New and Improved Fairy Garden

The boys and Mimi have enjoyed putting a fairy garden together over the last few years! Now that Mimi and PawPaw live with us, we've tried to find the best place for a fairy garden here. This year, its  in a new and wonderful place! The boys and Mimi worked SO hard to get a wonderful garden together. It took them a few weeks to tweak it here and there (and these pictures don't even show all the tweaks!) to get it looking beautiful! A few special visits from the fairies have also brought some fancy new items to the garden as well! It's a fun tradition everyone loves!!

Fairy Garden, New and Improved

With Mimi and PawPaw moving in, Wyatt was very concerned about the fairy garden and where it would go. After some looking around our yard, they found the perfect spot for the new and improved Fairy Garden!! On Mother's Day morning, the boys went with my mom to get some flowers to set up their new garden. Once the flowers were planted, the fairies started coming and so did all their treasures!! They had so much fun setting up their fairies houses (we have a Grant, Wyatt, Mason, Luke, and Mimi fairy). They definitely didn't overlook any detail!! 

So sweet they have this special space! Every now and again the fairies leave them new treasures! You never know what you might find in that magical little place!

 Ta-Da!!!!

 Here is the cafe, currently serving pets!

 The playground!

 Wyatt's house. He is the baby fairy. Although after putting the garden together, he decided he didn't want a baby fairy anymore, he wanted one that actually stands up. Of course, since Mimi is in charge of the fairy garden, he got his wish!

 This is Mason, Luke, and Grant's tree house.

 This is Mimi and her Lego house Grant built her.

 This is another playground area!

There have been numerous additions to the fairy garden since this day when they put it together! Probably calls for an updated post!!

Christmas at Crown Center

Oh how we enjoyed playing hooky this afternoon and making a visit out to Crown Center! I don't normally condone skipping school (well, unless its to go see a movie that we've been waiting to see (Peanuts Movie!)) but we just couldn't resist an open afternoon on a beautiful day! Wyatt didn't have school anyway, so only Grant missed the afternoon portion!

We started with Santa first but after that, we had to go explore! So after a spin around the inside and a walk through the Hallmark store, we headed across the street to the fountains and Mayors Christmas Tree. I don't remember having all the fun little play things around there when I was growing up, but maybe we just never played on them because we always went to see Santa at night, when it was dark, and cold! See- skipping school has lots of perks! But oh my goodness, did the boys enjoy themselves! There were probably 15 different vehicles to sit in, and play on, and climb around! Not to mention the 100ft tall gargantuan tree in the middle of the place! Such a festive and jolly place to be! 

Enchanted Forest

It has become a little tradition that my mom takes all the boys to Lenexa's Enchanted Forest every year. It all started back when I was a kid and Lenexa put on the Haunted Forest. We used to go every year, for whatever reason, because it literally scared the pants off me every year! That was probably the cause for my fear of all things scary, so turning it over to the Enchanted Forest assures me that my boys won't have the same fear! Or maybe they will, because scary stuff is just plain scary! But, this Enchanted Forest is such a fun evening for the kiddos and not scary at all!! My mom started taking Mason and Luke years ago, and now that we are back in town, our boys get the opportunity to go as well!

I was going to go too, but they requested that it just be them and Mimi, so I enjoyed a quiet evening at home. Can't quite complain about that! Since the dawn of Facebook, the crowds seem to grow at this event every year. And apparently, this year was record breaking! So while it wasn't as fun as years past, because of the large crowd, they still had a great time and still plan on going every year!!

Mimi and PawPaw's Boys

Without Levi here this past year, my parents have been a HUGE help!! They are always will to take the boys to give me a breather. And its not only nice for me, but the boys would spend every second with them if I said it was ok! I know I would miss them at some point!!! I try and take the boys alone once in a while, and that always means the other gets a date with Mimi as well. And they have a sleepover there once a month or so as well! Lots of fun is always had with Mimi and PawPaw! These pictures just prove it!

 While Grant and I were at Kaleidoscope, Wyatt went to work with Mimi and then to the children's museum. 

 When Wyatt and I had our long date night/day, Grant went to work with Mimi and they played with Power Rangers, ate a Sonic picnic in the car, and Grant almost fell asleep watching Netflix.

 One sleepover night, they went to the nursery the next morning, but had to buy new hoodies because it was only 50 degrees!

I am so thankful for my parents, who take care of my kids like their own. Or actually, better when they were taking care of me, because isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do?  We love you Mimi and PawPaw!!

The Nutcracker

After the Nutcracker Fiasco of 2010- the one where the stomach flu went rampant through our house and happened to hit my mom at curtain call and she spent the entire show in the bathroom- yeah....it was bad. We haven't had the chance to go back since then! But now that I'm back in town, and the boys have been obsessed with the Nutcracker since last year, we thought this was a good year to redeem ourselves and have a good showing at the KC Ballet! And we most certainly did! We went to the 2:00 show, so beforehand we grabbed some lunch at Panera and then headed to the ballet! 

We did valet parking- genius plan- and found our way to the lobby where there were lots of souvenirs and treats! After each of the boys picked out a Nutcracker ornament as well as a chocolate nutcracker, we went upstairs to grab a drink. Mom and I had a glass of wine, and the boys had water- but Wyatt ordered his special, with extra cherries! 

 We headed into the theater and found out seats. They were PERFECT! Granted, we picked them out online, but since we'd never been here before, we weren't sure if they were good or not. But I have to say that we had probably the 4 best seats in the house! Dead center, on the first row of the first balcony. No one sitting in front of us, nothing blocking our sights, just a clear view to center stage!!

 The show was beautiful, of course! The boys hung on every song and dance! They really did love it! Wyatt acutally fell asleep on my mom's lap the last 15 minutes of the show. Guess that Sugarplum Fairy is overrated when you're 4! After the show we headed to Chili's for an early dinner, and while we escaped the stomach flu, another kind of virus hit Grant at dinner and started off 3 days of him being sick with a fever! But at least it waited til AFTER the Nutcracker!! 

It was a beautiful day to redeem our last trip to the show and it was a wonderful memory made with my mom and the boys!!