Aden graduated from kindergarten last May. I was shooting video of the graduation so the photos are from before the ceremony and then afterwards.
Sy, Randen and Cooper getting ready for the ceremony to begin.
Karsten, Canyon, and Kaden playing before the ceremonies.
Jared and Leslie, the proud parents of the little graduate, Aden.
Leslie and Aden
Grandpa Randy, Aden and Grandma Robin
Don't you just love little people wearing caps and gowns!?? LOL...
Congratulations Aden!
Kolbee placed 4th in a golf competition this week as his college's golf team competed against the Independence golf team.
This was one of Kolbee's better finishes of the year so he was pretty excited about the result.
Here is a photo of Kolbee taken in May at the Kansas State High School Golf finals in Salina, Kansas.
Way to go, Kolbee!!
On May 18, Bailey and Canyon graduated from preschool at Mound City Elementary.
Colt and Candace there to watch Canyon graduate. That is Josh (in the white cap) behind Colt, sitting next to Sy and Taylor.
Sy, Taylor and Candace.
Cooper and Karsten watching the festivities.
Cooper, Karsten, Kristie, Colt, Candace, Josh and Taylor.
Cooper (2nd from left) and Bailey (3rd from left) getting ready to hand out carnations to their moms.
Canyon with Candace.
Leji with Bailey.
Love this little imps smile!
Bailey with her step-sister and her half-sister, Lainey, Clint and April.
Bailey with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Sheilah.
The happy graduates - Canyon and Bailey.
Congratulations Kiddos... I hope you are having fun in first grade this year.
These are the last few pictures Kristie sent me this evening. The McKees attended the Nichols reunion out at Rod and Robin Earnest's lake on July 4th.
I don't know all of the names in these photos. So I'm going to lable the photos so if you can help out on the names, please leave a comment with the photo # and I'll get them updated. Thanks!
Photo #1: Ginny and Janessa
Photo #2: The two little boys on the back (right side) are Kaden and Kasen.
Photo #3: Karsten
Photo #4: Yikes, not even going to try.
Photo #5: Lyndsey with her beautiful girls, Brooklyn and Sydney.
Photo #6: Mike and Marlene's grandkids.
Photo #7: Mike and Marlene's son and family but for the life of me, can't remember names.
Photo #8: Mike and Marlene's kids and grandkids, plus Sydney (the little toehead).
Photo #9: Marlene (Center) and Michele (right). Yep, that's Little Michele, she great into a beautiful woman, huh!
Photo #10: Robbie and Marlene
Photo #11: One of Michele's girls, Grandma Virginia, and Michele.
Photo #12: Mike, Grandma Virginia, and Robbie (Robin).
Photo #13: M&M's son, Grandma Virginia, and Michele
Photo #14: Rod and Robin Earnest
Here are some more of the photos that Kristie sent me tonight. They are the 3 little boys - who aren't really that little anymore but will always be called that - showing their bucket calf and competing in the fishing derby.
Kaden with Black Bull, who wasn't actually a bull any longer - after Dad and Jed gone done with him - so they were trying to call him Black Boy, which didn't quite stick.
Kaden, Kasen and Karsten with Black Bull/Black Boy.
Kasen, Karsten and Kaden with Black Bull/Black Boy.
Karsten, the little stinkin' cutie, wearing a Pirates cap. Kodee's college mascot are the Pirates.
Black Bull/Black Boy with Kasen. Kasen knew everything there was to know about this calf.
Karsten and Kasen with BB.
Kaden showing BB.
Kasen showing his blue ribbon.
Kaden showing his blue ribbon.
Karsten showing his blue ribbon.
Kaden, Kasen and Karsten at the fishing derby. This is EARLY Saturday morning, can you tell? LOL...
Karsten trying to cast into the inner tubes.
Kasen in one of the competitions, this is probably to see who can cast the farthest.
Kaden up for his turn.
Kristie sent me some photos of her boys from their Halloween party today. (Thank you, Aunt Kristie!)
Kasen is a very scary mummy.
Good job on the face!
Kaden as Darth Vader.
Kaden and Kristie
Karsten and Kristie; I think he is dressed as Optimus Prime (Transformer).
Kasen and Karsten
Kaden
Kasen (mummy) followed by Karsten
This is JJ, the boys' cousin on Paul's side of the family.
I think this little sleeping mummy is Karsten.
Great costumes, guys!
Yeah, I know, these photos are a little old but I'm still catching up. ;-D
I went to Kaden and Kasen's field day towards the end of the school year.
These are a few of the photos I took that day.
(If you look close, you can see the shoe Kasen just kicked just under the face of the girl to Kasen's right - in the blue T-shirt, with her arms in the air). Kasen is trying to kick his shoe into one of the hula hoops.
I don't know about you but I just "feel" warmer looking at pictures from summer! ;-D
On August 5, four of the boys - Canyon, Cooper, Karsten, and Kasen - rode in the mutton bustin' competition.
(Canyon and Cooper are the sons of Colt and Candace Umphenour; Karsten and Kasen are the boys of Kristie and Paul McKee.)
Here are three of the boys patiently waiting for their chance to ride.
Here are photos from Canyon's ride.
Here are a few shots from Cooper's ride.
Here is Karsten giving it a try.
Last, but not least, Kasen climbs on for his ride.
The kids give it a good go, but after all is said and done I think it is safe to say this was:
Mutton - 4
Boys - 0
LOL... good job, boys!
Karsten turned 5 on May 21 and celebrated his 5th birthday with a party at Chuck E. Cheese on May 23.
I know I'm just a tad late posting the photos. LOL! But I always knew I would get them posted eventually. ;-D
These are some photos of the kids- big and little - having fun playing at Chuck E. Cheese.
Kaden and Kolbee
Kasen
Kristie and Karsten (the birthday boy)
Paul, Kasen, Karsten, Kristie, Kaden, Kolbee, Kodee's arm
Think Karsten is happy about getting his own fishing pole and lures?
Kolbee and Paul
Kasen
Kaden and Kolbee
Karsten racing against Kasen (you can see him through the circle).
Karsten
Kodee and Hannah
Kodee dancing in front of the camera while Kasen is watching them on the monitor.
The boys hamming it up for the camera - Karsten, Kodee, Kasen (behind), Kolbee holding Kaden.
Karsten hanging out with Chuck E. Cheese. It was a fun day all around.
In mid-July several of us traveled to Bennett Springs State Park in Lebanon, Missouri. It was probably the best place we've ever gone canoeing. The camp sites were immaculate. The park also had cabins and hotel rooms located through-out the park. (The motel rooms were clustered about 10 together in various locations.)
We canoed on the Niagua River; a spring-fed river. The upside of that is that there is always water in the river and you don't have to worry about porting (carrying) your canoe in low spots when you canoe late in the summer. The downside... it was pretty darn cold (someone told us 53 degrees year round).
The park has a swimming pool, a nice store, a fish hatchery, and a nature museum.
Here are some pictures from the trip.
A couple of group shots prior to the canoe trip.
Kolbee's first catch of the day.
Hmmm... let's send all the kids down the river in one canoe... NOT! (This was purely for photo shoot purposes; no children were endangered in the making of this photo. LOL...)
Karsten finds a "ginormous" rock in the river.
Dad standing on a rock in the river.
Kolbee and Tommy with a couple of the kids (Karsten and one of the Odgen girls).
Kodee, Kasen and Hannah
Quentin jumping off the bluff.
Hmmm... wonder what Kodee and Jed are trying to find.
Kaden jumping off the bluff.
Paul gave this fish to Tanner; wonder if Tanner thinks this is lunch.
Edward Lee, Julie, Kaden and Quentin
We were nearly to the end of the trip when we ran into a really bad storm. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't make any forward progress and you couldn't see it was raining so hard and blowing right in our faces. We all pulled over for about 20-30 minutes to ride out the storm. I'm not sure what was scarier - being in an aluminum boat on the water with lightning flashing around or being on the shore under the trees with lightning flashing around. Needless to say we all survived, no worse for the experience and we only had to go about 1/2 - 1 mile to the end of the trip.
These are the group of motel rooms that we stayed in - Jed's family, Bret's family, Tommy, Abbie, Dad, Julie and myself. The McKees and Ogdens camped at one of the campgrounds.
Julie, Brena and Quentin checking out the fishery.
Something you won't see often, Mollie running from a camera!
One of the beautiful spots on the river.
The photos below were taken the first night around BSSP.
Quentin, Brena and Molli on their way to the pool. The only downside is they didn't make it to the pool before closing time.
Natalie, Kate and I went hiking on one of the nature trails. This is a dry creek bed.
Here are Natalie and Kate on the trail. It was so incredibly humid we were all "glistening."
A couple of beautiful flowers on the trail.
It's Tarzan.... err... make that Kate swinging from one of the fines on the trail.
Something you won't see anywhere but here - Jed and Bret in shorts.
Hopefully, we will get more family members to go on the next canoe trip. Nothing is better than hanging out with people that you love and playing on the water.
