Yay for our friends!

Yesterday was a great day for two of our dear friends. First, Amy and Will (and Big Sister Natalie) welcomed their baby girl, Lauren Olivia, into the world! Amy is my hero... that poor woman has been dialted (majorly) and ready to give birth for the past three weeks! I would tease her almost every day that I couldn't believe the baby wasn't falling out! We are SO happy for their beautiful family of four! I can't wait to meet Miss Lauren in August when I get to visit them in Colorado!

Second, one of my very best friends, Jodi, was offered what I think is the perfect job for her! She has been off work since moving from Springfield to Peoria, but I truly believe God was waiting to place this amazing opportunity in her hands! She will be the new HR Trainer for Goodwill Industries. A new position, for an amazing company, created for an amazing gal! Congrats Jodi!!

Happy Father's Day

I know there are many, many women out there who think they have the best husband/father-of-their-children, but sorry ladies... I do!

I am SO very blessed to have such a wonderful husband, but am in awe every day of how amazing he is as a father. This year for Father's Day, I planned a day for Jamie and six of his closest friends to go to Oakland, IL for a day of shooting! His friend, Jon, helped me for about two months get everything squared away and everything seemed to be set. Unfortunately, we received the sad news that his great Uncle had passed away, and the funeral was set for that same weekend. I ended up having to tell him about his surprise as things were starting to overlap. It all ended up okay as Jamie was able to go visit with his family at the visitation and still be able to enjoy his Father's Day treat, but I was a little sad that he didn't get the cool surprise I was hoping for.

Since the surprise was set for a couple weeks before Father's Day (so those father's that were going could still enjoy their special day), I wanted Jamie to have something on the actual day itself. So I found an idea on one of the blog's that I read and tweaked it to be what I wanted... I thought it turned out great (and we're all getting to "share" the goodies!!) :-)

I found this large jar at Walmart, filled it with snack size candy (Twix, Snickers, Hershey's bars, etc). But before putting the candy in, I sat down with Sean and asked him why he loves Daddy, and what kinds of things he likes to do with Daddy. I wrote his sayings on strips of paper (along with some from Nathan and a few of my own reasons why I love him), taped them in place of the candy label, and filled the jar. Now every time he goes to get a piece of candy, he can be reminded of why we love him so much!! Here's a picture of the jar... I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

10 little ladybugs...

If you have kids, you know this book. If you don't have kids but have ever been around ours, you know this book. If you ever plan on having kids, you will get to know this book!

For your viewing pleasure, here is Sean reading part of the book... Once he caught me watching, he stopped and started being silly. I know it's a little hard to understand him, but he's doing a really, really good job! We're so proud of our little reader!!

Spaghetti Night!

One of our favorite nights (or at least one of the boys favorite nights) is SPAGHETTI NIGHT. This night is followed up the next day with LAUNDRY NIGHT for Mommy... not one of my favorites, but, as you can see by the pictures below - worth...every...minute!!! I have learned to strip Sean down as much as possible. This was the first time Nathan really got into it. One week later and I'm still stain treating his outfit, I have learned that he too will be stripped next time! :-)












I SWEAR we feed our child...





Sean was having his second helping and while he was blowing his "spaghetti's" to cool them off, Nathan found it very amusing! You'll hear Sean keep saying, "Let me see it!"... he thought I was taking pictures rather than video, and he likes to see himself in the photos. Gee, wonder where he gets that! ;-) WARNING: Watching this video and hearing Nathan laughing may result in sudden outburst of laughter from viewer.

Meet Kuzco

No, no, no, we didn't get a new dog, but our friends Ashley and Jamie did! Kuzco is the most adorable little thing I have EVER met! He is as big as he will ever get - quite a difference than Seabass! The boys LOVED playing with him as he would follow them wherever they would walk. Oh I could just squeeze that little fluffy Kuzco all day!!!

Itty Bitty Baseball

We think it's important to expose Sean to different sports/activities to see what he is good at and really enjoys. Last Fall we tried soccer... this Spring it's baseball! I don't think he really likes this one as much (still asks to play basketball every time we go), but fortunately it's only four Saturdays.

Here are a few pictures from his first day:

Warming up





I couldn't get any "action" shots thanks to this one particular child consistently running in front of my camera as I would take a picture, but hopefully I'll get more before it's over. Here are a few of him getting ready to practice throwing the ball at a target.