Evelyn Update

Evelyn had a busy July: swimming at birthday parties, turning 8, and heading on her first plane to go to California.  She's generally the type of kid who like to stay busy, whether it be sewing, sitting with her hens, or irritating her sister.  The girl has plans.

What kid doesn't like swimming?  We set up our little backyard pool and have been to the YMCA to swim a few times, but my fellow yoga instructor Amy rented out a city pool for her daughter's birthday party and it was a hit!  The party actually took place on Evelyn's birthday, so it was kind of like the party was for her, too.

Brody jumping off of the high diving board.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

Silly girls!

Mama Bear enjoying the beautiful evening

Brody and Dade both jumped off of this platform...the two higher platforms were closed.

I love this photo!! 

My baby boy towers over me!!

Before the swimming party, we went out to eat at Evelyn's designated birthday destination: Red Robin.  Why does she always choose Red Robin? Free birthday sundae.  This year they added something new to the menu that excited one and all: bottomless root beer floats!!  Evelyn was so full of float that the free sundae was not even necessary.  Dade ate it anyway.  (Side note: he spilled chocolate on his shirt.  Being a teenager now, he was so embarrassed that we had to run over to Old Navy and get him a new shirt to wear.  He's growing up.)

Happy 8th Birthday!!

Watch out for these ladies.  They look sweet, but looks can be deceiving.

Birthday Girl and Daddy.

Handsome boys

Crazy boys

Bottomless root beer float #1

She got what she wanted: a game for her DS and some expensive mints Mommy never buys.

Evie took this photo.  You might see the shadow of her thumb in the lower right.

Birthday sundae that she couldn't eat

Birthday balloons she loved!

Dade ate the birthday sundae and two huge root beer floats and all his food and probably all my fries.

Soren and Daddy...not sure what the face is about

We dropped Evelyn off at the airport with her grandpa and cousin for a trip to the San Diego area to visit Colby's sister.  They have quite the adventure planned!  Evelyn and her cousin are often mistaken for twins...they are only about 6 weeks apart in age.  My only hope is that Evelyn doesn't go over the top with her bossiness. I'm not sure her cousin can handle it.

Getting ready to fly!

Such cute little kiddos!

Bon Voyage!

So, that's the Evelyn update.  Right now she is having a blast in California (insert Arnold Schwarzenegger accent here).  See you soon, little lady!

We're #1!

Gallup recently released it's annual well-being index, and...

We're #1!

I have said over and over how much I love living in Lincoln.  We have great schools with free after school and summer programs. We have a clean, vibrant downtown. We have lots of farmer's markets and sources for local meat, produce, and bread. We have some good local restaurants. Of course, we have Husker football.

However, my love of Lincoln goes beyond these creature comforts.  I live in the most liberal city in a pretty conservative state.  Lincoln supports the LGBT community. Lincoln has excellent police and rescue support. There are tons of different churches...including Korean churches, Russian churches, and Buddhist temples. The list goes on and on...

I am thankful everyday for our life here in Lincoln. It is surely my slice of The Good Life.

America the Beautiful

The 4th of July is a pretty popular holiday around the Vescapades house.  It's right up there with Christmas.  We got to spend the whole day in the yard doing absolutely nothing besides reading a book and having a beverage.  We ate junk food, which at the Vescapades house is the best part of a holiday.   The kids even got to have a soda. 

Our fireworks philosophy: light it and run!

Unless you are Dade...

Of course, I had to take a few silly selfies.  If I don't take photos of myself I worry there won't be any photos of me at all.  It's kind of what happens to moms: they take all the photos and aren't in any of the photos.

We spent the late evening lighting fireworks with our favorite neighbors.  We love them!

America is a great place to live, especially our little slice of heaven here in Lincoln.  We've settled in a place with great neighbors and a great community.  I only hope that my kids can have the same opportunity to live the beautiful American Dream that Colby and I are living.

Really, Really, Really Busy Weekend (But in a Good Way)

Sometimes life is busy in a way that makes you really stressed out: 10 loads of laundry, running to soccer and football, mowing the lawn, replacing the shed floor, baking loaves of bread for the week, watering the grass, etc...

Last weekend, we were busy in a good way.  We spent the whole weekend having fun!  We ate restaurant food for every meal!  We picked ticks of each other and the dogs!  Yay!

We started out riding four-wheelers and shooting guns in Verdigre on Saturday.  Jefferson got to run around off the leash, and he was so happy to follow us all over the place.  He made a pretty good farm dog for the day.

The kids always love to ride on the four-wheelers...the little kids and the grown up kids. There were lots of smiles all day long.

On Sunday, we went to my Aunt's house to ride horses.  She gave the kids lessons on how to control their horses, and then she let them all ride all on their own.  How great is that?!

At the end of the ride, the kids got to help lead the horses back to their pens.  It was pretty poignant to see my Uncle Brad walking with my girls back to the barn.  His only daughter was killed by a drunk driver twenty years ago to the day of our trip to visit.  He and my Aunt have three sons and lots of grandkids, but I couldn't help but think about all the moments they missed with their daughter. 

See what I mean by busy weekend?  All that, and we headed back to Lincoln with a van full of luggage, two dogs, four kids, two adults, and two chickens.  We definitely know how to roll. 

Hawaiian Village

I think it's sort of funny that my aunt lives outside of Omaha on a man-made lake called Hawaiian Village.  I mean, really, Hawaii?  This is Nebraska where the closest thing we have to Hawaii is possibly a Dole pineapple.  The silly name doesn't prevent Hawaiian Village to be a pretty sweet little place to live.  Every year my aunt invites the family to come and play and boat and tube and eat.  The weather was ridiculously beautiful again this year.  Nebraska can be notoriously unpredictable in the weather department, but she did not disappoint us.

The kids love, love, love jumping off of the dock.

Of course, my hubby is never far away when his babies are in the water.

As usual, I took a few selfies with the fam:

Soren even lost a tooth at Aunt Mary's.  It had been hanging on by a thread for days, and she was so thrilled it was finally out!

I settled for digging my feet into some Nebraska sand, but I secretly wished it was ocean sand.  Maybe someday it will be actual Hawaiian sand.