I don't know Why Daddy is my Favorite....

yum....

Mommy makes me eat yogurt or cereal. Yippee Daddy!!!! Chocolate donuts!!!! that boring mommy.

How's a mom to compete?

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!

One of our favorite family outings has always been a trip to the zoo. This was our first trip down to the Indianapolis zoo. Of course, that day it was 90+ degrees outside with 100% humidity. Alright, I don't know the exact details; but it was miserable. This entire summer was just super hot and humid. So if you wanted to do anything it was going to be HOT!

So we got there and we heard about the dolphin show and we knew we were heading there and getting out of the sun. The dolphins were great. We all really enjoyed it. I was so emotional, I cried. I know, stress and emotions will make you crazy. (we had put an offer on a house the day before, among other things)

My pictures aren't great, but the show was so fun.

Cade and I went to the elephant show. Nobody else wanted to come out into the sun to watch it. Aren't elephants amazing?

I went with Cade on his first roller coaster. (this is not an attractive picture)

Poor little Aleah had been bit by a mosquito earlier in the week. So her eye was still all swollen. She did great though.

Giraffes are amazing. How did God come up with them?

Rhinos are just weird. Once again, how did God come up with this?

Daddy's little girl.

The thoroughly melted family.

Eeeek!

I love bears and I love taking pictures of them. I would love to go on some kind of safari to take pictures of animals. If I had a great camera, knew what I was doing, and did not have to sleep in the wilderness.

We ended the day in the shark petting area.

20 Months Plus

Aleah's frustrated scowl, a look that is often used.

Sweet and innocent.

Hmmm???? where did Aleah go?

There she is!!! the little rag a muffin. Is rag a muffin a real term, or is it one of those things that my Grandma made up?

Aleah is full of personality, no doubt about that one. She is strong-willed and has an opinion about things. She's also funny and loves to scream and giggle.

Here favorite things to say:

I want that..... not sure how to spell what she actually says... I unt aat

Off.... she often wants the lazy boy to herself

Cup.... up

Cracker....cackar

TASHA... TASHA

Croc....she loves her little orange crocs from Grandma

Mom....Mam..mam...mamm... mmaaamm.... she only says mom when she is whining to me.

Aleah loves to go to the basement and play with her brothers. Actually, she will just stay down there by herself. Just this week all the boys were upstairs and it had probably been 10 minutes or so and I asked, "where's Aleah?" I actually had to call her and tell her to come up. Independent little thing. She will just walked into the nursery at church. None of the boys even came close to that.

She is not real cuddly, but loves to bring books and climb up on your lap.

Has to SCREAM every time we lay her down, but she usually sleeps through the night.

She's definitely rough and tough, but at the same time she's loves being the little girl of the house.

Thanks Uncle Don

A couple days after Reid's birthday, a package arrived. This is always an exciting thing because it's usually from Uncle Don.

This doesn't look like it's going to cause problems. NOT AT ALL.

Each boy received their on sword. So nobody would be left out in the battles.

This is the coolest toy. They sat down in the basement screaming and laughing for an hour. (and yes, they still play with it... since I am writing this several months later)
We've had some issues with the swords. Not anything out of the ordinary though. Uncle Don gets an A+ from the boys once again. And Vicki probably deserves some of (the blame) I mean credit for this too.

Happy Birthday Little Reid

We started Reid's birthday celebrations on Saturday. After his baseball practice he was excited to open presents from Busia and DziaDzia and Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Time, Auntie Melinda (Jaxon, Elijah, and Blaze). Grandma made 2 cakes for the party, plus some dirt cake. (This is probably why I feel like I gained 5 lbs. this week.) We had candles on both cakes, but Trey blew the other candle out. Reid of course was mad, but my lighter was dead. I was just happy Tim and I managed to get the candles lit once. Everyone enjoyed the farting goop from Tim and Melinda.

Reid's actual birthday was the following Monday. We ran some errands in the morning. We had to go exchange his new Bakugan bathing suit for a smaller size. Reid wanted me to run to the bank to cash his check from Grandma and Grandpa, but he had to wait for that. At least he got to wear his new bathing suit to swim camp and use his new beach towel.

Once daddy was up and around it was time for presents.

This picture shows our entire main floor. The boys are sitting the the family room.... then the dining room.... then the kitchen. Whatever house we do move into, it's going to feel like a mansion.

Cutie girl.... just being silly.

All the boys excited to get another nintendo ds game.

Aleah just excited.


The cutest little 8 year old boy ever!

Ready for the little ice cream birthday cake. Yes, we still had 2 cakes left plus dirt cake. Reid wanted an ice cream cake, plus he needed to blow out candles on his actual birthday.

What are you doing daddy? Why are you putting candles on my cheesburger? Well, they were supposed to be trick candles, but they did not work. So we tried them again. Still did not work. Reid's birthday was fun and stormy. We had tornado warnings and had to go spend some time in the basement. It was a good excuse for the boys to try out their new nintendo games.

Undefeated

Cade had his last regular season soccer game Saturday. They won 5-3.

Cade started the game playing goalie. He had 4 stops.
He played sweeper and then center offense. Although he never had a shot, he had a couple crucial passes and assists. He and Cameron played very well together. Everyone was having a rather sluggish game and then the 2 of them scored two quick goals and pulled ahead of the other team.

Mug Shot

Is it ever a good idea to shoot a photo like a mug shot?

Only when your child has lost their front teeth.

Reid pulled out his second front tooth tonight when we came home from Cade's baseball game.