Cohen's Gymnastics and More Fun with Kate!

Today Cohen started back to gymnastics.  We took a break during the summer session and now are getting back to it for the fall session.   She was excited to be going back.  This year her cousin Savannah is going to take at the same gym and they will be in the same class.  I think they had a fun class and will be ready to head back next week.    It was nice for Sara and I today too because we got to watch without the baby girls!  Sugie kept Kate and Addison so they could play together.  I know it was hard at the end of the May session trying to occupy Kate and it would only be worse now!  I know she would see all that gymnastics equipment as fun climbing toys!

Waving bye bye from the window!

Singing at the end of gymnastics

And of course there is always a good Kate story to tell.  Wednesday my mom and I went to Anderson.  We had made a stop at the mall and were finishing up in Belk's.  We had been in the children's dept. and I know that Kate likes to grab onto the clothes sometimes.  She is bad to pull things off the hanger. We finished our looking and headed out to the car to head home.  When I went to get Kate out of her stroller I looked and saw a pretty little pink sweater that sure did not belong to us.  I knew right away she had pulled it into her stroller.  My baby girl was officially a shoplifter!  To make it more funny, it was exactly her size.  My mom took the sweater back into Belk's, but it was still a funny Kate moment. I can't believe that no alarm ever went off in the store or the mall itself--going out or taking it back in.  I sure hope this isn't a sign of what's to come :)  JK!  My sweet girl is just a sweet mess!

Kate with her goods

I also wanted to show these recent pictures of Kate playing dress up.  She found some of Cohen's Minnie Mouse ears and she loved them!  She wanted the on and if they fell off she would hold them up to her head wanting them back on.  I found the dress that went with the ears and put it on her.  She was proud of herself!  She walked around and then we went to show Daddy and she just knew she was something.  And just like her sister she made the cutest Minnie Mouse!

Proud of herself!

The Adventures of Kate!

I know I've said several times on this blog how Kate is into everything.  She is a mess but a precious, cute mess that I love to pieces.  I can't help but laugh at her.  With that said though, you really can't turn your back on her for very long at all.  Usually when I have to work on the computer she plays in the playroom, which is where my desk is.  She may make a big mess of the room but that works for me.     Today I was trying to do some updating on the blog and she was playing as usual.  She will walk in and out of the room and I will go see what she's doing...
Today I saw her walk out and maybe a minute later I heard a loud noise.  No crying, so that was good, but I go investigate.  As I walk into the living room I glance over at the mantle and there sat Kate INSIDE the fireplace, doors closed and all.   At this point there was already a mess to clean so I grabbed my camera to take a picture.  This child has a fascination with the fireplace!  She had pulled back the doors, crawled totally in, sat on the holders that hold the wood, and closed the doors back.  Kelly had really cleaned the fireplace a long time ago when she first got interested so the mess could have been a lot worse.  We headed straight to the tub and took a bath.  I even had to clean the black out of the tub!  We are going to have to watch extra hard this winter.  Sometimes I just close the door while I'm doing something on the computer so that will become a must.  Its so funny because we really do watch our kids but in a split second this one can find something to get into!  I'm sure this is the first of many Kate adventures to come...

Getting situated I'm guessing

Busted by Mama...I had to open the doors to get my picture though

Silly girl...she's proud of herself!

A little shot of the ashes to clean up...

Brock's Baptism

Sunday night was a very special night for Brock and all our family.  We got to watch Brock be baptized!  Our church has an annual cookout and baptism at the park.  It was such a nice night to have it too.  Everyone gets to enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs and also all kinds of homemade ice cream.  After eating we have baptism in the lake.  Brock had talked to us several times about wanting to be baptized so he met with Larry Sunday morning at church.  It was a very special time and I know he was so proud.  Brock has done so many things that we are proud of but this was by far the most important.  He is truly an amazing little boy and as I watched him tonight it hit me how much he is growing in so many ways!  We love you Brock and we are so proud of the decision you made!

Cohen & Josie ready to watch

A beautiful night playing at the lake

 Little Miss Kate was happy to get to play on the playground.  She thinks she's bigger than she is though!  She found the monkey bars and wanted to keep climbing them. I could just see her slipping and chipping a tooth or something!  This girl has NO FEAR!  She is the cutest little daredevil I've seen. I just love her but she will keep you on your toes!

Good Times, Good Friends, & Lazy 5 Ranch!

This past weekend we packed up and headed to Charlotte to visit some of our good friends, Michael & Amy.  Time had gotten away with us and we hadn't seen each other since February.  That usually doesn't happen but time does fly!  I wish I could go stay at least a week because there are so many of my friends up there that I miss so much and would love to see!  One weekend doesn't quite get the job done.  I'm hoping to get more time up there soon though.
We had a free weekend and decided to make the most of it so we went to see Michael, Amy, Kaden, and Ashton.  They are always the best hosts and we have so much fun catching up with them.  Its also  very nice that they have 2 boys the exact same ages as our girls.  I think I've mentioned that Amy & I have been pregnant together both times and only 1 month apart :)
When we got there Friday we spent the evening talking and catching up.  Michael is the best cook so we had a yummy dinner as well.  The kids had a blast playing together.  Ashton and Kate had changed a lot since February but it was so cute watching them play together.  Amy & I decided to take a Target trip to get some things and we just laughed at how nice a trip to Target without kids is!  I think we felt old just saying it out loud!  I love the fact that we can go months without seeing each other but pick right up where we left off.

Kaden & Cohen settling in to watch a movie

Saturday, we woke up and after breakfast we headed to Mooresville to Lazy 5 ranch.  This place is like a zoo/safari type place.  You can drive your car through or ride on the wagon and they have all kinds of animals!  The animals all come right up to the wagon and let you feed them...some a little too close!  The only ones you can't feed are the zebras, and they bite.  We saw and fed all kinds of cows, deer, buffalo, pigs, water buffalo, a rhino, and giraffes.  Cohen's favorite animal is a giraffe so we were so excited to see those.  Kelly lifted her right up to the giraffe to get him to eat out of her bucket.  I think he smelled it but both giraffes were not too interested.  I tried to get a picture of her beside of it though since she loves them so much.  I wish they had been as hungry as some of the bulls!  They seem to eat and eat.  We enjoyed the trip though and they also loved going through the petting zoo part.  We saw the cutest baby goats, and even saw a baby giraffe that was just 10 days old!  Kelly & I laughed at how we never had been to this place in all the years we lived in Charlotte but I said not having kids then probably explained that.

Pretty parrot...I felt like I was back in Costa Rica

Feeding the cows in the petting zoo part

Unsure about the camels...

They look so big!  

Cohen started to enjoy feeding them out of her hand

A baby goat just her size

Baby giraffe!

The Kirchgessner's :)

1 day old pigs!

This one was ready to wreak havoc on these animals!

Feeding the buffalo

Trying to feed the giraffe

Kelly felt back in Costa Rica too when he found the brahma bull!

This was the largest dairy cow I've ever seen and check out the tongue on this thing!

After leaving we grabbed a late lunch then headed on to do some shopping.  Unfortunately Kaden got sick after lunch so we shopped while Michael & Amy took him home.   We weren't sure if there was a virus going around or not.  Tara & Jessica were planning to meet us for dinner but we didn't want anyone to get sick just in case.  Jessica did come over for a while and I was glad to see her.  She is definitely one of my "bestest" and like a little sister.  We always have several laughs!  We ended up driving back late that night.  We thought it might be best for Kaden to rest.  We had such a fun weekend though!  I'm already counting down the days until our next weekend together.  Here are a few pictures of Ashton and Kate playing Saturday night.  It was so cute watching him push her on the toy and every time she would drop her cup he was right there to get it for her.  Kids are so precious to sit and watch!

This baby was out in the car coming back from shopping...she was worn out!