Party Time

Ryan and his friends had a great time at his birthday party this afternoon.

Superman!

A little swimming . . .

A little Slip N Sliding . . .

A massive water balloon fight . . .

He is not going to take that water balloon from his baby cousin, is he?!?!?

"Happy Birthday to you . . ."

Friends . . .

And more friends . . .

A few presents . . .

(I think this was his favorite one)

And a sweet little Mitchell who disapeared under the table to give Daisy a hug.

Happy Early Birthday, Ryan!

For more pictures, head on over to Flickr.

Moons, Moons and More Moons

Too many moons today while working on the neighbor's deck.

While sitting around and supervising the building of the deck today, we had just been talking about Ryan's "bathroom run" when he has to poop. Just as we finish talking about it Ryan announces he has to poop. So in fear of not getting there in time, we ran across the yard back to our house. Knowing that he's doing the "hold and clench" and that my neighbor's are laughing because he's doing it and we had just been talking about it minutes before, I mimicked it, too. And with just my luck, my friend got a picture of it from across the yard. (Pay back is sweet!)

Speaking of his little moon . . .



So then, as the guys are getting ready to move the joists back up to the house, my friend grabs the camera . . .

And low and behold, what do you think she saw?


I am just so proud. I bet his mother will be too after she reads this. . . LOL

Hard Day's Work

I have never seen a group of kids more enthralled with the building of a deck. Maybe it had something to do with putting them to work. They had so much fun today.


Ashley and Ryan help shovel dirt, while Reece fixes a problem with his pants.
















Ryan and Reece hard at work. How many trips do you think it will take them with that little wheel barrel?
















The true excitement of the day came when the cement mixer came. I've never seen a group of kids so transfixed and quiet.
















The kids' hero - The Cement Mixer Man.















Also during the day, we had a little traffic jam.















And Brooke made a new friend in Halle today.






















After calling it a night, the guys became freaked out by what they though was a skunk, only to later find that it was a piece of black garbage bag that had flown onto one of the neighbor's shrubs. And they're being trusted to build a deck?!

A Boy And His Dog

Poor Dog. . .

And yes, Ryan got himself dressed this morning.

Busy Busy Day

It's been a very busy day. I've come to the decision that I just do not have enough hands to go around. I spent the day with all my favorite kiddos while my husband and neighbors worked on the deck in progress next door.

Deck in progress - despite all the rain and mud.

My favorite kiddos, whom I made dinner for. Can you believe it? I made two separate meals tonight. One for us adults and one for the kids. I had to take a picture because my husband and my mother would never believe so otherwise.

Ashley and Kate-O-Potato. Isn't she just the cutest thing?

And since I obviously hadn't had enough yet, I invited my niece over to spend the night. Wow, have I missed her. (I babysat her when she was born for two years.) After playing outside all night, I gave her and Ryan a bath and (big yawn) I'm exhausted. Hopefully I can talk them into going to bed in a few minutes. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun since I'm sure all the kids will be out playing again. Ashley, Ryan and Brooke are all sleeping in the tent downstairs, so tonight should be very interesting. We'll see if we get any sleep. More tomorrow...

Lost

Whatever will these two do without each other all day when school starts? We might have two very unhappy boys on our hands. They'll be lost without each other since they have been pretty much inseperable this summer.

Countdown

My kids have made a chain link thingy to count down the days till our vacation. After receiving a phone call this afternoon and learning that Ryan will be in the extended day kindergarten class, I may be making one of my own soon. On August 22 both kids will go back to school and I WILL HAVE THE HOUSE TO MYSELF all day until I start watching Chloe at the end of October. What will I do for two months? Probably clean the heck out of my house starting from the bottom up. Fun, right?

Cheers!

Here's to the cute little old lady (seriously, I'd say she was in her 80's) in the motorized shopping cart at Walmart this morning who asked me to get the bottle of premixed margaritas off the top shelf for her this morning. Cheers! What was I doing in the liquer department, you ask? Getting my own Margarita mix for our upcoming vacation, of course!

Happy Anniversary

We looked like little kids...wow how time flies!

Here's to 8 years of:

Two incredibly wonderful children.

Many, many laughs.

Picking up your laundry off the floor every morning.

Making meals that you won't eat.

Throwing out your holey boxers because you'll keep on wearing them for 8 more years.

Never asking what became of your old heavy metal t-shirts (I plead the 5th).

Putting up with my weekly Red Lobster cravings during my pregnancy with Ryan.

Never saying, "I told you so".

For not saying anything when the house is a mess when you get home from work.

For being the best father ever to our kids.

And for never complaining too much about dinner not being ready when you get home from work (and then for still not being ready an hour later).

With that said, where are we going out for dinner tonight?

Little League All Stars

Ryan and Reece were hilarious this afternoon. They were playing a game of baseball their own way. One would pitch (to nowhere near the other batting) and the batter would swing wildly at the air and then run the bases. They kept taking turns doing this over and over again. It was quite comical. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to get myself a camera that zooms when it's in record mode. (Either that or get my vision rechecked.)

Hired Help

Hey Em~
You didn't tell me Kate does floors. Too bad she can't reach the windows yet. LOL.

Pranksters, II

Look at what Ryan and Bret have been up to this time. Just like last time, I'm thinking that this probably wasn't a good thing to teach him though.

Suprise!!! II

The kids were super suprised when the found the tent set up downstairs today. Does this make us white trash? LOL.

Surprise!!!

The kids were bored and I was trying to clean so after he cleaned up the big playroom downstairs, Bret set up our camping tent for the kids down there to keep them out of my hair. As Ryan and Reece say, "Awesome, dude!"

Confused?

I think these kids might be a bit gender confused. Ryan and Reece are playing Barbie's in Ashley's room and Ashley's is setting up their trains in my room. (Don't look at my unmade bed. They took over the room before I could get to it.)

Headache

This is what happens to my house when it's too hot for the kids to play outside. What can I say, it's just been that kind of day. (Sigh) Thankfully, I'm looking forward to a night out with the girls tonight.

Vacation, Here We Come!

Look where we're going!!! I am so excited. Our family and Bret's brother's family are going to stay in one of the vacation villas at Grand Bear Lodge in a couple of weeks. Jo and I will ride down in our minivan with the kids watching a movie while Grant and Bret beat us down there in the corvette. (You guys didn't think we were fooled, did you?) You'd think my kids would be excited about everything they have there to do, but all they can talk about is which one gets to share a bed with their little cousin, Brooke. LOL. Seriously, after spending the days at Grand Bear Falls, Enchanted Forest and Bear Island, I don't think they're going to care where they sleep or with whom.


















I'm excited because, in this villa, we can put the kids to bed upstairs and then stay up downstairs while they're sleeping. (Can anyone say Margaritas? Just kidding. Or am I? LOL)

Check out this awesome villa...













































Jo and I aren't going to be expected to cook in this kitchen, are we? After all, it is suppose to be a vacation...LOL.

Here's a link to the floor plan, too. (Can you tell how excited I am?)

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for making this wonderful family time possible for us. The little kiddos (and us big ones, too) are very excited. (And we would have moved you into your new home, regardless.)

My Little Pet Frog

Today was another swim lesson day for Ryan. He did a great job!

It felt like an ice box in the locker room.

"I'm ready to jump!"

"Maybe I'm not so ready..."

But he did it and swam his little heart out.

Practicing kicking and floating on his back.

He kind of looks like a little frog in his googles, doesn't he?

My Little Pet Frog, II

You mean I don't have to stand there and catch him anymore?! Still need to work on keeping his feet up off the ground, though.

Lazy Summer Day At Splashdown

Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying the lazy river, water slides and laying in the zero depth pool up to my ears to take very many pictures. Here's a few I did manage to get. Lacking in quality, I know - but we had a blast and 4 1/2 hours later we were pretty well baked by the sun.

Ashley...

Ryan...

Sweet Adorable Perfect Baby

Mom and Chloe came home today and are both doing great. Check out Chloe's hospital pictures by clicking here.

Isn't she perfect?

Kind of makes you want one, doesn't it?

Dad's Fashion Sense

I'm thinking that he got his fashion sense from his father...