Since we decided to do the drive to Missouri in one day instead of two we had an extra day to play in Kansas City. It ended up being a good thing since Josh was sick with a stomach bug the night before so he just rested the entire day on Sunday. Rachel had a lot of fun with grandma Zymball, they went shopping and went to watch her cousins , Austin and Devon, play their baseball games. While out at the store, Grandma Zymball bought Rachel some silly string because Rachel didn’t know what that was and of course grandma had to fix that!
Trying to spray mom with silly string
One of the best parts about spending time with grandparents is sitting together and snuggling. Both my girls LOVE to snuggle.
snuggling with grandma
Grandma Zymball has a way cool rocket sprinkler that all the grandkids love. Rachel has now informed me that our sprinkler isn’t fun enough and wants a fun one to have at home, Thanks Grandma. Saturday night after the birthday party, Rachel and Sarah ran threw the sprinkler with Clint and Addie and had a BLAST or should I say blast off!!!
Sarah wasn’t too sure of the sprinkler at first but after a short time was running threw the water just like the big kids. She is so much more adventurous than Rachel was at this age, but still very cautious. I do love my girls!!
Go Rachel
Sarah
Rachel’s cousin Courtney had an awesome birthday party at her gymnastics school. The girls all had a great time and got to do all sorts of fun activities. Thank you so much Courtney for having such an awesome party!!
Rachel had so much fun, one of her favorite things was swinging on the rope and then dropping off into the foam block pit!! Way Fun!!
Rachel swinging on the rope
Down she goes
I was surprised that Rachel was willing to drop off the rope into the blocks, she was afraid to jump into them when we first got there.
Rachel on the trampoline
Rachel tumbling
The above picture is Rachel tumbling down the line as part of a relay race. They had several different relays that they did as part of the party. I am glad that my daughter can tumble in a straight line!!
Rachel also really enjoyed being rolled around the gym floor in their ‘donut’ , another thing I am surprised she tried. Maybe she is finally growing out of some of her fears. I guess taking gymnastics back home is paying off!!! 
The donut roll
Sarah even had fun at the party. She was a little small for the relay races but had fun with the open gym. She loved being thrown into the foam block pit for a while until she realized that she could pick the blocks out of the pit and that was all she wanted to do for a while, just pull blocks out of the pit. Towards the end she did have fun on the trampoline too!!
Run Sarah, Run
The girls really did have fun!! When play time was over the kids all gathered around a very small table for cake and then watched Courtney open presents. Rachel used this time to play with her adorable little baby cousin, Zachary.
Holding baby Zachary
No the girls did not get to go fishing which did make Rachel sad. For some strange reason Rachel had really wanted to go fishing, she must have seen it on TV or heard about it from kids in school because fishing isn’t something you hear a lot about in New Mexico. I was a little sad because I really thought her Grandpa Leckbee would take her but I guess that is only for grandsons. Josh did get to go fishing with his dad and brother and had a good time but it was Grandma Zymball that saved the day when it came to fish!! Once back in Kansas City, Grandma Zymball took the girls to go feed the fish at the Blue Springs Lake. It is amazing how many fish come right up to the dock and fight each other for food. I have never seen anything like it. The fish splash like crazy and cover you in stinky lake water but my girls don’t mind. Sarah just loves it and has no problem with the splashing. 
Just look at those fish
Sarah feeding the fish
On one of Rachel’s trips to Dollar General she told Grandma Leckbee that she wanted to get a balloon animal kit that she found because Grandma Zymball knew how to make them. So of course Rachel got the kit and we brought it back to Kansas City and as soon as Grandma Zymball came home from work Rachel had her creating fun balloon animals. Now I had a lot of fun making silly goofy things while my mom spent a lot longer making cool animals like dogs, giraffes, birds, mice, and much more. The only animal I can make is a fish!! So I decided to be creative and make a crazy hat and then a sword for Josh and the girls. I had to do something to help my mom, Rachel wouldn’t let her stop making animals until all the balloons were gone.
Crazy hat and sword
Sarah posing while Daddy goes in for the strike
Look at that cheap shot by Dad, stabbing his own daughter in the back. Shame, shame, shame!! 
Even Dad had lots of fun with the balloons. Thanks Grandma!!
Sarah Mickey
This is one of my favorite balloons that I made. I’m sure it doesn’t look like much to most people but to my Mickey Mouse obsessed daughter it was the best. Sarah loves anything in the shape of Mickey, so I tried to make Mickey Ears out of balloons and for a two year old it was perfect!!
My girls don’t get to see any of their grandparents very often but they still love them very much. I am trying to be better about taking pictures of my girls with their grandparents the last pictures I have of Rachel with Grandma Leckbee she was 3 and Sarah was a newborn baby. I just don’t think about posing for pictures when I am visiting, there is just too much other stuff to do.
Rachel and Sarah with Grandma Leckbee
Special Buddies
So Sarah cracks me up. If you missed it, in both of these pictures Sarah won’t look at the camera because she is too distracted by her yummy cookie. That is one thing Grandma Leckbee does well, BAKE, and we love to eat all of her goodies and so do my girls. So yes, the cookie was much more important than me taking pictures.
This is one of Rachel’s favorite activities with Grandma, reading together. She normally doesn’t like to share this special Grandma time with Sarah but I was trying to shower and get ready for the day. Rachel and Grandma read for hours when we visit Edina. Look at the picture, Sarah was falling asleep reading with Grandma and Rachel!!
Sarah and Rachel with Papa
This picture amazed me. Everyone was in the kitchen playing Dominoes except for Grandpa, Sarah, and Rachel. The girls were getting ready for bed while we finished our game. When the game was over I went to find my girls and to my surprise they were sitting on grandpa’s lap. The reason this was surprising was that Sarah was not very sure of Grandpa and still wasn’t after that but I guess since no one else was available to snuggle with she knew Papa would be more than happy to snuggle with these adorable girls.
I am not cut out for small town life but my girls seem to enjoy it. Rachel loves going to Edina, MO. It is a sweet, tiny little town and Rachel can’t wait to go there and then talks about it for months after we get back. She loves spending time with her Grandma Leckbee and getting to do special things just the two of them while she is there.
Playing with Grandma
According to both my girls one of the best things about Grandma’s house is Molly, the dog. They both love Molly and have a lot of fun playing with her and taking her for a walk. For most of the week Sarah was afraid of Molly but by the time we left she was even holding the leash and taking the dog for a walk. 
Sarah and Rachel having fun with Molly
Sitting on the porch with Daddy
I love this picture, how cute are these two. This picture is exactly what I think of when I picture small towns, sitting on the front porch watching what is going on in the town and enjoying your friends and neighbors.
One of Rachel’s favorite places to go in Edina is the Dollar General, she loves it because Rachel gets to go just her and Grandma and then grandma buys lots of fun stuff like gummy bears, bubble gum tape, and baby dolls that come with their own potty. Here is a picture of the girls enjoying some of there fun Dollar General finds!!
cool girls
Rachel also loves the time she gets to spend with her Uncle Joey!!
Playing Bean Bag Toss with Joey
The summer Rachel was born my mom had two other grandchildren born as well. We call them the Summer babies of 2003. Courtney was born May 31st, Devon on July 6th and Rachel on August 31st and it is so hard to believe how much they have grown—they are almost 6years old!!! Here is a picture of the three babies together in the spring of 2004 when they were so little, sweet, innocent and adorable!!!
Courtney, Devon, and Rachel
Now look at how big they have gotten!! Where oh where does the time go??
Devon, Rachel, and Courtney
Do you see how my daughter is the youngest and by far the tallest, it must be the Leckbee genes!!
Rachel loves going back to Missouri because she gets to spend time with all of her cousins, she loves her cousins and these are the reasons I wish we lived closer to each other. Rachel has some very close relationships with her cousins on my side and I am glad that the distance hasn’t ruined those relationships and I hope it never does. On Memorial Day we had a nice BBQ at my mom’s house with my sister Angela and her family, my stepbrother Todd and his family, and my stepsister Jody and her boys, it was a wonderful day!!
The Gang
Addie, Rachel, Austin, Courtney, and Devon all the big kids minus Clint who at the time was way too into his Star Wars movie to join in the fun.
The Girls-Addie, Rachel and Courtney
Group hug
Dog Pile
Sydney and Sarah
Sarah and Sydney had fun together too!! Sydney is a year older than Sarah and such a hoot, she just makes you smile and laugh.
Rachel and baby Zach
The newest member to our extended family is baby Zachary and boy is he a cutie!! Both my girls just loved him!! Rachel was frequently in his face or wanting to hold him while Sarah would come up to me and say ‘cute baby’ over and over. I have to admit he is one cute, cuddly little guy and we are grateful to have him as a nephew/cousin!!!
The main reason for our trip to Missouri was for Josh’s family reunion, we were not able to go to the reunion for the past two years and so it had been a while since we last saw all of Josh’s family. This was the first time we ever drove to Missouri and I have to say, I am amazed at how well the girls did. Yeah!!!!
The reunion is held at Josh’s aunt’s country club which works out well because it has a pool attached and the kids love the pool. Here are some pics of my girls loving the water!!
Rachel with her cousin
Sarah and Daddy
Both Rachel and Sarah loved the water and playing with Daddy and their cousins. I guess I will have to take them to the pool this summer, but our pools are not as cool as this one. Rachel loved the water slide at the pool and went down all by herself and Daddy caught her at the bottom. I wasn’t able to get any pictures of Rachel on the slide because Sarah would not leave the baby pool long enough for me go walk down toward the slides, boy did they have fun!!
playing with her girl cousins
This is one of Rachel’s favorite parts of getting together with Josh’s side of the family is that there are two girl cousins to play with. Rachel was so happy when she finally had girl cousins on the Leckbee side and enjoys playing with them so much, out of thirteen grandkids there are only 4 girls and two of them are mine.
Mikayla, Rachel, and Melanie
The funny thing about this picture is how small Steve and Rebecca’s girls are. Mikayla is only a year younger than Rachel and Melanie is only 11 months younger than Mikayla. They make my Rachel look like a giant!!
