Kevin Minnis

Well, it finally happened. Jayden turned 2 on Tuesday. Boy how time has flown. He thinks he’s such a big boy now! Over the weekend we had Jayden’s birthday party. He had a good time and was wore out by the days end. He was spoiled rotten with toys, toys and more toys. Because Jayden is always so excited about play kitchens, we decided to get him one of his own. Along with it, he received a lot of play food and accessories. He loves it to pieces and is ready to cook you up a meal when you come over. He doesn’t know yet that metal can’t go in the microwave! I think he takes after his dad because his mom is no Betty Crocker.

We decided to have something different for his birthday party this weekend. Most parents would probably get a clown or go some place cool, but we decided to have some fun with Pop and candy. You can watch the Mentos and Diet Coke video on YouTube. I think Jayden had more fun with that than he would have with a clown. haha (Or maybe it’s his parents and family that had more fun). Here are some pictures as well of the Mentos & Diet Coke fun.

On Jayden’s B-day, we took him to the Blank Park Zoo (Pictures). Although, it’s not quite like the Omaha Zoo, we still had a good time. He got to feed the goats and watch his dad get attacked by them. Probably his favorite thing was riding the train. He LOVES trains right now. Especially Thomas the Tank Engine.

We took the plunge and got Jayden and Josie’s pictures taken last Friday. It was a challenge but we managed to get a few cute poses. Some of you will be receiving copies in the mail, but you can look at them on line soon. We’ve started the fun process of painting the outside of the house. We are leaving it white but changing the trim to a reddish/burgundy/cranberry color. Right now it’s a little bright. We hope it darkens a bit when we put another coat on. We are at least getting the front done, and then we’ll worry about the rest next spring/summer.

Josie is growing like a weed and changes everyday I swear. Jayden has started to pester her a bit more, but really could care less about her. Hopefully someday he’ll stick up for her!

I decided that Kevin needed to let me have the “reigns” every now and then and let me blog on our “family” website. Sometimes he leaves out the important details, but at least you know what’s going on with us.

Life with two children is going pretty swell. Jayden has not had much adjustment as he could care less if she is even here. He will touch her every now and then and tell us when she crying (like we can’t hear it.) He has a hard time sitting by her in fear that she might touch him. Family pictures will be quite interesting i’m sure.
Josie on the other hand is quite the girl. I was excited to have a girl, but not excited about the “high maintenance” she brings with her. She loves to sleep which we can’t complain, but when awake, she’s not as content. She wants to be held…..ALOT! So hopefully that stage goes out of her soon. Other than that, she’s great and we love her to death. She’s starting to smile which always makes ya happy.

I have been healing pretty good. I even played softball a couple of times. It felt pretty good in the beginning, but man, I soon realized how sore and out of shape I am! Hopefully I can get a little better before fall ball starts!

Life has been pretty good for Kevin and I. We have adjusted pretty well to have two children. It’s much easier the second time but it is more work. We have been busy with family and friends and spending time together, just the four of us. Our family is complete, that’s for sure. We have gotten to know alot of our neighbors this summer, which has been great. Since we don’t have alot of family or close friends in the area, it’s nice to know there are people we can count on.

That brings up something that Kevin and I have been bitter about for a while now. About a year ago, we went through a rough time with our so called “community” at church. We invested a year with a small group and shared our lives with them, to be judged, given the ”all or nothing” speech…you can’t do both softball and smallgroup, and kicked out in the end. It was apparently not supposed to go that way, but it did and here we are a year later and it still bothers us. I think it bothers us more because we have never gotten an apology or even any further communication with some members of the group. Maybe it’s not realized what was done. It’s funny to think that a “christian” group, a church group, would do such a thing. As a result, we haven’t returned to the church but a couple of times. We have been thinking about finding a new church, but starting over just doesn’t seem like much fun. It just goes to show that even though your best friends and family live miles away, at least you can still count on them when it’s needed most and they won’t turn their back on you. And with our neighborhood opening up more, it helps us realize that we can find awesome people to be with in Ankeny. I think I’m kind of venting here, but it’s something that has been botteled up for so long that needs to be said. Maybe I’ll feel better than.

On another note, Jayden is going to turn 2 here in a couple of weeks. We are pretty excited about it. Can’t believe he’s going to be 2 already!

Well, I better get back to the children. We would like to thank those of you that have supported us and helped us bring Josie into the world! It’s been a fun 7 weeks that’s for sure!

–Kim