Birthday Fun

Yesterday I celebrated my 33rd birthday. It was an awesome day...breakfast with my mom and the kiddos in the morning, swimming with the fam during the day, and dinner at the Outback with Ves-a-lee in the evening. I'd chalk it up to a great day.

Saturday night, we celebrated with a party at my parents house...

The kids had a great time racing Opa.
The "big kids" playing as well...
And the rest of us had a great time relaxing.
We had a great shis-ka-bob (how do you spell that?!) dinner.
And of course, Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake for dessert!
Thank you everyone for making my birthday such a great day. I really do LOVE hanging out at my parents house and relaxing with you all. I love you very much, and I wouldn't want to celebrate any other way (well, maybe in Cancun :))

THE H-2-O P-A-R-K

This morning we decided to take a break from Grandma Inge's pool and head to the Parker Water Park with Mark, Abby, Nolan, Heath, and Abby's mom Pam.
It is the hottest day of summer so far (almost 100!), so it was the perfect day to go and get soaked...
What a good lookin' fam!
Heath liked this part of the water park best :)As is customary, Brady wanted to eat lunch the second we walked into the park. After pounding his turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard and pickles (?!), he was ready to go.I'm not kidding, Brady did not stop moving for two straight hours. He loved every bit of getting blasted in the face with freezing cold water.I take it back. Brady did sit down...on this fountain.Payton is now tall enough to go down the red water slide (she'll have to wait another year for the blue one). After she went one time with Uncle Markie, she wanted to go all by herself. I was very impressed with her bravery!
These buckets were probably the highlight of the morning for everyone. No narration necessary...

FORE!

Last night after dinner, we headed over to the driving range. Wes wanted to "loosen up" for Friday's golf outing, and Brady and Payton wanted to test out Brady's clubs...

Not bad for three right?

How does he compare to the "pro"?
And some putting practice...
And in the end, it will probably be Payton, as beginner as she is, who will go pro :)

Tie-Breaker

As of June, 2010, our family is tied. Two girls, two boys (not counting Penny the Bunny and Princess the Beta Fish). In just a few short months (a little less than six...) we will be breaking the tie. That's right, we're expecting baby number 3 just before Christmas. We are very excited about our new addition and are anxious to see who gains the numbers advantage! Mostly, we are just thankful for this new member of our family and that things look healthy so far...

Pictures and a video from our 12 week ultrasound.
The Little Monkey...
The heartbeat...(doc predicted a girl's pulse rate?!)A clip of little monkey moving. He/she is trying to roll over.

Number 9

Today marks our 9 year anniversary. Wes called from work this morning to remind me...oops. We celebrated Saturday night with one hour massages and dinner at Maggianos. Very nice. Thanks Grandma Inge for babysitting. I love you babeski, happy anniversary.

Dad-E-O

Payton and Brady think that their dad-e-o is the best thing since peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I happen to feel the same way.
We started our Father's Day celebration with some pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Then Payton created her own indoor golf course for her daddy. Each hole, scattered around the house, looked something like this:
Shortly after, Wes took off with Tim and Mark (again, two of his favorite people) for 18 holes of real outdoor golf. After that, all of the wives and kiddos met up with the dads for some swimming and a pizza picnic dinner.
Wes, Tim, and Mark with 2/3 of their children. Brady and Heath were busy...

Payton and Heath...I thought this pic was super cute!We had a great day! Payton and Brady love their daddy so much, and we are so thankful that he is such an awesome part of their lives.

Streams & Softball = Summer

Summer is officially here. A morning spent at the pool and an evening at the softball park made for a day that just oozed summer...
Wes plays in a men's softball league every Tuesday night with my dad, Mark, Tim, and a few more of his absolutely favorite people...they play at a park with a creek, so the kiddos had fun sloshing around before the game.
A few action shots (well, sort of).
Wes at first base...
Mark making a play at short stop.Big Daddy Bruce at pitcher.And Rimmy-Tim-Tim steps up to the plate...
And I had to include this one...Jen brought some unbelievable cupcakes to share with the fan club. Miles, her son, enjoyed eating one just a little bit!

Discipline and MSC* (Many Small Children)

Gwen has a list of several links on her blog. I've started "stalking" mycharmingkids.net, written by a woman who calls herself MckMama. Today her post was titled Discipline and MSC (*Many Small Children). It's quite long, but I really thought she had some great ideas and tips for parenting. Here is a link to the post...check it out if you like!

Juice For Sale!

Payton, Rosalind, and Lilly (another neighbor girl) decided to have a juice stand on Friday.

They sat under the umbrella, in their swimsuits, singing to any car that drove by.

Here are the lyrics to their song: Juice stand, juice stand, anyone want juice? The juice is so yummy that you want to buy it!

After a 20 minute dry spell, things really picked up. They ended up getting about 4 or 5 customers, and completely wiped out our juice supply. They charged a quarter, but due to some very nice passers-by, they made about 3 or 4 dollars. Sounds like a good business venture to me...

This was their first customer, Lilly's grandpa!

Memorial Day

I had an incredibly busy week running three different volleyball camps, so I'm trying to catch up on blogging.
On Monday, Memorial Day, we once again headed up to the cabin for some rest and relaxation. It was a different sort of cabin day, our first without Uncle Ken. Gwen summarized how we all felt very well on her blog. It was strange and sad to continue our traditions without Uncle Ken there, but we also felt like that was what he would have wanted...here are some pics from the day.
One of Payton's new birthday games, Mouse Trap. Noah, Tyler, and PR had a great time making up their own rules and trying not to get their mice stuck in the trap!
Grandma and Sue tried to play a game of shuffleboard, only to be quickly interrupted by the boys.
Mark and Nolan went on a little hike to discover animals. Not sure they actually found any... My dad, our Opa, did a great job filling some big tractor ride shoes. And there's nothing like an extremely competitive game of mountain whiffle ball. Your age did not matter, only your gender. The boys (big and small) had a great time drafting teams, talking smack, and throwing plastic balls harder than I knew was possible. The old iron bench serves as the perfect strike zone and catcher.The ladies sat on the sidelines and cheered.Meanwhile, Brady and Rylan had an awesome time running free. Dirt, exploring, and yelling very loudly. Doesn't get much better, or more boy.Uncle Ken, we miss you dearly. The cabin just isn't the same without you. But, we will continue the trek up the mountain every Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day, because I think that it will make you smile. We will hike, rest on Opa's Rock, and celebrate your life.