Independence Day

Oh man, there is just something special about celebrating our Nations birthday in the heartland.  People embody the American spirit here.  They celebrate in true American fashion, BBQ (of course), honoring local heroes and service men & women, our nation's flag lines the major streets on either side and on the majority of houses.  It really is fantastic.

Last year Reese was so little and it was SO hot that we didn't do much in the way of festivities, not to mention we didn't know very many people or many of the community activities.  This year we decided to investigate a bit further and then decided to tag along with our very good friends Todd, Rebekah, Josie & Hank.  We went to the Village Fest which is the 4th of July celebration in the suburb of Prairie Village.  We had such a great time and the kiddos were worn out!

Cami and Josie.  I made the girls matching shirts..in hindsight I should have known to tack down the bow better...ugh

They are the cutest

Hank and Reese.  They love each other.  Until recently Reese couldn't say Hank, so she called him bubba.

Love my Family

"fishing"

Facepainting.  Did I mention I stood in line for 45 minutes for this?!?

Rebekah and I

 Wow we had a great time.  To our surprise everything was free.  They had puppet shows, petting zoo, bounce houses, climbing things, train ride, pony rides, zip lining, face painting ......  The only thing we paid for was the food.  There was great live music, so many things to do that we didn't get to try everything.  What a fun deal and hopefully a new family tradition.

Afterwards we brought the tired girls home for a rest.  We decided that we would enjoy the rest of the day at home.  Cami would have really enjoyed the fireworks at night, but it starts so late and since she doesn't nap anymore we thought we would have been pushing our luck.

Our grill master Matt fixed us a feast!

15-16 Month Comparison

One of the great things about having the same season and gender babies is being able to do pretty accurate photo comparisons.  The girls both wore this adorable flag dress about the same age.  I didn't get a great picture of Reese as she was exhausted.  But I think its good enough to compare.

Reese almost 16 months

Cami 15 1/2 months

They are so similar and so different at this age.  According to growth and development they are exactly the same height.  Reese had a recent growth spurt and grew 2 inches between her 12 month and 15 month check ups.  Cami at this age was 85th percentile weight and Reese is only 40th percentile, which equals out to about 3 lbs difference.  Cami had 9 teeth at this point Reese has 5.  Reese's verbal skills are off the charts, she repeats everything and talks up a storm.  Cami was verbal, but not as clear a speaker or with the vocabulary that Reese has.  I think it has something to do with listening to her now 4 year old sister constantly.  Reese's feet are smaller than Cam's at this age. Reese has less hair and it is lighter and curlier. Cami was a bit more timid and reserved.  Reese is a fireball and wants to do everything Cami does now.  Reese is definitely our rule pusher and breaker, not something we really saw in Cami until closer to 2.  Both are sweet, they intensely love each other and their family.  Reese is a Papa's girl.  She literally calls him on the pretend phone everyday.  Both are so smart, quizzical and full of energy.

Matt and I are so lucky that the Lord entrusted us to raise these two sweet little girls.  What a privilege it is to have a front row seat to watch them grow and change.

Golfers

Well, Golf has always been a big deal in this family.  Now our oldest is really getting into it.  We've signed her up for her very first golf tournament in a couple weeks.  We wanted to get her signed up for class camp or something, but all of a sudden the summer is half over and we never did.

But the truth of the matter is, she lives with an extraordinary golfer and it seems silly to pay for someone else to teach her.  So we have been working in the backyard and recently Matt took her to this great junior friendly facility.  They had such a great time.  

After work, they headed that way.  I packed them a picnic dinner and sent them on their way.  Of course I had to snap a few pics first.

The Watson Challenge 2013

The Watson Challenge is the biggest event of the tournament schedule for Matt.  Not because of the number of players, but because of the amount of work.  He and his team work on this event for months, fundraising, picking participants, qualifiers, sponsorships, media, press conference it is definitely a marathon of planning. So, the activities started the day after we got home from FL.  Which was kind of bad planning on my part as I felt very rushed.

Anyway, Thankfully Matt's mom came up and kept the girls.  I had to get all fancy and meet Matt at the club for the Players dinner and kick off banquet.  

The staff took a couple of pictures of me in my fancies.  Considering they normally see me after the gym with no make up on...this was quite a change

Matt and I posing in front of the trophy

Matt, myself and Mr. Watson.

 After a great time at the banquet it was time for the real work.  There is so much to putting on an event like this.  So I worked everyday at the event from about 6am-1pm (don't feel bad for me ...Matt worked from about 4:30am til about 10pm everyday). When we were in ABQ and before the girls I worked at all of the events, so this was fun for me to help out again.  I really love working tournaments and working with Matt.

Selfie.  Parking was a problem because of the location of the country club.  So I was in charge of parking and bus transportation.  

 On the final day the girls and grandma and grandpa came out.  We were able to eat lunch and the girls were able to run around a bit.  They enjoyed the delicious lunch and meeting lots of people.

 After the event, Cami was able to have Tom Watson sign her hat.  I guess it helps that Daddy runs the event, but this was a fun moment for a kid that loves golf and being part of a golf family.  Did I mention that this is after Mr. Watson had won the event and the media was waiting for him?

I was so proud of Cami, she spoke politely and asked for the signature herself...which is pretty good for a 4 year old.

This is such a fun event.  It is truly an honor to work with a living golf legend and someone who is so committed to improving and bettering the KC community.  The wonderful part of this event is that it raises money for the First Tee of KC.  Special thanks to the National Golf Club for being so hospitable.  What a fun weekend.  Is it too early to be looking forward to next year?

FLorida trip part 2

We were busy.  But the girls also had some sweet sister play time.  Here they are outside on the patio having a tea party with real water.

Nana and Reese....Fro Yo

cutie in her new hat

Pirate Cami

I think this is the only proof that I was actually on this trip.

pedicure princess

Heading home.

 We had a great time, but we were ready to get home and see daddy.  Thankful for a little vacay and great hospitality!

Trip to Florida...Part 1

The girls and I went to FL  for 10 days the end of May.  To say I was a bit nervous to travel with two young kids by myself is an understatement.  Luckily we all survived.  The trip out was a bit hard because of the lateness of the flight.  But overall the kids did GREAT!

Playing at the airport waiting for our flight

Watching a show and having snacks on the plane

The day after our travel we kept it very low key.  We went out to lunch and to my moms pool.

 Wednesday we had to go to the beach.  Cami has been so anxious to get to the beach.  The girls loved it.  Of course I knew Cami already loved it, but Reese had a ball too!

My favorite picture of all! (thanks Ms. Rebekah for the matching swimsuits!)

new photos

My brother in law is a really good photographer.  It is his hobby, so we take advantage of his skill as often as possible.  We went to Matt's folks last weekend and had a few pics,  especially love the ones of the girls.