My Motorcycle Riding Grandma

My Grandma has taken up a new hobby....motorcycle riding!! While she was on a trip to Carthage for a family reunion she grew a wild hair and decided to go on her first motorcycle ride. You are never too old to try something new, even at 92! It looks like she had fun! Keep surprising us Grandma!

Happy Birthday Daddy's Granny!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy's Granny!!! We love you!!

My Ever Growing Belly

I had my 35 week appointment this morning. The baby is growing good and everything is right on track. My c-section is scheduled for August 4th at noon. The count down is on now. I just hope everything goes as planned. This is my collection of belly shots over the last few months. Rachel was the photographer of some of them.

17 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

35 weeks

We are still not completely settled on a name. It will probably take until the baby is actually here to decide. We have a deal that if the baby has red hair we would name the baby Caleb Wade. If he does not have red hair his name will be Wade. I want to call the baby Wade and Chris wants to call the baby Caleb. We will see how things turn out.

Last night Kate said "I like your belly! It's a big one!!" I just laughed.

Stars and Stripes

We celebrated the Fourth of July in Snyder as we try to every year. We were all worried that our Fourth of July would be rained out this year, but the rain held off until after the festivities were over. The weather was wonderful! It was overcast and highs were in the high 70's.

We started the day with the annual parade in the park.

Here are the little stair steps waiting for more candy to be thrown at them.
Here comes our favorite entry in the parade...Granddad Bob's baby blue Studebaker.

There were a few Stansell's in the parade too.

Our attempt at a family picture.
After the parade we headed to the carnival. This was Kate's first year to ride the rides. She had no interest in the kiddie rides. She wanted to ride with the big kids. The kids favorite ride is the Dragon Roller Coaster. Kate was not scared in the least.

Her cousin Emilee did not enjoy the rides as much as Baby Kate did.

We tried to get a grandkid picture since this is the first time all the kids were together since Sydney and Mac were born. This was the best we could do.
We ended the day with the fireworks. It was a great show!

Before and After

Kate got her new teeth last week. They do not look the same as her real ones, but I did not expect them to. It is taking some getting used to, but I am happy with the final result.

My Sewing Projects

I have sewn a mobile, pillow, and diaper stacker for our new baby boy over the last couple of weeks. I really did not know I could sew anything more than a attach a button to a shirt. I have not sewn anything in about 20 years. I guess I remembered something from junior high home economics class and watching my Grandma sew. My projects all started because Dena found this really cute vintage cowboy material to make a baby quilt for my little guy. I fell in love with it and decided to use it as the theme for the baby bedding. I looked on line for a mobile to go with the western theme but did not find anything I liked. I looked at the mobile I had for Rachel and Kate's baby bedding and decided it did not look too complicated. I decided to try and make one. I was really shocked when it turned out like I had imagined it would! In case you can't tell from the picture, there is a horse shoe, cowboy boot, star, cactus, and a holstein heart with a cow bell for the Stansell Dairy.

Next, I decided I would work on a pillow. It turned out cuter than I imagined! I wanted the whole pattern of the material to show so I made it a little longer, but it turned out to fit the crib great.
I realized I need a diaper stacker too. I figured I had gotten a little ambitious with this project. I used the girls diaper stacker as a guide and the darn thing turn out perfect! I just hope it will really hold diapers and not fall apart.

Cowboys and Cowgirls

This is our friend Adam. He turned THREE a few weeks back.

We went to his super fun "Wild West" birthday party. There were pony rides, BBQ, gold nuggets in the sandbox, bandanas and cowboy hats. The kids even got cap guns in their goodie bags. We have really enjoyed the gun fights in the car!

This is Adam on the pony. Doesn't he look like a real cowboy?
Kate enjoyed sitting on the pony...just look at her big smile. Her smile changed to screams as soon as the pony started walking. I am just proud she sat on him!

I think Rachel needs to move up to a full sized horse. She loved getting to ride the pony, but her legs are longer than the pony's.