HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY AND LEE!!!

Happy Birthday to Brady (Wednesday) and Happy Birthday to Lee (today)!

This has been a pretty busy week, but has been full of fun! We had Brady's party last Saturday, his actual b-day on Wednesday, my first day of school also on Wednesday, and Lee's b-day today!

Brady had a great b-day at daycare and then again at home. He wore his b-day hat here and there. I had made him cupcakes on Tuesday night so that he could dig into something again on his actual b-day. He had just as much fun with his cupcake as he did his cake at his party! We saved just one present for him to open on his b-day and he loved it!

I believe that Lee also had a pretty good b-day. This is the last year in the 20s!!! EEK! Lee got a bears flag to hang outside on his flag pole this football season! He loved it!

First thing Wednesday morning. Brady having his morning cup of juice and his cheerios snack.
Brady in his birthday hat.

Opening his b-day present.

Tyler really likes this truck!

Again at the cake!

Brady had such a happy and great day!

Tyler enjoyed it as well!

This past year has gone extremely fast! I have enjoyed every milestone that Brady has hit and I look forward the milestones that are yet to come! He is such a happy and easy going baby!

HAPPY B-DAY BRADY AND LEE!

BRADY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

We celebrated Brady's 1st birthday this past Saturday. It was such a wonderful party! I'm sure I'll post more pictures later this week after his actual b-day this Wednesday, but here's what we've got from his party.

These balloons were sitting on the kitchen table and had been in our house for maybe one hour. Lee was so extremely hot that he needed to turn the ceiling fan on, which is located right above our kitchen table. He was lucky that only one balloon got sliced by the fan!
Tyler starting to open Brady's presents. This didn't last long, because he was getting upset that Brady was getting presents and he wasn't. Well, he's got a great grandma who thought about that and got Tyler some presents as well. Then we had both boys opening up presents!

Opening presents.

Brady walking to Grandpa Freese.

Playing with Grandma Mary.

Brady with his Birthday presents.

Grandpa Freese playing with Brady and one of his new B-Day presents on the refrigerator.

Our little All-Star and his football cake.

Brady with his very own little cake. He loved it, by the way!

Bringing a bite to his mouth.

Yumm!

We used Brady's cake to sing to Lee as well, since his b-day is the day after Brady's, so Lee took his finger and wrote DAD on the cake.

Never can get a great family shot of the four of us! Well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad! Tyler was too into the new ball.

Brady playing with his balloons.

HAPPY (EARLY) BIRTHDAY, BRADY!

STATE FAIR

We went to the State Fair this past Sunday. It was the last day of the fair and very hot! My mom wanted to join, so she came with us. We all had a great time! We got to see all the baby animals and their mamas. The boys loved this! I think their favorite was seeing the piglets. We went into the train exhibit, walked around and enjoyed our time there. Tyler and I rode down the really big slide. He cried when we got to the bottom and said that he didn't like it. I asked him at the end of the day what was the most fun about the fair and he said, "the big slide...no." So, I'm not exactly sure what his favorite was, but we know that it wasn't the big slide! We all, of course, enjoyed some really good, and non-healthy food!

Tyler and Brady checking out the baby animals.
Petting the baby cow.

Grandma Mary showing the boys the piglets.

Dad, Brady, Grandma, and Tyler.

Mom and Brady

Brady loving the baby chicks.

This actually may have been Tyler's favorite part of the day. This was the John Deere tent and he loved "riding" all of the John Deere tractors. He even told Grandma to get on one. This was also right after the big slide, so it cleared up all his tears pretty quick!

Brady fanning me.

Lee with his twinkie covered in white chocolate, cool whip, and cashews.

This fountain was also a highlight of the day. It was so hot that this felt extremely good!

Lee told Tyler where to stand so that the fountain would spray right on him. Tyler was quite surprised!

Lee holding Brady's hand up high to catch the water.

Looking forward to the fair next year. We had a great time!

OFFICIALLY WALKING

Brady has been officially walking for about a week now. He really started to take more steps and take off on his own last weekend. This video doesn't show it the best, but it's what I've got so far! It was getting close to bath/bed time, so Lee was keeping them happy with freeze pops.

Don't mind Tyler, who comes into the video in only his underwear! He had just been outside helping me water the flowers. When Tyler gets ahold of the hose, he gets soaked from head to toe. So, I guess you're lucky that he at least has his underwear on!

CONGRATULATIONS, UNCLE MATT!

A BIG congratulations goes out to Lee's brother, Matt, who was called up to the bigs! Matt now is a relief pitcher for the Colorado Rockies. They called him up on Wednesday, flew him out to LA on Thursday and he pitched against the Dodgers Thursday night! Way to go Matt! We are all proud of you!

Another congratulations to Matt and Laura who recently announced that they will be getting married this December!

SUGAR GROVE WINERY

We have Sugar Grove Winery just a couple miles out of town and it is beautiful! They usually have bands play outside on the patio every Saturday during the summer months. The picture below is from when we went to Sugar Grove last August. It was actually 3 days before Brady was born. We had a great time then and we had a great time when we revisited the winery this past Saturday night!

Last August at the Winery with Tyler.
This August. We went to the Winery this past Saturday night. Here are Tyler and Brady enjoying the music on the blanket.

Tyler with his guitar. He helped the band in playing his own music!

Smiley Brady and Mom.

Dad making Brady laugh and the band in the background.

Dad making Brady look silly.

Brady takes many steps on his own!!! His balance is getting better everyday. He'll be cruising and running around very soon!

Brady walked over to Tyler to get some Cheerios. Tyler didn't want to share, so hit Brady on the head with the bag of Cheerios. Brotherly love!

Picture of Dad. It's hard to get Brady to purposefully look at the camera.

Picture of Mom. Tyler is just stubborn and chooses when he wants to look at the camera and when he doesn't.

Wide open spaces at the winery!

What a great Saturday night!!!

IOWA

Here is our backyard. Year after year, they rotate corn with beans. We've got a picture two years ago, when Tyler was a baby, in front of the corn, so I guess I've made it a tradition. We took this picture on Sunday, which was an incredibly hot day! I think that if you really zoomed in on us, you could see the sweat beads on all of our faces. Needless to say, Lee was not the happiest with me that I made him step out of the house and air condition to take this picture. Also, I'm not sure if I'm shrinking, but I am looking extremely short in this picture compared to Lee and the corn!

I love the "sights" of Iowa. Lee knows that when we drive to my Grandma Kriz's that I would rather take the "back rodes" to see rural Iowa than to hop on the interstate. I love to look at the fields, barns, silos, old farm houses. I enjoy the peacefulness of it all. To me, it's beautiful.

So, to sit on my couch in my living room and stare out the window at a corn field in our backyard is great!

Soon enough, the fields will all be turning golden and light brown and will look even more great! I am so ready for fall, but that's another post!

As for now, happy summer!