Minnesota....

Our family got to drive to Minnesota this year for a wedding of an old family friend (congrats Dale and Sarah!). So my sister and her dog and our family decided we wanted to go. We had an amazing trip. We drove at night (we left at around 7:00 in the evening and drove straight through it is a 13 hour trip without stops and we made it to Minnesota by noon the next day. It was a great trip hardly any issues at all. It was a beautiful time. The country was GORGEOUS! My children loved hearing about the states as we drove through them (MO, IL, WI, MN). It was a fun time. The kids got to dip their toes (it was FREEZING so no swimming) into Lake Superior. And swim at the resort pool and hang out in a cabin. We had a wonderful time. We hiked and played on playgrounds. Really a fun time. Some pictures.

We are talking about trying to go back again because it was soooo beautiful!

Shelby's Graduation

Josh's little cousin Shelby graduated from high school this year and of course we all went to witness her big accomplishment. It was a small nightmare trying to get there (a bridge was out due to construction) and the parking was ASTRONOMICAL... and we didn't realize we would have to pay to park... ugh... all memories right? BUT we were there and we got to watch Shelby walk across the stage it was very exciting!

Way to go Shelby! We are so proud of you and so glad we got to be there on your special day!

I forgot about the circus!!!!

How do you forget about the circus??? We went to the circus back in March and I completely forgot to blog about it! It is one of our most favorite days in the whole wide world. We absolutely get psyched and the kids just love it. Josh's Uncle Jim and the lovely Aunt Jane always make it such a fun day for the kids! I will let some pictures speak for themselves!

Leanna's favorite act at the circus: The quick change artist OR the tightrope walkers/acrobats. Hudson's favorite act at the circus: The motorcycle cage (are we shocked?). Nolan's favorite act at the circus: I like the monkey's. There you have it folks! We are so thankful for the Shriner's who do such an amazing job every year. We also want to thank Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim for always treating the kids to such an amazing day! It really is something we look forward to all year!

Goodbye Nana

We said goodbye to my Nana this month. It was a sad day but a happy one too. She was an amazing woman who lived an awesome life. We were so blessed for all of our children to have met and know and love her. Hudson always said that Nana was going to be the first woman to live to be 1,000 years old. She lived 100. My smallest boy loved his Nana. He would sit and hold her hand and talk to her and just let her kiss on him and talk to him. It was truly sweet to watch. Leanna was always so patient and kind with her. Talking slowly and loudly or just holding her hand.

A new Cousin...

My small people got a new cousin! Josh's sister had baby Eli James Michael Hungate. He was born on the 26th! He is awfully cute. The kids were so excited to meet him. It did take quite awhile for the small guy to get up to the room. We had a lot of sitting around a hospital room. The one of them all laughing together is probably one of my all time favorite photos of them so far. They were all equally smitten with the little guy as you can tell. It was fun getting to see them so excited about a little one.

So congratulations to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and big brother Ian on the newest addition!

Day 2...Apple Picking

We have created some pretty fun traditions in our family. I love to go out of my way to make awesome and fun memories for my little guys. I want them to know that their momma loved spending time with them and that FUN was important to me.

I want them to have fun but I also want to let them have opportunities to grow and learn in the moments.

One of our favorites has to be our annual Apple/Pumpkin picking trip in October. We have gone every year. We love it. We get up soooo early and we stop at a gas station and get hot chocolate and donuts (and usually gas too) and then we sing songs and play eye spy and talk and it is such a fun time.

Sometimes family goes and sometimes we go all by ourselves. We pick apples and talk about silly things and sometimes serious things. The most important thing is that we are together and laughing and playing and we get to come home with WAAAAYYYY to many apples and some pumpkins and sometimes a bellyache from eating to many apples :)

This year was our 7th annual trip :) We had so much fun.

He still makes my heart pitter patter. I just love him.

Nolan was perfectly happy to sit in his stroller and have some yummy apples to munch on.

Hudson had a blast getting the apples from up high in the tree.

This is the group that went this year.

I love to spend time with my family. This trip is something we mark out on our calendar for months. As soon as the kids start seeing halloween and fall stuff come out they ask when we are going.

So today I am thankful for being able to spend time with my family. For making such a simple trip something so important and fun.

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Gooooo CARDS!!!

Josh and I took the babies to their first ever baseball game!

Thanks to Hussman who gave St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf the tickets for all of us. Miss Cathy, our speech therapist, was there with her family, some of the nuns, volunteers and a ton of other families. It was pretty awesome of them.

The funny thing of that is that Josh used to drive for Cooper Bussman which is a branch off or something of Hussman it was a pretty cool small world thing.

On to the game. The small people sat through 8.5 innings of baseball with a great attitude. It was an amazing day.

While we were walking to the stadium (which was a pretty decent hoofin' we asked them to do) we had the whole conversation that the game and the snacks we brought were our special treat and that asking for anything would result in a no answer and a sad mommy and daddy because we should be thankful/grateful for what we are being able to do today and not what we want... and they both were okay with this no questions, squabbles or anything!

Lo and behold we walk into the stadium and it was Build a Bear day! They got the cutest little bears... I present you with O. Smith the triplets...


The kids were SOOOO excited! Leanna actually asked me if she could have it before she took it from the lady it was really cute!



The game was awesome. The kids clapped, cheered, screamed CHARGE with the best of them. They showed interest in the game. Asked questions. For this baseball lovin' mama it was a proud proud day for me! Josh and Nolan hung out. The kids got to sit with Daddy or Mommy, it was seriously a wonderful outing! Thankfully it wasn't to hot either.

Some more pictures of our fun filled family day...







So thankful for an amazing and fun filled family day!
This post is linked up to Gratituesday over at Heavenly Homemakers!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Teddy Bear Picnic

If you go down to the woods today you're sure to get a surprise.
If you go down to the woods today you won't believe your eyes.
For every bear that ever there was is gathered there together because
Today is the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic!

Leanna has been learning all about camping in summer school this week. Hudson being the "manly" boy he is has been upset that he can't go to school this week.

So the other day she came home with some Teddy Bear binoculars. Hudson wanted them immediately. So we talked about how sissy is going to do some cool stuff at school but that we can do cool stuff too. Still together and at home.

*Cue inspirational heavenly music and light*

I started singing that song on the way home and got a great idea!

We had a Teddy Bear picnic. Complete with blanket on the floor. And appropriate snacks in my living room. Yeah non-believers I ALLOWED PEANUT BUTTER IN THE LIVING ROOM!!! I have pictures to prove it. Nolan was napping which helped this be a success I must admit.

It was a ton of fun and hopefully will be memorable if nothing else. They even brought "real" play food for their stuffed animals.

Some pictures of the event...
The first arrivals were Hudson (his name seriously is Hudson even written on his TY tag) and Eagly (I know Hudson is sooo orginal) and yes Hudson chose a chicken leg as Eagly's sanck.

This is the crew we ended up with. Elephants and Bears and Eagles OH MY!

They really got into it! They played for about an hour while eating apples and peanut butter and pretzel sticks to dip too.

The binoculars that started said picnic? Yeah he watched from the table for the entire shin dig!

I have to admit it was pretty fun! Plus it gave us a great activity that they had a blast with and we had some fun family time too. Sometimes great ideas come to us in the form of "Bear Binoculars" who knew?

Definitely a Finer Thing Friday even if it happened on a Wednesday afternoon right? I love making memories with them.


Keepin' It Real,
Momma to 3
*Shay B*

The wedding of the Cousin...

My cousin is now officially married. She said, "I do". It was a balmy and hot Saturday afternoon. Thankfully God held the rain off for the ceremony that was OUTSIDE...

It really was a great day and hopefully everything the bride wanted it to be.

Now I am in no way a professional photographer. However these are Straight Out of the Camera, not edited and taken with a complete beginners knowledge of my camera (working on learning it) but I think I got some pretty decent shots...

Some pictures from their big day...

My cousin (the sister of the bride) and the flower girl (the niece of the bride)

This lady here is my Nana. My cousins Nana too I guess. She is 98 years old. I love her. In this picture she is telling Tess that she better behave and then two minutes later she told Bryan she would have a beer with him at the reception.

This picture makes me a little sad. Only because I don't have one from my wedding. Nana was very ill when I got married and couldn't make it. It is five generations. Alive and kicking it yo. Not many people can say that. I really need to get my generation picture taken for my daughters sake if nothing else. It is such a special thing.

And because when they are together they are like peanut butter and jelly. Airyana and Leanna. The two prettiest "little" girls at the party for sure!


All in all a beautiful day and I was glad to be there to celebrate a great beginning to a pretty awesome couple. Here's hoping this is just the beginning to your... HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Congrats Tess and Bryan!

Generations

The lovely lady Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers has a lovely little meme on Tuesdays called Gratituesday and I decided it would be fun to join in. So today I give you...

These girls are sitting there with my Great Grandmother. Nana is the girls' Great-Great-Grandmother. I love that we are so lucky to have 5 living generations on my Dad's side of the family. Not many people can say that.

These are my cousins with their grandmother. She has had a long and somewhat hard life but she is always smiling. She to has Great Grandchildren. 4 generations.

My cousin with her great grandmother. We lovingly call her Nana. Others call her Grandma. Others still call her Little Grandma.

Freaky family trivia... ready? This is my Nana and my Great Aunt. Who is 16 days older than my Father. That is right my Granny and my Nana were pregnant at the same time. Nana not even with her baby! My Granny with her oldest.


This photo makes me a little weepy. There are 97.8 years between these two and yet a language of love is still spoken. Between a Great-Great-Grandma and her Great-Great-Grandson. There share more than just a bloodline... My nana she doesn't hear so good. While hers is age related and Nolan's is well we still aren't sure of the how. They both connect on that level as well. So thankful for this memory captured.


Hopefully one day here very soon I will be able to drag my brood down to the farm where my Nana lives and get me one heck of an heirloom. A five generation shot. Just got to find the $$$ and the time and the people to make it happen.

Love...it really is ageless...


Love
Momma to 3
*Shay B*

A look into the past...picture style.

It is Christmas time and we all know what that means right? Hustle, bustle, stress, presents, parties, church stuff, Jesus' Birthday, Food, Family....

For me it also means pictures and lots of them!!!! I love pictures. I love to take them, to capture a moment and have it for all time. My children are often the obsession of my camera lens.

I have always taken pictures of Christmas events. ALL OF THEM. I thought it would be fun to see my family from the last few Christmases. (Since that is what I have handy today anyway :)...)

I give you Christmas 2006 (Please remember I was still taking pictures with a 3.2 megapixel camera here)

Leanna and Daddy (it was hard to get a good picture of Leanna at this age she would NEVER sit still)

Hudson's first Christmas.

Yeah this was as good as it got that night too :)


Christmas 2007...

Hudson wasn't too sure about Santa Claus but...

Leanna LOVED Santa Claus...Side Note: I had just given Leanna bangs not but a few weeks prior to this (weird what you remember when you see a picture isn't it?)

A litte side-eye action from Hudson and Leanna :)


Christmas 2008
A few months later we would announce that another baby would be joining our family before next Christmas.

Aren't they just sweet?




(I know... Holy longest scrolling post ever, Batman!) Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me. This years pictures will be even more of a change especially since we have added Nolan to the clan :)

*Shay B*