We're back!

We had a great time in Kentucky with my brother's family. Today as we were looking at all of the pictures we took there, Alexander said," I wish we could go there again today." We both lamented our missing them and wished that we lived closer so we could see them more often. Our last day there Vikki, Kayleigh, Maggie, and I went to the mall and did a little shopping. One thing we were looking for was a car adaptor for the DVD player that Matt and Vikki so graciously gave us for the trip back (it was a life saver). We happened to make a pit stop at the new Build a Bear Workshop store in the mall. I had never been to one but had heard about it and saw it on Oprah once. For those of you who have never been to one or heard of it, the Build A Bear Workshop is a super cool store where you pick out your own stuffed animal "shell", stuff it and make special wishes on it, and name it, put clothes on it, etc. You can special parties there and have tons of fun! I have to admit that I wanted to stop in. Vikki evidently did, too because she said that she would get a bear for Maggie's birthday (its not until November but that was really nice of her) and that the girls could go in and do the whole bear thing. Kayleigh and Ashleigh had been there before but Maggie was a novice. She got the hang of it pretty fast though and had an awesome time picking out the bear and the clothes and all of it! She named her special bear Juke and put a special sound inside the bear that sounds like a magical princess sound. Then she put a pink fancy dress on the bear which came with a special bear purse. The outfit was topped off with two white bows on each ear. Needless to say, Maggie loves Juke and she was so excited to do this with her special cousin, Ashleigh (who is also 3 and full of herself like Maggie is). Vikki was very sweet to get the idea for the girls to do this. She loves to make the kids happy. This is just one of her many virtues. She is an awesome person and a great mom. We had a lot of fun watching our girls have a ball with their new bears!
I dont think I have a picture of the bear! I'll have to take one and post it later. I took pictures on my phone but I dont have an adaptor for it.

We did get some great pictures of our family sans Bob. Matt and Vikki have a beautiful house and we were able to take pictures outside, and a few inside. We took pictures before and after church so everyone was dressed up.

This is our family. Mom and Dad, Matt and Vikki, Me,
Kyle, Kayleigh, Nathan, Ashleigh, Ryleigh, Alexander, Maggie, and Andrew

This picture is of Mom and Dad and the grandkids. I really like this one.

I love this picture of Andrew. He was patty-caking!




This was our attempt at getting my kid's picture taken together. At first Maggie wouldnt
cooperate. Then Andrew was a little upset (you can tell by the beat-red face). My sweet Alexander played with the grass and smiled the whole time!