Anna's 7th Birthday and more TN fun

 We went to Tennessee in late June to help celebrate Anna's surprise 7th birthday party. What made me laugh so much about this party is that Anna told Kelly that she wanted a Surprise Frozen Pool party. What a kid! lol :) Not quite convinced that's how surprises work, but at least she knows what she wants! lol :)

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Here are the guests lined up and waiting for the birthday girl to arrive

 Here she comes...

 Such a sweet smile from such a sweet girl! :)

McKinley hanging out with Kelly

 Everyone always loves to play with Pappy

 Looks like the boys might have been ganging up on poor Charlie... :)

 While we were in Tennessee we visited the Sligers and were able to meet their new grandson, Martin, for the first time. He is such a sweet baby! Not sure why I didn't start snapping pictures earlier on or how I only managed to get a couple, but at least I got one of McKinley checking out Martin.

 The Kellys had us over to enjoy all their wonderful fruit! The kids love to raid their raspberry and blueberry patches. Their farm is always so much fun and such a great place for my wild and crazy kids to run and play! :)

 I couldn't believe McKinley snuggled with Aunt Nancy so quickly but it wasn't at all a surprise that she loved the fresh raspberries! :)

 I have a lot of these berry pictures, but I just can't help it since they're all so cute! :) 

 Time to sit and eat them all!!! :)

I thought this was a sweet picture of Reagan and Aunt Nancy having a chat while looking for a rabbit they had spotted.

 Hanging out by the barn, 

 in the hammock, 

 and don't forget the amazing tire swings!!! 

 Somehow, neither Grand-Dad or I managed to take a single picture at Grammy and Grand-Dad's house, but they were of course a large part of the fun too! Thank you to everyone for always making us feel so special and welcome in Tennessee! :)

McKinley's Minnie Mouse 1st Birthday Party

Since we frequently call McKinley "Minnie Mouse" we decided that would be an appropriate theme for her 1st birthday party. That, and of course our family just loves Mickey and Minnie and all their friends! :)

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Look at this amazing cake my best friend and McKinley's godmother, Kelly, made for her to celebrate with. It was so super cute!!! :)

Our little Minnie Mouse and a pretty decent picture of our family at the party too! :)

  McKinley with her Godparents, Kelly and Charlie

McKinley received lots of love and attention from her grandmothers for her birthday

 Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck came to celebrate McKinley's birthday with us.

 How sweet is this picture of McKinley laughing with Grandma and Grandpa?

 Grandma, McKinley and Aunt Julie

These two always take such great pictures together! I sure love them both! :)

  Everyone loves Uncle Chuck! :)

Such a good picture of Reagan and Grandpa! :) 

 Missy K being silly with Grandma...

 and sweet too... :)

 McKinley with Grammy meeting her new little buddy, Anna Leigh  

 These two definitely need to make a trip to Disney World together! :)

 McKinley enjoying her super cute and yummy cake! :)

 I can't believe how much fun McKinley had opening presents. She was a hoot! :)

 What more could a little girl want than a Minnie Mouse chair, a big friend like Chaz, and lots of presents and love? 

I'm not sure how we didn't manage to get a picture of all the kids at the party together. I'm sorry we missed pictures of Anna, Heidi, Holden, Ally, Cooper and Spencer but they were of course a big part of the fun! Thank you to everyone who helped to make McKinley's 1st birthday so special!

Southern Lights 2013

Another of our holiday family traditions is visiting the Kentucky Horsepark's Southern Lights display. As well as the beautiful lights, they have an awesome petting zoo and Santa. Because we generally visit Southern Lights Thanksgiving weekend (which also included Kennedy's birthday this year) we were able to include the Stiriz family and Uncle Chuck and Aunt Julie in this tradition as well as Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden. It was a beautiful night and we had a wonderful time as always!

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McKinley's 1st visit with Santa - she did a great job and I think this picture is so sweet! Part of the reason she did so well is because she had her favorite bear from Aunt Arla to keep her company. 

 Jackson wasn't in the mood for pictures or cooperation (a real shocker, I know...) so we just got this super cute picture of the three girls with Santa. :)

 2/3 of the LaBar/Lueker clan

 Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck with our sweet girls :)

 I love this sweet picture of Aunt Julie and McKinley looking at lights together

 The girls had the opportunity to pose with Frosty and the Nutcracker too :)

 Such a cute picture of Chaz and McKinley - he is so awesome with all my little guys! 

 The four big girls waiting for a train ride

 I'm not sure how it happened, but Tim ended up with basically all the kids in an itty bitty train car. The kids had a fabulous time singing at the top of their lungs and I'm sure Tim enjoyed the ride as much as they did. :)

 Charlie, Kelly, Aunt Julie and McKinley had a slightly less crazier train car (and probably ride too)

 Off they go! :)

 After the train ride we headed to the petting zoo to feed a wide variety of animals

 The kids also took turns on the adult camels

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Anna and Reagan

 Chaz and Jackson

 Kennedy and Heidi

 And Jackson finished off the evening in his usual delightful manner... Kelly just scooped him up and carried him along as he screamed at us. Oh how I love this challenging little boy! ;)

Thanks to the Stiriz, Cox and LaBar families for making our 2013 Southern Lights outing a memorable one! Looking forward to doing this with some or all of you for many years in the future and we especially can't wait to include our new cousin, baby Cole! :)