Walker Visit

Aunt Belinda made a trip back home this past week, and we celebrated it in true Walker style...big family dinner at Grandmother and Granddaddy Walker's house. It was great getting the family together again. As many of you know, Jana is back for a while with a job at Whiteman Airforce Base, so with her back in Missouri, and Belinda's visit, it was a fabulous family gathering! Braden LOVES playing with his Aunt Jana, and she is great with him, he seems to be constantly asking her to do something for him, and she graciously appeases him, which he obviously thinks is just awesome. This evening event was Braden's first experience with cicada shells, it took us a bit to explain to him that it is only a shell of the bug, and not a bug itself. After he got over his heeby-geebies about the casing of the bug, he thought it was pretty cool, putting it on peoples clothes and noses. Actually, the adults had just as much fun with them placing the shells on their noses and the countertop to scare Grandmother (hummmm - who would do that Aunt Velma?). I wish I had pictures of the Aunts and Paula with the shell on their noses too, but here is a picture of Braden on his Aunt Jana's shoulders with the cicada shell on his nose - what a wierd kid, but I am sure I did it too when I was younger :) Lastly, here is Braden and Aunt Jana playing airplane as well. His hefty butt is too big for me to play with him like this anymore, but Aunt Jana is great at it! He asked her several times to "do tricks", that is what playing airplane is to him I guess. Josh snapped a picture of them in action while they played. All in all, it was a fabulous visit, we love being around family!

My Artist - #2

The day Braden got his new chalk/dry erase easle from Grandmother and Granddady Walker he came home and drew a beautiful dolphin swimming in the ocean...that is posted earlier in this blog. Sunday afternoon, while Josh and I were tearing our house apparting cleaning it from top to bottom, Braden was working on his new masterpiece. I went into his room to check on him, and found him drawing my most favorite picture to date...hummmm I wonder why? I thought it was too cute, and that he did an awesome job drawing Mickey Mouse. I am going to even print it off and frame it to hang at my office :)

Ives Family Reunion

Saturday was the annual Ives Family Reunion in Sedalia, Missouri. Above is my grandpa's portion of the Ives family who was in attendance...it is all my dad's kids and grandkid, and we are missing quite a few of each of those. So above pictured is (starting with the back row) my stepmom - Julie, Dad - Mark, step-grandmother - Pat, grandpa - Burton; (front row) Braden, my little brother - Brett, my younger sister - Dana, myself & Josh. Braden and Brett played very well together, as they always too. Above is a picture of Braden with his Uncle Brett at the reunion. It was tough getting them to stand still for a picture - ha! Brett turned eight years old earlier this month, and Braden will be six next month - but as you can see, there really isn't much difference in their sizes - my kid is going to be bigger than me when he starts first grade! All in all, it was an okay time, I pretty much only knew my own siblings since none of the cousins, Aunts & Uncles showed up from my dad's portion of the family, but it is always nice seeing and visiting with my dad :)

Final Game of the Season

Braden hard at practice with his teammates before the final game.

His turn up at bat. He really knocks it to the outfield, take a look at the video clip below :)

Swing batter batter!

Towards the end of the game Braden was getting tired, and he was more interested in the dirt while manning the pitcher position...Josh said that all he was doing was making it a "Pitcher's Mound". Here is his makeshift mound.>

Braden is so proud of his metal that the team got at the end of the game at the close of season. He is even sleeping with is right now as I type :)

Me and my boy just after the awards were given out to the team. He is sporting his metal around his neck, and I am sporting my "proud mom" Braden button :)

Braden's First Float Trip

Here we are getting ready for the kiddos first float trip ever. They were so excited on the ride there, but I think a little nervous too at the thought of possibly tipping over in the canoes. As you can see in the first pic, Braden is scoping out the canoes and trying to size up how this floating thing works. Soon enough we were floating down stream and the kids were having a blast. At our first gravel bar, it is time to get into the water and have some fun...and possibly take a potty break :) As you can see in picture two, there is a bit of a current going at the gravel bar. Braden gets caught in it, and I go out to stop him from going down stream. We soon learn that I am not the one to stop his hefty butt from going down stream, and soon enough he starts to take me with him...instead of coming to my rescue, Stephanie snaps a picture. We did our seven mile stretch and Braden was NOT ready to be done, he wanted to go another seven miles, but that didn't work out so much for him. The last picture is after the float was done on the bus ride back to our vehicles, he thinks he is pretty cute - I have to agree :)

One of my Favorite Pics

Come bedtime Wednesday night, our first night on the vacation, Josh had Braden climb into bed with him to snuggle. Josh said that they were going to kick me out of bed, and have the girls sleep on one side and the boys sleep on the other side. It was so cute seeing both of my guys snuggling there in bed that I had to snap a picture.

Its Camping Season AGAIN :)

Yep, it is that time of year again, when we get to break out the sun visors, swim shoes, sunglasses, rafts, sunscreen, skis, tubes, swimming suits, wakeboards, and all those fun summer camping toys! We had our fun family camping vacation this past week, and it was a BLAST! It is amazing how much fun a boat, tube, canoe, wakeboards, a lake, a river, a campground, campers, and good company can be! Diana joined us for the first time ever on this camping trip, and from the looks of it, I think she had a blast along with the rest of us. Here are some pics from the week of the kiddos while swimming in the lake, jumping off the boat, and playing at the park there at Nemo Landing campground. What a fabulous time!

Wakeboarding

There have been some firsts on the wakeboard this past camping trip. Nick had a Monsterbar put on his boat, which serves multiple purposes...one, it is a place to store the boards when they aren't in use; two, the rope is tied off from there pulling the ski rope up; and three, it looks cool - ha! :) Anyway, we were able to get an awesome picture of him midair jumping the wave, and it looks pretty awesome! Also, Kaylea got up for the first time this weekend, doesn't shee look adorable with her own personal purple and white wakeboard. Last, but not least, Diana (Josh's cousin...our Jr. Bride in the wedding) came with us camping and tried wakeboarding for the first time EVER, she has never been behind the boat on anything before this camping vacation, and she got up on her third try - she did awesome! I just wanted to mark these firsts on our blog ;)

Trip to Grandma Jancey & Papa John's House

Before the big vacation camping trip, Braden had plans to stay a few days with his Grandma Jancey and Papa John. After celebrating Aunt Jenein and Granny's birthdays in Sedalia, Braden headed to Jefferson City with his Grandma and Papa. Just as they were headed out of town, a great thought ented Grandma Jancey's head and asked Braden if he would like for Kaylea to come to Jefferson City too. So, they turned around, Kaylea packed her bags and they were off for an adventure :) The kiddos were kept busy by going to Burger King for lunch and play...or more like play and lunch; and they went to the State Capitol - and mom reports that they seemed to enjoy that more than she imagined they would; she took them to a park; to Dairy Queen for a treat I don't even think they actually ate (HA!); to the Runge Nature Center; and all that while she was driven out of her mind! No really, she says that she enjoyed it :) After having such a long day, the kiddos passed out at 5:30 p.m. in their room. I told her that I didn't know which was worse, her running all day long, or them napping at 5:30 p.m. so that they were energized to run all night long after that nap! Here are some pics from their adventures.

4th of July - Braden and Fireworks

So, this is the first year we haven't been camping over 4th of July weekend since Braden was born, which means we were not in a boat in the middle of a lake watching fireworks being shot off of an island. SO, for the first time in MANY MANY years, we headed to a firework stand to waste money for our five year old's enjoyment. He LOVED it! Doesn't he look like that "All American Boy" in the picture with the sparkler - I love love it! At first I was very scared to watch him light the fireworks, even under close supervision of his Dad and Uncle Quintin I was a nervous wreck. They ended up sending me inside to help in the kitchen so that I wouldn't interfere with their fun. Eventually I lightened up, and as you can see, he just kept lighting them well into the night!

Braden and his Cousins

Once all the kiddos arrived, the fun really began on that slide! Here is Braden with his cousins - Devon, Eli, & Kylie (Quintin & Jodi's crew)- hard at play. Don't they look like they are having a blast?! They couldn't get enough of it. We had to bribe them with fireworks to get it put away! Also pictured above is Braden and Devon, cheesing it up for the camera!

Double Canon Blast Slide

Grandma Jancey gave away her swimming pool and replaced it with a super slide for the grandkids to enjoy. The kiddos were to break it in fourth of July, but Braden got a head start! Grandma put it up before the rest of the crew arrived. He isn't affraid of it at all...nor that cold water straight from the hose! :)