A Great Birthday Party

July 26, 2010, 8:31 am

Lily has been very excited for her friend Riley's 6th birthday party. Riley loves horses, and the party was at a riding stable. Lily decided to dress up in her best horse riding attire:



Lily was a little concerned about riding a big horse. She asked if she had to ride a horse. I assured her that riding a horse is not something you have to do in life. She was happy with this answer and couldn't wait to ride a big horse when she got to the party. She picked the horse "Black Jack":



She got to ride the horse for a good 15 minutes! She had a huge smile on her face the whole time.

Of course Lily always enjoys a good treat bag as well:



When we got home Lily declared, "THAT was a great birthday party!"

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A Girls' Day

July 25, 2010, 12:21 pm

I let Lily plan our Saturday. We started the day by sleeping in (love that girl) and then went to her favorite store, The Dollar Store. After spending $3 Lily wanted to go to the zoo. Since it was just me and Lily I let her ride a pony. She picked Snowflake:



We enjoyed seeing the penguins, fennec fox, and black bear most of all.

That night Lily and I put on our finest dresses to go to a production of Annie. Lily wore a white dress with a red sweater (to look like Annie). Lily loves the movie Annie and all of the songs. She couldn't wait to see It's A Hard Knock Life live!



I let Lily pick a restaurant for dinner with the suggestion that we go to an establishment that waits on us. Lily picked Los Agaves.

Lily wanted to get to Annie early. She was so excited to see pictures of the actors. We had excellent seats for the show, and Lily said, "Wow, these are way better seats than last time." I asked her what she meant by "last time." She said, "When we saw Taylor Swift!" We were at a high school auditorium, and Lily thought it was the same place as the amphitheater where we saw Taylor Swift! It made me realize how little she really is.

Here is Lily excited for the show:



Lily was literally on the edge of her seat or standing the entire production. She loved the orphans most of all. When it was over she declared, "I want to be an actor too!"

What a perfect day. I sometimes wonder what I did before I had my girly companion.

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Grandma's Visit

July 24, 2010, 12:18 pm

Grandma Tackett came back with us from Kansas for a two week visit. Lily was so excited to have Grandma there to kiss good-night every night! She commented, "Having Grandma here is like having an older sister!" What a compliment!

On the first dinner together we said our highs and lows. Noah's high was "Grandma being here for two weeks!" He was the favorite grandchild after that unprompted comment.

Grandma met a grandchild for the first time, Lola. Lola was determined to make Grandma love her most of all. She gave Grandma hugs daily. Her only bad habit was shedding black hair all over the house. I don't think Grandma even minded that:



After about 10 days of being here Jack finally came up to Grandma for some lovin'. It's very impressive to earn Jack's trust.

Over the two weeks we played lots of SpongeBob Operation that grandma bought us. The kids went from laughing to crying during the game, but the adults had a great time throughout:



We also enjoyed shopping, eating out, the zoo, antique stores, and going to art class and Lily's tumbling class. Lily, Grandma, and I went shopping one day and Lily declared, "I could just shop all day! It's so fun to shop for clothes with girls!"

We can't wait for Thanksgiving when Grandma is visiting along with Uncle Jason and Marile! Lola will be so relieved to see her good friend.

We miss you Grandma! Woof woof!

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First Trophy

July 13, 2010, 10:50 pm

I think I told you that Lily played t-ball for the treat ticket and the trophy. Noah has quite a collection of trophies from years of sports. Lily was so thrilled to hear that in t-ball you can get a trophy even if you don't win. However Lily truly believes she won every game. We let her believe that. I overheard her say once, "I wonder why Noah's baseball team doesn't always win. My t-ball team does. Poor Noah."

Tonight was the night that Lily received her first trophy. She had cleared off the top of the headboard of her bed to display her trophy and t-ball team picture. She was all set. Lily was very excited that Grandma Tackett would be here for the ceremony.

Lily and her first trophy:



Lily's team (The Cubs):



Lily and Annika:



Grandma Tackett!



Girls with trophy and treat:



The trophies giving each other high five's:



Her trophy's special spot:



Up next: Soccer! (There are pink soccer balls you know).

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Hottmans Unite

July 13, 2010, 10:37 pm

We headed to Kansas for a Hottman summer reunion. We started off at Grandma and Grandpa's house for lots of outdoor fun. Lily and Huck are so dang cute that I had to take lots of pictures of the 5-year-old cousins. Noah and Huck are pretty cute together too.



Then we headed to Wichita to meet up with Aunt Lori and family. We got to meet baby Sadie Starr and play with a very loving Hayden. The kids and parents enjoyed a trip to the Wichita zoo. Despite the very hot weather we had a great time and enjoyed the gorillas most of all.



We stayed at a hotel with an outdoor pool, hot tub, and tennis courts. The weather was beautiful, and the kids couldn't get enough swimming (that includes Troy).



Sorry for so many pictures, but I had some adorable subjects!

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Tacketts, Passmans, and Critters...Oh My!

July 6, 2010, 8:30 am

Two things that you can say about the Tacketts: We love the Passmans and we love zoos. Luckily the Passmans love zoos as well. We drove to the St. Louis zoo on the 4th of July for a day of lookin' at critters. Noah asked who we were going to the zoo with, and I told him the Passmans. He said, "Always the Passmans." I asked if that was good or bad. He said, "It's great!" Jenn and Chad are like an Aunt and Uncle to Noah and Lily. They don't have kids of their own, and so Noah and Lily get all the attention!

We saw amazing things at the zoo. The hippos were out and swimming and really working the crowd. One even stopped for a picture with Lily!



It was a very hot day (90 plus out), so we saw a pregnant Mama elephant with her young child in the water. The Mama elephant got her head right under the waterfall for a refreshing shower.



We also saw a sleeping lion, lots of funny penguins, and a hungry grizzly bear. Luckily we were able to drink our body weight in fluids with the zoovenier sipper.



We hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

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Another Tackett Runner

July 6, 2010, 8:18 am

Nathan and I do a lot of running. The kids have been going to races for years. I've wanted Noah to get into running, but I wasn't about to force him. This summer he signed up for a program where you run 50 miles over the summer. He loves it. Every time I run with him he thanks me. When he started running his side would ache and he would have to walk. Now he runs with no problem.

This 4th of July Noah and I ran the Firecracker 5K in East Moline. We went with our friends the Swifts. I planned on walking/running with the Swifts, but Noah took off at a 8-9 minute pace at the start. I talked him into slowing down to our usual 10 minute pace. He kept this up for the full race, and at the end I told him to take off without me. That's right...Noah beat his Mama to the finish line! Nathan and Lily were there to see him finish strong. We couldn't be more proud of our boy.

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Last Stand

July 5, 2010, 11:02 pm

Noah played in his last baseball tournament of the year over 4th of July weekend. The boys are 9 and under, and they played in a 10 and under tournament. They placed 4th overall and received very cool medals. Noah wore his medal to a 4th of July party after the tournament.

Noah has played with the same boys for 2 years now, and we love cheering him and his teammates on. I also enjoy talking to all of the Moms, and I know that Lily loves playing with all of the sisters. Who knew that sports was such a social opportunity?

Congratulations to the Jr. Rams!



p.s. The uniforms looked great, but I'm voting for black or grey pants next year!

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Words of Wisdom...Words of Wisdom...Here They Come!

July 5, 2010, 10:53 pm

You must recognize my title as the start of the annoying Cub Scout "Announcement" song. Or maybe you don't. Yep, it was that time of year again. I just finished a week of Cub Scout camp, and once again I managed to have a great time. Noah really enjoyed camp this year, and he didn't even complain about the early wake up time. I was in charge of organizing all the parents who helped during camp which made my job a little more stressful but in the end we all had a great time!

Lily went along with me and had a blast. Her reward is always the waterpark on Thursday afternoon. This year the weather was perfect all week, and we had a great time swimming at Whitewater Junction. Our friend Jenn came along with us and played with Lily while I tried to keep track of 16 Cub Scouts!

Some pictures from our week:

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Staples and Chipes

July 3, 2010, 11:29 am

Sometimes family blogs seem a little too sunshiny for me. People develop online personalities that aren't very real. I'm going to share with you a story that is quite real and perhaps not very flattering. 90% of the time my kids are great and life going along quite smoothly. But sometimes...things get ugly.

Last week I was in charge of the den walkers (or in normal lingo--parents who go to camp and watch over the kids) at cub scout camp. This was a bigger task than I realized. I spent 3 days at camp and had a great time but it was also exhausting. Some parents ended up not helping when they said they would. Basically it was a stressful week. On top of that Noah had baseball practice, Lily had t-ball games, and I had clients to see at the Y and work at the hospital.

On Thursday I needed to get in an 8 mile run but because camp started so dang (I'm keeping this PG) early I had to get up in the 4's to run with my friend Jenn. Then I got both kids up, fed them breakfast, packed 3 lunches for camp, and got our swimming suits at towels ready for the water-park that afternoon at camp. I'd like to say my kids were great that morning, but they were not. They were tired from a week of camp, and they were whiny.

We went to camp and then to the water-park (hundred of kids and adults, and I was in charge of keeping track of our group of cub scouts). Then I drove to the Y to see a client. Then I went to Noah's baseball practice. Nathan was going out with Chad at Scott that night, so I came home after practice with the kids.

I'd like to tell you my kids were great that night, but they were not. They were whiny. They both wanted to stay up past 8:30 and claimed they were hungry. Since I had been at camp all week we had very little food. I finally found some food for snacks, got Lily to sleep, and then decided to make Noah's sack lunch for Friday since I had an early yoga class the next morning.

I was in the pantry looking for something ANYTHING to pack in Noah's lunch. I must have moved the oatmeal during my search when the top of the big oatmeal container came off and oatmeal exploded all over my pantry.

I'd like to tell you that I handled this well, but I didn't. I nearly lost my mind. I then texted Nathan about the pantry oatmeal explosion and that we had absolutely no food in the house. Nathan texted back asking if he should go to the store. I realized that I had really no food for Noah's lunch and no staples for our stapler. I was in charge of getting supplies for the last day of camp project. In my frustration I texted the following:

"Yes and staples. Chipes for Noah."

Nathan, Chad, and Scott tried to decipher my text message. They all agreed that chipes must mean chips. But staples? Why would I randomly need staples? They all decided that I must mean staples as in basic food supplies. Nathan came home with chips, bread, peanut butter, cereal, etc. He walked in that night to find the stapler on the counter, so he turned around and went back to the store and bought staples.

The next morning I found the staples, chips, and tons of other food in the pantry. The staples were the wrong size (naturally just my luck), but I was able to find staples that worked.

I had to leave early for yoga class, and after I got ready I came downstairs to find Nathan reading a book (as he always does) on the couch. I was still feeling sorry for myself and my busy week so I said, "It must be nice to live the life of leisure." I went to yoga and work and left Nathan in the messy oatmeal-filled house with the kids.

I returned from work to find a sparkling clean house and not one speck of oatmeal in my pantry.

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