Daddy's Birthday

Mom and Dad are building a backyard wonderland!!!! Pool, patio, slide, outdoor kitchen and fire pit....it rocks! I can't wait until they finish!!!!

One of Poppy's gifts, the boys REALLY ENJOYED the remote controlled boat. It was also got practice sharing!

Oh, how I could just eat him up! My chunkiest monkey by far!

Who can resist a dimple booty! This photo will embarrass him one day, but I work hard for those dimples and rubber bands!!!!

Happy Birthday Superman! It's a little ironic for you to have a Superman themed Birthday. As corny as it may sound, I always thought you were my Super Man. Aaron would tease me when we first started dating because I constantly needed to know what my Daddy thought about it, and what my Daddy's opinion was, and if my Daddy approved of it. He use to laugh and say that I though you were Superman, and everything you said was golden. In some sense there is a lot of truth to that. I love you, Daddy, and you're still Superman in my book!

No Training Wheels!!!! Yay!

This is a milestone for every child, and I'm glad it's out of the way! Both boys can now ride a bike without training wheels! Yippee! They are very excited and proud to do so. It never even occurred to me to try with them this young, but I guess that's what Daddys are for! Aaron worked with them for about a week everyday when he got home from work. It started out slow.

Christian, age 4: didn't want to fall or go fast. I think his delima was just getting him to keep pedaling. As soon as he felt like he was going too fast or too far he would stop, and fall. Then he didn't want to turn. That took some work.... Once he practiced enough and got his confidence built up, he was great! Aaron showed him how to start and stop on his own, turn, steer....everything. You could tell by the look on his face that he felt accomplished. I am very proud of him, and appreciate his cautious side. He is growing up to be such a wonderful little boy.

Ben, age 3: wanted to go fast and didn't care where he ended up. This was a little scary. Ben was trying to get on his bike and pedal before he even knew how. As soon as he started, he was wide open, and running into trash cans, cars, shrubs, and at one point he turned the corner and went half a block with Aaron running after him. Aaron told him that he had to pedal to stay up on his bike, and he apparently took that very seriously. He can now stop well, but still struggles to get going sometimes. His steering has improved by leaps and bounds! It's just a task to get him to watch were he is going. I am equally proud of him, and impressed that he can do so well at such an early age. For Ben, everything is possible, and he is invincible.

I think that these same character traits will also be reflected in teaching them how to drive a car, boat, four wheeler, tractor....and anything else with wheels or a motor.

Biscuits Baseball Game

First baseball game for all of the boys. It started out slow. It was raining on and off so the game ended up being delayed 1.5 hrs. We had great seats and it wasn't too hot. Jack behaved well and we all enjoyed the overly priced stadium food. It was an enjoyable outing. The boys were full of questions and during the game there was entertainment involving the crowd so things didn't get too boring for them.

4th of July Weekend

Sanctified sang at the town park, followed by fireworks.

Mrs. Candy bought glow sticks for our kids-they had a lot of fun with them!

We also went fishing, and caught a lot of catfish-yummy! They are so sweet sitting there patiently waiting for a bite! I'm going o miss this age.

Oops

Lulu is always doing fun activities with the boys while she is here. They planted some flower seeds together and practiced watering them with moderation. When she left, they forgot how much water was needed, and their enthusiasm took over.
This is how I found them....they didn't survive.
Sorry Lulu.

Happy Anniversary!

A yogurt bar! Have you ever heard of such a thing! About 20 flavors and oodles of toppings to choose from. Then, you have your cup weighed and pay by the ounce. This was one of the boys cups - some of their ice cream flavors consisted of "Birthday Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Watermelon, White Chocolate Mousse...." the list goes on. So many options that they had to have a little of everything.

Nothing like an open mouth kiss!

Mom and Dad have been married for 28 YEARS!!!! Congratulations and thank you for sharing your celebration with us!!! Mexican lunch, yogurt bar dessert, fun laughs, and lots of shopping.

Peach Parade

Another year and another Peach Parade. The boys get really excited over it. Our small town is really into Peaches and Pageants. For this, I am grateful that I only have boys. Not a huge fan of pageants, and I'm not sure I would know what I would do with a little girl that wanted to be in one. They were not very popular where I grew up, it's unfamiliar territory, and I just don't get it. For this, I'm probably considered a little strange.

Bubbles

Jack can blow bubbles too, but I didn't capture it....

U-Pick and Lulu

One thing that I love about our area is all of the "U-Pick" farms. I especially love this farm. The women who owns it orders her signs from us and has always brought me fresh produce when she comes. Last year she gave me a huge basket of plums, I was pregnant, and I ate every single one of them. They were the most amazing plums I had ever had!!!!

Lulu came for a visit! The kids had a lot of fun with her and she was so helpful, as always. It's amazing how much you can get done with another person around to help. She left us with a freezer full of meat and an overflowing pantry. Thank you so much Lulu! She grocery shopped for me and cooked dinner every night. Wow, it was like having another wife around. She got to stay for about 1 1/2 weeks, and sadly departed. We were unusually busy during her visit with the Sign Company so her timing was great for being helpful but I'm afraid that we didn't get as much one on one time as I had hoped. I'm glad you will be coming back in the fall when things are more calm.

Camping Trip

Daddy (Uncle Aaron) sure is fun!

Aaron and Josh really wanted Mark to break their bones. Thank you Mark for not killing them on this thing!

The kids did this ever single day they were there. The "Poparazzi" is what it's called. We still have discussions about the Poparazzi. They had so much fun on it! So did I!

What a little trooper he is! This sweet man barely whimpered the whole time. Actually the only time he cried is when he had to wear his life jacket.

Kari gave the guys a spin on the merry-go-round. What a site. They were all quite nauseous afterward. Do you remember being able to do this as a kid for hours.....

The kids loved it but Ben and Westin were falling off. A little too much G-Force for them!

Jack in this most irritating safety vest. Oh, he so disliked it.

The guys were fishing at the end of the dock. Our tent was set up just a few feet from where I took this picture. We really looooved this campground.

Look at all of those bumps and bruises - just the way a little boys legs should look!

Uncle Josh got a good laugh out of Jack.

Silly boys!

I was pretty leniant on what the kids ate/drank during our time there. This is Ben, drinking Red-40. (We avoid this as much as possible at home)

Ben belching after drinking Red-40.

Ben thinks he is cute when he belches.

This is the aftermath of Red-40. A little excited. Could he smile ANY bigger?



So, we went camping with the Driver's and the Graham's. It was great! We all had a good time. I'm not going to get into a lot of detail because the pictures pretty much sum it up. I think we all agreed that we need to do it again next year at the same place-Wind Creek State Park.