Thunder

Have you heard of the Kentucky Derby?  The Derby is a HUGE deal here.  Two weeks before the derby the festivities are started with Thunder over Louisville an all day air show followed by an impressive fireworks display.  Last year we missed it.  It was cold, rainy and we had a tiny 1 month old.  This year we decided we were going rain or shine.  Unfortunately there was rain, but we did it.  (even though all of our lame friends cancelled on us.  you know who you are booo.)

Here is the fam huddled together keeping warm. 

(Friday was 80 and overcast Saturday was mid 50's with light sprinkles and wind.  gross)  

 coloring to pass some time

 we got there early.  maybe a little too early for the weather.

everything is centered around the 3rd street bridge.  we got a nice seat. 

 a couple hours brought a lot more people

 we did some people watching

 even pirates like fireworks?

 On to the planes

 there were stunt planes

 big planes

 loud/fast planes

 and crazy shaped/silent planes

all very impressive.  it was hard narrowing down the pictures

 eventually one of Drew's coworkers and his family met up with us.  Brandon kept Molly and Gabe entertained as Drew and I worked on corralling Lincoln.  Lincoln really wanted to join the Indian family sitting on the steps behind us. 

 Then the firework started.  It was amazing.  There were two barges on either side of the bridge lighting coordinating fireworks 3+ at a time for maybe 20 min or so.  It ended with what looked like a waterfall over the bridge.  Amazing.  Molly said "we could do this all the time"  I was a little worried about Lincoln with the noise, but he did great.  Molly would have done better if they weren't randomly firing the cannons on the bridge...  so L.O.U.D.

One of my favorite parts of the day was Gabe doing dance dares.  He would hop and spin around.  I think he only got caught once.  So funny.  If you don't know what I'm talking about look up Ellen's dance dares on youtube.  It's great.  and sharing a deep fried snickers bar was pretty great too.  :)

summer fun

We put the sprinkler under the trampoline and had a great time.  When I told Molly we needed to turn it off she informed me that "I don't think I can be happy ever again jumping on the trampoline without the water on"  Really!?

Gabe's Birthday Weekend

Holy Pictures!

Suzie likes to give the kids one big birthday present since all their birthdays are only a few weeks apart.  She came to visit for the kids spring break which also happened to be Gabe's birthday.  She brought this bad boy with her.

 We (by we I mean mainly Suzie and Drew) stayed up late Thursday night putting it together. Friday afternoon a bunch of Gabe's friends came over for a kid party.  It was mainly managed chaos.  Lincoln had Rosiola this week and then I got sick Thursday.  Friday I felt like I wanted to die (hence the lack of pictures :( ) so instead of structured, organized games it was mainly 6 rowdy boys playing in the backyard.  Not my plan, but I think they had a good time getting sweaty and dirty.  

Gabe picked strawberry shortcake for his party cake.  yum.  One of our guests has a strawberry allergy so the berries went on after the candles. I accidentally bought relighting candles.  I wasn't sure how Gabe would react to that, luckily he thought it was funny and just kept blowing them out instead of getting frustrated.  It really could have gone either way.

On to Gabe's actual birthday. 

 Gabe is a big star wars fan.  He wanted Yoda.  We found a little action figure and then I also found this slightly scary stuffed one.
Gabe also really wanted a "big" bike.  He finally started pedaling about a month ago.  whoop whoop for finally actually wanting to ride.

 Gabe was really excited about this spider man candle.

 After cake we were off to the Bats game.

 Suzie was with us, but always refuses to be in pictures...  This was the best I got.

Happy Birthday Gabe.  We love you!

Easter

I decided on Friday that it would be fun to color coordinate Easter Sunday.  So I ran out and got Molly's dress and found a yellow shirt for me.  How hard should it be to find yellow fabric that I like to make ties for Gabe and Lincoln?  I could rant about how much I hate the Hancock Fabrics conveniently located only a couple minutes away.  grumble. grumble.  Saturday afternoon I found a simple yellow fabric not covered in flowers that I liked at Hobby Lobby.  I also found a yellow tie I liked for a few bucks at the TJMaxx next door for Drew.  Yay!  The ties should have been a pretty fast project, but I started really late so it took me a lot longer than it should have.  In a tired stupor I had to check the tutorial every step to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.  blah.  I'm not meant to work on project in the wee hours of the morning my mind shuts off.

I was overjoyed Sunday morning when the ties fit and were the right length.  After church I was so tired Drew said we should take a family picture.  me:  you're right we should later.  Drew (the realist):  it's now or never.  If we go inside we'll start lunch, food will get all over them and if the boys get out of their white shirts they won't be going back on.  True. True.

setting up the tripod.

love Lincoln's face in the background 

 the kids all had great faces in this one

 and a keeper.  everyone (cough cough LINCOLN) looking at the camera

 church clothes came off painting shirts went on.  while Lincoln napped we dyed eggs. 

 we have a big fabric frisbee we were playing with yesterday.  Molly threw it to Gabe and Gabe caught it with his eye  :(  Poor kid.  Christmas picture he had pink eye.  Easter picture he has a black eye.  What will our next picture holiday hold?

 Later friends came over for dinner and had an egg hunt with us. 

happy Easter!

egg hunt

We got invited to an egg hunt at a friends church.  Gabe and Molly were in separate age groups.  I had the camera and was with Gabe so the majority of the pictures were of Gabe.

first they had a little craft/snack

 Then to the eggs.  Gabe didn't even get close to having the most eggs and he got a ton.  I lost count around 60.  There must have been an army of people filling eggs.  We were asked to count our eggs at the end and then return the empty eggs.  There were lots and lots of garbage bags overflowing with eggs.  

 This was Lincoln.  He just wanted to explore and bum candy off of people. 

 I did catch Molly at the end of one of her craft.

The kids loved it and we'll have enough candy to last us for a long time.

good named brand chocolate candy. my favorite :)

sand fun

 Lincoln loves the sandbox.  If the sand is open he's in it.  If the lid is on he'll climb to the top and sit there.  He reminds me of a billygoat.  But mostly Lincoln just loves being by Molly and Gabe.  If they're outside and he isn't he'll cry and scream until he's outside too.  He's becoming part of the gang.