Linley's Christmas Party.

Linley's last day at school was this past Wednesday and to send the kids off on their break their class had a Christmas themed breakfast party. It was complete with make your own Santa faced pancakes, homemade ornaments w/ a picture of them, Christmas books, and more goodies. I had the pleasure of reading two Christmas books and helping out. She has a great class and looks forward to getting back once break is over.

All dressed up.

We attended Kip's cousin Kristian's wedding early in November. The kids enjoyed themselves immensly. Linley cut up a rug on the dance floor and helped Kristian with her dress! Thayer played with all the boys and Kessly snoozed off and on. Unfortunately KSU lost to OSU that night, but we were lucky enought to watch it during the reception.

Cousin time.

and then of course Kessly trying out the exersaucer for the first time.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Just a tad late in posting these pictures but better late than never! We had a blast at our first trip to this patch in Alma KS. There was plenty of activities for the kids to do along with pumpkins galore. We will definately be making the trip back next year.

4 months.

How can it be this little addition to our family is already 4 months old. Her disposition is very much like Linley at this age, which makes me think they may have somewhat similiar personalities. She loves her big sister and brother which is very mutual as they are always wanting to hold and love on her first thing every morning. Regardless of her being quite the surprise I can't imagine our lives without her in it.

My 3 KSU fans.

We all dressed up in our purple for Saturday's home football game despite the rain. With the kiddos looking so cute it screamed photo-op...plus I've been bad lately about taking updated pictures of Kessly. All 3 kids obliged and we succeeded in capturing a few good photos. Regardless of the rain we lasted til half and finished up the game from our cozy couch. We look forward to many more purple weekends in the upcoming years with all 3 kids for both KSU football & basketball.

Training wheels no more!!

The 2 biking pros after a mere 30 minutes of riding. Much to our surprise these 2 took only 1 try without their training wheels in place to take off without any hesitation or stumbles. Kip and I were both anticipating numerous crashes, skinned knees/elbows, & many tears...but not Linley & Thayer. To watch them you would think they had been riding on two wheels the whole summer. Now I'm not saying they need practice, but what was anticipated to be an entire day of getting rid of the training wheels turned out to be just 1 turn and they were off.

Paxton turns 1.

Lauren, Paxton, & Drew


Birthday boy Paxton enjoying his Yo Gabba cake

Linley took our photo:)

Giggles all around!!


This past week we made our last trip down to Fort Scott to celebrate my nephew Paxton's 1st birthday...Yo Gabba Gabba style!! We went a tad early to enjoy some down time with family before our lives become consumed with school and extracurricular activities. Plus most of my extended family had yet to meet Kessly, so we thought this was a perfect time to introduce her. The weather was gorgeous which meant the kids were able to play outside at my parents without needing full parental monitoring as well as some relaxing porch swinging:)

Also while we were back I was able to enjoy a night out for drinks with 2 of my sisters and cousin April. Even though it wasn't very long it was very much needed and nice to not be interrupted every 5 minutes by "Mom...mom". I look forward to our next chance at getting together for another round!!

Unfortunately that is likely to be our last trip back to my hometown until Thanksgiving...which is much too far off. We do have one more 1st birthday to celebrate next month for Miss Londyn; let the countdown begin.

Growing families.

I'm a bit behind in blogging due to little sleep, constant diaper changing, bottle feedings, and entertaining our 2 older children. The addition of one more to our brood is finally catching up with me and left little time to surf the net, keep up with our blog, snap endless photos...etc. With school less than 2 weeks away I have been trying to enjoy every minute of being home and soaking in all the family time I can before life becomes crazy busy again. My constant mantra this year is "9 more months"...that is til I graduate and move into a new phase; career!!

Linley's summer camp comes to an end today and both Kip and I know she's going to miss it regardless of her brave face. She has made the memories that both of us had hoped she would...she wants to do something different next summer; more than likely it will be sports related! Thayer has been a tremendous help and has been able to some fun things on his own while Linley's been at camp. He's starting to come out of his shy stage and into a more independent personality, which I hope helps him this fall when he starts attending a new preschool.

I do believe now even though we weren't planning to expand our family that 5 of us is much more manageable than either of us anticipated. Now if we could just make it 1 more year in our tiny house without driving one another batty or fighting for the 1 bathroom:)

On a side note: in the span of 6 years my parents have been given 6 grandchildren, more than doubling in size over the last year. Kessly's birth brought all of my sisters to Manhattan which of course had to include a photo-op of all us and our babies!! We are going to have some fantastic birthdays and holidays...not that they weren't already, just more entertaining:)

Kessly Briar Wilson.

Our lives forever changed on July 19, 2011 at 2:28pm! The newest addition to our family finally decided to join us without being induced!! She weighed in at 7lb 5oz and 20.5in long. I couldn't have asked for a better delivery experience either. She has fit in so well already and it's only been 2 days. Here are a couple of pictures of her going home from the hospital sporting her adorable headband her Aunt Meg made for her...unfortunately she's got a small head so we had to improvise and make it a tad smaller.

Linley and Thayer have been so good at being patient and taking turns holding her...they do such an awesome job at making sure she's taken care of:)

I definately won't be short on helpers once family leaves!

Five.

The time is officially come when our family of four will become five. I honestly can't quite get over the realization that it's been 9 months since we found out we were going to be expanding our family. Time has gone by quicker than I believe either of us expected it to especially with her arrival soon approaching in less than 72 hours thanks to a scheduled induction. I have found myself wondering what our life is going to be like....full of diaper changing, sleepless nights, juggling school & housework, meal prepping, exercising, etc. It all sounds overwhelming at the moment but I know GOD only gives us what we can handle and apparently he has a great faith in both Kip and I.

So sometime after 7am Wednesday July 20, 2011 Kessly Briar will enter our lives and forever change our life as well as forever being loved by so many who are anxiously awaiting her arrival.

4th of July and then some...

Wrestling in the Voos' yard...end result=chigger bites

Linley teaching Indie "Patty Cake": she's gonna be a great big Sis

Anxiously waiting for Thunder over Manhattan to begin

Thayer (4) & Linley (6)

Photo courtesy of Linley:)

We spent the 4th at Cico pools free swim til 3:45 and then headed home to relax before the firework festivities. The Voos' invited us to their party which is full of yummy food and good company...plus they have great seats to watch the firework show at Cico. Both kids caught lightning bugs, played tag, entertained Indie....basically wore themselves out prior to the start of the show. Thayer of course passed out on the blanket halfway through and Linley kept saying "this is so AWWesome". That's her new favorite saying at the moment!

Baby girl is staying put for the time being...however we have made some progress which only means we are getting closer to her actual arrival.

All of us are beyond excited and ready for her to join our family...the kids especially;) If she doesn't decide to come prior to her due date, I will be induced July 22nd; thanks to Thayer being such a big baby.

Thayer and I are getting used to our days without Linley now that she started her summer camp. Looks like we will still be spending most of them at the pool or park, til baby arrives. That's about all that's going on in our household at the moment...plenty to keep us busy that's for sure.

Hoping everyone had a safe and fabulous holiday weekend!!

Practice.

Linley and Thayer got plenty of practice holding a newborn while we were in Fort Scott. Miss Charlee was quite the perfect angel, so our little one will have much to live up to. It's so easy to forget how little they first start out. Neither one of the kids could believe they were once this small...well Thayer wasn't quite that small, but Linley yes. We are all finally ready for Baby to arrive...now if we could just agree on a name:)

Troopers.

Both kids spent 2 weeks in Fort Scott while I did my clinical rotation in Pittsburg, KS. They both enjoyed plenty of practice with new cousin Charlee and entertaining cousin Paxton...who is almost 1!! They also enjoyed their time with Nana, Papa, Aunt Lauren, Ali, and Maeci; whom we don't get to see as much as we would like. I am thankfully finished and returned to Manhattan but am grateful for the time we got to spend with my parents and sisters. Now we are just anticipating the arrival of BABY...5 more weeks!!

Officially a First Grader.

Today is Linley's last day of Kindergarten which means....she is now a 1st grader!! She is sad to be moving on but we've reassured her it will only get better as she gets older. It's still mindboggeling to me that Thayer will be heading off to Kindergarten in a year's time and she will be in 2nd grade....oh and we'll have a 1yr old! It was only last fall that she was nervous as can be for Kindergarten and now neither of us can quite believe it's come to an end.

Charlee.

I have an adorable sweet new niece who arrived May 21st. This outfit is special because Linley wore it when she was born as well! Welcome to the world sweet baby.

Thayer's last day of preschool.

Unfortunately it was raining on his last day of preschool, regardless he was pretty excited. I know every parent says this....but I can't believe his first year is over and Linley is almost finished with her first year of Kindergarten. My how time flies, especially when you are bogged down with your own schoolwork. Next year our first day of school picture will mean a lot, both Thayer and I will be starting our last year of preschool and dental hygiene schoool....plus our family will be 5 rather than 4. We are super excited for summer and have lots to keep us busy before baby arrives in July.

Full Weekend.

Swinging at Grandma Carol's...they are both good posers!

Kip and I at his cousin's graduation...we had been in the sun all day.

Our weekend was full of birthday parties, a graduation party and Linley starting Tball. It ended up being a gorgeous weekend for all of our activities being held outside; which meant both kids tuckered themselves out by bedtime. I have a sense that this is how our weekends are going to be this summer...full of family fun and activities.

Fishing.

Thayer's preschool took a little trip to one of our parks that has a great pond to fish as well as a playground. It turned out to be a beautiful day for it and all of the kids looked like they were having a ball enjoying themselves. Thayer and I had quite a few bites on our line but never ended up catching anything. He could have cared less though; he was having so much fun with his friends the fact that we didn't catch anything didn't ruin his day.

Marlatt Carnival.

Linley's school had their carnival last night and both kids enjoyed themselves tremendously.

Future KSU Cheerleader??

Wild About Books.

Thayer was able to enjoy the free book reading evening put on by KSU at their new Leadership building. Even Clifford showed up for a photo-op, along with Coach Martin and some players. Grandma Carol took Thayer and he had a terrific time listening to some great books.

Who say's you can't celebrate early?

We celebrated Thayer's 4th birthday 2 weeks prior to his actual birthday due to schedule conficts. I don't think he was too upset:) We had a small party and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say the kids enjoyed themselves immensely. He got some great gifts and once again the cake was phenomenal...sure wish I had time to make one myself.

I turned 30 on Sunday so it was a full weekend of birthday celebration all around. We've all had our share of cake and cupcakes along with wonderful company to help us both celebrate our day.