Reading

Jonathan and Caleb spent some time reading together tonight. I love this!

Conversations with Caleb

While watching football today:

Caleb: Mommy, when I'm on the tv playing football will you watch?

Me: Oh, you want to play football? What position do you want? Defense, throwing the ball, catching the ball...?

Caleb: I want to throw the ball...but, I really like pushing people down, so defense!

Me: Well, you'll have to get really big and strong to play defense.

Caleb: Today I got out of the car all by myself! I'm already strong.

Then he walked around showing me his muscles. Hehe! Every week he asks me what team I'm rooting for on whatever game we have on and then he cheers for them.

Cousins from Iowa! - Zoo Boo!

We had even more cousins to play with when Uncle Roger, Aunt Jill, Juliana and Emily came to meet the new baby later in October! We met up with them at the Zoo on Friday to have a fun family day. 

A Cowboy, Ninja Turtle, Princess Ariel and a Ladybug!

Coloring some Halloween pages

Watching one of the cats get some milk! Super cute : )

They wanted to pose with every statue!

We found "Jumpy Squirrel" from Curious George! He was a little too friendly for our comfort! 

Last time we went to the zoo this was being carved. Cool to see it just about finished!

Grandma's favorite: a Rooster!

 After our day at the zoo, everyone came to our house for dinner. (Thanks to Grandma for bringing stew!)

More dress up : )

Emily playing with Legos

Family picture! Grandma with 1/2 of her kids and grandkids! 

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy 60th Birthday to Grandma! 

With so much family in town off and on this month (meaning lots of big gatherings) we kept Grandma's birthday low-key and had her over for dinner after work on her birthday! We enjoyed a quiet evening just hanging out!  : ) We love you, Grandma! 

One Weekend, Three Birthday Parties!

Yes, that's right....3 birthday parties in 2 days celebrating 4 kiddos! October is such a whirlwind with lots of cousins birthdays and Caleb's best friend's birthday all happening at the same time! It was a crazy weekend but we enjoyed our time with each of the special birthday kids! 

Stop 1: Samir's gymnastics birthday party! 

Stretching

Fun on the bouncy house slide

Aaron LOVED the foam pit!

Awesome obstacle course!

We had to leave Samir's party early in order to drive up the Spring for Stop 2: Eli and Hannah Joy's Super Hero birthday party! We left Samir early and arrived to Eli and HJ late, but that was the only way we could do both parties. The weather was pretty gross that day, but we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL rainbow on the way there. I was just amazed!

Happy guy waiting for cake

Caleb wearing his super hero cape

The line for the pinata!

Caleb taking a wack at it!

The sweet birthday girl, can't believe she's almost 2!

Caleb and the birthday boy...can't believe he's 5! CRAZY!

Swinging

We got back to the house late Saturday and rested on Sunday morning to gear up for Stop 3: Lana's birthday party!

Kaylee, Lana and Caleb playing ring-around-the-rosie

Wesley and Aunt Melissa

Aunt Sarah meeting Wesley

These two were attached at the hip as soon as we arrived

Uncle Alex meeting Wesley

Aaron checking on the baby

Family Shot! Everyone is smiling, it's a miracle! 

Kids pretending to be dogs : )

Grandma with baby Wesley...love the arm under his head!

Grandma, Wesley and Mommy Laura

After our crazy weekend, we were ready to collapse by the time we got home Sunday evening. Aaron needed some cuddle time before going to bed. He laid on me like this for 30 minutes before going to bed. I don't think he's EVER been that still in his whole life! 

LEGOS...is there any other toy???

Our boys really do play with other toys, but every time I seem to take out the camera they happen to be playing with Legos! I promise, there are other toys in this house and they really are used regularly! 

That being said...Aaron worked on his first real Lego set the other day! (not Duplos...real Legos) Jonathan had to assist quite a bit, but Aaron started by matching the pieces to the picture in the instructions. Not bad to start out! 

Of course, we still like Duplos! We've found that the coffee table is a great sturdy foundation for our towers. I think the boys really just enjoy having an excuse to stand on the table ; ) 

The Zoo

This morning we took advantage of the beautiful weather and Jonathan's 7th day on furlough and had a family day at the zoo! This was our first zoo visit since the beginning of the summer. It has just been too hot to enjoy being outside for any length of time! The boys were in great spirits and there wasn't a crowd!

Watching the sea lions swim

Caleb wanted to push the stroller most of the time!

Great spirits makes great picture taking!

Watching the tiger, he was watching us too!

Watching the lemurs

My silly monkeys!

We're trying to make the most of our furlough adventure! Tomorrow is date day for Jonathan and I while the boys are at school! Gotta soak up the time together before he's sent back to work and his schedule goes crazy with deadlines! : )

Park with Friends

This afternoon I got a text from Brandy asking if we wanted to go to the park! What's better than a Sunday afternoon at the park?!? Aaron and Brandy came with their boys and Brad was able to join us too. I wonder if Jonathan, Aaron and Brad ever thought they'd be hanging out at the park together with their own kids when they were young? Ha, probably not. 

Awesome spaceship!

Cute guy : )

I think I'm in the middle of talking, but Brad's face is priceless!

Hanging out!

First time to swing!

Not so sure about this : )

We're just a bunch of big kids!

Unfortunately our Aaron found an ant hill and ended up with over 30 bites on his little legs : ( 2 weeks later, they're still healing, but they only seemed to bug him for 2 or 3 days. At least he found them and not one of the babies!