Peterson Family Christmas

After driving back to town and spending some time with Rick, Mer and I headed over to Aunt Meg's house to have our final Christmas with family.

Meredith was very excited about her new Bitty Baby from Grandma Sue. She quickly unboxed it and started mothering it in her best motherly voice.

Visit with Family

Rick's Uncle Richard and Aunt Gloria came to town to visit the family for the weekend. My camera batteries were running low, so I was only able to catch a couple of quick pics and didn't manage to get any pictures with Richard and Gloria.

We went out to Shawnee Mission park to play on the playground and explore for a while. Uncle Richard told many stories about growing up living in the park.

The kids took a hike down a path to the lake, actually they made the trip three seperate times -- first with Uncle Brad, then with me, then one more trip with Aunt Meg to retrieve the fish skeleton that they found.

Mer and Brady also spent a fair amount of time playing on the playground. Mer is working on her pose and asked Mommy to document her pose.

After the park, we headed back to Meg's for some pizza, football and more visiting with Richard and Gloria. It was a beautiful day and a good visit with family.

Meredith is Four

Meredith decided to have a mermaid theme birthday party with all of her family and few friends. She had a great time celebrating her special day and playing with all of her new toys.

Meredith always enjoys the birthday song and blowing out candles.

The kids enjoy the lunch at the kid's table.

Meredith received many thoughtful presents from her friends and family. She was quite the princess opening each gift and playing with all of her new things.

Meredith wasted no time putting on her new Barbie Princess dress and playing with her new music box.

It was a beautiful day and we were able to spend most of the day outside enjoying some of Meredith's new toys including a new bike and bubbles.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch today with Brad, Meg and Brady. It was a little windy and chilly, but still a nice morning to play outside.

Uncle Brad showed the kids how to launch a mini pumpkin in the pumpkin sling shot.

The kids spent a lot of time demonstrating their climbing skills on the playground equipment.

They they chased each other through the hay bale maze. Mer liked this tunnel inside the maze.

Then it was time to get on the hayrack to ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick out our pumpkins.

Before we left, we stopped to measure the kids on the growth chart. We'll see how they have grown by next fall.

4th of July

We started out the 4th of July celebration by joining Meg and Steph in the Lenexa Freedom Run. This was our first 5K. Mer ran with me in the stroller and we were able to run the entire race.

We went home to shower, then headed back downtown for the parade. Mer brought her purse along to collect all of the candy she could. Lucky for her, Brady doesn't like candy and passed all of his collection along to her (good thing we brought a bag).

Meredith didn't appreciate the marching band. She thought it was too loud.

Brady watching the parade with his Grandma Sheryl.

Much to Brady's delight, the train passed by two times during the parade. He loved his up close experience of the train.

In the evening, we headed out to the community college lawn for a view of the fireworks.

Mother's Day at the Zoo

We made our first trip out to the KC Zoo today to celebrate Mother's Day. We went with Aunt Meg, Uncle Brad and Brady. Then Uncle Ian and Max met up with us as well. Meredith had a great time seeing all of the animals. She was an excited little chatterbox all the way through the Zoo. She told me on the way home that her favorite was the Giraffe. What a Mother's Day blessing to see my child happy, playful and carefree!!

Florida Vacation

Meredith and I just got back from a seven day trip to Florida to visit Grandma Sue, celebrate Meg & Brad's recent marriage, play and rest. We had a wonderful trip and really enjoyed spending time with our family.

On our first full day in Florida, Meredith helped Grandma Sue make chocolate chip cookies. Grandma loves to make cookies with the grandkids and this was Meredith's first time baking with her.

Meredith loved playing with her cousins, Marley and Nyle. It has been over two years since we had seen them. Marley and Meredith spent hours at the kitchen table coloring and playing with play doh throughout the trip.

Meredith is still our little fish. With her handy lifejacket on she can swim around the pool all by herself and keep up with Marley and Nyle. Meredith is all about her independence these days, so she was thrilled to be able to swim by herself too.

On Friday, we all pitched in to put together the flower arrangements for Meg & Brad's reception. We all made our own unique arrangements, including Marley.

Saturday night was Meg & Brad's reception at the clubhouse. Everyone looked beautiful and had a great time. Here are some family pictures that we took prior to the party.

At the party we were able to meet all of Grandma Sue's very nice friends, eat good food and have a few drinks. After several speeches and many tears, Wally stood in for Dave to dance with Meg.

The kids had a great time at the party as well. They made a new friend, shared their toys, danced, drank Shirley Temples, ate cake and watched a movie.

Brad and Nyle spent some time hanging out and keeping an eye out for "the creepy guy."

Mer spent a lot of time in the pool. On most days she swam twice a day with her cousins. Brady still isn't as fond of the pool and stuck to the top stair. Mer particularly enjoyed riding on Uncle Brad's back while he swam around the pool.

On Monday we drove down to Naples to visit with Mer's new friend Jake at his grandparents house. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed playing in the backyard and kicking their feet in the pool.

On Tuesday we said good-bye to the warm Florida weather to return to our home in wintery Kansas City. We returned rested and filled up by all of the quality time spent with our family.