Waiting for Isaiah

So, back to my blogging!  

I had finally made it down to Kansas (see previous post)!  After sending Julie and Chris off, we headed straight out to see our new Soccer Stud: Toby!  I have to admit, watching very young sportsmen get as excited to end their shift as they do when they score a goal was highly entertaining!  

Toby scored at least one goal and his team was very tough!

 You know we went fishing!  I was trying my best to convince the kids we should wait until it was cooler in the evenings, but they were determined to head out in the 90-degree weather.  Being the best Aunt Meli there is, I complied and cut up the hot-dog bait.  We gathered our gear and headed out to the pond.  

I'm not too sure how long we fished that first day, but after several false-alarms, Sydney hit the jackpot and reeled up this "beauty!"  

I'm a terrible judge of size, but I don't think it could have been smaller than 2 pounds, and possibly more.  It was a little bit funny when she pulled it up on the shore and all 3 kids slowly backed away!  No one wanted to hold it up for a picture or anything!  It swallowed the hook really deep and when I tried to retrieve it, the line broke and the catfish was free to swim another day.  

 The garden was a bounty of fun carrots!

 We began almost immediately to prepare for the welcoming decorations!  The banner was rolled out and the kids decorated it all on their own.  We had purchased a few special markers and balloons, and it was so much fun to make the house special!

 Raegan become a serious balloon-blowing professional!

Speaking of Raegan, she was my power-cleaner for the whole week!  One day after lunch, she asked if I would give her the broom so she could finish sweeping.  THEN, she proclaimed, "It needs to be mopped"!  She grabbed the dishrag and proceeded to "mop" the entire kitchen and dining room floors.  To top it all off, she insisted on bringing out the shop vac. and vacuuming the van!  Pat told me to bring her home with me.  Seriously.

 Sydney also took a moment to spoil me.  She cooked up some of the most scrumptious french toast I have ever eaten.  Now, why don't we have kids?!

One day, I got to take Raegan to the Wichita Art Museum for a morning of "Art Start."  It was very fun!  She got to walk on top of Chihuly's glass sculpture of what looked like a coral reef!  Later we saw some wooden masks from Africa (irony not lost on us!) and finally she made a mask of her own!

 On a special trip with Gram and Aunt Barbara, we went to Red Robin's and got the balloon man to make us some very fun balloon animals!  Raegan had a large bouquet of flowers, Sydney had a penguin, and Jackson had a pink flamingo with amazing eyes that included eyeballs!

Since Sydney and Jackson got to go to school every day, Raegan and I tried our hands at pre-school at home.  We worked on the letter "H" and read the story of Happy the Hippo and his hats, his friend Hannah, and his love of Hamburgers for the Hippo Holiday!  

The week of waiting went by swiftly and we had a great time together!  I loved every moment!