You Know You Have a Boy When....

• All we do is play football, baseball, basketball etc (all depending on the season it is)
• You hear a big long fart and all of a sudden burst of laughter followed by "I farted!!"  Then trying to do it again.  And his last comment "I think I ripped it!"  What?!
• There is a new scape, scar or cut somewhere on his face everyday!!!  (we have been waiting over a month to take his 2 year pictures...)
• We wear our football jerseys over our clothes everyday!!!  These can be his jersey, Bretts Jersey or his jersey from last year....
• When we eat grapes they are called footballs...
• When your child refuses to eat you have to be Thomas and do train sounds...Then he covers his mouth and won't open up until you say "Move the rock Mr. Conductor!"  
• We play the 'drums' during all of our songs!  And the drums can be his lap, the couch, the table...anything!
• Instead of our days winding down my son gets busier and busier as we get closer to naptime and bed time.
• The first thing we say in the morning is "Where's my football Mom?"
• We have to do "Here come the Tigers/Hawkeyes/Packer" multiple times a day!  
• Instead of playing with stuffed animals we tackle them

I LOVE having a boy around the house but I am also so excited to see what fun things our little girl does as well!!!  I can't wait to compare the list in a few years and see how much she picks up from her brother and what different interests she has!  

Pretty Girls!

One of Ayden's new favorite songs is Pretty Girls! If your not familiar with it it goes like this: 

 There's a lot of pretty girls in this city 

There's a lot of pretty girls in this town 

You gotta pick the right one 

Gotta pick the right one 

 Any time you ask Ayden who the pretty girls are he will say either Mommy. Ahnie or Madi and every time you ask him who Ayden's right one is he says "Madi!" Brett made this video today while I was at work!

Ayden's Happy Day!

Ayden's birthday year after year falls during Caravan so that means we have his party before Brett leaves and then I get to celebrate his actual birthday without Brett! Here is our day this year in pictures! Some things are quickly becoming yearly traditions and some things are new each year! We had a great time but would have loved to have Brett a little closer on his actual day!

This is our traditional birthday breakfast at Village Inn! This year we added two new kiddos to join us. This picture was taken while we were waiting for our check! Look how messy the table was! All the kids were ready to go so this was the best picture we could get of all 4 kids!

Then Ayden, Ahnie and I headed out to one of our favorite parks! It is in a new development off Greenhill. Ayden knows when we go to Walmart we usually stop at the park on the way. He now tells me when I should turn to get there! We had a blast! It was such a beautiful morning and had not gotten too hot yet!

We made a quick stop at Walmart before heading home and when I pulled into the driveway I look in the back and found Ayden alseep! We had already had a great day!!! Time for a nap then more fun to come!!

When naps were over we headed to the petting zoo in Waterloo with Madi, TT and Emily! The kids had so much fun watching all the animals. This was our first visit this summer and they had a great time!!!

Finally, we headed to the Hoffert's for a special birthday dinner Emily had planned just for Ayden!!! It was so sweet and she was really my livesaver while Brett was on Caravan this year!!! Ayden loves this picture because it shows his 'happy day!" and he thinks Chief is hiding!! Can you find him?

Playing Catch Up

I have not been able to upload pictures in 2 months! We finally have them on our computer so get ready for some new posts! I put some pictures on previous blog posts! Thanks for checking in with our family! Happy reading!

Ayden's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had Ayden's birthday party a few days before his birthday because Brett was on Caravan over his birthday. We celebrated Friday morning. It had been a very very warm couple weeks before but the morning was a little cooler which we were very thankful for! Ayden wanted a tractor theme with a Tractor Cake, playing in the sandbox and finding surprises in the sand. When the kids arrived we just let the kids play for a while then we grilled and had a yummy lunch! We had cake and finally presents!

I can say this was Ayden's first birthday party that he really knew what was going on! He was so excited for his cake! I did it the day before to make sure it was perfect so I would have time to adjust if needed and anytime anyone new came to our house he had to show them the cake!!

He was very excited to see all of his friends come to his house all at once and to see both grandparents! He was so excited he woke up really early that morning and kept saying "Ayden's Happy Day!" My dad was a life saver because he kept him busy while Brett, my mom and I got things ready for the party! My dad spent lots of time walking him around in his wagon and playing golf in the back yard. I think he was ready for his nap at 10 AM and the guests were coming at 10:30!

He got a second win to get through his party! He had a lot of fun running around and stealing chips out of the dump truck! He also loved blowing out the candles on his cake! I didn't realize this until a few weeks ago during my birthday he kept saying "Mom, happy day! Blow out your candles!!" He also had a lot of fun opening presents! He got lots of great toys! That is a plus doing a party before your husband leaves for 10 days! We had lots of new things to keep us busy!

Our new favorite toy!! Lightning McQueen Bike!!!

Ahnie is 4 Months Old!

Ahnie turned 4 months old last week! She is getting to be more fun everyday! I just love how smiley she is and she loves to just lay on the floor and talk! She is sooo close to rolling over! She will get herself to her side and just hangs out there forever! I gave her a little nudge the other day and she rolled over and Ayden was so excited! He started jumping up and down and was yelling "You did it!" I can't wait for her to start rolling on her own! She loves to be up looking around! She loves the bumbo, her swing in the sitting up possition and her newest toy the Jumperoo! Wow, I think she likes that even more than Ayden did! Ahnie loves to grab at toys and always has her hands in her mouth or around a toy! She also is constantly trying to sit up. If you look at her laying on her back or in her carseat she picks her head up like she is doing crunches. We have been working on sitting up but she still is aways away. Maybe at next months posting! This month I went back to work. She has really done well being away from her mommy during the mornings. I sure miss her and her brother but it is so great knowing she is in good hands! I have never worried about them! I feel so blessed to have my kids spending time with great family and friends while I am at work. She has really done good and is becoming much more predictable!! We streached her feedings out to 3 1/2 hours and I think I waited to long to do that. Since I did she has been able to sleep all night and is much more content during her awake times. She now takes 2 long naps and 1 shorter nap right around dinner time which is very nice! Then is in bed between 7 and 8 and will sleep for close to 12 hours! Ayden continues to love his sister! Its so sweet anytime she starts crying he tries to calm her down with either a hug, a kiss or sweet words. The other day we were coming home from somewhere and Ahnie started to cry. All of a sudden we heard Ayden saying "Its okay Ahnie almost home! Almost home sweetheart!" I just love how sweet he is to her! We have also had to talk to him about how he can't play rough with her. He sometimes thinks she is a good wrestling buddy or wants to play football. This has not happened very much though. At her 4 month check up she weighed in at 17 lbs and is 26 inches long! Both at 95% and her head is at 20%. Still just like her brother! Big and long with a small head! :) We are growing quickly into all 9 month clothes. She still fits into her 6 month clothes that have pants but that is about it. You will have to wait for her 4 month pictures. We are between computers so I can't upload any pictures until we get that taken care of... I have over 150 pictures on my camera!!! I will be post much more frequently again!