Buckled Up? Here comes JUNE!

You will  not believe how much stuff we packed into the month that we spent in Arkansas.
 

First of all, we sent Kade off to spend a few days with his cousins in Oklahoma.  And to even go to church camp with them for a couple of days.  All WITHOUT us!!!  Aaaahhhh....surely he isn't old enough to have done that? 
Well, he did.  And thanks to his Aunt Kim for taking pictures and passing them along to me, here is photographic evidence that he did just fine with out me.

Thankful that he was at least certain to stick close to Brandon in my absence.

swimming

swinging

climbing.

Apparently he had no problems when it came to having fun without us.

Posing with Aunt Kim, Uncle B, Brandon and Taylor.

And here is the whole crew that he went to church camp with.

I missed seeing him climb his first rock wall.

Word is...he really liked that rock wall climbing.

Getting ready for some preaching.  

He had actually been to camp at Bogg Springs for two summers when he was a baby because this is where we went to camp with our church in Arkansas.  He wasn't big enough to sit in one of those chairs by himself then so, of course, he doesn't remember it at all.  

I don't think he will ever forget this trip to camp....

Just look how much fun he had....

Poor guy couldn't even stay awake for dinner.

I am glad that he got to have such a fun time with his cousins.

The rest of us tried to have some fun of our own while Kade was off enjoying the camp life.

Ryne had chocolate milk shakes from Sonic.

And C.G. set up the "water park" at her house.

Took Tesa a little time to decide she liked the water park.

But she enjoyed hanging out in her diaper in the stroller.

We had a fun shower for Monk Monk.

Ryne liked helping open gifts.

Tyce got to hang out with Nanny.

Ryne enjoyed the punch.

Tesa tried to get Dana to share some punch with her.

And we got to hang out with lots of cool people...

Mrs. Nancy and her girls Kassidy and Keely

There were lots of people who passed through that afternoon to wish Monk well in her soon coming marriage.  So much fun!

All thanks to these amazing ladies who put on a fabulous shower!
And it was SO nice of them to wait til I got in town to throw this party so I didn't have to miss it!

That was about all the fun I was able to have without my Kadester.
Mom and the kiddos and I set out on a nice little road trip to camp to get him back.
When we got there Ryne, Tesa and Tyce set to work making friends and trying to convince me to let them all stay.....

I am sure Aunt Kim would have let them stay, too.  Why?  Because she is just cool like that!  And she would have handled it beautifully...but I would have been a mess. 

It felt good loading the van up and seeing all FOUR carseats occupied for the trip home....

Coolest part of the trip home...

Stopping by a field that was full of zebras and buffalo and camels.  In Arkansas. Not even a zoo.  Crazy cool, huh? 

Got everyone back to Junction City and settled in at C.G. and Grandaddy's just in time to gear up for our next pre-wedding event.

A Bridal Tea

A real, dress-up, wear a hat, act fancy, just for the girls tea.

These are Monk Monk's new nieces.  Aren't they adorable? They are such sweeties.

The beautiful guest of honor wearing her hat well.

I thought Tesa was wearing her bow nicely, too.

Monk and Nanny

Monk and the girls from Josh's family.

Monk and her nieces

Tesa really liked those flowers....maybe she is going to take after her Aunt Monk and yellow will be her favorite color.

Three generations

Yes, I did finally join the picture party.

All the girls from Monk's family

Love my beautiful sister.  Great hats, huh?

And the hats had nothing on this spread....

The hostesses really put on quite the tea party.

She deserved it!

Tesa had a very special seat just for her...it was an antique high chair.

She had so much fun with the girls.

Mrs. Carolyn and Mrs. Millie really did a fabulous job with the tea.

And again I have to say THANK YOU ladies for putting this tea off until I was in town.  I sure would have hated to miss it.

Monk with our Mrs. Nancy.  Isn't her hat awesome?

Tesa liked it so much she was trying to trade her bow for the hat.

The girly party couldn't last forever....

We got home to find Tyce had been busy making plenty of boy fun messes in our absence.

We took our baby sitter of the boys....Aunt Sue Sue....to a much deserved dinner at our favorite seafood place, Hollis'.

Tyce and Grandaddy tried to find people they new in the pictures on the walls.

There were many more days to play in the water park.  It was definitely a high-light of our time in Arkansas....

She was happy until we put her in the water.

PLEASE get me out of here.

Tyce would have stayed in with Ryne all day if allowed to.

Tesa was much happier on dry land...

Practicing her driving skills.

Tyce got out long enough to give the car a try, too.

Looks like Tyce learned well from watching Tesa.

Awww, they even practiced sharing.

That doesn't happen often.

Where was Kade, you ask?

Shucking corn from the garden, of course.

We were getting close to the middle of June which meant we had to start making plans.  It would be Father's Day AND C.G.'s Birthday.  Actually on the same day this year.

So there were projects to do.

Kade and Ryne chose to paint birdhouses for C.G.

And to paint pictures for Grandaddy.

Kade was mostly just excited about getting to have something painted on his face.

Of course he would ask for a knight with a sword and shield instead of something easy.

Geez!

Something else really cool was going down in Junction City in the middle of June.

Vacation Bible School!

Every morning C.G. took Kade and Ryne and dropped them off for VBS and they had a blast.  This was the church that I grew up in and attended countless Vacation Bible Schools.  The kids they got to spend time with belonged to my friends.  So cool.  I can only imagine what all these kids thought about the two "new boys" visiting from Washington state.  That would have been super cool when I was a kid in VBS.  I'm not sure if the other kids thought they were cool or not.  But I do know that my boys thought going to VBS was way cool!!!  I loved watching them perform their songs at the end of each day when I went to pick them up.  Brought back such fond memories.

I'm thinking Tesa and Tyce will have fond memories too...

Of being taken out for pizza for the first time.

Meaning they actually got their own cheesy bread stick to eat by themselves instead of watching everyone else eat and being fed individual birdie size bites at a time.

There was play-doh extravaganza!

I firmly believe that it is worth a dollar to pick up a new pack of play-doh each time I visit the Dollar Tree.  They can play for hours and mix up any of the colors they want to.  When they are finished and I don't feel like separating colors...to the trash it can go without me feeling one bit guilty.  

I also firmly believe that the South Sound Area of Washington State NEEDS a Chick-fil-A!

My Mom keep the kiddos one day and let Monk and I a "wedding planning" day.

What better place to check the list twice? 

We should have taken a minute to check the weather twice. Then we might have known to throw a rain jacket in and could have avoided this....

Getting caught in a downpour when trying to leave Sam's.

We took an evening to have a brief Christmas in June celebration.

I got to open a present that Mom had wrapped and hidden behind a chair since last December.

An awesome picture of her and Daddy.  What a treasure.  Seriously...because my Mom isn't much for taking pictures. 

These guys are pretty good at it though....

This was the day they turned 11 months old.  Look I remembered to pack their owls for their monthly "look-at-me-compared-to-the-size-of-my-owl" picture.

The week came to an end and Bible School was over.

They did a big program for us that they had been working on.

This stinker refused to participate and just wanted to join us in the pews at the back of the church.

Nobody refused to participate in the meal after the program, though.

Tesa even made a friend.  This precious girl is the baby girl of one of my good friends from home.  I think I could have taken her home with me to be Tesa's personal nanny and both she and Tesa would have been thrilled.

Kade got a swim ring from Bible School and was so excited about it that he sat in it to eat lunch.

I am so happy that my boys loved Bible School.

But C.G. might have loved her birdhouses more....

Kade and Ryne insisted that she have a surprise party at the flower shop to celebrate her birthday.

Complete with party hats

and a cookie cake.

No, Tesa, don't do it!

Tyce seemed to be a professional party hat wearer...no popping himself in the side of the face.

Another big highlight from June....

getting to see this girl!

That is Kaye Marie.  She and I were inseparable in high school.  Then came college and she got married and I got married and she lived in Miami and I lived in Washington and we NEVER seemed to make it "home" at the same time to see each other.  But this time it happened!!  We were both home at the same time.  Granted she now lives in Tennessee which is quite a bit closer and she was only home for a couple of days...still we got to see each other and let our children meet each other.  It was great.

This is Kaye's Mom and Dad and they were like another set of parents to me for a few years.

They rolled right up and took the babies for a spin.  It was like we hadn't missed a beat.

Kade and Ryne quickly picked up on country living.

Kaye's girls were playing in the water and it didn't take Kade and Ryne long to strip down to their underwear and join the party.

Kaye's sister Pat introduced Tyce to popsicles.

And Kaye Marie shared the popsicle love with Tesa.

Then came the trampoline with sweet Eden.

Ryne talked Pat into pushing him on the swing while Evie drove the tractor.

Swing sets are so much fun.

Tyce's personal favorite was the tractor!

While Tesa was thrilled that there were girl toys!

Some crazy see-saw action.

Yep, they loved the tractor and doll stroller.

Apparently Eden taught Kade some trick swinging.

MawMaw took them all for a ride.

Tesa and Tyce got to play in the dirt.

Inside, the boys had fun with the play-doh and dishes.

While Tesa enjoyed having dinner with Gaye,another of Kaye's sisters.

And again with Maw Maw.  

Who cares about toys and silly stuff like that when there is food to be eaten.

Then the day wrapped up with...

Movie time!

Not sure when we will have all of our kiddos in the same place again but I sure am glad that it happened this time.  I sure do miss that girl and cannot believe that in all of the pictures I took, I didn't get a single one of the two of us together.  I'll try not to let that happen next time.

While I will always treasure that visit, I know my boys will always treasure this visit...

to the fishing hole

to bring home these fellas

And yes, C.G. did fry them up for us to eat.  Yum!

Tyce will be glad that he wasn't old enough to remember this...

His first real boo boo.  

Apparently he and a dresser got into a bit of a scuffle and the dresser left it's mark.

And we finally made it to Father's Day...

So after church we tried to get a picture of Daddy with all of his grandkids.

Let's just say Ryne was less than cooperative.

He was only in the mood to be goofy.

At least everyone is finally looking and mostly happy here.  Even if Ryne is sawing Grandaddy's leg off with a piece of string.

Being that it was Father's Day and he is our father and all, Monk and I joined the picture party.

Mom, you did a great job being behind the camera!

And while Tesa and Tyce were all dressed up we tried to get a few 11 month pictures.

Mom let everyone go back to her water park to celebrate her birthday...

We got tired of trying to keep the babies in the little pool that they were climbing out of so they had to be relocated...

They kept watching Kade and Ryne in the big pool as though they couldn't wait until they were big enough to join them there.

And since it was C.G.'s actual birthday we had to celebrate again.

This time Kade wanted to have a "royal" party so he made decorations to put on everyone's cups.

This queen was special for C.G.'s cup.

And check out the "cake"...

Happy Birthday to you!

These boys were already picking which "piece" of cake they wanted.

Then it was time for Grandaddy's Father's Day presents.

I do believe he liked them.

I took the kids on a road trip!

There were a couple of places that I really wanted to visit while I had some time in Arkansas.

This was our first stop.  Brookhill Ranch!

A kids summer camp in Hot Springs Village that was my summer time home for many years.

This is Connie.  I call her Con Con and she is a treasured friend.

She is in charge of the kitchen at camp and she is an absolutely amazing person.

Made me so happy to get to see her.

And to take my kids to a place that means so much to me.

They had a fun time playing

and catching bugs 

and of course having snack time in the kitchen.

Yep, even Tesa and Tyce seemed to know that hanging out in Con Con's kitchen was the cool thing to do.  

Kade just kept wanting to know when he could come back and stay as a camper.  Oh how I hope that all my kids will one day have the opportunity to experience Brookhill.  It was a fun afternoon but alas, there was dinner to be made so we got ourselves out of the way and drove toward Arkadelphia.

We surprised our sweet friends Marc and Ashley with a visit.

Tesa and Tyce enjoyed their yard but not as much as Kade and Ryne....

Carson was showing them his territory.

Then took them to his room to play.

When Uncle Doc got home it was all out Star Wars action!

 They had so much fun!  I cannot even express how much I wish our families lived closer to each other.

I had such a good time catching up with my precious friend Ashley.

Makes me happy to have a friend that I can pay a surprise visit without fear of showing up at a bad time.  Guess that really makes her more like a sister, huh?  Yep, I do love her like that.

I better move on before I get all sappy about how much I miss my Carozzas.

I sure was proud of my kiddos....they were awesome road trippers!

Kade and Ryne built some plastic birdhouses

I know that doesn't seem all that exciting but I had to include it because I really do want you to get an idea of just how much we were able to pack into this visit to Arkansas.

And all the while there is wedding planning going on.  

Mostly at night after my very busy children went to bed.

Speaking of wedding....

We got to have a very fun bachelorette party!

We went to Little Rock

And partied down at The Painted Pig

My kid sister is the BEST!

And almost every time we went somewhere together someone asked us if we were twins. I'll take that!

And on multiple occasions while I was home I was mistaken for my sister.  I loved the look on people's faces when I informed them that I was actually Terry and not Monkey.   I don't really think we look that much alike, I think people just expected to see her and not me so they went with "it must be Monkey."

Oh, dear I am so off track here....back to the party....

Everybody got their craft on

including the bride-to-be

I am not a very crafty person so i stuck to something simple

and painted this coffee mug.  When fired it turned a lovely robin's egg blue and I now drink my coffee out of it almost every morning.

We made Monk stop every now and then and open some gifts.

It was such a fun night.

All thanks to these girls for showing up to party!!

Kade and Ryne were terribly upset that we went and had a party without them.

So Grandaddy and C.G. made it up to them with their very first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's!

Kade had been seeing commercials for birthday parties at Chuck E's and kept asking to go their for his birthday party.  Remember we are in June here....Kade's birthday is in January!  And Ryne's is in December.

Also remember there is a reason C.G. stands for Crazy Granny!

Those boys had a summer birthday party....

Grandaddy did an awesome job of keeping up with the twins.

Everyone had a great time!

Then Chuck E. Cheese himself showed up and it got even better.

He helped Kade win his game.

Danced with them.

Even showed up at our party table.

Cake?

Of course!!!

It's not a real party without a cake...at least that's what my boys believe.

Grandaddy helped cash in some tickets.

And that was our last big hoorah before THE BIG HOORAH!
That's right....we are getting close to wedding time now.  I'll save that for a post all its own.
See, I told you it was a fun-filled adventure packed June.  A month that I am so incredibly grateful for.  Hope our fun didn't bore you too much.
If you made it through all of this post and are reading these final words....you deserve an award!
Check back soon to see the day Monkey changed her name!