BRADY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY AND LEE'S 31ST!

This past weekend was a birthday filled weekend, with Brady's 3rd birthday being on Saturday the 25th and Lee's 31st on Sunday the 26th!

Brady wanted a basketball themed birthday, so that's what Brady got!  It was so wonderful that his actual birthday was on a weekend this year. We were able to spend the whole day celebrating him and soaked it all in.

I absolutely love to celebrate birthdays and I love to see the happiness on the face of the birthday child or person!  Love Birthdays!

We kind of had a gloomy, rainy day on Saturday, so we hung around at home and inside for most of the day.  We did enjoy an awesome basketball party with family and even got out a little later to play some outside.

I really can't believe that our baby is 3 years old!  Brady is one energetic 3 year old.  He is full of attitude, spunk, personality, courage, sweetness, humor, and so much more.  He is an absolute joy to be around and I have enjoyed watching him grow into such a wonderful little boy.

Brady had so much fun on "his day" this year and loved all the attention that he received!  Here are many pictures from Saturday and a couple cute ones from Lee's birthday on Sunday.

I walked into Brady's room when I heard him moving around on Saturday morning to tell him 'Happy Birthday.'  I grabbed my camera, walked into the room, and there was this cute, happy little boy propped up from his pillow, excitedly waiting for the day!  Look at those dimples!  (and his scratch on his face from another little kiddo at daycare.  oh well!)

I asked him how old he was and this is him showing me three fingers.  Too cute!

My mom came into town on Friday night.  She let Brady open up one present right away Saturday morning.  It just so happened to be one of his favorites.  Brady absolutely loves these kinds of puzzles!  It looks like he's hurting himself with this smile--not very natural!  :)

Sprinkle cake doughnut with three candles for his birthday breakfast!

This is the basketball birthday cake that I decorated.  And yes, those are Reece's Pieces!
Tyler and Brady actual made the cake with Grandma on Saturday morning.  They were such great help and loved baking a cake in the kitchen with Grandma!

Basketball, basketball, basketball!  Presents, presents, presents!

I bought both Tyler and Brady some little "party favors" that they got to open right away.  They each got a basketball water bottle, sweat bands, slinky, eraser, keychain, silly bands, tattoos, notepad, and whistle.  I put Brady's "stuff" in this Basketball lunch box, which he loves to carry around!  And for most of the day, Brady was dressed to impress in his Air Jordan basketball outfit---until later, when he wanted to change into his basketball pajamas.

Cute picture of Tyler and Brady checking out one of Brady's new toys.

Love this game!  This was from my Dad.  I remember playing this game all the time at my Grandma and Grandpa's house with my brother.  Now, Tyler and Brady are loving to play it.

Brady checking out all of his new presents.  He needed to decide what we should take out of the cardboard first.  Presents for his 3rd birthday include: Hot hoops, Semi-truck, puzzle, remote control car, rocket blaster, hot wheels dinosaur track, velcro frog catchers, hot wheels, hot wheels carrying box, over-the-door basketball hoop, Imaginext airplane, loud & colorful gun :), transformer, velcro basketball "darts." 

Brady also received many cards and phone calls from others on Saturday.  He enjoyed talking on the phone and hearing 'Happy Birthday, Brady!  How old are you?"  And every time he would answer with "three" and a big smile!

And Tyler was even lucky enough to have gotten something new on Brady's birthday.  Tyler also got an Imaginext airplane.

Grandpa Freese, Tyler, Lee, and Brady playing Hot Hoops.

Grandpa Freese and Brady had a blast playing basketball out in the garage for awhile while it rained.  Brady would blow his whistle and say "Time to play basketball!"

Feeding Time!

Now that he's changed into his basketball pajamas, he's excited and ready to eat his cake!

Brady and Tyler with Grandpa Freese.

Brady and Tyler with Grandma Mary.

Tyler and Brady with Liz and Josh.

Our Family.

Tyler had to show everyone how he could ride his bike without training wheels, so when most of the raining had stopped we went outside to ride.

Who's birhday is it today?  This guy's.

This is the cute little look and point that he did when we asked him whose birthday it was.

And on Sunday the 26th, we got to celebrate the awesome birthday of our wonderful husband and Dad!  And this cake I did not make, but instead bought from Culver's!  Yum!

The boys love to help Lee blow out his candles!

What a fabulous weekend of birthdays!

NO TRAINING WHEELS!

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

Tyler--4 years old

Tyler decided that he was ready to ride his bike without his training wheels!  We have been trying to get him to do this all summer, however he wasn't ready for it yet.  It's kind of like potty training--when they're ready--they're ready!  Apparently on Sunday, he decided that he was ready and it only took him a few short seconds and he was off!  Awesome!  We took him to the track to ride around for a couple different reasons.  It's a softer fall, if he were to crash, and there are no hills, which makes for a much easier ride. 

We are so very proud of him and he is so proud of himself.  We have been practicing every evening since Sunday and even had to take it over to his daycare's house last night so he could show everyone.  He's very happy and he is now looking forward to receiving a new bike!  :)

We've been telling him that he won't get a new bike until he could ride without training wheels.  I guess we better stick to our promises and get this boy a new, and well deserved, big boy bike!

Way to go, Tyler!!!

We love you!

 Just a little help from dad at the beginning to keep balance....

 And within seconds he was off on his own!...

 And he's fast!

 Yeah, Tyler!!!

By the end of the day, he could push start himself, with no help needed from anyone!

 Lee did the most laps with him, but then needed a break, so I stepped in to do a lap in my flip-flops.

Brady is also very proud of his brother.  He took a lap around the track on his plasma car and then he and I played some baseball.

OUR SUMMER 2012

I feel like our summer started early this year, when Lee and I took our trip to Florida in May.  Here's many highlights of our Summer (a little bit of Spring) 2012.

1.  Lee and I took a trip to Florida--for Josh and Alex's Wedding

2.  Tyler's first time playing on a soccer team

3.  Sesame Street Live

4.  Boating on Lake Red Rock with friends

5.  Boating on Lake Panorama with friends

6.  Brady's surgery on his 2 hernias

7.  Tyler's first Bible School at our church

8.  Flying Kites

9.  Going to the I-Cubs game on Father's Day

10.  Swimming, swimming, swimming!

11.  Trying to camp out in the backyard

12.  Megan and Brian's wedding

13.  Trip to Colorado

14.  Josh and Liz's wedding in Colorado

15.  Omaha Zoo

16.  Kyle and Amy's Wedding

17.  Having the boys see fireworks for the first time on the 4th of July

18.  Warrior Dash

19.  Adventureland

20.  Indianapolis Children's Musuem

21.  Trip to Tennessee

22.  Olympic Games with friends

23.  Josh and Liz's wedding reception #2 in Cedar Falls

23.  Getting to have lots of quality family time!  :)

24.  *See the next post for Tyler's big news!*

Beautiful, Iowa sunset

As we were driving home from Cedar Falls last Saturday, after Josh and Liz's reception, this was the sunset that we got to watch.  It was beautiful!

OUR LAST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION

We had such a busy summer vacation, it's still hard for me to believe that it's over already and I have now gone back to school!  Last Thursday, the 16th, was my last day of summer vacation.  The boys and I had a pretty low-key morning and then went to meet Lee for lunch in Grinnell.  We enjoyed a nice lunch out with Dad!

When the boys woke up from their naps that afternoon, I took them to the city pool to go swimming.  We were only able to visit the pool 2 times this summer!  That's how busy we were! 

It was a good "last day"!  I want it back for just a little bit longer!

 Silly picture of Lee and Tyler at lunch.

 Brady at the pool.

Tyler under the "mushroom waterfall."

FUN MORNING, COOL WEATHER, AND CUTE PICTURES

We have had an extremely hot and dry weather here this summer, so we are welcoming this new "cool" weather.  With it have been in the 100's most of this summer, we felt like the morning of August 10th was very cool when it was probably in the upper 60's.  The boys really didn't get to spend much time playing with all of their outside toys in the garage this summer, really because we weren't home or when we were home, it was too hot.  So, on this morning we spent our entire morning playing outside in our sweatshirts and enjoying it!  :)  Here's some cute pictures of the boys on this cool, summer morning playing with their toys.

 Brady's sweet smile.

 They love playing in the rocks!  :)

 Brady playing frisbee golf.

 Brady biting the inside of his cheek.  He does this a lot, so I'm glad that I got a picture of it to remember this look.

 My 4-year-old looks so grown up!....

 and so handsome!....

 and just so darn cute!

The boys set this up.  Wagon in the middle, chairs on the side; so that they were able to climb onto the top of the cars and sit.  They loved it!  I let it last as long as I possibly could, of course until they started to fight!  :)

I like summer, but this cooler weather is really making me look forward to fall!  I love fall!

THE TOY BOX

As I was cooking dinner the other night, Tyler and Brady kept coming in to the kitchen with toys in hand saying, "look what I found, Mom." I realized that all the toys that they were showing me were toys that I hadn't seen in a while, therefore, they were probably digging through the toy box. Once I got to a point where I could take a step away from what I was cooking, I made my way into the play room to find this. :)

I took it as a great opportunity to throw away some junk!

A WEEKEND AT GRANDMA'S

This past weekend the boys and I took a trip to stay with Grandma Mary while Lee took a trip to St. Charles to play in the Marcus McCabe softball tournament.

I spent most of the weekend shopping :), while the boys spent a lot of time with Grandma and playing with the awesome toys at Grandma's house.

The boys also joined me at the mall a couple times and loved spending time at the playground there. 

The weather on Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to take a little trip out to the apple orchard.  There weren't many apples to pick, but we had a great time and will probably be visiting the apple orchard again in about a month to hopefully have the chance to pick a few more from the trees!

Brady, above, and Tyler, below, jumping from point A to point B.

This picture of Brady couldn't be any cuter!  It shows his perfect smile!

And  my other cutie, chillin' and driving the car with Stuart Little.  Tyler held onto his face the whole ride.

Out at Wilson's Apple Orchard.  The best part of the trip for the boys is to ride behind the tractor, Bessie, on the way out to the orchard.  This is a picture of the boys and I on the tractor ride.

Brady eating his first apple that he picked.

And Tyler eating his first apple that he picked.

The boys and I at the apple orchard.  What a beautiful morning!

We pretended that there was a mean, ugly troll under the bridge when we crossed.  Brady went first and talked to the troll, saying that he should wait, because his brother was much bigger....

Tyler, next, told the troll to wait for his Grandma, because she was much bigger...

And Grandma told the troll to wait for me.  I, of course, knocked the troll into the water and he drifted away...

Brady came back onto the bridge to watch the troll float away.

You can tell that my mind is already on school!  :)

We read this book the first week of school and then act it out.  The kids love acting this out with me being the troll and one of them knocking me, their teacher, into the water below!

Grandma and the boys taking the walk back up to the barn.

This ended up being the easiest way to get Brady up that hill.

We always enjoy an apple doughnut at the end of the apple pickin' day!

What a great weekend!