Grinter Farms

This fall has been incredibly chaotic since we began painting the walls and trim in our house. We tackled it a wall or section at a time and it consumed numerous nights and weekends. I'll try and post some before and after pictures at some point after I catch up on some other things at home.

We did manage to fit in a few fun activities and make some memories. This included going to Grinter Farms to see the field of sunflowers. Just as it did last year the sight took my breath away. With Jane being another year older we were able to venture further into the fields and we had so much fun exploring. 

Moments like these make my heart happy.

These girls sure love their Daddy.  

Kevin wanted to pretend they were sunflowers. 

Then things got silly. I smile every time I look at this photo. 

So does this one. Anna and Jane were having such a wonderful time and I can never get enough of seeing the joy in their faces when they see such beauty. 

I am not typically in the photos around our house (which I know many Moms out there can relate to since we're often taking the pictures) but I handed the camera off to Kevin for a little bit. I feel a little strange posting so many pictures of myself but here I go. Kevin is a better photographer than I am and I think these turned out pretty well. 

My goofy little Jane. She's always squeezing and grabbing people as a sign of affection. She sure knows how to make a person feel loved even if it can be a bit aggressive at times. 

There are moments when Anna forgets how to smile but when she remembers she can sure charm the camera. 

Our family picture. 

We were wrapping up our visit to Grinter Farms and I was pretending to come after the girls. As I took this picture I was thinking I should call out to Jane to pay attention to where she was going. Before I could complete the thought Jane tripped and bit the dust....hard. 

Luckily Daddy was there to scoop her up and I took a few pictures. 

Once Kevin determined it looked worse than it was he proceeded to take more photos. 

We did get a few looks as we snapped away but it is worth it. We wiped up the dirt and blood back at the car and it was mostly just a bruise and small cut on her head. 

Despite the injury it was a fantastic outing and I'm thrilled we made it out a second year in a row. This may be one of my favorite traditions that we've begun and I look forward to next year. 

First Day of School

The end of summer also marked the beginning of the school year. Jane was pretty excited to be joining Big Sis at preschool this year. The week before classes began we went in for a visitation to meet the teachers, see the classroom, and drop off school supplies. 

Anna is in the Red Class this year and she is very excited since it's her favorite color. She goes 3 days a week.

On Jane's visitation day Anna thought she was a big shot since she was in the Yellow Class last year and already knew where things were in the room. I caught this sweet moment during circle time.

Anna's first day. I had difficulty getting her to smile normally. 

I'm pretty sure that Anna doesn't miss us at all while she's at school. She absolutely loves it. Last year I struggled to get a ton of information from her but this year she has been giving me so much more detail. It's so fun watching her grow up!

A weak attempt at a family picture. 

It was much easier getting smiles from Jane on her first day. 

Jane's first, first day of school!

As I mentioned earlier Jane is in the same class that Anna was in last year, the Yellow Class. Anna was one of the older kids in the class with a fall birthday (most in that class are spring/summer-they just had an opening) but Jane is one of the youngest with a summer birthday. It's nice that we already know 3 out of 4 of the teachers and that Jane has been to the building so many times for drop off/pick up and other various school events. 

I love seeing these two walk in together.

So far both kids seem to be doing great. Anna stays for an extended day once a week and it seems to be the best thing ever. She loves taking a lunch with her and eating with the other kids. Jane has been doing fine but I think it has taken her a couple weeks to adjust to the new routine. One day she cried after class because they didn't paint (the poor kid thought that she would get to paint every time in preschool since they did in Young Explorers nearly every week). Her favorite part of the day is snack time. 😊 

Great American Eclipse

We were very excited about the Total Eclipse on August 21, 2017 and had been planning to drive north so we'd be in the path of totality. Kevin didn't have to work that day (he works in St. Joseph and since the city was expecting so many people to be driving there that day they gave almost everyone the day off so they wouldn't have to fight the traffic) so we made a day out of it. We drove to Gower, MO and found a covered picnic table which was good since it rained on and off most of the day.

There were lots of clouds disrupting our view but we did get to see various phases of the eclipse. We had the special glasses and we had the girls make masks around them so we could ensure they weren't able to look at the sun directly at all. Jane didn't care for the mask that much and only looked a few times. Anna loved it though and kept proclaiming that it was the best day ever. 

It was nice being at a park and Anna and Jane enjoyed playing on the playground. Gower is a tiny town but it seemed pretty nice for its size. 

During totality the clouds blocked our view which was pretty disappointing. It was still crazy how dark it got and that it felt like nighttime in the middle of the afternoon and then it suddenly wasn't anymore as totality ended. 

The girls were silly during totality and just wanted to run around and act crazy. After it was over Jane kept asking for the eclipse again. She was so sad when I told her I didn't have control over it and she'd have to wait 7 years for another. We had friends that managed to get to areas that didn't have cloud cover and I was a little jealous. If it had just been me and Kevin we probably would have tried driving around and following the weather maps a little more closely. That didn't sound very appealing with two young kids so we stayed put.  We are planning a road trip in April 2024 for the next solar eclipse to try and experience totality more fully.

Summer fun

Here are pictures from a few random things we did this summer. Probably not in order.

There are Sprint Family Fun Days in KC once a month over the summer and into fall. I'd seen it pop up on Facebook several times and thought about checking it out. When I saw that Mr Stinky Feet was playing at one I knew we had to go. Anna had been commenting how she hadn't seen him in a while so I knew she'd love it. It was a small crowd since he was doing numerous short shows throughout the day so Anna was able to go up and be in his band. 

Mr Stinky Feet!!!!!

Jane could have gone up but wanted nothing to do with it. She seemed to enjoy the rest of the show though. I'm a big fan of Jim Cosgrove and it's awesome that he's local so we get to see him in concert numerous times throughout the year!

The rest of the Family Fun day was okay. We bought a wrist band for the girls so they could go in all of the bouncy houses which they enjoyed. I think there was a mini train on one end that we didn't end up seeing. The ice cream was a big hit though!

The YMCA does a Kid's Night Out once a month that we've attempted a couple of times. There were some snafus the fist time that we fixed for the second one. We may try it again in the future now that we know what we can do to make things so even smoother for the girls. It did give us a chance to go on a couple of dates which are pretty few and far between. We went to Red Crow Brewing Company in Spring Hill and had a lovely evening. There was a live band that was really pretty good and it was a lot of fun. (Our other date night included take out Chinese food and painting a couple of walls at home. Not as relaxing but very productive!)

The girls helped us out with our civic duties by coming with me to drop off our ballots. 

We went back to Kidscape at the Johnson County History Museum and had a great afternoon!

I saw that Olathe Rocks was hosting a rock painting event that I took Anna and Jane too. Painting outside that I don't have to do any prep work for and very minimal clean up on my part = Major Win. 

In case you are unfamiliar with the whole rock painting business I'll explain. The latest trend is to paint rocks and hide them at parks for other people to find. You can take a picture of your find on Facebook if you choose and then re-hide the rock. It's a fun thing to do that brings some excitement and connects communities. We found a rock at Crown Center once that came from Joplin.

The only problem we have is that Anna and Jane aren't a big fan of hiding the rocks they paint. They want to keep them. We've also struggled in getting them to re-hide the couple or rocks we've found 😃. They're just too attached to them. 

Wrapping up Summer

August brought the end of several activities...many that we've been involved in for a long time. It was a little bittersweet saying goodbye.

Our first "last" was Activity School. Anna hadn't gone regularly since January but Jane was still going and Anna went a few times over the summer. We've been going to McCracken's for 2 years now so it was hard to say goodbye. We may still go on days when school is out or possibly for gymnastics but it's not the same. Even Anna was a little sad on Jane's last day (I took her as a walk-in that morning) and teared up. She knows we're moving next year (have I mentioned that on here???) so the goodbyes this month seemed a little tougher for her as I think the reality of this is sinking in. 

We also finished up swim lessons this month. I would love to keep going, especially since Anna started swimming underwater the last couple months. Jane was also just staring to put her face in more so I think she was about to take off like Anna did right after that point. We'd been going to Midwest Scuba and Swim and while they are amazing there it is a little expensive. With tuition for both girls in preschool it just adds up. We also thought it would be good to take a break from "extra" activities until everyone gets settled into school. Plus there are other activities Anna and Jane are interested in and I'm trying to keep them from being too overscheduled (which is hard because there are soooo many fun things to do and try!)

A video from swim when Anna first stared going underwater. It's from my phone so not the best quality. 

We also had to say goodbye to Miss Ali and our Young Explorers Class. Anna began this program right after she turned 3 and we've really enjoyed it. There have been 3 teachers and we've liked all of them for different reasons. Lenexa is starting a preschool program this fall and incorporating the Young Explorers class into it. I had noticed the shift from more experiments to more of a preschool feel but it's still a fantastic program and an excellent price. Jane went with Anna over the summer and I think it was helpful in prepping her for preschool this fall. It was nice she was able to do it with her sister too. 

Over the summer they held the program at Black Hoof Park which is absolutely gorgeous. I took these funny videos one day. 

After singing their goodbye song once Miss Ali told them to sing it again and even louder. The super loud voice you hear is Anna. 😊

The last day of Young Explorers was moved back to the community center because of rain. The girls made cards for Miss Ali and I had to get a picture. Ali almost cried saying goodbye but Anna (who had cried on an earlier occasion about this) told Miss Ali that we'd still see each other. This is absolutely true since there are many fun things we like to do through Lenexa!

Jane, Miss Ali, Anna