Picnic in the Park with Kellidley

 Today we went on a picnic at the park with the Keelers. We had lots of fun.

Hudson enjoyed the water and eating sand. Joshua wasn't excited about the water this time so he mostly played on the playground equipment.

The girls really enjoyed the water, though, and spent a lot of time pouring.

Later, everyone else played on the playground too.Clara pretty much though Hadley was the coolest person she's ever seen. However, she was confused about all the new names and just called both Hadley and Kelli the same name: Kellidley. So you could hear her yell, "Kellidley, look at me!" every time she thought she did something awesome, which was a lot of the time.

We had a fun time hanging out and hope we can do it again sometime.

Finding Friends at Deanna Rose

Today was the first Monday in forever that it was nice out so I took the kids to Deanna Rose. It was also the first day in quite some time that it wasn't super hot so about 50% of Kansas City had the same idea. When we got there, Clara said, "There are a lot of kids". And there were. But we still had fun, except maybe Hannah. For whatever reason she told me she wanted to stay in the stroller with her baby while being strapped in (that was key. She was not cool with the straps being off). Okay, whatever, Hannah. Our first stop, as always, were the playgrounds since my kids generally like those more than the animals.

While we were at the main playground, we ran into the Keelers, who were among the 50% of the metro area in attendance. It had been quite some time since I had seen Hudson and I cannot believe how big he is and how adorable. I love those chubby knees! Hadley also has gotten big and Clara thought she was about the most impressive girl she had ever seen.

After that we took a quick snack break and then went on to see some animals.

We had a lot of fun seeing many animals and even Hannah perked up a little by the end. Then it was time to go home and get some lunch. We had a fun time out enjoying the weather and I was glad we could finally go somewhere on a Monday.

Haddie and Huddie

My friend Jason, who is one of my best friends, chose me to be the godfather of his first child, Hadley.  It was an honor to be chosen, and it's not something I take lightly.  Although it was likely I would have a pretty close relationship with Hadley as she grew up just by virtue of her being Jason's daughter, being one of her godparents gave me resolve to ensure that we have a relationship instead of just letting it happen by circumstance.  One of the responsibilities of a godparent is to assist in the spiritual development of the child, and that's something I look forward to doing.  Hadley knows me from multiple interactions through the years (birthday parties, family get-togethers, etc.), but until recently she hadn't really been ready for one-on-one time with people she didn't know really well, such as family and very close friends.  Today is the three-year anniversary of her baptism, so I asked Jason if he thought Hadley might be ready to have some one-on-one time, and he thought she would.  So tonight I went over to their house and brought Hadley a children's Bible as a gift.  It's Joshua's favorite, though it's a little advanced for him, but he still loves it.  I read Hadley a couple stories from it, and she seemed to like it well enough, though she thought the illustrations were weird (they are, actually, but that's part of the charm of the book).  We then spent a lot of time playing with her dolls and toys.  She was excited to show them to me, and for us to play with various ones.  It was a fun time, and I think it was a great step in the building of our relationship.  Jason was there, but he spent most of the time caring for Hudson, who is Hadley's new little brother, as Kelli was at the gym.  I made sure to get some time with Hudson as well.  He's a big guy but very cute.