I Lost July

Once upon a time there was a Mommy who loved taking pictures of her beautiful children.  She captured nearly every moment with her camera and then revisited the photos over and over again until many fabulous memories were engraved on her brain forever.  She loved doing this so very much and lived a happy life with her family.
But one day Mommy's whole world was changed when an evil computer decided to erase her photos from the hard drive.  For no reason at all and with no real order or sense, the computer destroyed thousands of pictures, shattering Mommy's perfectly ordered folders and leaving Mommy with random files here and there.
Mommy quickly studied her folders and discovered that she had lost many precious files that she would never recover again.  While some months were only missing a few folders here or there, the entire month of July was gone forever, and all that remained was what she had already saved onto her blog.  Normally Mommy would have been grateful for what she had left, but July was such an important month.  July was life changing for her family.
So although Mommy cannot illustrate the joys of July in her usual way, she can pull together a few tidbits from here and there, so that it will not be forever lost.
I combined photos from my phone and instagram to put together one long moving-from-Kansas post.

Our last drive to Manhattan...  Oh boy did we spend a lot of time these last six months driving back and forth between Kansas and Colorado.  It was a good feeling to know this drive was the last one, and it was nice to look in my rear view mirror and see Daddy driving behind me.

Monga and PawPaw and Grandma and Grandpa paid us a visit on our last weekend before the movers came.  Thanks to them, we have a few photos from that weekend.

The last few days in Manhattan we did some exploring and revisiting.  I took drives with Monga to see sculptures and old graves, we all went to Dale's favorite place, the mall, we studied the architecture of the courthouse, and we drove all over town, making sure we said goodbye to everything we ever laid eyes upon.  We felt happy and ready to go.

We were packed and loaded by a great company, so we barely had to do a thing.  We could instead focus on our future, and it felt so good.  It was, however, strange to see our house empty.

Last night in their Kansas beds.

Once all our visitors had gone and our furniture had been loaded and driven away, we became Manhattan tourists.  We decided to visit the Mariana Kistler Beach Museum of Art at K State.  Dale liked the cow bones, and Rose liked the giant ball hanging from the ceiling.

"Mother and Child" by Henry Varnum Poor and "Happy Birthday Baby" by Jessie Manuel Montes, which is made out of corrugated paperboard.

Our last night in Manhattan we stayed in the new hotel by the Flint Hills Discovery Museum and let our kids splash in the fountains one last time.  And since it was our last night in town, we finally discovered our favorite restaurant called the So Long Saloon.  Go figure.

We woke up the next morning and drove straight to Lucas, KS, a town I've always wanted to visit.  I'm crushed about losing my pictures from our Lucas trip, because this town was awesome in so many ways.  All I have left are a few pictures from our lunch at the Backstreet Bakery and a few more from the giant toilet.  Did I say giant toilet?  Yes, I did, but I cannot possibly tell you any more, since my heart is broken.

Why am I so happy?  Are you kidding me?  I'm inside a giant toilet!

In Colby, KS we said goodbye to the gorilla and wheat Jesus.

Then we said hello to colorful Colorado.

And that's all I have from one of the most important events in our lives.

Mostly I'm just upset about losing those last few days in our Kansas house.  I know, I know, it's not like I don't have thousands of pictures of our kids at that house, but still.  It was different.  The house was empty, but it was swarming with precious memories.  After all, it was the house we brought Rose home to.  It was hard to say goodbye, and I took a million pictures of the house and the city, so that I would remember it all forever.  Maybe it's for the best that it's all gone.  It's time for a fresh start for us, and there is no better place than Colorado to begin anew.

Here we go!

Yard Work and Play

It's such a rare treat to have both Monga and Grandma and Grandpa Rice in the same place at the same time.  Rose and Dale felt so special, and we were so grateful for all the yard help.

Grandma and Monga planted colorful flowers on the deck, while Daddy and Grandpa worked on our giant lawn.

Grandma's little helpers.

Dale made his own little garden out of trash.  I think he really thought it would grow.

Once all the yard work was done, it was time to play, and boy do my kids like to play.

Olathe in One Day

I love my nephews and nieces.  They are rays of sunshine in my life, and it has been such a true and honest pleasure to be closer to them for the last few years, to see them grow and learn.  And they are all amazing, for sure, each in his or her own special way.

January 26, 2013

I was eager to get to Olathe for some basketball games, and even though Mark couldn't join us this time, I gathered up my personal support system and traveled to Olathe for one busy day with all my nieces and nephews.

First stop:  Max and Matthew's basketball game.  They had already been busy winning at the pinewood derby that morning, but they still managed to play quite a good game of basketball.

Matthew and Max, two cool basketball dudes.

No doubt if I am presented with an opportunity to take a few pictures of my insanely adorable children, I'm totally gonna do it.  So before we even left the game, my kids got their cute on for the camera.

My traveling support system would not be complete without cutie patootie Miss Lilybug herself.

At Uncle Scott and Auntie B's house, Max showed Rose all his pinewood derby cars from past years.  She was impressed.

This trip to Olathe was also to give Max and Matthew their birthday gifts.  Dale drew his cousins each a picture of a Dr. Who sonic screwdriver.

After dinner we were off to Mary's basketball game.  Let me tell you something, sister's got game!

It was getting late that evening, so the kids were becoming harder and harder to wrangle, but we stuck it out and rooted for the talented and fierce Mary.

Some of Mary's fans.

It's always exhausting, but I never regret it.  Thank you to my wonderful nieces and nephews.  You guys are all awesome.

Christmas With the Rices

A few days after Christmas we headed for Olathe to celebrate the holiday with the Rice family.  Grandma left all the delightful decorations up for us, and we pretended like it was Christmas day all over again.

Rose had a great time exploring Grandma and Grandpa's tree.

Everyone looked so nice and cheery.

My attempt to photograph this Rice trio started like this...

Then this happened...

And finally, it was a full blown takeover.

We ate and drank and had a little gift exchange.

We tried to get Grandpa to take a drink from his new toilet cup, but he refused for some reason.

The Rice family at the end of the day...

Tired but happy.

And totally nuts.