The McGinnis Family

Hi again. Just wanted to let everyone know that invitations are in the mail for CJ's birthday. It will be from 1pm-4pm at my parent's house in Blue Springs on Saturday, July 5th. Casey will be grilling up some lunch so you know there will be lots of good food. The kids can play in the sprinkler and we'll have a little baby pool. It should be lots of fun.

CJ has grown so much lately. It shocks me to see that sweet baby face growing into a little boy. He continues to be hilarious and has his father's sense of humor. He's serious like his mother though and hasn't lost that sweet sensitivity he's always shown. He thinks he's a big boy now and likes the idea of it except when it comes to snuggling with Mama. I imagine he'll always be a snuggly boy. He's a climber and can scamper up the rock walls at the park faster than we can turn around. He also likes standing on his head or partially. He's always stretching out. Its funny to watch him. He seems to add new words everyday and every once in awhile he'll completely suprise us with a new phrase. At this point, his favorite phrase is "I want (insert newest noun here). Casey is ready to kill me because I kept calling one of the pictures of cookies in CJ's book a kumkwat because I didn't realize they were cookies. Now its one of CJ's favorite ...

We had a great time in Mystic, CT last weekend for Father's Day. We spent Saturday at the Mystic Seaport, a little reanactment community right on the water. We even got to see a replica of the Amistad (the original was either scrapped or sunk). That part was neat, but very sad to see the conditions those men endured. CJ loved the water and kept trying to walk onto all the boats he saw (even the yachts that had just docked for lunch). He really enjoyed driving the ship. We then had lunch at a great little inn right on the water- Seaman's Inn. It was wonderful. On Sunday we went to Mystic Aquarium. CJ really loved it. His favorite was the buluga whales as you can see from the picture. He laughed and oohed and ahhed. It was a great weekend. Now we are just gearing up for our trip to Kansas City and for his birthday in a few weeks. Daddy is going on a guy's camp weekend next weekend with Uncle Sami so CJ and I are planning a trip to the zoo. We'll put up more pics then.

Father's Day is just around the corner and CJ and I decided to get Case his gift a little early. So this morning the three of us set off in the jeep to the Dick's Sporting Goods where Daddy got to pick out his very own canoe. Yep, we city kids now have a huge canoe sitting in our living room. Case is out with some friends so he hasn't had a chance to put it away yet. CJ doesn't mind he's sitting in it watching Elmo. Both of them love the canoe and I think they will be very happy taking it out this week. I think we have another little camper on our hands too as he did not want to get out of the tent set up in the store when it was time to leave. He's ready to go for his first camping trip. He'll have to wait a bit though because our adventure for next week is to head to Mystic, CT. Pizza anyone? We're off to the aquarium, the seaport, and a beautiful park on the shore. We're quite excited and can't wait for this week to hurry up. We're espec...

We will be having a birthday party for CJ on the afternoon of Saturday, July 5th in Blue Springs. I hope to get invitations out this weekend, but wanted to give folks a head's up. I certainly hope we see your smiling faces for the event.

Its been nearly a month and we're still doing fine. CJ continues to grow like a weed and develop into a very sweet young man. He is very good at his please and thank yous and surprises us with a your welcome every once in awhile too. He loves to look at photo albums and to randomly name off all the people that he knows. Its quite funny. He can count along with Mama and Daddy up to ten now. Its hard to believe . He has an amazing sense of humor and loves to laugh with all of his little teeth flashing. He thinks he's about 20, and some days its hard to tell the difference between CJ and my college students. He's very studious and takes reading very seriously. Unless you are reading to him, he prefers to be left alone while he is enjoying his story. Curious George is still his best friend and Elmo is constantly on his mind. He loves his Sesame Street. His other favorite is Wheel of Fortune. As I sit here writing, he's proudly shouting out letters to help the contestant...

Okay...so I let the blogging slip a bit. Its been a long month. CJ is growing like a weed and just chats away with you like he's been talking his whole life. His favorite expressions are "Oh, no..." "Go...go...go", and "More peas (please)". He was really excited when Grandpa and Nana (my parents) came in town. He ordered them around for a full week and showed off his playground skills. Now he runs to the door when he's bored going Bompa and Nana. I guess Case and I aren't nearly as exciting. Many of you may know my Grandma passed away two weeks ago. It was sad for all of us even though we know she was ready to go. I had a tough time with it and am just now getting back on track to finish up my semester. Casey and CJ are enjoying their time together at home. Although yesterday CJ decided not to take a nap all day and was crazy. Poor Daddy. The pic is an old one but captures CJ's spirit yesterday pretty good. No new news on the job front for ...