Aidan Turns 4!

My sweet baby is now 4... a BIG BOY. I thought it would be nice to throw him a party, since he's only had one. It was a 'playgroup' party... all the kids from playgroup and then those from his sunbeam class were invited. The day was perfect!!! I had asked my grandma if I could have the party at her house since mine is too small and I wanted to let the kids play in the water. Couldn't have asked for better weather, better friends or food. The one downsides, I had to borrow a camera so I couldn't get video of Aidan's reactions... PRICELESS!













In the beginning.... my dad played the pool man and the kids wasted no time in getting wet.













The kids loved playing in the water. The temp and humidity were a pleasant surprise, but the breeze made for some chattering teeth.













A Toy Story theme party, gotta love Wal-Mart's party section. So worth every penny. The foil is covering cookie bars, I didn't have any leftovers of those.














Enjoying the food, shade, and PERFECT weather for this kind of party.














More eating shots.













We came inside to open presents because the wind picked up a bit. I didn't want to chase paper down. And indoors was a better option for the camera I was using.













I kept having to tell the kids to back up, they all wanted to see what Aidan got... and then play with it.













Aidan loves to get cards with sounds. I helped his great grandma to pick this out, a Woody's Roundup card with 'Riders in the Sky' singing the theme song. BIG HIT!













Can you tell he was happy? I would have loved to get the reaction on video, but I didn't have my camera. I was glad that I made him open this one last.













I was tryin to show him that Woody talks, he was just too excited to care. He was out of the package real quick.













His rice krispie treat cupcakes! The kids loved them, and so did the moms, but for different reasons.













He's into pluggin his ears when anyone sings, doesn't matter if it's to him or not. At least, this year, he didn't hide under the table.


















ALREADY.... Woody is a very dirty man right now. You can't tell just how much in this picture, but he is, trust me. And this was taken only a few hours after the party.

Goffin' Off

just being her goofy self.... jumpin all over the place.


her first pigtails!!!! i was so excited. it took forever to get them up because, like all babies her age, she just wouldn't hold still. they lasted until we got to church, the had pulled one out by then. it looked a bit silly to leave just one up so i tool it down. oh well, there is always next week.






















































i'm so glade when daddy comes home.... glad as i can be.... cause that means the kids leave me alone. don't get me wrong, i love my kids dearly, but i love it when they go to jeff to play rough instead of me.













daddy becomes the best jungle gym when he's down for a visit. thank heavens! i'm not built for it and i have the bruises to prove it.













just not fair! why is it that he looks good in almost every picture?














i think sofia wanted a turn.... or she just wanted daddy. i helped aidan take this picture.














just being silly, as always when daddy comes down.














don't know who took the picture, but i like it!

Riven Rocks

katy called me tuesday night and told me that she and some other ladies from church were going to a place called riven rocks and invited me to go too. of course i wanted too, i had a rotten tuesday and wanted something fun to erase the memory. this place isn't that far, about a half hour drive for me and katy.... but sooo worth the drive. it was just cool enough with the water and shade that it was a perfect day. it's pretty secluded, but we had enough kids to make up for the lack of people. there was another group there and they had some kids that became instant friends with ours, especially when the boys gave the kids fish to hold in a cup. good weather, good company and good food. what more could you ask for!













don't worry, sofia never fell off the rock. but there were also at least four sets of eyes on her... and the other kids too.














ta-da!!! such a skinny-minnie, but i love her anyways (he he he).













we packed a picnic and pretty much started eating as soon as we got there. the kids were back and forth because the lure of the water was great, but so was the growl in their tummy.













just beautiful! i was very happy to have been invited just to see this. it was small, but very much picture worthy.













the big boys were doing some 'fishing' with nets while at the rocks. the little kids just loved watching and helping.













each kid got a cup and had waited for one of the older boys to give them the "spoils". don't worry, no fish was harmed or brought home!













i love these ladies. we had so much fun watching the kids. if the water was a bit warmer we would have gone in deeper than our knees.














she had a rice krispie treat in her hand, i think it's the only food to not fall in the water.

Busch Gardens!

WOW! all of jeff's siblings were in the same time zone for the first time in years. to celebrate papa-in-law treated us to a day at busch gardens. a slight late start, but it made for an early lunch in the parking lot before we hit the park. 20 people with 9 of them ages 6 and under. it was total chaos, but fun. the kids loved almost all the rides they could go on. a few rides were too scary for them, or so they said. i have such great SILs cause they were constantly saying to me "if you want to ride that i'll watch your kids". we had so much fun despite the "dante's inferno" type of heat goin on. there was one ride that the adults (or most of them) got sick on, it was a 3-D ride. i was so affected by it i had to put my head between my knees. call me a whimp, i don't care. around 7ish, we all kind of split off into our own family groups. hit a few more kiddie rides and then left. i was totally planning to leave no later than 6:30, we left at 10 AFTER the fireworks. the kids were sooooooo tired from such a long day they were totally zonked out before too long. we didn't get pictures of everything we did, but i had to get the kids sleeping.