Whitley's Dance Recital

The pictures aren't real good, but I hope you can see that she was right on step!  She LOVES dance and was a natural performer on the stage.  We are so thankful for Meme who took her to dance lessons all year!  I never took dance so this is new for me, but I am liking it.  I was not a girly girl at all, but I have a girly girl and we are having fun!

McCandless/Gage Family Reunion

 Above Big Mc and Joseph, below cousin Tim from NYC, Joseph, Big Mc and my Gran.  My Gran and Jerry are amazing.  They play golf every chance they get, they are tons of fun, and Gran has the best laugh and smile.  She has the most comforting voice, love her!

 Yes, we had a dj and karaoke at our family reunion!  Above, me and my sisters, my best friends, singing "Girls just wanna have fun". 

 The kids stayed up so late and danced their booties off.

 My Dad sang David Alan Coe, "You Never Even Call Me by my Name."  It was a crowd pleaser!

 My Mom and little sis sang Proud Mary.  It was really good, seriously!  Lana lives on a ranch in Nebraska in the middle of nowhere and I think she's been practicing when there is nothing else to do! HA.

It was fun for the whole family!

John is 6

 The birthday boy with his proud little sis.

 Not many boys get to share their birthday with their Papaw.  John made sure he and Papaw got to blow a candle out.  On this June 16th they were 6 and 60.  Pretty special day.  John requested steak, baked sweet potatoes and corn on the cob for his big day.  We made his cupcakes too, confetti cake with chocolate icing, topped with green icing, his favorite color.  John understood the Great Wolf surprise better than Whitley so I didn't have to invite friends at the last minute for him.  At 6 years old John is learning to read well, he learned  how to swim this summer, and his most favorite thing to do is get up early and ride horses and ship cattle with his Daddy.  He is Kurt's little shadow.  They look alike and act alike.  We love John so much!

He ended his day playing the Wii with Whitley and Meme.

Whitley is 4

 Aunty L bought everything to make popsicles.  They had so much fun while she was here!!

 You probably remember that we surprised the kids with a trip to Great Wolf for their birthdays.  We were trying to keep their birthdays simple this year.  More like when we were kids, just low key at the house with the meal Momma cooked and the cake Momma baked.  So that was the plan.  BUT, Whitley could not stop talking about how excited she was for all her friends to come over for her birthday (please read the sentence with lots of dramatics to get the full effect).  So at the last minute the night before her  b.day we went to Dollar General and bought some Dora plates, etc and party favors.  I called my friend Erin to bring her son Kaleb over.  I already had the meal and cupcakes planned, but I needed people to come the next day.  I got very lucky and my college roommate was on her way to her home town and passing through WF.  I begged her to bring her boys to the party.  So, Whitley had 6 boys at her party and she could not have been more excited.  We made the cupcakes together that morning, it was fun and they turned out cute.  Her meal request was pigs in a blanket and mac n cheese.  Perfect.  Meme was also came to the party and Kurt came home for birthday lunch.  We are so proud of Whitley and we can't believe she is 4.  She loves to dance and sing and "take care" of all of us! 

Above, the party crowd!  Cole, Kaleb, John, Joseph, Whtiley, Bret and Grant.

Hello out there!

 The picture above is Memorial Day.  John looks so grown up in this picture, he is such a good boy and I am so proud of how he is growing up to such a good boy.  Whitley is wearing a dress made by my college roommate.  This picture does not do it justice.  The colors are so vibrant and precious.  They wash wonderfully, and what i mean by that is no ironing!!!  If you are interested her website is http://www.ifionlyhadagirl.blogspot.com/.  And Joseph is a happy chunky monkey!!

 John's teacher had a great program for their kindergarten graduation.  The songs made me cry.  He has a great year, but I sure am not enjoying the summer with him!!!

 John and his teacher Mrs. Major.

 What a sweet family!  HA!  This is a real picture!  Jo is crying, Whitley is being dramatic and John is probably yelling. 

 Aunt Lana, AKA Aunty "L" was in town and got to go to graduation.  Meme was there too, below.

Catching UP

 This year we stayed home for Easter.

 Above, one morning Whitley (little mama) decided Joseph was hot so she gave him a wipey bath.  The funny part was how much Joseph was enjoying it.

 Mother's day weekend we went home and got to meet Vivien for the first time.  They were in from D.C.  It was great to see the whole family.  Joseph couldn't keep his hands off Miss Vivien. 

 Whitley and Jo in deep thought and conversation.

 We surprised John and Whit with an early birthday celebration to Great Wolf.  Never mind the waterpark, the bunk beds in the "Wolf Den" were AWESOME.  We had a blast.

 Joseph's new house toy is a hit with kids of all ages.  When I put it together Whitley couldn't get enough of it, then when John and his friend Brett got home they immediately played with it.

 Just a swingin....

 Apparently I was so excited to get Jo in the swing that I forgot to wash his face...

 Last Friday night Kurt and the older 2 camped out on the patio.  I didn't think they would make it all night but they did.  Whitley came in at dark, but then after 20 minutes she decided she wanted to go back out.  The next morning Kurt and John went to work and they had to bring Whitley in, still snoozing even with the sun up.  It was a good experience.  The funny part was them sweating in their pj's waiting for the sun to go down that night.  We knew it would cool down, but it took a while!  Kurt was so glad that I had planned a campout for him after a long week of work. ;)

 This week we had an early b.day celebration at school for John.

Whit and Jo and I have been enjoying some early morning excercise this week. 

I have so many pictures on my phone that I need to post, but I haven't figured out how...I am sure it isnot hard, but really I don't have the energy for anything new to figure out.

Viva Las Vegas

Kurt and I went to Vegas in March for the ConExpo.  It was a huge equipment expo.  Kurt worked a little and I rested and shopped!  At night we saw O (amazing), ate at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant and saw Peep Show (amazingly trashy :) ).  Our pictures did not turn out very good, but at least we got a few.  We love Vegas!

 Pistachio Souffle was really tasty!

 Our view from the restaurant.

 We could see the Belagio fountains from our table.  The pictures don't do it justice.