Fun in Ohio

We were able to go to Ohio from May 16th until June 6th this year. Tom had to take the second part of the CFA exam on June 6th so he came with us to Ohio for the first week and then he came back to Houston to study for the next two weeks. We had a lot of fun during our visit. Tom played outside with the kids as much as possible, riding four wheelers and going on "hay rides" as you can see in the first picture. We celebrated Charlie's birthday while we were there. We got him a new Power Wheels Four Wheeler that he still has to figure out, but we're sure he'll eventually enjoy it. Once Tom left, my mom also left to go to my cousin Kevin's high school graduation in California. She was gone for a little over a week. So we split our time between my dad and staying at the Kiehl's. We really appreciate all the help we received from all of the Grandparents. I wouldn't have been able to survive my time alone without them. I was also able to visit with a lot of my dear friends there as well. There's never enough time to do everything, but we sure tried.

Charlie loved his time with his papa's. Papa Rayburn was his supplier of chicken nuggets and also took them to several parks while I ran errands or tried to exercise. The weather was absolutely perfect. (Then we came back to Houston to enjoy the upper 90's, 100% humidity!) Charlie was able to go exploring at the Kiehl farm with Papa Kiehl several times. He even got a couple of canoe rides and was able to wear a "life jacket, so we can be safe!" (Dora) Charlie loved following both grandpas around and going, "Papa, what's going on?" or "Hi Papa Kiehl" over and over again. I'm not sure what we would do without grandpas! Charlie also loves Grandma Kiehl's house because of her endless supply of Cheetos and soda, which Charlie calls "carrots and black milk". That's pretty much all he wanted to eat when we were there, it was fun convincing him otherwise.

Gone Fishin'

Meg has become quite the fisherman thanks to Grandpa Kiehl's tutoring. I'm not sure where she got it from, but she went out with Grandpa Kiehl as much as he was able to, dug in the mud for worms, picked the best worms out of the bucket for Grandpa Kiehl to put on the hook, and went looking for some fish. Over the course of our time in Ohio I think she got 10 or 15 fish, blue gill and large mouth bass. She loved it. It was so nice of Grandpa to set aside so much time with my kids while I was on my own there. I really appreciated it and the kids were able to have some special, quality time with him.

Everybody wants to hold Henry!

We all love holding little Henry. I should have gotten more shots, but these are some of Aunt Jenny and Chloe holding Henry. Grandma Kiehl rocked him every night. He loved sleeping on Papa Rayburn's belly. And even Great-Grandpa Smith got to hold him. He's very soft and snugly.

Charlie is 3!

I can't believe our little boy is 3 years old. These are pictures from his actual birthday. We had a little party for him at Donatos with the Kiehls and Jen's family before Tom left to go back to Houston. I'm not sure what happened to those photos. I made him snickerdoodles, is favorite cookie, as his birthday cake and put candles in it. For some reason our kids don't like cake! Then on Memorial Day (Charlie was born on Memorial Day in 2006) we had a little party at my mom's house with my Aunt Becky's family, my Aunt Kathy and my grandpa. I don't have any pictures from that day because I was too sick to go get the camera out, pretty lame, huh? I had my second bout of mastitis. So this is his real birthday and my dad and I took the kids up to their favorite pet store where they were able to hold all kinds of animals: hamsters that poop on you, kittens that run away and hide in the store, and cute little puppies that they beg to bring home. We had a lot of fun there. My friend Shauna met us there with her little boy James who turned 3 a few days before Charlie. After the pet store, we went to a new Mexican restaurant and had some yummy food. I think Charlie had a fun day! We love him to much.

Henry's Blessing

We blessed Henry on Sunday, May 17th in the Washington Courthouse Branch. We went to the branch with Tom's parents, Jen and Rob's family and my mom. It was a perfect setting for the blessing. Very small and quaint. I felt like we were gathered in our family room. The few members that were there seemed like family to the Kiehls. The Hamilton's, good friends of ours from the Scioto ward, were there to give talks so Brother Hamilton stood in the circle as well. Tom gave a very sweet blessing, which of course brought me to tears and ruined my makeup, haha. We love our little Henry. He has been a perfect little angel and such a blessing to our family.

King's Island

One of the major highlights of Meg's trip to Ohio was getting to go to King's Island with her daddy and Jen's family. She was fearless and wanted to ride everything multiple times. I think she wore Tom out! They were there all day and didn't leave until almost 8pm. I couldn't believe it. I thought for sure they would be tired and home by 5pm. Meg had a fun, special day just with Daddy.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. Tom and Seth and the kids made Betsy and I quite the spread. Tom made my favorite: fajitas! Also, Betsy made her homemade salsa and I made my guacamole. For dessert, Seth made some yummy strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream. Ummm! The kids set the table beautifully as well. It was so nice to enjoy the boy's cooking...I think we will have to do that more often! We hope our mothers and the rest of the mothers reading this felt as special as I did this Mother's Day.