Happy Birthday, Cowboy!

Yesterday, we celebrated Memorial Day and Ben's 5th birthday with Mike's family and our pals, the Hurrle's. It was a really hot day, but at least there was lots of sunshine! When we asked Benny what kind of party he wanted several months back, he said he wanted a John Wayne party (remember when he dressed up as John for Halloween?). Specifically, he wanted his cake to be John Wayne's face. Umm, good one, Ben. I told him I would gladly make him a cake, but that there was no way I could pull off "the Duke's" face. So, we settled on a horse instead. :) The cowboy theme was fun and I was able to find a 6'2 cardboard cut out of John on the Internet, so he could join us at the party! I think my little cowboy was happy. :)

Opening presents and singing Happy Birthday!

Natalie had a ball playing in the water all afternoon. She was soaking wet, but I think because it was so hot, she didn't mind a bit.

Some pictures of the birthday boy with his pal Nate (Donny too!) and cousin Ellen.

John's a sneaky one...I love how Mike doesn't realize that he has a gun pointed at the back of his head. John tried to sneak up on Nattie too.

Some of the party people....Nattie LOVES giving kisses to everyone now!

Finally, a couple of Brad and Christina. They came up for the party and our kiddos (and us!) loved seeing them for a bit!

Happy Birthday, Buddy! :)

My five year old...and some other stuff...

On Tuesday my little man turned five years old! I can hardly believe it has been five years since I spent 24 hours lying in a hospital bed waiting for him to arrive! He has blessed my life more than he'll ever know. It's really amazing how fast he went from....

this..........................................to this

We are having his party on Sunday with mostly family, but he did receive a special b-day package in the mail today from Grammy and Pops and was VERY excited! Mike and I gave him a small fish tank with two goldfish on his actual birthday too. He LOVES them and has named them "Ben" and "Nathan" (after his good buddy next door!).

In other Benny news...after watching an episode of Sid the Science Kid that was all about charts and how to use them ...Ben decided he needed a chart...so, we created one and it's been working out to MY advantage quite well, actually! He gets stickers for doing certain things...like EATING without complaining...etc. After so many stickers he'll get a small prize or reward. So far...he is LOVING it!

Papa and Daddy ran one evening at Silvercreek park, so Ben, Nattie and I went for a walk on the trail while we waited for them to finish.

Checking out the frogs...

Nothing like a little self-timer action right on the trail...

Some "other" stuff from the last week or so...we picked up some fried chicken one night this week and were surprised to find that Nattie LOVED it (ok...not that surprised). I handed her a whole drumstick and she proceeded to gnaw all the meat and skin right off the bone...nothing like her brother!

Finally, a shot of Nattie from today. She has been awake for the better part of the last three nights teething something fierce. I feel sorry for the poor thing, but man does it drive me bonkers during the night!! She is drooling so much it is almost pointless to put clothes on her because they are covered up with bibs and even that doesn't keep her clothes dry! Oh...and her head is one permanent bruise/scratch these days...but I still think she's cute. :)

That's all...for now.

13 years later...

Who knew when I met Heidi my freshman year at Taylor that we'd be the best of friends 13 years later? I'm so lucky to have her in my life and we're both really happy to have married two guys who really like each other too! We spent the weekend with the DeKorne fam and had a blast together. The last time we visited them, as a family, there were only two kiddos between us...this time there were five...big difference...but a good one! :) Next time, there will be six...whoa! Warning: We spent only two days together...yet there are somehow close to 15,000 pictures in this post. Sorry...I couldn't cut out any of the cute faces below!

Three of the cutest girls I know...Ava, Kaiya, and Reese!

Ava and Ben...could there be a future here? If so, Heidi and I figured we'd have plenty of photos for their wedding reception video.

Fishing!

Going for a ride on the pontoon boat!

A sitter came and watched the kiddos for an hour on Saturday evening and the big people took a boat ride alone. Mark stopped the boat outside someone's party and we snuck a listen to the killer (note sarcasm) live band for awhile. Heidi was so thrilled to be crashing the party. :)

Us and our babies...

Sprinkler fun! Isn't Kaiya the cutest in her green rain boots? :)

Finally, a bunch of other random pictures that were too cute not to include.

Heids and Mark...thanks so much for having us! We love you!

Uncle Eric!

Uncle Eric came for a visit this weekend. He just finished up his senior year at Mizzou (one more to go and he'll have his Masters!) and he came to hang out and run a race with Mike in Cleveland. We loved having him here for a bit.

Nattie, apparently, found one of Ben's markers and thought it would be a tasty snack...

We went to Hinckley Lake on Saturday for a short hike. Ben had fun playing on the "beach" and throwing rocks in the water. It takes very little to excite him!

Eric and Mike after their half-marathon yesterday. Of course Ben was thrilled to have another race medal to add to "his" collection. :)

Finally, Ben, Nattie and I were waiting for Daddy and Eric at Mamaw's after the race yesterday and Nattie was pointing up at something in the tree. I looked up to find the little fellow on the left staring at us. Mamaw feeds the squirrels and they are the most tame things I've ever seen. It's kind of creepy actually. :)

Thanks for coming to visit, Eric! We love you!

Preschool performance and Pops...

This week is Ben's last week of preschool in the 4/5's class. He had his end-of-year program today and it is always so cute to see all the little people perform. He kept up his tradition of singing a few songs with real gusto and then standing silently for others while playing a mean air guitar. He's a nut and makes me smile. He's about a foot shorter than all his classmates...even the girls. We decided not to send him to kindergarten in the Fall. We're going to send him to pre-k instead and give him one more year to mature a bit more.

In other news, my poor Dad fell yesterday and broke his wrist pretty badly. He has to have surgery tomorrow and a cast for quite awhile following. We felt so bad for him, so Benny made him a card. The front of the card is a picture of Ben and Pops. Pops is sporting a lovely blue cast. I asked Ben what he wanted to say inside the card and he decided on "Sorry you fell." :) Very creative...ha ha....but cute nonetheless. He also asked me to draw a heart balloon on the card to make Pops feel better. Dad, we hope the surgery goes well and you feel better soon. Love you!

The weekend and Mama's Day...

We went to the Winking Lizard on Saturday, walked around down by the river, ate ice cream, visited the pet store (Mike was considering getting Ben a pet turtle for his b-day until we found out the cost involved!) and went to bed early. It was a laid back and chilly day...but we had fun together.

Brother and sister being cute and silly together...

Here are the three great-grandmas who we love and appreciate for all they do for our little family. Ben and Nattie are so blessed to have people they love (and who love them!) to care for them when we are at work. (Of course we love my grandmas too and wish we lived close enough to celebrate with them today!)

Finally, here's me and Nana at The Barn this afternoon. It was only in the 40's, but at least it was sunny. We love our mamas and Ben and Nattie love their Nana and Grammy so much!

Happy Mama's Day!

Overkill...

I know I'm verging on blogpost overkill this week...sue me. :) Here are, yet again, more pictures of my little sunshine girl. I think I have a real weakness for snapping her photo (starting to feel a little bad for Benny now...she definitely hogs the blogosphere with her face these days!). Of course I love my little man too, but this sweet thing will only be my baby for a few more months, so I'm documenting her every, cute, move.

We went on a short hike this evening. Being outside just makes me (and the rest of my fam) happy...

Yet another lovely art piece by my little Monet... :)

Ben the artist and silly Nat...

Ben brought this home from preschool today. It made me smile. He is actually getting better at drawing people, if you can believe it! I think it looks just like me...don't you?

While Ben was at preschool I snapped these photos of Nat. I told her to smile for the camera...this is what I got. Oh my...

Such a sweetie and such a girl...she somehow learned to put her purse on her shoulder. :)

Nattie, where's your head? Where's your nose? She's getting good at pointing out all her body parts and she LOVES to lift my shirt and touch my big ol' belly (Mike's too!).

Just in case you haven't seen enough of her yet...here are a few from this afternoon. She was smelling the flowers from my Azalea bush and soaking up some sunshine...

Wagon ride and some other stuff...

Ben really wanted to pull Nat in the wagon this week. It was all fun until he decided it would be a good idea to pull her full speed down our fairly steep driveway straight toward the street. Luckily, she survived and enjoyed it...most of the time. :)

Searching in the mulch for "rolly polly" bugs...

Just had to showcase Nattie's new flower headband. She might be wearing these darn headbands for a bit longer since she still has minimal hair and is frequently referred to as a "cute little guy." :)

Finally, a quick Benny story...Lately he's been having a little trouble with the whole "obey your parents" thing and this day, in particular, he had been a real pain in the rear...with one thing after another. Well, it was the end of the day and he and Nattie were in the tub. There was a bar of soap up high on the ledge and I told him not to touch it. Next thing I know he's got it and is rubbing his eyes screaming and freaking out that "it's burning!" I was irritated and pulled him out of the tub to get him ready for bed. In his crying, burning eye fit he said..."Mom...I'm sorry. I've done hundreds of sins today!" I wanted to start laughing and tell him it was more like 10-15...but I didn't. :) He said, "But we are all sinners, right?" I told him we were and that, as a Christian, we are already forgiven, but that it is always good to ask for forgiveness when we know we've done wrong. He said a prayer before bed to ask Jesus to forgive him for all his sins. I told him that tomorrow was a new day and he could start fresh. He just makes me laugh...even when he is being a booger!