Late vacation update and some exciting news!

We have been home a week, but I am just now getting caught up enough to have time to write about it! We made a (very) last minute decision to leave Thursday night instead of Friday mid morning. We thought the trip would go faster and be easier on the boys this way. It worked out pretty well in the end, and we arrived about 2:00am to Grandma and Grandpa Kitsmillers' house in St. Louis. The boys were slightly confused when we got them out of the car, they thought it was time to play! That first day was a little rough on all of us! Saturday we went to Grant's Farm with Aunt Amy and the grandparents. We got to see a lot of animals and ride a train. Saturday evening it was time for mommy and daddy to have some fun! We met up with a bunch of Jeff's friends from his STL days and has some great adult time! Sunday grandma and I went crafts shopping while daddy and grandpa put some meat on the grill. When we got back we had a great bbq and saw some family friends. After dinner daddy had to leave for the camp that he volunteers for every summer. Tuesday the boys and I had a playdate with a cute little girl just a couple months younger than the boys and her mom who is currently expecting twins! She had tons of questions, so while we chatted the babies had a great time playing with Little People and the new boat ball pit that the grandparents bought. Wednesday the boys and I headed to Warrenton to the outlet mall with grandma and Aunt Amy. We got a lot of great deals! I think the boys fall wardrobe is nearly complete and we got a good start on next summer as well! To top of this great shopping trip we got two big bags of books and two new pairs of walking shoes from the Nike outlet! We were excited when Thursday rolled around because daddy finally got home in the afternoon. Ashton must have been really excited because he took his first steps a couple hours later! This was very exciting for us since our "little explorer" had been resisting walking before today. We relaxed Friday before heading home on Saturday during the morning naptime. The trip went well and we made our traditional half way stop in Lebanon where we ate lunch and went to our second outlet mall of the week! We were happy to finally be home at 6pm. We was so nice to get away from all the responsibilities of home and see good family, good friends and eat some good food!

Waiting in line at Grant's Farm and gettin' some lovin' with Grandma and Grandpa!
Aunt Amy is feeding the camel!
Daddy and Ashton checking out the baby goats at Grants Farm.

The boys were getting caught up on their reading while at grandma's!

Showing off their new kicks - and enjoying the boxes way more! Daddy reading to his boys!

Daddy's shoes make great toys!

Wrestling in their new ball pit!
The box for the ball pit had kept them entertained for a couple days!

Exciting news!

While we were away Ayden cut 4 new teeth, giving him a total of 12!

Ashton has become very interested in feeding himself with a spoon, and he is pretty good at it!

Monday, August 3rd I was in the nursery with the boys putting away clothes and Ashton walked about 5 feet - his furthest distance! He had been taking 4-6 good steps before this. Not to be out done...that evening after dinner Ayden walked about 6 feet! Ayden has been taking what I call "mini baby steps" for a couple weeks now. He usually side stepped and didn't really cover much ground since the steps were so small. But, today he was doing the real deal! This newly acquired skill by both boys has made for lots of laughs, as well as new worries around our house. We are very excited about our boys' new freedom since we have been anxiously awaiting this day for quite awhile!

Saturday, August 8th I took the boys to our first hot air balloon festival! We met Lindsey, Michael and Bailey there and had a great time. We didn't get to see a balloon actually take off because it was too windy, but we did get to see one inflated!

Michael and Ayden
Me and my boys!

The Mayflower balloon was inflating and the others were "glowing"!

"Aunt" Lindsey and Ashton

Lindsey's daughter, "cousin" Bailey, with the boys!

Ashton learned to climb into the toy box this week - he was so proud of himself!

I am exciting to announce that I am in the process of starting a new business venture! I have been trying to work this into my already busy days and hope to have it up and running in a couple weeks! I am not yet prepared to disclose a name or any specifics...but stay tuned because details will be coming shortly! I am very exciting about it and I hope you all will be just as excited and will support me in my new adventure!