and just having a fun time together. But for now we watch these huge and colorful and awesome rides and we still have a great time together.




And for the record, this will be the ONLY time we ever get excited about having our picture taken with the Chiefs. I mean, we have a reputation to uphold here and well, red and yellow don't go very well with orange and blue. I'm just sayin'

first day of school

Fisher started his first day of school yesterday. This time it was a little more surreal to me. It feels more like he is starting kindergarten then preschool. For one, he goes five days a week all day long, we have to pick out his school lunch everyday, he rides a school bus to school and his classroom is even in an elementary school, right next to the kindergarten classes.

But we are so excited for this new program for Fisher. We met with his teachers and his aids and we all felt like this was a great fit for Fisher. He has already made so much progress from last year that I know he can only continue to grow and develop. We are excited for his classroom, he is the sixth student and of those six he is the third with autism. The other three are neo-typical peers that will help Fisher socialize and communicate.

From the report we got from Ms. Brenda yesterday, it sounds like Fisher is already enjoying school. He knows his colors and letters and numbers and animals. We are so proud of him and I just know that this will be a great school year for him!

wichita

When we first got to Wichita to see my brother and his family we were just welcomed with love and friendship and plenty of laughter. We never had a dull moment and it was just so wonderful to watch my kids interact and play with their cousins, creating new and wonderful friendships.

We got to go and see the wonderful zoo in Wichita. We enjoyed walking around and watching the penguins swim and the monkeys play. We casually watched the tigers lay and sleep and just took our time enjoying each other's company.

Fisher developed this wonderful and sweet bond with my brother. He loved sitting and playing with his uncle and even gave him some of Fisher's cuddles too.

Fisher even developed a sweet relationship to his cousin Kory. She took him under her wing and made sure that Fisher was never alone and always had someone to play with.

Chase on the other hand just loved watching his big cousins. He wants to be just like them and wants to play baseball and football and hockey just like Paul.

Paul is a great big cousin. All of the cousins are great cousins. They took such great care of my kids and they all had such a fun and wonderful time together. I am so so happy that we live so close to each other now!

Seriously! They are so cute and wonderful together!


And I can't believe how big and mature they are all getting!

And Sabrina even made a new friend. Samantha, my brother's other niece. She is just a couple weeks younger than Sabrina but quickly crawled and sat right in her lap and they became close and good friends! They are so cute together.

On our last night with my brother, we celebrated his birthday and then got to watch him go and play hockey with his team. It was such a fun experience and I am in so much aww of my brother. He is a great and wonderful inspiration and I admire all that he does.

And can I just say, I love seeing that name on a jersey!

The boys loved watching their uncle play hockey. It's so nice to be able to celebrate and go and do such fun and wonderful things with family. I missed being so close to them and I am just looking forward to doing more with them!