Uncle Ben & Aunt Ele's Wedding

 We had such a great time at the wedding!  It was such a pretty venue and the weather changed right at the last minute so it still got to be outside.  Right up until that time however it was hurricane like weather..rain and crazy wind.

Grandpa, Ben, and Dad

The girls and their new Uncles :)

me and my handsome man

one of my favorite pics

girls getting hair done

Lexi, Aunt Ele, and Emma

Hunter looking cute!

The wedding party

our family

Papa and the kids

Leaving for Florida

The kids were so great on the drive down to Florida.  We stopped at the Kentucky border for the night.  During our drive we only stopped once in the several hours of being on the road...this was more for the adults than kids.  We played traveling bingo, the license place game, alphabet game and lots of others.  The kids watched movies, snacked, and slept.  I was so proud of how well behaved they were for such a long drive.  The travel pillows I made worked great too :)

The Colorado trip that didn't happen

All packed up and ready to go to Colorado to see Uncle Ben graduate from the Air Force Academy.  We had great weather here but in Chicago where our connecting flight was not so much.  After sitting at the airport and waiting for a delayed flight it was canceled.  We were the last flight out of Peoria that day so the next flight leaving was in the am.  Which we couldn't do because graduation started at 9am.  So after all of us cried we sucked it up and realized there was nothing to do and stressing about it wasn't doing anyone good.  We tried to make the best of it and went to a late showing of the new X-Men movie.  Hunter fell asleep half way through but liked what he saw haha.  So home we went to have a few extra days to pack and get ready for Florida!!

headed to the gate

me and my Bubba

keeping entertained while waiting for our flight 

now trying to entertain ourselves for the delayed flight

making the best of the situation watching X-Men

Kids 2014

They are getting so big.  They have their moments where they argue like siblings like every normal kid. Every now and then I catch sweet moments between the two.  I watched them play baseball in the yard the other day and take turns hitting/pitching and running bases with ghost runners on some :)   Then there will be times where they need to get the bag ready for the sitters and Hunter will pack all the stuff they want to take (he even made sure her Ipod was charging the night before)..even Lexi's.  He is such a good big brother!

Mushrooms

Every year the kids love to go mushroom hunting.  We didn't find many this year but enough to have a meal.  Lexi and Emma love to help get them ready to eat :)

Hunter turned 9

It's hard to believe my baby boy is 9 years old already!!  Not to mention he keeps growing and in a couple years is going to be taller than his mama :)  Where does the time go??

He loved his deer stand cake Grandma Rebecca made

Baseball Season 2014

I love watching the kids play baseball.  Our schedule was full this year with games Monday - Thursday.  Both did a great job and I was so proud of them.  I have to say we also have a great group of parents for both teams as well :)

Emma & Lexi

look at that stance

Uncle Ryan helping Lexi get ready to catch

Daddy giving her a few pointers

ready to run

Hunter had a good eye this year when batting and most of the time he got walked (the others he had hits).  Typically he walked to first, stole 2nd & 3rd, and on one they overthrew to 3rd when he was stealing and got to take home.  I was cheering like a crazy women with pride for my little man!!

Hunter & Great Grandpa

Hunter loves to catch like Uncle Ben did.  He is pretty good at it..until he gets tired/hot then he gets lazy.

Easter 2014

I realized I didn't take many photos on Easter..whoops.  Here are some of the crazy kids for our Johnson Easter after church.

such pretty girls we all have!

ready to hunt some eggs

Lexi managed to lose 2 teeth on Easter!!  She got a visit from the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy :)

Farm Fun

The kids love going to the farm!  So much to do and it was such a nice day.  We rode 4-wheelers and made a fort out of branches.

a work in progress

Lexi and Emma searching for branches to use

found the perfect spot for the fort

Daddy and Hunter were working on tree stands so they came over to see the fort

Hunter, Emma, and Lexi

Antler Scramble

 First year doing the Antler Scramble!!  The kids look for antlers every year at the farm but his was soo much fun.  There were 100 kids and each kid had to find 3 antlers.  2 were painted on the end and 1 was not.  They got to keep the one that wasn't painted.  The kids were septerated into age groups so Dirk went with the boys and I went with Lexi.  Afterwards we went back to the barn and ate lunch and they had a drawing for prizes.  This is a must every year!  Oh and you get a t-shirt also..all for only $10.



Emma, Lexi, Hunter, Grant, & Jon



Lexi and Emma with the antlers they found

Me and my Peanut

Lexi found her first antler!!  News channel 8 is right behind Lexi following Emma.  She was excited to see herself on the news :)

Grant and Hunter with their antlers

trying to find more antlers

Allergies/Asthma

This year Lexi has dealt with alot of sinus infections and coughing.  She was waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air!  This scared the crap out of Dirk and I.  I was so worried that we wouldn't hear her so for almost a month she slept in bed with one of us and the other took the couch.  The doctor diagnosed her with Asthma and she now has 2 inhalers she uses.  Also the doctor ordered a CT of her sinuses and some blood work for allergies (which I think is triggering the asthma).  The blood work came back with a hit for 16 allergies.  They have a set number and anything over it shows as an allergy.  Some are not as high as others.  She tested for outdoor mold, cat dander, dust mites, timothy grass, sesame,milk, and several trees.  The pediatrician said she will more than likely have to have allergy shots weekly!  So off to the allergist we must go to have more allergy testing and have her asthma checked out.  I am not looking forward to this visit where she will be poked several times.  For right now it is inhalers and Zyrtec until we get answers.

Lexi having her CT scan

she was such a brave girl because the machine kinda freaked her out.  They also gave her a cd of her scans so she could see her "brain" as she calls it



the CT girls gave Lexi 2 beannie animals and then off to have blood drawn we went. Aunt Erin came to support Lexi too. She brought her a bag of goodies.  She made out like a bandit this day :)  So proud of my brave little Peanut!