Meneely Reunion

It's reunion time!!  Here's my grandpa with his 3 kids and their spouses, 6 (out of 7) grandkids and their spouses, and 4 (out of 6) great-grandkids.

  

 And the best part is always the park!  It stopped raining long enough to get a little play time.

 

 

 

Back at my parents' house we had some Meneely Olympics.  It was epic.  We had exciting events like shooting trolls with nerf guns, rock/paper/scissors, and who has the lowest blood pressure.  I rocked that with 88/53.  Yeah, I'm basically in a coma.

It was a pretty even Olympics with everyone winning one event.  And of course 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place got to stand on the podium just like in World Class Track Meet.

Reunions of Yore:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

Hannah Stats- 4 1/2 Years

 On September 18th, Hannah turned 4.5 years old.  She is now 42 pounds and 45 inches tall.  Now that Olive is older, they play together a lot.  Hannah is constantly chattering to her and coming up with ideas for games.  Olive think Hannah is hilarious and usually goes along with whatever game is suggested.  They are an awesome pair!  Hannah continues to be a big rule follower.  She is very friendly and always makes a new random friend wherever we go.  She has a long attention span for doing projects.  She likes to "do homework" (workbooks) for fun.  Despite her love of school, she hasn't complained at all about not going to preschool this fall....although she is already excited for kindergarten next year!

For her half birthday she chose going to Little Monkey Bizness and lunch at Fazoli's.  She had her favorite meal: fettuccine alfredo.

Hannah's Favorites at 4 1/2
colors: pink, purple, yellow, blue (she couldn't narrow it down)
animals: flamingo, horse
foods: macaroni, hot dogs, pb&j, raspberries
drinks: grape juice, chocolate milk
restaurants: Fazoli's, Fritz's, Jason's Deli
song: I Like to Move It
books: Berenstain Bear books
TV shows: Dinosaur Train, Bubble Guppies
toys: Pipeworks, iPad, camera
activities: drawing, reading, riding bikes, dress up, snuggling, swimming, climbing, putting on shows
games: Thomas Uno, Monopoly, Elefun

Organization

I started this year with the resolution to clean every cabinet, closet, and drawer in the house.  It started off slowly, but now that I'm not working I have more time to organize.  I've done all my kitchen cabinets, all drawers and closets in my room, everything in Hannah's room, two bathrooms, and all hall closets.  And here's some before and after pics because I love those. :)

And I still haven't found a place for all the teaching stuff I brought home (notice the boxes), but it is getting there.

                         

Painting

 

 

 

Just Hanging Out with Ollie and Penny

Curious George at Crown Center

 We met my cousin Amanda and her boys Soren and Liam at Crown Center for some Curious George fun.  It was a pretty good exhibit with lots of hands-on activities.

 

 

 

Of course we had to eat at Fritz's.
 

 

And then a special treat at Chips Chocolate Factory.
 

Baby Willa and Swimming

After Spinach Festival we headed down south (Olathe) to see the newest Vrooman:  Willa Margaret.  She was only 5 lbs 5 oz when she was born on August 20.  Her long skinny arms and legs really remind me of our little 5 lbs 9 oz Hannah.  Now look at her!

 

Hannah loves holding babies, but she loves swimming even more.  She was very excited that the Vrooman's neighborhood pool was still open.
 

 

 

Spinach Festival

Spinach Festival!  You know how I love a good festival on a Saturday morning.  The Finleys joined us for the fun.  Apparently Lenexa was once the "Spinach Capital of the World" during the 1930s.  Alas, no actual spinach was consumed, we were just there for the bounce houses. :)

 

Making a Home Depot craft project (ring toss) and wearing her Spinach Princess crown.
 

Baby crawling races!  I wish the girls could have done something like this.  Too bad they both learned to crawl in November.
 

 

 

And of course Olive was uncooperative to take a picture with her name inspiration: Olive Oyl.  Okay, not really.  She was named for her great-grandmother.  But it still would have been a cute picture.

Princess Mustache

A nutella handlebar mustache while eating breakfast
 

AFter she realized I was taking a picture of her...  (this is a smile)
 

A Pirate and a Princess at the Park

 

 

 

Labor Day

Ah, the last weekend of summer.  Labor Day.  I was a little bummed that we didn't have big plans for the 3 day weekend, but it turned out great.  It was swimming weekend.  Friday night we went swimming for the last time in Prairie Village pool.  Saturday we took a day trip to the Osage River outside of Jeff City.  We were invited by the Chases (who went to college with Steve).  They have two kids (Rose and Conrad) each about six months younger than ours.  They love to go biking together while their dads do a weekly running group.

Anyway, we had a blast hanging out with them in the river and celebrating Rose's 4th birthday.
 

I didn't get any pictures, but Hannah went tubing for the first time with Steve.  Later he convinced me to go for the first time as well.  Hannah was braver (and had a tougher ride!) than me.  I did get pictures of awesome Alicia skiing.

Olive loved the boat, but hated wearing a life jacket.
 

Much happier eating cookies in her bear chair.
  

 

Rose received several princess outfits as presents and the girls had a great time playing dress-up.
 

Since we had done pool swimming and river swimming, we decided on lake swimming for the next day. :)  We went to Longview Lake and built sandcastles on the beach.  So fun!
 

 

 

And on our bonus day, we went to Antioch Park and Franklin Park with Aunt Marissa.  So, we fit in a lot of fun on our Labor Day weekend.  And now I can't wait to drag Steve to all kinds of festivals this fall. :)