Furry Family Additions

The boys have been BEGGING for a hamster for the majority of the summer. Friday, after the zoo, and before a pool party (crazy summer!!!) we headed to PetsMart to pick out our new pet! I had researched the hamster idea a bit and found that they are a bit more nocturnal than I'd like - no need to keep the boys up later than they are already staying up - so we opted for a guinea pig, well, two guinea pigs!!!

Here the boys are on the drive home!
And here are Tivey and Spidey! Two more males added to our already highly charged testosterone house!
Jack is the proud papa of Tivey, short for Electiver - a name he came up with all on his own!
And check out Luke just looking at Tivey - his eyes say it all!
I would normally put a picture of Nick with his loved pet here, however, he isn't too keen on holding Spidey, short for Spiderman, yet! Maybe by my next post! :)

And here is their new home. Luckily they are downstairs in the playroom so we don't hear them (or smell them, although so far so good on that front!).
Here's hoping we get past the free 14 day trial period!

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Last Friday, the boys and I went to the zoo with my friend Theresa and her daughter, Reagyn. The day was BEAUTIFUL...luckily we got there by 9, so it wasn't TOO busy!

Right when we got there the boys and Reagyn wanted to get their picture taken with the seal statue!
We saw TONS of animals and even rode the train!
The kids were great, and they LOVED posing for me!!! Here they are on the "bug!"
We had lunch and then we went to see the stingrays...my favorite ocean animals...I love them! But, touching them, that was another story. They were SLIMY!!!! UGH!
Reagyn is just going into first grade, but Luke wanted her to push her at all times!!! Reagyn enjoyed caring for Luke, thank goodness. Theresa is pregnant and due in August, I have no doubt that Reagyn is going to make an awesome BIG sister to her baby brother, Carter!
This was honestly one of the best trips to the zoo, the weather and company were fabulous!!!

Gadget's Garage!

Last week, I was a co-director of our church's Vacation Bible School. All three boys attended, well, Luke was officially there...on my hip. And, Nick was good for the first two nights and then BAM...he turned back into his MAJOR mama's boy!!! The theme was Gadget's Garage...check out the cool robots in the background!!!
We took a picture on Thursday, the last night, with all the kids...what a great bunch! Jack is the handsome dude on your left in the black shirt...Luke was at Pizza Hut with Dan and Nick, well, was standing right next to me!!!

Parade Pics...

After the Children's Museum last Friday we headed to a nearby town for a Fireman's Picnic and parade that Papa Jack was in!

Here is Dan, Nick, Alyssa and Jack walking to our spots!
Here we are looking for Papa...the kids enjoyed picking up all the candy being thrown their way while they waited! :)
We finally found Papa, the Loan Arranger, and boy, did he give us TONS of candy!!!
Dan wanted some extra so he headed to my dad's bank's van to personally get some!
Thanks to Uncle Bryan who helped Alyssa and Luke pick up the candy and stay out of the parade's path!
The kids had such an awesome time, and we parents all enjoyed our short break as the kids' attention was focused on all the sights and sounds of the parade!

More Cousin Fun!

Since Alyssa was visiting this past week, we took full advantage of having our cousin here to play with, so we headed to the Edwardsville Children's Museum!

Here is another picture of the five cousins...and Uncle Steve as Henry was comfy in his Baby Bjorn!
The museum was pretty small and REALLY quiet, with just 2 large rooms that the children could run through. Jack and Luke enjoyed the "cultural" dress up!
Nick liked playing with the tools, and especially liked these safety glasses!
There was a complete little town in one room - including a medical center, post office, bank and the kids' favorite, a grocery store! Here Nick and Luke pull groceries that I requested - what a great listening activity for Luke! :)
After the boys retrieved the requested groceries, Alyssa rang me out! She LOVED this register!
Nana got Jack to dress up as a fireman...doesn't he look cute?

Aunt Jackie and the boys all played this listening game where you shook cups full of various items, listened, felt them and put them in a slot that had a picture of what you thought was in there! Jack ended up getting all 13 right (nice for a deaf kid!). I, on the other hand only managed to match 3 correctly!
I captured this picture of Nick going down these stairs, but when I took the shot, I realized he kind of looks like his hero, Spiderman!!!
For all you old school Sesame Street fans..."One of these things are not like the other..."
Typical, the two women are looking up at the boys and Uncle Steve is staring and "cheesing" it up for the camera!!!

The Children's Museum was an excellent way to spend a rainy day!!!

A Day At the Park!

After the crazy 4th of July holiday, Uncle Bryan and Aunt Allie headed back to Memphis, but let Alyssa stay with Nana and Papa to hang with us! We took full advantage of playing with our cousin!

Monday we headed to the park! My sister lives in a town that has such an amazing park! I have posted about it before, last summer, so I'm trying to keep the pictures new!

Here are 4 of the 5 cousins on Noah's ark!
And here is Baby Henry in his stroller, enjoying the park too!
After we played on the swings, slides, etc, it was off to feed the ducks...
...and the swans, although none of the birds were too hungry today! Check out what Luke is getting ready to throw - a HUGE piece of bread, even after we told him to break it up! "No break up bread" was Luke's response...ah, he certainly is 2 years old!
We walked around the lake to some more playground equipment and after a LONG while there, we headed over to the park's petting zoo. There was a worker there, so he let us go in with the goats! Alyssa was a bit unsure about going in there at first, but eventually LOVED it! She didn't even mind when the goats were eating her clothes!!!
After the park it was back to Aunt Jackie's house for lunch and then home for naps...one for mommy too!!!

July 4th...Take Two

We were invited to a party at our friends' Wendy and Bryan's house on July 4th, but that had been postponed to July 5th, as the town's fireworks had been moved to that day as well! Wendy and Bryan live near the park where they set the fireworks off, so their backyard is the perfect place to watch them!

We loaded up the kids - again in their July 4th tees and headed over for some fun! We had a delicious BBQ dinner, wonderful conversation and the best part was that the kids were having a blast...literally! Wendy and Bryan thought of everything. The kids all had those poppers to slam down onto the wood board and even their own firework show right there in the backyard before the town fireworks started!
Here are all of my boys getting in on that fun!
My three LOVED the swingset though....the other kids were all eating when I took this picture!!!
The weather was cool - we could have used a hoodie - and the fireworks were great! Happy 5th of July, all!

Nothing Says Happy 4th of July More Than...

Enchiladas??? Yep, that is how our family celebrated the fourth, with a delicious dinner of enchiladas!!! See, we were supposed to go back up to our park for an Old Time 4th of July picnic complete with games, food and fireworks, but all the rain put an end to that! My mom checked out her cupboards and I checked out mine, and this is what we came up with, as we were worried that most grocery stores were closed for the holiday! Here is Nana, cutting up our great dinner!
Before dinner we played a game like the "Newlywed Game." I must admit that Dan and I did pretty well and won a few times! Love you, Stud! :)

Because the weather was yucky, we basically just hung out! Here are Steve and Henry on his first 4th of July!
The kids got outside to play just a bit, then came in and got their matching shirts on for a little photo session of all the c0usins! Here is Luke, Jack, holding Henry, Nick and Alyssa! Aren't they cute?
After all the pictures were done (and there were many, but expected with 5 little ones!) Nana made some funnel cakes that were enjoyed by all!
Then it was time for Papa to read a few stories to Luke and Alyssa before it was time for everyone to go home and go to bed!!!
All in all a very quiet, but nice, 4th of July!

A Soggy Start!

Jackie and I woke up early on July 4th for our town's first annual 5k run! Unfortunately the weather wasn't so hot...in fact, it was rainy and cold!!! The race got started about 30 minutes late and we were then told to "run at your own risk!" What??? The power in the park's pavilion even went out but alas the race went on and Jackie and I finished with a decent time of 31 minutes, 23 seconds! I can't imagine how well we would have done had it been a bit nicer!

Because of all the rain, I opted not to take my camera out, but as soon as we got home, Uncle Steve, happily took our picture - in the rain!!! The power was still out at our house, thankfully it came on just when I needed to blow dry! :)

Here we are...
It may have been cold and rainy, but finishing my 5th 5k was great!

Summer BBQing!

On July 3rd, the party moved to our house. Bryan, Allie, Alyssa, Jackie, Steve, Henry, Nana, Papa and Gigi all came over for a fabulous BBQ! The weather was nice and the kids enjoyed the pool and the slip n slide! I usually have my camera with me at all times, but I guess I was having so much fun with the fam that I only got a few good pics!

Here is such a cute pic of Buka - fuzzy, but cute. Luke LOVED this bubble gun, and even stopped to smile for me!
He and Alyssa also LOVED more ice cream!!! Gotta love summer - ice cream cones two nights in a row!

Speaking of food, we had TONS! Here is Dan enjoying his chocolate cream pie!
Jack enjoyed the night lights - meaning the lightning bugs! He especially liked collecting them and putting them in his bug keeper that he got from Chuck E. Cheese when we were in Memphis!
Poor Nick, well, he slept the majority of the night!!!
Another awesome day in the books!!!

Family Fun at the Farm!

My brother, Uncle Bryan, his wife, Aunt Allie and their beautiful daughter, Alyssa came up from Memphis for a visit. We met up with them after Luke finished his morning at CID on Thursday! Becasue the weather was so nice, we headed to Grant's Farm! Our first stop was goat feeding!! Here is Allie and Alyssa with the goats! Notice we don't enter the goat pen. We did that just one time and we had tons of hungry goats jumping up on us, almost knocking the boys over, so we now stand safely on the opposite side of the fence!
Our next stop was the new carousel there! Here is Nick and Uncle Bryan - Nick not looking so happy as he wanted to ride on the reindeer animal and of course, older brother, Jack, jumped on it right before Nick...ah, the love between brothers!
After our fast ride we walked over to see one of the slowest animals on the farm - the big ole tortoise!
We made our way around the rest of the farm rather quickly heading to the tier garten as it was about 2 and none of us had eaten lunch yet! Lunch time!
Then it was back on the tram and back to our car! Here I am with the three boys!
We then left Grant's Farm and headed to Nana and Papa's house for dinner with the whole fam! Aunt Allie, Uncle Bryan, and Alyssa loved meeting Baby Henry!
As soon as we were finished with dinner - thanks Nana - Jackie, Bryan, Allie and I all went for a 5 K run! Here are Jackie, Nana and Henry, and Allie after our run!
All the cousins enjoyed some ice cream (well, except Henry!) and a quick photo! Here are Henry, Jack, Nick, Luke, and Alyssa...full of ice cream and smiles!
Now for a fun little story! So, on Father's Day, Uncle Steve, swears that I said "holla!" at 5 random times throughout the day! Funny, but no one else remembers me saying anything and I don't ever think that word has been a part of my vocabulary! Anyhow, now Uncle Steve yells out "holla!" whenever he sees me! Here he is - with the arm movements and all!
All in all a fabulously fun family day!