Beginning of the Best Month (July 4th)

I seriously love July.  It seems like the 4th always comes SO quick!  It's one of my favorite days of the year.  We went to the Wheaton fireworks on the 3rd.  Ryan made a huge grocery bag of popcorn for us and some friends.  I wasn't sure if the kids would like the fireworks because Parker was scared of them last year and Adley doesn't usually like loud noises. They both dug in to the popcorn like they're never eaten before, and they never took their eyes off the fireworks.  There was popcorn everywhere, but it was really cute.  One of those special times that we don't have pictures of, and that's ok.  I'd rather enjoy it in the moment =)  After they were over, we walked back to the car, and Parker was asleep before we even got out of our parking spot.  Adley replayed the night in her head for awhile and then fell asleep shortly before we got home.  

The next morning, we went to the parade with Mike, Mark, and some new Wheaton friends.  

Parker loved the marching band.  

He sat down and started playing the drums on his legs.

Later that day we went to the Knapps for an afternoon with our best friends. 

There are 5 couples and 10 kids!

These two have been friends since in the womb ;)  I can't believe how big they are!

The littlest of them all, Marlowe Mae, gave lots of smooches to Uncle Ryan.

We all went swimming, and then we came back to play some more, cook out,

have our own private fireworks show,

and a campfire (complete with peanut butter s'mores).

Happy 4th of July!!

Picture Filler

Here are some pictures to fill in the gaps of life between the posts.

National Donut Day

The aftermath of a blue raspberry dum-dum.

"Nice to meet you. Now I will eat you."

He love putting beads on pipe cleaners.

 A day at Warren Dunes with my sister and her kids.

Taking a walk through the clay.  He wanted "whiskers like Micheal Finnegan."

My little artists.

Talking with the Kids

Adley has started to talk a little bit.  She says Mama, Dada and Papa, she knows what a sheep, monkey, horse and lion says, she says nana for banana, and she just started saying hi.  She signs a lot of different things, but most of the time she points and makes a little noise suggesting what she wants.    She also nods "yes" with her entire body.  It's pretty cute.  She's becoming more interested in books, but she really likes throwing a ball around.  When she's upset, she screams.  I've never heard pitches that high in my life.  We're trying to nip that one in the bud ;)

Parker has been asking a lot of questions about Jesus lately.  We always pray for the kids to come to know the Lord at a young age, and he asked "What does the young age part mean?"  So we tried explaining it as best we could.  He had a few more questions about God that night, but the next night he asked "How is Jesus God's son, and God?"  Wait, what? I didn't really think about that question until, I don't know, High School?  We had a great discussion about that, too.  Those are some of the best nights =)  I can only hope that he continues asking those questions and pursuing a relationship with his Creator!

Thank you, Jesus, for entrusting us with these precious children!

Trailer Engineer

Parker's first word was tractor (tac-toor).  He loved them from the start.  Then he started liking trucks, 4-wheelers, rangers, skid-loaders, combines - anything with wheels and an engine.  Then his love for trailers start to emerge.  He started noticing hooks on the cars in the church parking lot.  He asked us to put holes in the top of his plastic cars so he could hook a trailer up to it.  My dad drilled a hole in the back of a tricycle so he could hook the radio flyer wagon up to it.  He begs Papa every time we go there to hook up the trailer to the truck and put the ranger on it, etc etc.  You get the picture.  So now, we call him our Trailer Engineer.  He is figuring out ways to put trailers on things that don't normally have trailers.  One day he said, "Mom, my bike doesn't have a hook, so can I have some rope?"  Here are some of his trailer designs.

This clip makes a great hitch.  It allows him to pull almost anything!

A little play firehose hooked to clip.  He pretends he's spraying stuff with water while he rides. 

He hooked the Burley up to his truck.

He hooked his tractor trailer up to Adley's 'truck.'

One day he dumped all of our bubbles and our neighbor's bubbles in the trailer and hauled around.  He also used about 100ft of yard trying to attach a toy to the back of the little pink truck.  He's being making legos into different kinds of trailers.  He does this everyday.  We love seeing what he comes up with.  If it can't pull a trailer, it's not worth driving (or playing with)!

Super Fun Day

It was a beautiful summer morning, and Parker wanted to wash his truck.  So, I let him!  I sat outside getting a tan watching him have a blast.  It doesn't get much better than that!

All clean!  Time to drive.

Then Adley woke up and she wanted to play, too.

Time to relax with Daddy.

Ryan drew a tractor for Parker on the driveway.

Then we got crazy and put the sprinkler under the trampoline.

Adley and I were getting hot, so we went inside.  She loves sitting at this little table.  She climbs up all my herself, stands on the chair and then sits down =)  Cutie.  

I told you she loves sunglasses!

I just love summer.