July/August Birthday Bash

Over Memorial Day weekend we had a big birthday bash and this past weekend we had another. This time for the July and August birthdays. My parents hosted so we drove up to their house in Oconto.

Last year at the August birthday bash it ended up that Jerry, Wesley, and Roz were all wearing Hawaiian shirts and I took a photo that became one of my all time favorites. We decided at some point that at this year's party everyone should wear a Hawaiian shirt! A few family members didn't have a Hawaiian shirt to wear but the dollar store came to the rescue with grass skirts for them and leis for all!

Once again we got a great photo! I still can't believe we got a group of sixteen people including nine kids to all look at the camera and smile. We may have just started a new tradition.

The Whole Family

The Whole Family... silly shot!

JD, Grandma Linda, and Wesley

The Birthday Gang

We celebrated the birthdays of my niece Morgan, JD, my nephew Cooper, my mom aka Grandma Linda, Roz, and my sister Abby. We visited, ate pizza, opened gifts, and (of course!) had a big cake. We also watched a pretty strong storm move through as well, but thankfully we didn't lose power to our party. We did notice several trees down on the way home though.

Now the big question is... will we have another August birthday to celebrate at the big birthday bash next year or will we be making it a July/Aug/Sept birthday bash?!?  Have you taken a guess yet on when the baby will arrive? If not, take a minute and make a guess!

JD Turns Four!!

It's a good thing we have a baby on the way because I can't believe my current baby is four years old!! To celebrate JD's special day was went out for a McDonald's dinner, where the little birthday boy got a free Happy Meal. Then we came home and opened presents and had cake.

The Birthday Boy

Opening gifts

This about sums up birthdays at our house :)

A brand new bike from Mom and Dad

Since at least Christmas JD has been telling us he wanted a big water gun for his birthday. When Grandma Joddy was here in June she bought a big water gun and we hid it away in the basement. She was also nice enough to get each of the boys a water gun so they could squirt each other. It's no fun to have a water gun fight alone!

So several times throughout the week I asked JD what he wanted and he kept saying he wanted... a watch. He even went as far as saying he knew Daddy got him one which was, unfortunately, not true. It all worked out in the end. JD was happy with his gifts after all. In fact, all the boys wer so excited about the water guns we managed to squeeze in a quick water gun fight between gift opening and cake. And it ended up JD did get a watch from Aunt Abby at our big birthday bash on Saturday (I told her this story and she just happened to have a spare one at her house).

A super cute shirt and tie from Gma Molly and Gpa John

The new bike was a big hit. We kept it inside for a couple days and JD practiced riding it around the kitchen. It took a few tries but he finally got pedaling down. By the time we brought it outside he was ready to ride off down the street!

Click here if you want to see some pictures of JD on the day he was born or read his birth story!

Happy 15th Anniversary!

July 27, 2011

Wednesday was our 15th anniversary. Jerry's plans to go on a special anniversary getaway never came to be since I can't roam to far from home right now. Maybe next year! We did have a nice dinner out at Ziggy's. I had prime rib and Jerry had tenderloin, both were delicious. The only down side to our dinner out was that we left the boys at home with Roz only to have the dinner interrupted several times by a screaming toddler (who wasn't ours). We were pretty understanding, of course, but some of the other patrons were not.

I can't believe it but I actually forgot to get a picture of Jerry and I together. I think that is the first time in fifteen years I haven't taken one of us on our actual anniversary. The only picture I have to share is of Wesley's sweet Play-Doh anniversary wish...

New Ride

July 23, 2011

We have been planning to get Roz a car for several months now. After putting it off for most of the summer I encouraged Jerry to get the job done one recent Saturday morning. Roz happened to be in Eau Claire and not home when we bought it. Since we were buying used and Jer had certain makes in mind it wasn't like Roz would have much say in the choosing of the car anyway.

Since she wasn't here we took these pictures to send to her...

The boys were impressed with the sun roof! :)

It was nice to get it done. When Roz got back she was very happy with her new car. It's a 2003 Saturn L200. Hopefully Roz will get many happy, safe miles from her new ride!

Company Picnic

July 22, 2011

Every year Jerry's employer has their family company picnic at Bay Beach. This year Roz was out of town so we took our nephew Carter with us instead. It worked out quite well because he could take the big boys to ride the bigger rides while Jerry helped me out with the younger two.

We all had a great time. The food was good... better than years past for the kids since they set up a kid table with mac & cheese and PB&J sandwiches. And who doesn't like free rides? The only down side... it was unbearably hot and humid. We didn't stay nearly as long as we have in years past because it was so uncomfortable. I felt bad for the big kids who had to wait in line in full sun. Thankfully, the little kiddie rides are mostly in the shade.

After months of anticipation it was the big chance to ride the new Zippin Pippin roller coaster!! It did not disappoint. After his first ride, Eli was excited to tell me he "went weightless" going down the first big hill. Even Jerry said it was a pretty good ride for $1! Justus, unfortunately, was about an inch short of being able to ride. He was not happy to sit with us while Carter, Wesely, and Eli rode several times. I told him to eat his veggies and he and I go for our first ride together next year. I don't think that helped much.

Since I didn't do much walking around I had Jerry take most of these pictures...

Carter and Wesley waiting to ride the Zippin Pippin

Eli waiting to ride the Zippin Pippin

Carter, Wesley, and Eli go by on the Zippin!

Hayden

J.D. and Hayden on the train with Dad

J.D. takes a hydration break

The race cars... a favorite ride!

Pink Flamingo 2011

July 16, 2011

Mid-July means one thing for our family... The Pink Flamingo! I've written about it every year since I started this blog. If you want to take a trip down memory land you can see the posts here: 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a charity softball tournament that turns the park by our house in one big city reunion.

Our favorite part is the parade on Saturday morning. We started a tradition several years ago of a pre-parade breakfast of donuts from the local Uncle Mike's bakery. The boys didn't let us forget the tradition this year... they were thinking about what type of donuts to get all week!

The parade is short but sweet (literally). We always get buckets of candy! This year we had a few friends join us which just made it all the more fun. Being on the same side of the street as the water fighters we have to be a little more careful in letting the parade floats know we want to be in the dry zone. Nothing worse than wet candy!

Waiting for the parade

Here it comes!

Our boys still go for the candy but I think next year we'll lose Wesley, Eli, and Justus to the water fight portion of the parade with my nephews Carter and John.

Even though he wasn't officially in the water fight, Justus still managed to get soaked. He wasn't too upset about it as you can see. In fact, he thought it was great!

Our second favorite part is heading down to the park on Saturday evening to eat dinner. They serve great cookout foods (burgers, brats, dogs, corn etc.) for really reasonable prices. This year we got lucky on a very close parking spot and sat at an out of the way table in the shade. It was pretty hot so we didn't stay too long, just long enough to fill up with yummy food. Then it was back home to the air conditioning to cool off!