Michael's Visitors From St. Louis

Mommy's and Daddy's friends from St. Louis were in town for a family visit and were able to swing by before they headed home.  Michael was happy they visited especially since he got to meet another Michael.

Relaxing with April

Michael Squared!

Birthday Parties Are Fun...Especially With Fire Trucks

So today is Noah's fourth birthday party and it was a lot of fun.  The kids toured the Hesston Fire Department's main fire station.  Their fire department is setup a bit different than what we have back home.  They have a large consolidated department instead of a distributed one which means lots of trucks as well as EMS in one building.  Because Janice is due at the end of the month, she decided it would be best for her to stay home.

Cassandra had a ball.  Not only did she get to see Kylie and Noah, she got to see two ambulances and six different fire trucks (ladder, pumper, tanker, rescue, off-road and brush-fire).  And she got cake and ice cream too!

A picture of the birthday boy in full bunker gear (minus the air tanks which weighs more than him).  Cassandra and Kylie sharing a seat in the fire truck.  Will all their gear, real fire fighters are as wide as both the girls.

Cassandra got to sit in the fire fighter's seat where the air tank is stored.  Later, she seemed to enjoy modeling a party hat for us.

And she had so much fun on the tour that she has decided to go ahead and wear the hat after the party was over.

Vincent's Birthday Party - Train Theme Addition

So Cassandra is not the only one who is nuts for Thomas.  Vincent decided that Thomas the Tank Engine was the theme to build a birthday party around.

Coloring With Friends

Being Silly With The Birthday Boy

 One of the games was "Pin the Caboose on the Train" which Cassandra thought was rather silly.  After watching a couple of other kids, she decided to give it a try.

Cassandra had a lot of fun.  She got to see several kids she doesn't see very often, got out of the house, and got to have fun with trains.  That being said, by the end of the party, she was ready for a nap.  She might have had too many sweets.

Cookie Decorating Party

We invited several friends over for something a little different.  Since kids like cookies so much, we thought we would put them to work decorating.  In reality, this just ended up being a combination of sugar ingestion and art projects.  It was a lot of fun...the hardest part for me was to convince Cassandra that is was OK to not eat the cookie immediately.  We really could make it and put it to the side and make another one.

The twins brought their parents.  Notice how I got smart and went to portrait views so I didn't cut off  anyone else's head.  Better late than never.

Neal brought his parents for fun.  In case you cannot read his shirt, it asks the question, "Dear Santa, Is it too late to be good?"  A very important questions for any child under the age of five.

Gwen applies decoration of some sort to a cookie.  Notice the high level of concentration?

Art projects are so much better if you can wear them and eat them too.

Heading Home

On the way home from Ohio, we stopped to check on some friends.  We could stop for dinner, stretch our legs, and get to see friends all at the same time.  What more could you ask for?  Cassandra certainly enjoyed hanging out with people her size.

Family photos of the Calta Family are hard to get.  Something about the grandparents not wanting to let the boys out of their sight when they visit Kansas City.  So, we visited them.

Kylie's Birthday Party

We headed down I-35 for Kylie's birthday this weekend.  The road trip was not as easy as the last time.  For some reason, the Empress was not interested in taking a nap in spite of it being her usual nap time.  Mommy eventually got her down though.

When we arrived, they were about ready to setup the pinata.  I've always wondered about those.  Don't we spend enough time as parents telling kids not to hit stuff?  Anyway, the birthday girl gets first whack.  All the kids took turns, even little Cassandra.

"I'm done.  Something is not right here.  Let me watch the others and think about it."

"This is better.  Something longer and tougher."

The pinata turned out to be tougher than expected.  Note to self, don't use cardboard to reinforce a pinata unless you are trying to keep kids occupied for hours or want them to use real bats.  Eventually, Kylie called in reinforcements, AKA Daddy.

After we had opened the pinata, it was time for cake.  Well, cupcakes really.  Cassandra ate the whole cupcake herself.

After the party was over, we went back to Kylie's place.  Cassandra had fun playing with "boy" toys like the work bench, police SUV, fire truck, and geotrax trains.  I should probably note that the toys she was most interested in were Noah's.  With the exception of Legos, she really had no interest in any of Kylie's new toys.

Noah did his best to stay out of the way of all of the girls. 

Kylie also modeled her new dress and fashion accessories for us.

Finally, as everyone (but the kids) was getting tired, it was time to go.  We rounded them up for the traditional "family" picture we have been doing.  Kylie and Noah did a good job of sitting still but Cassandra was a real challenge.

Notice how Cassandra's feet haven't stopped moving?

Balloons! And Friends Too!

Today, we took Cassandra down to the Great Mall of the Great Plains for a special treat, the Great Midwest Balloon Fest.  During the morning we saw them fly over and try to hit a target.  Then, we returned in the evening for the balloon glow.  All the balloons were parked closely together and they would light up at the same time.  Cassandra had a ball.

While we were out at the mall, we ran into the twins!  The girls had fun trading places on the motorcycles.

I Got One!

Cassandra seemed to have so much fun with the tunnel yesterday that we got out the one we had been saving for her.  It was a gift from Luke and Jen.

She loves it.  Wait until she finds out about the tent!

Noah's Birthday Party

Cassandra has completed another road trip...and it is not as easy as it used to be.  Cassandra is at the age where being confined to a car seat for three hours (even with a nap in the middle) is not an enjoyable event...for anyone.  Still, she had lots of fun when we got to Noah's Birthday Party.  There was cake and a candle (fire) and everything.

Afterward, presents were opened and the kids played.  Cassandra showed interest in Kylie's keyboard and Noah's trains (GeoTrax).  Both of them looked after Cassandra and were careful not to knock her over.  Of course, since she doesn't watch what she is stepping on, she ended up falling over a lot anyway.  She also liked the tunnel.

As the afternoon wound down, we attempted to get pictures of the kids.  Cassandra wasn't really interested in sitting still.  I think Noah was getting tired of trying to get Cassandra to sit.  Can't really blame him.  I get tired of it too.  For that matter, just watching her run around makes me feel tired.

I had to break out the trusty old golf swing to distract her enough to get a picture.  Still, you can tell she is trying to slid off of the bench.  I feel tired just writing about getting her to sit still.

Las Vegas Wedding

Janice and I traveled to Las Vegas early this morning.  Our early departure was the reason that Grandma and Grandpa were over for dinner last night.  Their staying at our place allowed Cassandra to sleep her normal schedule and it saved them the trouble of baby-proofing their house.

Our visit to LV was prompted by one of my college friends (finally) getting married.  All I can say is that Debi fits right in.  Now, on to a picture of the happy couple...

Here is Debi giving Brian "the look."  It almost looks like a "don't make me kill you on our wedding night" look but she slipped it on so quickly and smoothly, Brian must have done something previously that allowed her to practice.

And here is what the cake looked like before it was cut.