Umm, Happy 4th!?

So, we're a little behind schedule, but I had to post our photos from the 4th of July sometime! We had fun this year with some cousins from Canada at Nana and Papa's house. We had a barbeque and swam all evening. This was Kleven's first experience with arm floaties in the pool and he now thinks he's invincible! Ezra loves the water too! A few months ago, while out shopping I had picked up some patriotic shirts for the boys, red for Ezra, blue for Kleven and White for Slade, but we never ended up at the same place to wear them together! The only photos I got of the boys was that afternoon when I made them sit on the LuvSac and told Kleven not to let Ezra get off. Here's the result of that:

Ezra! Mom said over here!Look, they're wearing shoulder pads, but at least they're both smiling!Ezra! Where are you going!? Stay HERE!!!He eventually broke out and thought he was SO funny!

Our Family is Expanding!

And I'm putting the blame on Chris!!! It was as much of a surprise to me as it is to you! He's adorable though! And he is going to grow SO fast... but don't they all? He's eight weeks old and we've named him Titus, like the Roman Emperor. He should be about 180 pounds in 2 years. His daddy is a Blue Merle and his mommy has some awesome champions in her line. Kleven and Ezra adore him and he doesn't seem to mind at all when they pull his ears and poke him in the eyes either! Call us crazy, but we're in doggie heaven!

Edit: I was informed that not everyone will catch onto his breed, so in case you didn't put it together... he's a Great Dane! :)

Kleven's Farm Party!

It's now Tuesday morning and we're still stying to recover from Saturday's fun! The front of the house is covered in what we unloaded from the car Saturday night. Kleven has too many good friends! They were all so generous and spoiled him for his birthday! He has been very well occupied for the last few days, opening all his new things. An added bonus is that he is so interested in his new stuff, he doesn't make such a fuss now when Ezra wants to play with his other toys.

We had been planning Kleven's party for quite some time. He came up with the theme all by himself too! We just went with it and I think it turned out really fun.

We had a table set up to decorate lunch sacks for treat bags using Farm themed stamps and washable paint. It was something to keep everyone busy while we finished prepping food and waited for everyone to get there. We would use them later when the kids had to dig through a kiddie pool filled with shavings to find candy wearing work gloves- our take on the pinata. We served hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, chips, green salad, and veggies. While everyone was eating, the petting zoo was setting up in the backyard. We found them online. It was a homemade website and their animals were SO CUTE! I will admit, I was more excited than anyone else! The price was totally worth it too. If you want to check them out for yourself, its: http://www.cartersfarmaz.com/ We paid for an hour, which was plenty long enough. It was hot, but we had the misters going and the canopies up which made a huge difference. I was amazed at all the kids' reactions. I had never thought about it before, but there were quite a few of them who had never had the opportunity to be that close to live farm animals before. We had an alpaca, a calf, goats, pig, rabbits, chickens, geese, ducks... am I forgetting something? My two favorites were the tiny little bunny and the baby pig. The piglet would squeal until you held it like a baby over your shoulder or cuddled it tightly in your lap. So cute!

I promise I will add more photos later! AND- if you took pictures I would REALLY like to see them! If you can, email them to me or put them on a CD! Thanks!

Happy Birthday Kleven!

I cannot believe my baby is THREE! Where does the time go! We (Kleven) have been anticipating this birthday for at least six months. I sure hope it's worth the wait and all he dreamed of because I'm exhausted! This is how our morning went... we waited and waited for him to wake up!

I finally gave in and let Ezra attack him and we sang him "Happy Birthday" in bed.Then we got to open presents! We made him wait outside of our room just long enough so I could get his reaction on camera.

He was so excited for his breakfast! Krispy Kreme's with chocolate frosting and sprinkles! He blew out the candle and opened his gifts. I didn't get a picture of his "Hungry Hippos" game but I got one of his new "extreme sports" helmet. Now he's allowed to ride his skateboard the 'real' way on the driveway!

Kleven, you are such a special boy! You made us parents for the first time in our lives! We cannot remember what life was like before you came along. You came into this world after a very long nine months. You made your mom work harder than ever before, but you were totally worth it. You are so smart! You have never ceased to amaze us with the things you are capable of doing and you have a great memory. Even when you were a tiny little thing! We can't hide anything from you or even lie to get out of an awkward situation. You're too smart! You correct us and quiz us constantly. You are a wonderful big brother. You are always trying really hard to share your things with Ezra, and you watch over him and protect him from harm. I love how you absorb everything around you with such intensity. You can recall with amazing detail, the events of months prior and even things we didn't think you were paying attention to. You love to learn. You also love to have fun. You are infatuated with animals. You can recognize and name just about anything in the animal encyclopedia and even know their noises and specific traits. You are so silly! You make us laugh all day, every day, whether it's just you being goofy for a laugh or because you are so clever! You take great pride in being my "helper guy". I can get you to do just about anything as long as I ask nicely and you take great pride in doing it. You have many friends. You tend to befriend just about anyone who comes along no matter what their age. I have been a little nervous for you to turn three. One reason is that you will start preschool in a few short months, and the other reason is that you think you are now old enough to go on a mission like Uncle Bryan! I'm not sure how I'm going to explain that one to you...

Kleven we love you SO much! Thank you for being our first-born! But please don't grow up too fast- be our 'little-big-guy' forever!

Happy Father's Day!

Thanks for letting us "help" you work.

And for showing us some fun.

And for our handsome-ness.

For teaching us important things like how to keep our hands flat when feeding a horse!

Once again, for our cute faces!




For being SO excited when we come into the world!

Thanks for being our protector.

For sharing your talents.

For shoulders to ride on.





And for being a great example to us!
Happy Father's Day to the men that touch our lives on a daily basis. Not only are they the reason we exist, but the reason we are where we are in life today!