Birthday Day!

Saturday was Doug's birthday. Woohoo!! Per usual, we had a big family BBQ in our backyard and had a lovely day celebrating my husband (as well as other summer birthdays).

Breakfast cinnamon rolls... of course!

Both the kids LOVE their daddy.. and love birthdays! Poor Matthew is sick... and not in the best mood, as you can see!

Good friend Erik stopped by with coffee and he and Doug had a nice time chatting.

Grandpa Doug and Grandma eating lunch with the kids.. Evelyn was SO excited to see them!

Doug's brother, aunt and sis relaxing over good food!

Um... related? Yup!

The "older cousins" played with Matthew in the rocks. He LOVED hanging out with them, and they were very sweet to him!

Always performing!

I made homemade strawberry ice cream for the party. My nephews decided they would have a contest to see who could hold onto the super cold container the longest. It was pretty funny!

.. and they're off!

lots of pain!

Mitchell was the first out!

Ben and Zach battled to a tie!

...so they ended it a different way: cold hands to the face!

SO yummy!!

Sweet Mitchell!

Enjoying every bite.. all by himself!

Angel food cake fun!

Lots of good times had by all!

He did it again. Click here to and scroll down a bit to know the story!

Gregory showing his tree climbing skills!

An attempt at a family photo....

The best we got!

Doug got lots of thoughtful gifts, but I think I scored the best gift! He LOVES the movie "A Christmas Story". I found this "Major Award" night light and HAD to get it for him. He, as you can see, thought it was the coolest!

A fun birthday for my favorite guy, indeed!!

Picnic

Doug's company picnic was today at Blue Lake Park. This was by far the funnest time we have had at this event in a LONG time. The kids are old enough to do most of the kids activities there which made it so fun. That plus seeing and catching up with people that I usually (and sadly) only see at the picnic every year (yes, Ellen.. that means YOU! heehee).

Matthew really got into the food. He loves to eat by himself now and is pretty good with silverware. He also makes a mess. The napkin "bib" helped some.. but I am glad I had baby wipes with me!!

Evelyn thought the face painting "tickled a lot" but she LOVED her flower!

She could have gone on this bouncy slide the entire time we were there! Matthew was too little for this, but Doug was super daddy and took him into the "bouncy house" that they also had. It was too dark to take pictures of that, but be assured that he LOVED it!

One of the features at the picnic was a rock wall. Evelyn spotted it when we first got there. She said she wanted to try it, so we asked if she was big enough. Thankfully, she was by a whisker!

Daddy (a former climber himself) giving her a pep talk!

Strapping in and helmeted up!

She was scared at first, but quickly got the hang of it and did SO great!

She went way higher than this, but I think I was to nervous too take pictures! :)

Almost down (from her SECOND trip.. she did it twice!)!

Happy climber!! Time to sign her up for classes I think!

Matthew found sticks (and he LOVES sticks) ... and was entertained for a long while!

There was a old fashioned popcorn machine... both the kids enjoyed that as well as the other desserts that were there!

Evelyn also went in the "big kid" bouncy house, as she called it.

She was pretty proud of herself!

Our friends the Barley's (Dean works with Doug.. they have shared a cube wall for years!) were playing miniature golf so we went to join them. My kids haven't ever done it before.. as you will see!

Well, sweetie.. that's one way to do it.

"Hey.. its a 4.. just like me!"

Matthew... well.. he just didn't have a clue! But he was cute!

Heading home after a long day.. his car seat sits behind the driver seat, so I don't get to look at him a lot since I am usually driving. He would just grin at me every time I looked back at him from the passenger seat. I love him!

Evelyn wearing the gloves we got as a gift.. she wore them the whole way home (which, due to traffic.. was LONG time!)!

Tired sweetness!

Both the kids were SO tired when we got home. They were both in bed a little after 7 and I expect them to sleep very, very well!!

A very fun day indeed!

Love

My aunt Bobbie posted this picture of her and my dad on facebook today. I had not seen it before. My sister said it best when she said it took her breath away when she saw it.

His baby sister was super special to him. You can see that so clearly in this picture.

Just this morning I was thinking about how there was such love in my dad for his family.
Unconditional love.
Fierce love.

Then I saw this picture.

Man.. I miss him. So much.

Every day!

Water Monster...

... is the name I was given yesterday by Evelyn and her friend Juliet as they played in the sprinkler. I decided to play with them some and would come down, grab one of them and run them through. I was fully clothed, mind you, but it seemed like a fun thing to do. They thought it was hilarious and fun. Here's some pics of our afternoon.

He was thirsty apparently!

The sun must really dehydrate this kid!

Really.. I do give him water in a cup... I swear!

I got some time with this little man, too... he even smiled for me and his mommy!

Lovin' that summer is finally here!