Ice Blocking

We did something Monday night for family night that I haven't done since high school and it was soooo much fun! I had the urge to go ice blocking- so ice blocking we went! I called up my sister-in-law and invited them along so we had some friends to go with. Joel thought it was a blast and what a way to wear out a little boy before bed! So here is a little bit of the fun!

Adventures in furniture making

Awhile ago I stumbled across one of my favorite websites ever ana-white.com. This lady gives furniture plans for tons and tons of furniture. So after looking and looking and looking at furniture plans I decided that Joel and Conner needed a toy box. I found a very cute simple plan for a toy box and said to myself "that looks perfect!" Now please remember that I am married to an engineer who immediately looked at the plans and modified it somewhat a lot! So, instead of taking the couple of hours it was supposed to we worked at it on and off for a good month. I really love the way that it turned out and it holds those toys great!  I can't wait to build the rest of my list. I think we are starting on bookshelves for my front room this week and a bunk bed after that. Here is a picture of our finished product.

The Garbage Man

 As I watched Joel for the last couple weeks run out the door- plop down on the front porch and watch the garbage man with awe, I wondered if the garbage man realized he was a hero to my 2 year old. A garbage man is not something you generally think of as something to aspire to (especially in my neighborhood where there are more families with more than one child in diapers than not!). However, to a young boy that is the COOLEST job in the world. You get to drive a big truck and dump things. You also get to sometimes hang on to the outside of the truck WHILE ITS DRIVING. What little boy wouldn't want that! So, here are to the hero's of little boys -- the garbage man!

Turning OLD!

Sunday was my birthday... and now I only have one more birthday to go till it's my last. How time flies! And I really don't feel that old, which is good (I hung upside down from the swing set pole today while Joel and Conner giggled and giggled-- I don't know why it was so funny- it only took my like 10 tries to get my leg over the pole!). I had a wonderful birthday though. We had a family party at my mom and dad's house with yummy pizza and cake and ice cream with some very nice presents added in! My family has a very fun tradition that we will continue much to Mike's chagrin- we hide birthday presents. We have been hiding them in the same room in the house for close to 15 years now and we always manage to have a hard time finding them and we always find new spots! Its amazing!

The Birthday Girl!

My mom made this cute cake. It was three layers and checkered in the inside with cherry chip and yellow cake with yummy yummy peachy rings on the top!

  My big helper!

And I think my days of opening presents by myself has ended... but it was so much fun to share the joy with Joel and Brooklyn. They were good helpers!

Thanks for a wonderful birthday everyone!

Feeding the Ducks

Last week we got a call from my sister-in-law asking we had dinner ready and if we wanted to get chicken and go feed the ducks around the greenbelt. I of course, had not figured out what we were having and thought that was a great idea! We love feeding the ducks and seeing the waterfall.

Joel and Brooklyn showing me the bread. Yum Yum - those ducks are sure lucky!

Throwing that bread in! 

Oh no! What happened now! - Just kidding- I just thought it was a funny picture!

Some fun cousin time!

And Conner and his cousin Collin chillin' with the dads!

Thanks for the fun!

 

A couple favorites

Here are some of the pictures we took at the fair. I loved them (mostly because of their sparkly eyes!) and thought I would share and tell a little about what each boy is doing. I think these pictures need to go down in history because I actually got Joel to look at me while I was taking a picture! That is no easy feat at our house- I think he may have had the camera in his face a few too many times!

Joel is two. Can I stop there! Just kidding. Joel is a mostly sweet boy with a strong personality. He loves his brother and attempts to help take care of him. He loves being outside and helping grandpa with the horses. He LOVES tools and helping dad fix the cars. His favortie movie is Bob the Builder. And his favorite thing to say is "Can we fix it... Yes we can!" We loves animals and can count to 14 (he gets stuck and it sounds like a broken radio!) and can say his ABC's when he wants to. He likes helping mommy fix cookies too!  He loves to jump and run. When he has to much energy we have him run around to get some of it out! So, there is a little about Joel.

Conner is 8.5 months old. He is a happy little boy (except when he is teething!) He now has 2 teeth and they are sharp! He loves to stand up! He army crawls around and tries to keep up with his big brother who is one of his favorite people! The only way we can get him to eat his food is to spoon feed him while he is standing up. He loves people and likes to be in the middle of everyone. Conner has said his first real words besides Momma and dadda -- he can say doggie which comes out sounding like ogie. But he says it everytime we see grandma and grandpas 2 dogs which he LOVES!

Its fun to see their personalities and how different and similar they are! It will be a fun next year I'm sure!