Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Headed north this past weekend for our nephew birthday party. Kids had a blast hanging out with their cuz (and future cuz). It was great to see all the family.

Lucas helped open gifts.

"I'm a good opener!" he would say.
Noah chilling out in his new tent. I actually caught him with a smile!

This picture is fuzzy, but thought it was too cute.

Noah is again trying to escape me actually getting a picture of face! I suceeded again!

Ahhh...don't forget the cake and ice cream! Yummo!

Future Engineers figuring out Cornhole...

You probably had to be there, but this seriously entertained them for over 20 minutes. They were just talking amoungst themselves and obviously had some sort of mission. This is how I picture the conversation...

Neil: Hey! What do you think that is?

Lucas: Looks like a race car with no wheels.

(Didn't capture the picture of this...but imagine them both sitting on the front of the box pretending to drive).

Neil: A race car can't go anywhere without wheels. Dad? What is this?

Dave: It is a game called cornhole.

Lucas: So, they call this box cornhole? That is weird.

Neil: So how do you think it works?

Lucas: Hmmm....well maybe this is where they keep the corn?

Lucas: I can't find anything.

Neil: Are you sure theres no corn in there?...let ME take a look.

Lucas: Well I am thinking that maybe if I try and climb inside, then I will be able to get a better look at this. I'm going in!

Neil: Allright buddy, I'll cover you!

(Lucas then seriously tried to climb inside but all that fit was his leg. Then I showed them the bean bags and how it really works and I think they were dissappointed.)

What spirit!

Well, we took the kids tailgating this past weekend and then Tim and Lucas headed to the game while Lilly and I hung out with Amy and Sydney. Here are some great pics from the morning...

Daddy and his all time favorite cheerleader!

Who's that crazy fan?

Now that is tailgating...in a tailgate. And of course tailgating is all about the food...the boys were all about the donuts. Neil was shoving his in so fast he wouldn't stop to smile.

And miss dainty cheerleader gobbled her donut up as well. Great weather, good food and great friends always makes for a good time. I love football season!

Confessions of a 3-1/2 year old...

Well, I like the fact that 3-1/2 year olds tend to tell the truth, it will definitely be harder to punish them when they start lying. Here are a few examples...

Lucas walks over to me after I hang up the phone.

"Mom?"

"Yes."

"I just hid under the table and ate butter while you were on the phone."

"Hmmm... (trying not to chuckle) Well, thanks for telling me, but you know you aren't suppose to eat butter all by itself."
"I know...but it tastes really good!"

All of the sudden from the other room I hear

"NO LILLY!" (followed by crying from Lilly).

I walk in, "Lucas, what just happen?"

"Ummm...Lilly took my car away from me."

"And what did you do?"

"Ummm...I pushed her down."

"Lucas, we don't hit or push your sister. Give me the car and go to time out."

"I don't like timeout."

And just this week Lucas and I are in the bathroom after just waking up. Lucas goes potty and then looks at me "Do you need to go Mommy?"

"Yes" I reply.

"Poop or pee mommy?"

"Just pee."

"Ok, I will put the seat down for you."

"Well, thank you Lucas, that is very nice."

"Don't worry mommy, you have a big butt so you won't fall in. I have a small butt and I can fall in."

"Yes, you are right pumpkin." (As I think to myself at 6am...Did my son just tell me that I have a big butt? Nice.)

Wordless Wednesday- Peek-A-Boo!

Get Creative!

I don't know about your kids, but mine (well, only one of them) can be kinda picky about their food. I sometimes try and get creative to make things fun to eat. I think it is also a way that I can get out some of MY creative energy as well. The kids like to get involved too and sometimes it can even be more fun than decorating cookies b/c the possiblities are endless. Here are some easy favorites...

Goofy face pizzas are great.Racecar pancakes are an absolute favorite (you can't see the M&M's that are on the other side, but those are a must as well).
And Monster face apples and peanut butter (with some chocolate of course)

Of course you can see that we haven't really gotten into the "girl" themed ideas yet, but I am sure that princess pancakes are soon to come. I do trying to throw in some healthy foods as well, but Lucas hasn't fallen for the "Ants on a log" (peanut butter on celery with raisins), but if you know of any other fun vegetable snack ideas please share!

Throwback Thursday

Well, football season has begun again. We missed the first game due to the wedding last weekend, but this coming Saturday we will be roasting hot dogs, playing corn hole, throwing the football around, trying not to use the port-a-potties and of course cheering for the best college ever- GO PURDUE!

What a difference 4 years can make...

Tailgating 2004. All four ladies were expecting their first babies.

Jamie- March, Meghan- April, Me- January, Kelley- January

At least we all made it through the football season...gotta keep priorites straight, right? Can you imagine sitting in front of the four uncomfortable pregnant ladies...hope we didn't knock anybody over. Now we all have two children and actually enjoy our tailgating times b/c they are not typically there. Thanks to all the grandparents and friends who watch the little rugrats while we enjoy a day in the sun (or rain) with our friends. Looking forward to the goodtimes this year!

Go Boilers! Go Boilers!

We did more...

Well, we did do more than just cut hair over labor day weekend and just thought I would show a couple of cute pics of good times on the lake...since lake season is coming to a close. So sad!!

Since Lucas wakes up at 6am anyway...why not go fishing? So daddy, Uncle E and Lucas took off one morning for what I think was Lucas' first REAL fishing experience. I guess he didn't touch the fish or worms, but had a great times with the boys.

Gorgeous...

Well, we went to the wedding of the year on Saturday (that is the only wedding we had this year). The day was gorgeous, the bride was gorgeous and of course my family looked great as well!

Here is the gorgeous bride and her gorgeous sister.
Adorable as can be.

Mr. GQ

Handsome daddy with his beautiful little girl.

Four cousins happy to be out of mass...

And then after the wedding, we ate and danced...and wow did Lucas and Lilly not show any bit of shyness on the dancefloor. I tried to upload some videos which are halarious, I will work on that and hopefully post later this week.

Olivia is teaching Lucas the waltz...or something like that.

Put your hands in the air if yous a true dancer!And twisting with the bride...what can be better than that?

(No good pics of me. I did wear dress "A")

From one extreme to another...

I am sure you lost sleep last night, wondering what the BIG suprise was...well it may not be too extreme in the overall aspect of life, but it is pretty extreme in our little world. We have been talking about this for about a month, and just putting it off. We would hear little things every now and then "Mom, my hair is in my eyes." But when you asked if he wanted his hair cut he would say "No, I can just push it over like this." I thought at least a trim before school started would be nice since he was starting to look like a shaggy dog at times. But still didn't get that accomplished. So, this past weekend while up at the lake THE TIME CAME...

Cute adorable Lucas really had no idea what he was in for. But we were kinda tired of most of the time it looking like this...
Bed head to the extreme!!! Wonder where he gets all that wave and body?? Definitely not from his mama!

So with popcicle in hand, Tim began his first haircut he has ever given. We started with just the sides and back and was going to leave the top longer like it use to be, but after Tim was done with the clippers, I started scissors on the top and pretty much butchered it...so we decided just to buzz it all! (Can you see the 3" lock of hair on his shoulder?)

I have to say that he is still absolutely adorable. Now those beautiful eyes stand out a little more and I don't even have to think about combing it! The funny thing is I started looking for pictures from the last time his hair was this short, and I determined...

...that he was six months old. Really the fuzz was just starting to grow. So can you get any more extreme from going from the longest hair he has ever had to the shortest? It did take me a few days to get use to recognizing him. The funny thing was that we did this "trim" while Grandpa and Uncle E were taking an afternoon nap...so guess who we sent to wake them up! They probably thought they were dreaming! So...what do you think??

Wild Animals at the Zoo

This past weekend we met up with the whole Hess family at the Fort Wayne Zoo. My camera died about 1/4 of the way through, but Noah ran around showing Lucas and Lilly all of his favorite things.Hatching out of eggs...

What cute babies.
First pony rides for both.

Lucas actually didn't want to go at first until he saw his little sister doing it...and then decided that maybe he could do it too.

My favorite was the cage...or I mean kids tree house. Does this mean I can build a cage in my back yard and call it a tree house? jk!

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for a suprise friday!! It is extreme.

School is cool

I don't know about your kids, but my kids think "school" is pretty cool. They actually started last week, but b/c I am a bad mom, I didn't remember to take a picture until this morning. They are both getting so big! They are going to a parents day out program on Wednesday's and Thursday's at a church here in town. It is great b/c they have music time, crafts, they get to play outside, and have a "theme" that they learn about each week. I am really hoping to get the bulk of my work done for the week within these two days so that I can spend more time focusing on them instead of trying to squeeze everything in. Hopefully it will bring a little more balance to our lives and at the same time I know they are learning new things, and building their social skills and making friends. It is fun to watch them grow up and try new things, it is also a little scary to know that it happens so fast.

Catch-up!

I hope everyone had a good long weekend. Ours was great, but thought before I shared some pics I should catch up from the weekend before! Last weekend my sister and her family came to visit. It was a short but sweet visit and all we had were good times.

First we suprised Hannah with some homemade cupcakes for her birthday that was earlier in the month! Happy 4th Hannah!

Then we headed to a waterpark in Plainfield for the morning, came back for naps and headed back out to a splash park up in Carmel. The day was full of splashing cousins!

Hannah loved trying to catch the water in her mouth.

And Lucas was showing off his dance moves...

obviously he doesn't get these from me! ha!

These two cuties LOVE the tire swings.
And Miss Allie swung with her mommy after splashing around. It was a great visit hanging out with cousins having fun! Wish we could hang out more often!! Miss you guys!