Lucy turns 6

Lucy turned 6 years old this week. She was really excited for her birthday this year. She got to be the star student in her class, so she made a poster about her and got to tell her class all about it. She also brought Oreo cookies to pass out to everyone. 
We threw Lucy a wild party. What kind of party would a little girl like; a princess party or perhaps a My Little Pony party? Nope, she wanted an Avengers party. Lucy is really into super heroes right now. To help with the hero theme we got Lucy a Black Widow costume, no not the gross, terrifying spider, but the super hero from the avengers. She is Lucy’s favorite.

 

She was so excited about it she wore it for two straight days, other than school. We also got her an Avengers shirt and a Thor helmet and hammer.

Ariane made super hero masks for all the kids, Wolverine masks, and we assembled the Avengers for a party.

 

It was fun, we played some super hero themed games. Like pin the hammer on Thor.

Black Widows bad guy shoot out.

They used paper plates to make their own Captain America shields.

Lucy got a bunch of fun presents from the kids.

We then fed them all Avengers cup cakes.

 

Lucy had so much fun and she is already planning next year’s party.

Lucy Turns Five

Last week Lucy turned five years old. It’s hard to believe that my little girl is getting so big. When she got up that morning we let her open her presents.

Some of her favorites were the Perry the platypus shirt and the new Barbie clothes.

We found a fire fighter outfit, which Ariel is modeling, and a police officer outfit, though that looks like something you would see at a Halloween party rather than by a police officer.

Lucy said she wanted to have a Phineas and Ferb party this year. So we found a bunch of Phineas and Ferb party stuff at the store and we were ready to party.

Aunt Liz was nice enough to make a Perry the platypus cake for the occasion, and it looks great.

You can check out her blog, I Make Cakes, and see what other creations she has made. She may even be willing to make one for you if the price is right.

My sister Alison, who when she found out that Lucy was having a Phineas and Ferb party asked me when Lucy was going to have a girl party? Well she chose the theme not me this year. In the past we’ve had Cars, Sponge Bob and Star Wars and Lucy has loved them. So when she asks for Princess and Fairies then we will throw a more girl themed party, until then I'll keep enjoying these other parties.

This year we told Lucy she could have a party with friends. We had some kids from the neighbor hood over along with a few cousins and some other friends. We played a few Phineas and Ferb themed games. Like musical chairs with the music from the show, pin the tail on the platypus and my favorite game “Where’s Perry”, where we hide Lucy’s stuffed Perry the platypus and the kids try to find him, those of you who have watched the show know why that’s funny.

It was a lot of fun; Lucy had a real good time and was so excited the whole day. Maybe next year we will have a Princess themed party or a Denver Broncos themed party, we haven’t decided yet.

Here's Jack

Jack was born yesterday at 9:38 pm. He is 8lbs 13ozs and 21inches long.
Here’s Ariane before she began the process.

She was in pretty good spirits.

After 12 hours of labor though she was pretty tired.

But we had this cute little guy so it was worth it. Here he is about a minute after being born.

Ariane felt much better the next day.

My parents are really happy to have another grandson and so are the other two sets of grandparents, I just failed to get pictures of the Stevens and Evans when they came up to visit us.

Arianes sister Chelsea has also been up several times to see her and Jack.

Lucy’s really excited to be a big sister and to see her Mom again.

We’re way excited to have this little guy as part of our family now.

July 27th Birthdays

Today is my 31st birthday. A few years ago I took a look back at some of the important events that took place on July 27th. This year I thought I’d take a look at some famous people who share my birthday, in order from youngest to oldest.

Alex Rodriguez

Born: 1975
MLB baseball player (shortstop, third base). He has played for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees


Maya Rudolph

Born: 1972
She is an actress who was a regular on "Saturday Night Live" from 1999-2007 and has also appeared in several movies.


Jerry Van Dyke

Born: 1931
He is an actor who is most famous for his roll as an assistant coach on the television show "Coach" and is also the brother of Dick Van Dyke


Joseph Bert Tinker

Born: 1880
Death: 1948-07-27
"Hall of Fame" MLB baseball player (shortstop). He played for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds (player-manager). During his career, he won 4 pennants and led NL in fielding for shortstops 5 times. He later managed the Cubs and worked for Chicago of the Federal League.

Nobody of any real historical significance on this list, so I’ll have to see what I can do about that.

Kansas City, 2010

Last week I took Ariane out to Kansas to meet my brother Tyler and his family. My parents also came with us.
We had a really good time and it was fun to spend some time with Tylers family. We had some famous Kansas City BBQ a couple of nights and it was great.

Ariane and I visited several museums during our trip. Like the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City. No photos were allowed inside.
Out side they had a memorial to Charlie Parker a famous saxophonist from Kansas City.

Also located near by was the Negro League Baseball Museum.
This museum didn't allow any photos inside either but I did manage to get picture of Ariane in a Kansas City Monarchs hat.


There were museums where we could take pictures, like the National World War I museum in Kansas City.

I also got Ariane to try on another hat.

We went with my patents to the Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence MO this museum also allowed pictures to be taken.


We also visited the church sites in Independence, like the temple sit.


Tyler, Brooke and the boys joined all of us for a trip to Liberty MO to see the jail.


Ariane and I had a great time getting know Tyler's family. This was this first time I had met Braden, or as Britain calls him Mr. Braffey. He is a fun little guy.


Britain had his third birthday while we were out there. He had big party with presents, dinosaur cake and a pinata.





Ariane and I took in a couple of Kansas City Royals game while we there. We went with my parents to watch them play Angels, the roylas fell behind early but were able to mount a come back, unfortunatly they fell one run short.

A couple of nights later we went with Tyler and Brooke to watch the Royals take on the Detroit Tigers. The Royals ended up falling to the tigers 4-2.

In keeping with the museum theme of this trip the Royals have their own museum.

Full of all kinds of awards won by Royals players. The 1985 world series trophy

Cy Young Awards

Gold glove awards

A tribute to George Brett, considered the best player in Royals history

And George Bretts bat from the famous "Pine Tar" bat.

For those who don't know what this is check out this link it should explain it. Don't worry, they ended up giving him the home run and played the rest of the game a few days later and the Royals won. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrFzGbM_g4Y