Bix Weekend

This weekend was Bix weekend in the Quad Cities. Uncle Brian, Aunt Diane and cousin Hannah came up from St. Louis to celebrate with us AND so Brian could run his first Bix 7 road race. But first, Maddox participated in HER first official run! She did the Jr. Bix Friday evening. It was 70 yards long complete with a medal waiting for her at the end. Parents were allowed to 'help' the kids so Eric went along with her while Kennon and I watched from the sidelines. Initially she was scared of all the noisy cheering and excited parents and immediately wanted to be picked up by Eric. But, she quickly realized what was going on and wanted to get down again to make a dash for the finish! She did great. There were a ton of kids down there. It was like minivan heaven! She got her medal, took a quick picture by the Oscar Meyer mobile ( which she had no idea about because she hasn't had a hot dog yet!! ) and we headed for the car as Kennon had had just about enough of the carseat. Saturday AM Brian and Eric got up early to head downtown Davenport to get in line for the race. The rest of us loaded up the STROLLERSAURUS and found a spot out along McClellan BLVD to watch all 18,000 runners go by. Maddox was really entertained, not only by the runners, but by cousin Hannah. We were able to spot both Eric and Brian who did raced really well despite the warm humid air. The rest of the weekend we hung out at the house. Grammy Marti and Grandpa Dick came over to visit and we grilled out. Maddox and Hannah were quite the pair together. Hannah really took her under her wing and played with her the entire weekend, reading books, teaching her letters etc. Maddox woke up Sunday AM saying ' Hannah' over the monitor as if to ask if Hannah happened to be downstairs. Unfortunately the Gillaspies made an early getaway back to St. Louis Sunday AM. But it was a great weekend had by all and we are planning to make it a Kies/Gillaspie tradition.

Wedding Weekend and Smiley Guy

So I thought I better get busy with the blog with LAST weekend's activities because we have a BIG weekend coming up. Eric, Maddox and I loaded up the car and headed up to Grammy and Grandpa Dick's for Uncle Jay's wedding. It was kind of a long, crying filled car ride but luckily when we got there it was time for FUN. Uncle Tyler, Aunt Brooke, and cousin Carter had flown in for the wedding so we got to hang out with them all weekend. Carter is getting so big and is SO animated. So dang cute! Maddox thought he was pretty fun and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. The wedding was beautiful and Maddox did a great job walking down the aisle with the BIG girls. You can see she really didn't have a job, just to be cute and she sure accomplished that. She really couldn't figure out what the heck she was doing walking down that aisle. Her little eyes were like half dollars and she just kept looking at all the people starring at her. The older girls handed out daisies as they walked down the aisle. The hotel pool was almost better than the YMCA kids pool, complete with a froggy slide, fountains, and dropping water buckets. Maddox FINALLY got brave enough to go down the slide by herself after a little coaxing from both myself and Aunt Brooke. Kennon slept in the carseat the entire time we were at the pool despite the WARM humid air. Kennon slept well at Grammy's house in the pack n play and gave us a few smiles over the weekend. His colic has improved and he has recently started smiling!! He is so darn cute. ( sorry I couldn't decide which one to put on the blog so I just put all the smiley pictures on!! ) He is still just sleeping about 4 to 5 hours at a time but I'm certain it won't be long before we start getting a full nights sleep ( or well I"m praying). It was just about this time that Maddox started sleeping through the night. We worked with Maddox all week on saying 'Aunt Brooke, Uncle Ty, and Carter and by the time we arrived on Friday AM she had it mastered. She is doing well with her words and is actually starting to string 2 or 3 words together to create MINI sentences....like 'I do it' or ' I love you Mama'. This weekend Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian, and cousin Hannah are coming up from St. Louis. Brian and Eric are going to run the BIX on Saturday AM. But, before that, Maddox is going to run her first road race Friday evening. She is signed up for the Jr. Bix. She is to run 70 yards, with a little help from Dad as needed. Should be a fun weekend.

Farm Day in Orion

Maddox, Kennon, Grammy and I got to spend the day out in Orion yesterday at my friend Jen Martin (Nightingale)'s house!! She was home from California visiting her Mom and Dad so we all gathered at her house for a FARM DAY! We had a great time. I had been talking to Maddox for several days about going to the FARM, ridding the TRACTOR and seeing the PIGGIES but it didn't quite sink in until we were actually there. It was SO HOT but the kids did really well....as you can see from all the pictures ( Maddox is in the token purple hat with the red cheeks of course). The little pigs were only 2 days old and the bigger black and white one was 2 weeks old. Maddox ( unlike all the other kids) was pretty afraid of the HUGE tractor and didn't want to ride at first. It was loud and I think she was more afraid of the noise than anything. But, as soon as we started walking away from it she of course started pointing back at it to indicate she wanted to ride. Luckily I was able to ride with her which soothed her fears and once we were on she did GREAT. Steve, Jen's brother, drove us around...! Maddox even got to honk the horn and turn the turn signal on and off....and THANK GOODNESS the cabin was air conditioned. It was seriously so hot out...!! We drove around in one of the wheat fields they had just picked. It was really fun. Then we went and saw one of their combines and climbed around a bit in the hog wagon. After all the festivities outside we were hot, hungry, and tired. Betty, Jen's mom, had made a great lunch of italian beef and fresh fruit. After lunch we played with the tons of TOYS that Betty and Rich have at their house. You could definitely tell it was a GRANDKIDS SAFE house! We managed to get a picture of all the kids lined up on the couch. I think it is hilarious. Brothers and sisters are pretty much sitting next to each other if you can match them up. ( Kennon was sleeping in the swing...we decided not to disturb him to get him in the picture...next time buddy). We owe a BIG THANKS to Betty, Rich, Jen and Steve for catering to us and taking time out of their busy farm day work schedules to play with us. Grammy and I managed to keep Maddox awake on the way home and hurried her inside to her bed for her afternoon nap. She slept until almost 5:30. It was a great day and something that Maddox wouldn't normally get to experience. Thanks Nightingales. And thanks to Grammy for the extra set of hands. Grammy stayed inside with Kennon while I was out doing all the fun activities with Maddox. It was WAY TOO hot for Kennon to be outside. I never could have done it without you Grammy.