HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY!!

It is soooo hard for us to believe but 11 years ago (at...4:56 pm) IC was born into this wonderful world of ours!
To celebrate, after the Branson trip, we had his choice of pancakes and smoothies and then came the presents and cards! Mimi & Poppy had already given IC their presents last week during our visit to Mena. Gigi sent IC a card that he is ripping into in this picture.

Aunt Sandy and Uncle Mike sent IC a card and a book!

He LOVES to read!

LC & CM look on as they finish up their pancakes.

JBug needs a nap...but she is still enjoying the festivities!

Maw-Ma & Pap-Paw came over this afternoon and shared in the excitement of IC's birthday as well!

Branson Birthday Trip!

IC is turning 11! We can't believe it either. We loaded up a friend, CM & TH and headed to Branson for a short little get away!
We stayed at Mam-Maw & Pap-Paw's condo but our big excursion was a trip to Silver Dollar City! It was really hot but we all had a blast!

First up was the Electro Spin. Mommy & CH took a pass on this one. It is rather nauseating!

CH took a ride on the Elephants. A good speed and very cool!

Even cooler...soaking passing boats on River Blast!

We "discovered" Geyser Gultch this weekend. It isn't new but we had never really gone into it before. IC & SP didn't really want to go in because they thought it was for little kids but within seconds...we all found out it was really cool! Here are some air powered nerf cannons! Daddy feeds IC's cannon while TH & CH fire by their side.

TH and CH had a great time blasting away as well!

SP got in on the action as well. These guns were all over the place!

The boys in front of a "live" dinosaur.

CH was called up by the local Magician to participate in his little magic show. It was no David Copperfield but CH did a great job as an assistant and kept the crowd laughing!

We had to take a break because IC and SP got in some trouble and had to be shackled up for a while! Haha!!!

Not to be out done...the little brothers had to join in the fun!

Mommy took 3 of the boys on American Plunge while Daddy and IC went off to ride Wild Fire. They joined afterward and got very wet too!!! Felt good on a hot day though.

CH poses with his new found friend...a billy goat. They had a lot of neat animals in the petting zoo. This was our first time visiting it.

And of all things...CH caught a skink! It was so fast that the worker in the Petting Zoo couldn't even catch it. But CH did! He was lightning fast but CH was just a bit faster!!

Turned out to be in a not-so-pleasant mood either. I guess when you get caught by something a 1000 times your size...you get a bit angry! Hehe

Girls meet Lucy

Friends of our recently got a new little puppy. Lucy is her name.

LC & JBug really enjoyed meeting her.

They were AMAZED at her little bitty tail.

Friends B-Day Party!!

LC & JBug got to go to a friend of their's 3rd birthday party!
They enjoyed watching her open her many presents...

...and looked forward to eating cup cakes and having punch.

LC really enjoyed her cup cake...didn't even wait for the punch!

Afterward, they enjoyed time in the kiddie pool

Splashing around and having fun with all their little girl friends!

Finding Nemo....FOUND Nemo!

JBug relaxes on the edge of the pool.

LC has a good time playing with Ariel as well!

The Frill is Gone!

C.M. went with his brothers to get a much needed hair cut. We LOVE his curls but it was getting a bit too long in the back and so we decided to avoid any mullet-look-a-like and do some choppin'.
He did very well. His Aunt Jac had taken him for a little snip a month or so ago so his salon experience is getting pretty old hat to him.

He still was rewarded with a sucker for his good behavior and shows off his cute little "do" with his brothers, who also had some high fashion going on as well! What a handsome bunch of boys! Look out ladies!!!

JBug goes for a follow-up MRI

Mommy took JBug to Childrens for a follow-up MRI. She has not had a seizure in over a year and we just wanted to make sure everything was still ok and she checked out great.
She was in really good spirits and enjoyed the wait...getting to color and play and do all sorts of fun stuff.

Closer to the MRI though, she started to get a little anxious and restless (not shown here...haha) but she did great...as usual.

Her MRI came back fine and we are just going on with a blessed life. We thank God for looking after our little girl and love how fun and happy she is 99% of the time. Now if we could just work on that other 1%!!! Haha!!!

Chicago...Take Two!

We went to Chicago for Chris' 40th Birthday (again...) and saw U2! This is us before the concert. We had incredible seats and incredible friends that went with us. We planned on going to U2 last year for his real 40th but Bono hurt his back and the tour was postponed. We went anyway and had a great time but when we found out when U2 rescheduled...we made our way back to the Windy City! It was awesome and the weather couldn't have been nicer. The highest we hit was 85 and hardly any humidity. Last year...it was almost 100 degrees and extremely humid!
We had an awesome time and went with several great friends

Here we are prior to the concert at Water Mark Tavern

The next day we headed down to Navy Pier

They had an interesting Bob Newhart statue with guest couch

Chris enjoyed the spot on the couch with Bob. The piece was made of metal and even though the temps were great...the sun was still out so it made the conversation brief as it felt like you were sitting on a grill.

We hopped on a water taxi and headed down to Michigan Avenue...aka...The Magnificent Mile...aka...a full mile of awesome stores for four shoppaholics to enjoy!

Here we are on the top deck of the water taxi with part of ChiTown's skyline behind us

Chicago is such a beautiful an fun city. We LOVE going there!

Here is the canal that leads into the city

Don't know the name of the center building but it was a nice center piece for this picture. The architecture of Downtown Chicago was really cool.

Here we are at the entrance to the Chicago Tribune

That night, we made it to Second City and saw "South Side of Heaven". It was a bunch of short skits by some of the most hilarious people we have seen. A lot of Second City alumni have gone on to Saturday Night Live and Hollywood fame. We expect to see some of the guys and gals in this production there one day too. They kept us laughing for almost 3 hours and was a great "last night" treat to a wonderful trip!