Let's Do This

Shoot. I failed on the August goal.  And here it is already September 21, and I haven't posted a darn thing.  I've got LOTS to post.  Just also have a lot going on.  But I'll try....let's start with....PENNY

Did I mention we got a cat?!  I work with a guy who lives on a 'farm' with his wife and 9 and counting kids.  That's right, 9.5 kids right now.  Can you imagine? Anywho, they had kittens and he was trying to pawn them off on people. OF course I gave in. OF course Andy objected at first.  OF course we all love our new kitten!

She hung out in my office for a day (the transfer day).

Taylor picked the name Penny based on the girl from Inspector Gadget.

Very first day. 

We've worked on not touching the tail area quite so much. When they watched her go to the bathroom once, that helped.

Day 1 for Connor was rough. She was not a fan.

She got a little closer - and was ok as long as one hand was on somebody.

Day 2.  All that tentativeness was out the window.

Awww..Penny!

There's the tail touch again.

Penny decided to chase Connor.  Connor was not a big fan of that.

Everybody smile. Stop trying to choke her.  

Extra love.

Even more love.

Penny probably wishes Connor would go back to her day one opinion.

Did not expect that she would climb under the window seal outside. Little creepy.

Yeah, that reeeeally looks like a happy cat.

Penny really likes Taylor. She's a little less 'loving'.

Vacation!

We spent a few days at a family friends' cabin in Pitkin, Colorado.  When it was 107 in Kansas, we arrived at the Lucky Dog Lodge to highs of 78.  Andy was in heaven.  In fact, he's ready to start looking for jobs in Colorado Springs ;)

The girls had their first experience on four-wheelers, and I have to admit - those things were fun.  Four-wheeling up to the Alpine Tunnel and to Cumberland Pass  were great adventures.

 The view from the deck at the Lucky Dog Lodge.  (Seriously, this cabin is nicer than our house. It's nice to have family friends like this!)

Ready to go! She would ride behind Andy on this big one, strapped in with a bungee cord.  And she fell asleep on each trip back down the mountain.  Incredible...she won't sleep through the flipping night, but she can sleep through a washed-out & rocky road, loud and bumpy four-wheeler ride.

Taylor rode with my Dad on the other big 4-wheeler.  They were good partners.  He said she would talk most of the trip.

Yep, we were up that high. The air is cold that high!

Ready to go on our longest day trip to Pitkin.  

Les Cousins

Heidi and Jeremy went to Europe for some cool stuff that Jeremy's music was involved in.  I'll leave the details to Heidi because I know she'll be blogging about it soon (Ha!  YES...Snarky jab at the sister-in-law....FTW!)  Anywho, that meant that Kaleb and Anya got to stay with GG and Papa Tom for a while.  We met them in KC for a free dinosaur exhibit and we also went to Union Station and saw a whole bunch of model trains.  Good times.

Sisters, sisters..

Nice goggles you two...

She definitely looks at the world a different way (please also note her beads which were a must-have accessory for the day)

Kaleb & Taylor really do enjoy hanging out with each other, we should do that more often.

Anya & Kaleb in some sort of tunnel thing, where the lights were strange and Kaleb is looking oddly 'Zuul'-like.

If you are counting, that's 2 for July.  

Oops!

I did it again.  (Yes, homage to the Britney of 2001)  I completely missed my goal of 2 posts a month for June.  And I'm about to do it again in July.  Good thing I have lots of things to say!

This post: St. John's Mexican Fiesta - 2012

We love going to our church's annual fiesta fundraiser.  It's usually 1000 degrees and that just makes the homemade Mexican food, live mariachi bands, and cold beer better.  They also have a little carnival, but the girls aren't really ever interested in waiting in the lines.  This year, they spotted cotton candy and we thought - eh, what the heck?  Personally, I cannot stand the stuff - but my sweets queen, you know she loved it.

Can't you just feel the sugar rush setting in (and the looming crash)?

It's as big as I am!

So on this outing, we learned:

1) Taylor loves Cotton Candy (wow - shocking)

2) Connor can do without Cotton Candy, but she loves salsa (again...shocked)

and 

3) These girls should not wear dresses without shorts underneath them to parks

Quota

I set a really crappy goal of posting at least 2 times a month at the beginning of the year, and I missed it in March.  Two times is really not that much.   BUT I'm close to missing May's quota!  Therefore, a short random picture post.

Kaleb & Taylor (and a little blurb of Connor and Anya) at Aunt Ellie's graduation.  They thought it was pretty cool that they were in the 'house of the Jayhawks'.

These two are a mess. And trouble. Did I mention a mess?

Risk & Reward

We've been trying to work with Connor on staying in her own bed all night long for a while now, and we came up with the reward that she could go to Chuck E Cheese if she stayed in her bed for X nights. Also, this is effort for me because at the end of the week, I am so tired some nights I don't even remember letting her sleep beside me or on the floor!  Finally, we got there. In fact - it's like we turned a corner last week and she did a great job sleeping.  Saturday we finally went to Chuck E Cheese - and wow, that place. It is so gross, busy, crazy, nasty.  But the girls had a great time.

Whack-A-Mole-ish

I thought they would chicken out of this once the chair started moving, instead they just loved it.  It's so nice to be surprised like that sometimes!

All the photo booth printers were broken.  Of course.

Not even scared!

I cannot believe they both did this...but it was really slow moving, 

so not near as scary as they thought at first.

Getting ready for the lake!

Next time she earns her reward, we are eating somewhere else and just getting tokens.  Just thinking about the food right now hurts me.