Summer is Officially HERE!

Okay, I actually don't know what the first official day of Summer is, but it feels like it.... Wow... I just googled it and amazingly... it is June 21st! So in 30 minutes it is officially Summer.

And also - speaking of the date - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I love you, honey. Thanks for all that you do!


We've been having lots of fun here in Wisconsin. Preschool is over for the Summer for Gabe and he just finished a week long "Sport Sampler" class offered through the rec department. I think RUGBY was his favorite! (Oh no, please don't let my baby play rugby someday! It's even worse than football!) Part of the reason he liked it so much was that it had rained really hard the day before and the field was a muddy mess. He was completely covered in mud when I picked him up. But he had a blast!

Caleb is officially two and talking more and more every day. I still don't understand as much as he would like, which frustrates him sometimes, but he's getting clearer. He does some two word phrases like, "Go 'side!" ("Let's go outside") and "Sorry mama!" (after he misbehaves). Otherwise he just uses one word a lot too, "Bite!" "Buttons!" "M0!" (more) "Bike" "Kitty" and lots more. My neighbor's little girl is six days older than Caleb and I swear she's carrying on full conversations already. Guess that's a girl for you! (But can she bench 40 pounds? I think not... jk)

So, Josh will be busily working this next week at Country USA (a music festival in his county - this year featuring Zac Brown Band, Blake Shelton, Travis Tritt, Jack Ingram, Jason Aldeen, Darius Rucker... no girls this year!!) I think he was wishing that Julianne Hough would be there again this year, but no luck. It's a lot of drunks but he'll get to hear some good music!

I'll probably be taking to boys to the waterpark a lot - if I'm feeling brave enough to handle them both myself! We all went this past four days that Josh had off and they LOVED it.

Here's lots of pictures of the most recent summer fun - strawberry picking at a local farm, goofy boys hanging out, riding the train, waterpark, etc.!

Caleb's 2!

Happy Birthday to my big little boy! We had his party on Sunday and he had lots of fun. I made a dirt cake in a dump truck which he was more interested in pushing around than eating I think. It was miraculous that it didn't end up on the floor! (Until a few hours later when, trying to get it out of my mom's crammed full-a-stuff fridge, I yanked it a little to hard and the back of the dump truck poured crushed Oreos all own my shirt.... awesome.)

Other than that, it was a fun day. He got some Thomas stuff, a Mr. Potato Head, some clothes, tons of stuff to do bubbles (which he goes crazy for), a Handy Manny car, a lawn mower, a stuffed Buzz Lightyear, a couple books, some giftcards, money, and more. Talk about a spoiled kid. I'm already having a rummage sale in a couple weeks just to clear out some stuff! How they accumulate so may toys, I have no idea. It's unreal. His favorite toys are anything with wheels (especially trucks with some sort of trailer to hook up). And balls of any kind - footballs, baseballs, basketballs, even golf. He's definitely his father's son.

At his 2 year checkup today he weighed 37 pounds and was 37 and 3/4 inches tall. (Just for comparison, I think Gabe weighs 38 pounds and is 43 1/2 in. tall.) They can pretty much wear the same size shirts but Caleb needs shorter pants (3T - while Gabe is wearing 5T). Josh gets so confused doing laundry as to whose is what.

Anyways, Caleb is such a sweetie. He's so much fun to watch Gabe chase around. Tonight he was just sweating from running like crazy with Gabe. Oh, and another funny thing I have to mention - he loves buttons. Like - if he sees one on someone's shirt, he screams "Button!!!" and chases you down and tries to eat it. He even sometimes does this little cookie monster growl like, "Mmmm, num, num, num..." and shakes his head as he's attacking your buttons. It's both very cute and very odd.

So, that's my summary of Caleb at 2 years old! (I left out the temper tantrums and the "Nnnnnno!!" as he throws something, but we'll try to forget that...) Here's some pics!

Memorial Day

Parade in the morning, church picnic at the park around noon, riding the little park rides, and lots of playing outside pretty much sums up our Memorial day. Oh, and we planted out vegetable garden over the weekend too. The boys are loving all the watermelon, corn on the cob, blueberries, and other great summer food. :)