The Wall That Heals

I have been working on this project for as long as I have been in Blue Springs. This is The Wall That Heals - the traveling half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. Blue Springs is currently hosting it at Pink Hill Park.

We hosted a family preview night on Wednesday night. I snapped off a few photos of Niko waving the American flag.

I have been super busy at work trying to make sure this event was well publicized and well managed by the Media. In the last 3 days I have been interviewed by over 7 news agencies about it. Whew..... 3 more days to go!

Sleepy

Guess you can't hang with the big dogs....

Baking cookies

We baked cookies on Sunday night. It was messier than I anticipated, but Niko did better than I thought so it all worked out.

He really liked helping cut out the cookies - the decorating was not for him just yet. Maybe next time. I didn't have the royal icing ready to go so he grew impatient and decided it was Toy Story time instead.

Notice on the last photo that Woody wanted to help too...

Sullivan Visit

Susan and Mike Sullivan came to Kansas City this weekend. Niko had a good time playing with them. Niko shared his hat and chair with Mike.

Niko discovered something new... he now knows how to get out of his crib! We were showing Susan and Mike around the house and who came down the stairs but Niko to find us. Time to convert the crib....

We took them to the famous Arthur Bryan's for lunch before they headed to the Plaza for the art show.



Niko wanted to run off some of the BBQ after lunch.

Working it

A communications director's job is never done. What a horrible assignment... I had to drive a brand-new 2011 Mustang Convertible in a parade. Sigh. :)

I drove in the 2010 Fall Fun Festival parade. My car was council district #2's Councilman Chris Lievsay.

Crashed out

After a full day of playing with Monica's kids, Niko crashed as soon as we got home. Thanks Monica for the hair cut!

Microburst

Saturday night our neighborhood was hit by a microburst. We were lucky that our house had no damage, but others in our area weren't so lucky. There are a lot of trees down, but no reports of any injuries. They estimated that we were hit by 80+ mile-per-hour winds during the storm. I would say they were right - it was brutal!

The bottom photo is our backyard after 6 hours of work... not much accomplished. We got the large limbs cut down, but there is a coat of small limbs, leaves and debris all over the yard. I would say we still have another 12 hours to go! Ack!

Toy Story

This is what our fireplace looks like most of the time. Toy Story... all day long.

The big Mr. Potato Head is pretty cool. I got it at Costco, it's $18 and it comes with 2 regular potatoes and 2 baby potatoes with all of the accessories. The case itself has removable eyes, nose, mouth, mustache and ears so it's a giant Mr. Potato Head too!

David Cook Day

American Idol was back in Blue Springs yesterday to film the opening for season 10. It was a long and busy day but pretty fun. I was the City representative to make sure the shots went well and assisting in getting the streets blocked off for the crew.

Better? Uhhh... no.

Day 7 of the steroids. Not much better..... but I do have a mustache!

SmartCycle

It actually looks like he knows what he's doing here, huh? Yea.. no. He does like to sit on it and push the buttons though!

Godfather Mark and Aunt Shelly gave this to Niko for his birthday. He likes watching Diego and Dora talk to him on it. We are so proud of him "playing" his first videogame..... :)

New trick

I was wondering how long it would take him to figure this out. We have a step stool in the bathroom for Niko and he figured out that he can bring the stool into the kitchen and reach the stuff on the counter.

He specifically wanted the birthday cake on the counter.... that's the Grandma Morris in him for sure!

Poison Ivy.... again.

I have poison ivy.... again. I'm on steroids right now and we will see if that makes any difference. Booooo......

Birthday cake

I made this cake using both yellow and chocolate cake. I didn't have a cake pan big enough for the cake I needed so I decided to make a big cake out of two smaller cakes.

I cut out the shape and "glued" the two halves together with regular frosting.

I then frosted the cake with my green frosting. This took a LOT longer than I though to get the pan cleaned up. Next time I would frost the whole chocolate side with white frosting. The chocolate cake wanted to fall apart on me.

All done! The eyes are sugar cookies.

Birthday Party!!!

The kids loved swinging on the hammock.

We brought Niko's slide outside for the party.

Ooohhh!!!! Sprinkler number for Niko's cake! I will be posting how I made this cake later.

Niko got help from Monica's kids, Ellie and Ty opening presents. He loves playing with them!

Niko had so many presents he didn't even know what to do with himself! Thank you again to everyone who came over and joined us for a BEAUTIFUL afternoon!

Happy Birthday time

Niko is saying, "OOOOHHHHH" like the aliens in Toy Story.

He ate all the eyeballs - they were sugar cookies. We had a small party at the house last night for Niko's real birthday. Abuelo, Abuela, Aunt Maria and Aunt Shelly came over for pizza and cake. Mmmmmm...

Niko's big birthday party will be on Sunday! :)

Happy Birthday Niko!!!!

Today is Niko's birthday - I can't believe he's two already!!! Above is my first attempt at the alien cake for his birthday party on Sunday. The one on Sunday will be twice as big.

Not to bad... kinda sloppy, but not bad for my first go at it. His eyes are sugar cookies.