Fireworks & Such

Attached is a slideshow of some of our 4th of July fun and some around town pictures. For the 4th of July we went to Uncle Seth & Aunt Melody's house. We shot off some of our own fireworks from small poppers to big fireworks and we got to watch big fireworks being shot off all around us.
We also went on a bike ride that morning...13 miles pulling 2 trailers with kiddos in them. It was long and hard and hot! We took some pictures at the halfway point at a park. The kiddos enjoyed the ride and so did Josh and I, but we were plain worn out! Enjoy!

Cakes

Well, last year I requested cake decorating items for my Christmas gift. Uncle Bill and Aunt Brenda bought me an awesome Wilton cake decorating caddy that was filled to the brim with all the tools you need to decorate awesome cakes.

Below are pictures of two cakes that I've decorated just this week. The first is of a carrot cake. I made this carrot cake for a non-for-profit dinner party we had Friday night. The cake is from scratch and so was the cream cheese icing. I should have taken a picture of the side of the cake because it had finely chopped walnuts all along the side.

The 2nd cake was for CeKariya's 2 year birthday. Her birthday was actually yesterday, but we celebrated it today with her. She loves Elmo and the Wal*Mart near us didn't have an Elmo pan so I had to do my own. I think it came out great! The cake was a box cake (German Chocolate), but the buttercream icing was homemade. Enjoy!

The big view of the cake...it' states: "Elmo says Happy Birthday!"

A view showing the start and shell border on the side of the cake.

A broader view of the cake from the top-side.

Our May Trip to Colorado

In late May, our brood travelled to Colorado to visit family and friends. As Becky posted, we stopped to see her clan. That was 9 kiddos and 3 adults to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo...it was quite an interesting trip.
Below is the slide show giving just a glimpse to our week long trip. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the boys riding their new bikes, but we'll post some when they become available.
Enjoy!

London Turns 1

Monday, May 23 brought a big day for our family. London turned the BIG 1! How exciting to get to celebrate a birthday for the Little Man! The slideshow is just a snippet of what the afternoon held for us.
We all went to Grandma Barb & Grandpa John's house to celebrate. Aunt Melody and Uncle Andy were both there as well! We had some yummy food and a yummy cake.
It took London a little bit to figure out what the cake was, but once he tasted it...He realized he had to get it off the paper plate so he could eat the plate! Enjoy!

Jason & Jana Visit Missouri

In May, Jason & Jana came to visit us. We were very excited to hear that Jason had training in Missouri and thus they would be in KC and would love to meet the kiddos. While we didn't get to spend a great deal of time with them, the time we did get was greatly desired!
We began the evening by eating at Arthur Bryants in the 18th and Vine district. It was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. We then went down to the Lewis & Clark Park at Quality Hill to play on the playground and get some good talk time. Below is a slide show highlighting our time at the park with each other.
We are hoping that some day we can take the kiddos to the UP to see Jason & Jana on their turf.

Jamion Graduates Pre-K Part II

Here's a slide of pictures and 3 videos of J's graduation. The first video is Ms. Paige's dedication to her class. The second video is of the kiddos singing various songs they learned while in class...this one is a bit long, but very cute. The last video is of Jamion getting his "diploma". Enjoy.

MoDOT Big Trucks

So, once a year MoDOT (Missouri Dept of Transportation) brings all their big trucks, signs, police cruisers, ambulances, fire trucks, etc. to their district office in KC and opens them to the public. Here's a slideshow with some pictures we took with the kiddos this year. Enjoy!

Foster Parent Shower

So, my sister-in-law, Melody, threw me a "Foster Parent" shower...you know, a "What do you guys need to be successful foster parents?" shower. I didn't take a lot of pictures.
It was an intimate affair with about 7 of us there (not including kiddos). Josh and I asked for giftcards because they are much easier to use for what is needed than trying to come up with a million different things that we would need. Below are a few pictures from the shower.


Grandma Mumper & Coleton

Coleton & his mom, Sara

My cake...the theme was "Rubber Duckies"

London found the dog water dish and promptly introduced CeKariya...

Belated Easter

So, I'm behind in logging posts and I'm playing catch up. I thought Easter was a good place to start. Below is a slideshow of our Easter. We took the kiddos over to Grandma & Grandpa Mumper's house for a light lunch and an Easter egg hunt.
The kiddos were dressed up and hand lots of fun. London found the 1st egg and from there, it went crazy! Hope you like it!