Awesome weekend!!

What a great weekend! The weather was AWESOME! My kind of weather/weekend all together!

Friday night started out with Morgan at the Columbia City Football game. The mini cheer camp shared their dance and a couple of cheers with the crowd. Although they got rained on with practicing, they still had a great time, and it was pretty cute!
Waiting to do her dance.... we could not get her in action. The Cheerleader was right in front of her!!

Saturday was a nice morning at home! (those have been rare these days!) Josh make us breakfast! He is VERY good at that, and we love it every time he does it! Then we had dinner with my parents. My Aunt Nelleen, Uncle Lyle, Aunt Marge, Uncle Jerry and Grandma joined us. We had a very yummy haystack dinner! After dinner the kids wanted to get the horses out. So grandpa was happy to do that. All 3 grandkids took their turns riding. I know my kids enjoyed it and I am sure Jilly did too! After horse riding, we took a trip down to South Whitley for dessert at Carol's Corner. The kids LOVE that. I think they have come to expect that, they will be dissappointed with Carol's closes for the season.
Morgan and Caden on the horse on the left being lead by Aunt Jess, Grandpa Doug on the right.
Having fun!
Caden just hanging around!
Jilly
Morgan and Jilly
Sunday after church we came home for lunch, the kids asked to roast hot dogs. So that is easy enough, we have a fire chimey ( I think that is what it is called) on our back patio, so Josh made a little fire and in no time we had a nice lunch outside. We could not stay put in the house all day, it was just too nice, so we took the kids to Brown Park (kids dreamland). They had a BLAST! We were there for an hour and a half. Morgan feel 2 times, once from the monkey bars, right on her tailbone and then off the swings. She was going so high on the swings she could see Josh across the playground and waved at him.... lost her balance grabbing back on to the swing, landed flat on her back and knocked her head!! Poor Girl! I felt so bad for her, but she was a tropper and was back at it in no time!
On the tire swing!
Monkey bars!
He made it to the top of the rock wall!!

Then we came home... I had some work to do inside and then kids played outside, Josh relaxed. We had planned to have Hobo's over the fire for dinner. I was looking forward to that! Always nice to do something different. What fun we had, dinner outside around the fire. I could have stayed out there all night! What a beautiful day!!
Watching dinner cook!
Morgan waiting to butter the corn bread!

Tomorrow we take Caden back to the Cardiologist. This 6 month check up. Praying for no leaky valves and patiences for Caden as they do his echo.

Morgan's First Day of 1st Grade!!!

I would have to say Morgan was really excited to go to school. It all started last night when she went in to brush her teeth and do her nightly bathroom routine before bed with out anyone telling her. She was done and in bed 20 min before her bedtime!

Since it stormed in the middle of the night, she ended up on our floor in our bedroom.
Josh had gotten up and taken his shower, he had forgotten socks so he came back in the room to get them and Morgan asked if it was time for her to get up yet. Josh told her no, go back to sleep. Then about 15 min later while I was up walking about the house, she asked again if I had forgotten to get her up. I told her no, she had some more time to sleep. Finally, I had just gotten her breakfast at the table and as about to go wake her up, and there she is standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She ate really well, and was on the ball there after. She remembered the routine from last school year and was ready about 20 min early!

While we were outside waiting on the bus, she was just SO giddy, jumpy, talkative. She just would not stop. Her excitement was uncontainable! That made it much easier on me. Neither one of us shed a tear this morning. She did get a new bracelet at breakfast, so I was sure to kiss it, just in case she needed a "mommy kiss" in the middle of the day!


Waiting on the bus with her friend Alison.

She's HOME!!!

She had a great day! SO much fun. She loves her teacher Mr. Fudge. She was the calendar girl today. She played tag at recess, had pizza for lunch. She is making new friends and is ready to learn!!!

I am so excited for her!

We love our Morgan Grace!!!

Daddy/Daughter & Mommy/Son Date Nights, What fun!

So, Josh and I have talked often about him taking Morgan on date nights. Well, if they have done it before (other than the Father/Daughter dance) either of us can remember. Tonight we made it happen. I am sure it is going to happen more often, too.

Since Josh and Morgan were planning a date, Caden wondered what he could do. So he asked if we (him and I) could go to the Splash Park (pad) and to the Brown Park (kids dreamland). I thought that sounded doable, so it was a date.

Morgan wanted to go to Bob Evans, her favorite since it has a kids meal with pancakes, and then she wanted to go to Paige's Crossing to play Putt-Putt and games. Josh thought that sounded great!

The kids were looking forward to their big nights and were telling everyone about them. Morgan picked out her outfit, she wore her favorite shirt and then put her Morgan touches to the outfit. 5 bracelets, 1 large necklace, 1 ring, 1 headband and some green apple lip gloss later, she was ready to go. And I must say she looked pretty darn cute!

They had a blast!! Morgan got 60 tickets from playing games at Paige's and came home with 2 more bracelets, several rings and a couple of other things. She is the BEST at collecting "little things"

Josh and Morgan got started on their date earlier than Caden and I, so they ended up meeting Caden and I at the splash pad. I knew Morgan would be a little disappointed she did not have a bathing suit, but we gave in and let her have some fun. She got soaking wet in her clothes. Oh well, that what kids are suppose to do right????


So after the Splash Pad, Caden picked McDonald's for dinner. Josh and Morgan followed to finish up their date with ice cream. There was no going to the Brown park, Caden was pretty well satisfied with playing on the playground at the splash park.

We all had a great time and are looking forward to the next "date night"

Summer Lovin'... Havin' a Blast!!!!

So again, I have not posted in a while. Let's get caught up on what has been going on with The Poling's....

We have been busy. I hope you are up for a lot of pictures!!!

After the 4th of July, we have had some of at Grandpa and Grandma Wright's. The kids are getting more comfortable with Thunder the Mini Horse, and having fun playing at their house! We get together once a month for dinner with Nate, Jess, Jilly, Grandma & Grandpa. It is fun to see how the cousins are becoming good playmates.
Morgan standing in the corn in Grandpa & Grandma's garden.
Jilly feeding Jag a carrot.
Caden pretending to drive Grandpa's tractor.

Morgan completed 3 projects in Mini 4-H this year, her first year. It was fun. She had a great time. We all had fun looking at them on display at the fair. She got all Blue Ribbons!! Yeah Morgan!
Morgan and her scrapbook project... it is an ABC of Me project, and she did A-H, she will add more each year of mini 4-H.
Morgan and her Collection project. Her's is the one in pink. She LOVES flamingos, so that is what this project was based on.
Morgan decorated a cookie, it is a purple flower.

Morgan has also been busy at Cheer camps. She went to one offered by the Y, and this week she just finished up the Cheer Camp at the High School. She had a BLAST! She is ready to do it all over again next year! We were so proud of her, she had conqured her fear of crowds. She volunteered to be in the Jump off and Dance off at Cheer Camp, and she made it to the finals in the Dance off. This is HUGE for her. A few months ago she would of never thought of this! GO MORGAN!!!
At the Y cheer camp, working on tumbling.
She is in the back, cheering her little heart out!
Morgan before going Family performance for the High School Cheer Camp.

We celebrated Caden's 1/2 birthday. With his birthday being pretty close to Christmas, we thought it might be a good idea to kind of spread that out a little bit more. Everyone in the family was for it, so we went with it. We had fun. Caden had a pirate party at Grandpa and Grandma Grable's house. We were able to swim, play a couple of games and just be outside and enjoy the day. Expect for when it was cake time.... it RAINED!!! Oh well, we just moved it inside.
Caden with his treasure chest cake.
Pretty pirate, Morgan!
Pirate Chef, Josh.
Looks like a pirate brawl breaking out!
Digging for the buried treasure!
Caden and his pinata!
Presents!!!!
A pirate swim!!!
Caden and Daddy swimming!
Cake time, notice the chocolate on Caden's face.... Yes, he got into the frosting waiting for me to getting everything around. But that is ok, he is the Birthday Boy!!!

Since we have been so busy this summer and it has kind of gotten away from us.... we needed a little get away. So we thought the kids would enjoy a trip to the Indiana State Fair. (H-4 fair, as Caden calls it) Josh's parents and his brother joined us on the trip. We had SO much fun!! And we were SO tired. I need to add that we visited the DNR building (which is pretty cool), but the were having a wild game tasting. The kids both tried something, I have never had before or ever thought I would try.... beaver and turtle. Beaver was ok, turtle was a little gamey tasting, but the kids did not mind! They thought it was yummy!!

Farmer Morgan...
Farmer Caden...
Morgan planting her seed. We were at the Riley Fun Park "Farmer for a Day" it was awesome. The kids had a blast.
Caden driving the tractor.
When they were done, feeding the animals, planting & picking the crops, milking the cow and brusing the sheep, they turned it all in for $1 and then were able to buy a snack. Caden picked string cheese and Morgan got Orange Juice.
Caden feeding a goat! He LOVED it!
The first amusement park ride for either of them. Morgan loved it, Caden was not so sure.
Petting a bunny at the Rabbit barn.

Well, school is about to get underway. It doesn't seem possible but, Morgan will offically be a 1st grader next Tuesday, August 18th. She is excited about it! So it looks like we will be back on "school schedule" for the last week of summer. Early to bed, early to rise!