Camping trip!!

So Friday after the kids went to school I headed over to Weldon Springs with my mom to get my tent pitched. (I had a bow party in Pontiac and didn't have time to work on it after school) My kids were so excited that they didn't even want to go to school!!

Friday night I didn't get to stay but they had chicken veggie packets that they made over the campfire and of course s'mores! I got back to the campsite around 10.

Saturday we were all up at our normal 6am. had pancakes and bacon for Breakfast, the boys went fishing while the moms stayed back and got lunch ready and I made bows and others read books. For lunch we had Hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans. The kids had fun on the bike trails and the playground area and went boating with grandpa (or better know as pa). I was in charge of the entertainment and so I had the kids do a scavenger hunt, they did a campfire skit, and we watched Night at the Museum with dads projector (the kids thought that was really cool, even other kids from around watched!)

This is a funny picture of Ethan being our light post. After the movie we needed to clean up the food and put it away so no animals would come and get into it so Ethan stood up on the table and held the light so we could see.

Sunday once again we were up early today was french toast and bacon again for breakfast. We had our own Church service with the kids singing the VBS songs and dad preaching from Genesis. The boys fished again we grilled out and then headed to the lake again with the boat and we (the Prather's) headed straight to the beach to swim.

We had a great weekend. Now I am back home doing about 7 loads of laundry (all those blankets, and dirty clothes from camping and the campfire smoke smell!!) I will put more pictures up when I get them from the family!!

Also The Governor wants to close this State camp facility and there are petitions to sign to keep it open.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

OK this year was a BLAST!! First of all we went and enjoyed the festival on Friday night as a family then Saturday morning I went to help put up a shaped Azul dragon balloon, but after I got started helping another balloon guy asked if I wanted to ride in his!! Well YES I did that would be awesome!! So Ethan and I rode together with another couple in this striped balloon, the guy called it a roll of lifesavers!! It was great we rode from Chester East Lincoln school to Atlanta Illinois!! (we got the longest ride of all!!)

Here is a picture of the balloon we rode in and a few pictures from the town in the air. The first picture is of Lincoln Christian College and then a picture of a farmers field with the shadow of our balloon!


















OK then we had even more fun!! Saturday night I helped get together a crew of people from church to help "chase" a balloon sponsored by the City of Lincoln. Azul. This balloon stands 84 feet tall! (each tooth is 3.5 feet tall, crazy big!!) It was so much fun! First we had to help hook everything up to the basket then undo the balloon. Because of the size we each had to stand and wave each toe for the air to flow, then once we had it going we had to help hold it down for the balloon glow. As you can see it took several guys to keep the balloon from going were you don't want it to go!!

Here it is in the air



















After the glow was over then came the hard part for all of us girls! (and guys still had to help) We had to push all the air out and roll it back up so it could be put away for the morning launch. This process took OVER one hour to do (closer to 1 1/2 hours), but as you can see we had a blast.














A Super big THANK YOU goes to: Scott, Kayla, Mindy, Zach, Libby, Kirk, (little Emma), Deb, Brian, Brady, Shawn (or Sean not sure on the spelling), Devon, Jeanne for helping out!! I enjoyed having you all there!!

First Day of School!!

Today was the first day of school for 3 of my 4 kids!! I can't believe I will only have Bella everyday all day!! We had a great morning though, I made waffles and pumpkin blossoms for breakfast and then had to take the annual first day of school pictures.And Bella thought she got to go to school today too! She had to carry a box of Kleenex to school today and get her picture taken!

Yes I know I am missing a child in this picture, If you know the family well you would know that Isaiah doesn't like his picture taken.

Zack 4th Grade with Mrs. Sauer

Isaiah 1st Grade With Mrs. Stamm

Moriah Kindergarten with Mrs. McCormick

Chuck E. Cheese Fun day!

I have wanted to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese all summer and we finally did that today! I had to go see one of my stores in Bloomington so it all worked out well! (plus I was able to have chrys help me out and watch my kids while I had my appointment!) The kids had a GREAT time. we finished off the day with OVER 1000 tickets!! (that is a first for us) But it doesn't take long when your boys keep hitting the jackpots!Here are the boys after they hit the big 80 tickets!! ( the most you can get at a time on this game) Can you tell they are pretty happy about it too!I thought this was cute of Aaron hitting the target with the water gun.And Bella rode this silly ride like 3 times in a row!!Ticket Time!!

Here are the kids feeding the machine with there massive amount of tickets!

Lowe Family Reunion

Sunday after church we headed up to Bloomington for the Lowe Reunion at Miller Park. We ate lunch, played wiffle ball (baseball), played in the new splash park, the boys played mini golf with Pa, and then went to the zoo. It was a very filled day, but the kids had a blast!

Babyations Ad

Check out my babyations blog to find out details as to how to earn a gift certificate for hairbows.

08*08*08 is coming!!

Are you ready for the Olympics? We only watch a few, but at least there will be something different on TV. Mike and I are sick of what there is to watch! So what are you most excited to watch during the Olympics? I like the gymnastics best, tennis gets boring after awhile.


Oh, and by the way if you haven't checked out my Babyations blog you should. There is a link on my blog next to my website. www.babyationshairbows.blogspot.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!! (better known as Daddy!)

We celebrated Mike's birthday last night because today we have Kallie's Welcome home from Tanzania party. So I made a baseball birthday cake (I know it doesn't look as good as the cakes from Chrys, but I didn't think about it in time and VBS is going on at church so Chrys was really busy this week!), a yummy dinner and we watched dad open presents. Mike was VERY surprised with the bracelet that I got him. He has wanted some really nice mens jewerly for a while so I finally got him some!

This picture I just had to post!! First of all I never get pictures of Isaiah, and second he is wearing winter pjs with sunglasses and just being a nutball!!Before dinner the girls put on a "concert" for daddy. Moriah put on her American Girl music and danced and sang. Of course Bella has to do EVERYTHING her sister does!

Zack's Swim lessons

Zack has had swim lessons the past two weeks and has really enjoyed them. He loved to splash the lifeguard that was teaching him. One day he took a swim noodle and put it next to the hole where the water comes into the pool and squirted her right in the face!! (of course I thought that was funny) and then when you watch the diving board clip you will see he is trying to splash her again!!

Candlelight dinner with daddy!

On Tuesday night we lost our power and the tornado sirens went off around 6:30. So here is Bella eatting fried chicken with daddy under candlelight. She would open her mouth (like in the picture) and tell daddy "more chicken daddy"

Swimming at Katie's House

Tuesday we went over to Katie's to swim after our walk outside. The kids had a great time. Bella didn't get in the pool because mommy spent time watching the bigger kids play and making bows. (Bella likes to play on the slides and swings better anyway)