Braxton's First Day of "School"!

Having a hard time believing Braxton will be in Kindergarten in August. To get him ready we signed him up for a jumpstart to kindergarten summer school class. It's not really his first day of REAL school, but still picture worthy : ) He is so stinking big and SO ready to be in school! McKenzie is taking a kids cooking class and summer sports class at the same summer school so they get to ride the bus together! Bailey had a rough time watching them BOTH get on he bus. She cried "MOM.... I NEED MY BRACKY!!!" She got used to it after a few days - she is loving the one on one mommy time! We had a fun picnic after their first day was over...

Memorial Weekend!!!

I was SO excited when my brother, Mike, called to tell me they were coming to STL for Sarah's Birthday & Memorial Weekend! Amanda & Chris came too and we had such a blast with all the little cousins running around. I absolutely love seeing my kids have such a great time with their cousins! We had a fun-and-food-filled weekend!

 We went to our church picnic at the park on Memorial day. The boys played a rousing game of wiffle ball (I have great video evidence of all 3 of the dads striking out swinging out of their shorts!) I didn't get many good pics of Hunter & Ragen... they would NOT hold still... too many fun things to do. After the picnic the kids crashed HARD and then the ladies all went shopping : ) Mikey made dinner out on the grill like a BOSS. He had good help from Hunter though!

Dessert? TED DREWES! DUH!!! Everyone had to head back home Monday night so we had some UHHHMAZING Frozen Custard and then we had to say our goodbyes : (

The whole gang! 

 Thank you Mike, Sarah, Amanda & Chris for coming to visit. I know it is a big sacrifice - especially the long drive from Texas - and we really appreciate it! We had a ton of fun, a LOT of laughs and most likely gained a few pounds... all part of a great weekend. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

April... Tree Sap, Waffles & Running

Not much going on in April around here... We had to clean up the MASSIVE mess in our backyard that the crazy amounts of snow caused. Rich got to have a WHOLE bunch of chainsaw fun. We had tons of huge tree limbs to clean up. The weight of the snow snapped them right off the 12+ sad pine trees lining our property. It took me daaaays to get all the tree sap off our skin and clothes. We killed our backs but after working on them for a full Saturday we finally got them bundled and out for pickup. Poor garbage man... in the pic you can't really see the 10 huge bags filled with smaller debris behind the limb bundles.

"MOM... WHAT'S FOR DINNER?"  I love the shock on their face when I answer something random like "WAFFLES!" Kenz & B learned how to make their own. Fun and YUMMY!

McKenzie's school did a Fun Run Fundraiser for Leukemia Research. She was SO excited. I told Rich about it and he said, "Have fun with that..." LOL. Well, WE DID! Just me and my girl. I don't look too excited but that's just because I SUCK at self-portraits. I was just happy to get both of our heads in the shot. We only did the 1 mile... super easy right? Oh wait - I am SO out of shape. I was in pain and Rich laughed pretty hard at me when we got home. Well worth it though. 

Summer is just around the corner - MUCH more fun than April!

Cell Phone Randomness... Jan to March

It's that time again... time to clean the pics off my cell phone. Some of them are too great to just sit on my hard drive : )

Silly little dress up addict!











The new Hot Wheel Wall! Toys are WAY cooler than when I was a kid!
And another amazing wall... BUMBLEBEEEEEE!!! Thanks to Papa Bowman!!!





Peek-A-Boo & Pancakes : )

"Duh Easer Bunneeee"

HAPPY EASTER!!!

We had such a fun weekend with my little sis and her family! First thing on the to do list... Jilly's! DUH! Once we picked up our cupcake stash for the weekend we went to the Science Center! We had been just the week before but we love it that much! Chris and Braxton had some boy time and saw the Air Racers Imax movie while we played. The kids had a blast!...

Diggin' D!
Bailey was so excited when we got there she had to pull her shirt over her head because that's just what 2-year-olds do when they are that excited!

Poor little Grandma Rilea had a hard time getting around : ( LOL And the boys couldn't get enough of the cars of course. D was SQUEALING he was so amazed!


Kenzie, Smile! (She then turns around, flips her head back at me and pops her hip out... CHEESE) Typical Kenz!


Bailey loved the American Indian baby she found in the TP! And Uncle Chris got busted "playing" with the kids - texting with one hand and "digging for fossils" with the other hahaha


Next... COLOR EASTER EGGS!!!

We got up bright and early the next morning for church. We were even EARLY! The eggs and the food and the baskets are so fun but none of that matters in the end. I am sitting at my computer trying to come up with the right words... Gratitude, Humility, Peace... We can all be forgiven and we will all live again because of our brother, Jesus Christ, and his atoning sacrifice and example. I know He lives! I know He knows me personally and bares my burdens! I know He loves me! And I know he loves my little family : )

The BowDoells :  )

This picture looks so weird! I think the Easter Bunny
ran in front of the kids while I was taking the picture!

Rilea Jean the Beauty Queen! I think Mr. Bunny
ran back out of the house on this one! CRAZY!

I stinkin love these two!!! SO CUTE!!!

The kids found their baskets and ripped them apart in such a frenzy that i didn't get any good pictures : (
After the basket stashes had been ravaged we had lunch (Reeses eggs haha) and then Amanda and I worked on our huge dinner... Baked ham, super buttery mashed potatoes, squash casserole, green bean casserole, corn and "butt" rolls! I am stuffed just typing the description! While we worked on dinner Rich hid eggs outside for the kids to find. They were so funny! He had to eventually divide the hunts into Kenzie & B and then the little kids in another group so the older two wouldnt hog them all before Rilea, Bailey & D even realized what was happening hahaha. Rich was VERY proud of his egg hiding skills. He is good! The girls looked FOREVER for this little white egg. Congrats to Rich for outsmarting a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old HAHA! They finally found it at the same time and Rilea scooped it up before Bailey even knew what hit her! Bailey was TICKED and we were dying laughing : )

She still got a bucket-full of eggs and had so much fun! We all did! HAPPY EASTER!

Snow Days!!!

We have gotten a CRAZY amount of snow lately. So much for spring showers. Try spring snow storm of 12+ inches that snapped half the branches off of our 8 huge pine trees. The day kenz was supposed to go back to school after spring break turned into a snow day! The kids certainly didn't mind ! Their new favorite activity is helping dad shovel the snow. This lasts for 5 minutes and then turns into snow ball fights of course. I threw in pics of McKenzie learning to ride her new birthday bike and pics of the other fun snow days we have had in the last couple of months as well. Hopefully I can do a post about beautiful sunny days at the park soon!

The prettiest pic of our back deck yet! 12" of snow does a good job covering up the awesome blue chipped paint and ghetto floor board fixes.

Spring Break in STL

McKenzie literally cried after school the day she got out for spring break because she was going to miss her friends and teacher for TEN WHOLE DAYS! Ohhhhh sweet kenzie... we will see how many years that lasts. She got over it pretty quick once we started having some fun! Ok... slight exaggeration .. first we ripped out kenzie's old crappy bathroom vanity (starting our spring break bathroom reno project) and then we cleaned the back yard and THEN we had fun. First order of fun business... the zoo! The weather was very cooperative! T-shirts and flip flop weather but B was very ticked that I wouldn't actually LET him were flip flops to the zoo. That kid would wear flip flop snowboarding if I let him! I just love the zoo and seeing the kid's reactions to all of the animals. Bailey's favorite? Elephants! Bracky's? Bears! Kenzie's? Giraffes
I love the penguins but Kenz & B were not fans - "IT SMELLS SO BAD IN HERE MOM! I'M GONNA THROW UP!" Thank you drama queen. Go puke in the trash can I'M WATCHING THE PENGUINS! My favorite part of the day was Bailey seeing the baby elephants! "MOM they are SO CUTE". As we started to walk away she freaked out and yelled MOM I HAVE TO SING TO THEM. We walked back over and she sang Itsy Bitsy at the top of her lungs, leaning out as far as she could over the fence doing the hand motions so the baby elephants could see her. She is so silly and so sweet!

We walked around Forest Park after the zoo. Not by choice haha. The zoo was SO packed that we had to park there. It was a fun walk though. Got a good pic of the real St. Louis and my 4 goofballs!

We filled the rest of the week with the Science Center, shopping and playing at the mall, enjoying the beautiful weather, having an Easter egg hunt with our church friends and finishing kenzie's bathroom reno (hopefully I can do a before and after blog post of the new house soon) oh and Jilly's cupcakes of course!

Mmhmmmm... life changing new flavor! Chocolate Chip Cookie. UH MAY ZING!

So long, Spring Break... Here comes the SNOW?!?!?!?!