Garden Party

What a beautiful day for a wedding! We drove to Newaygo, MI where Nate's cousin Heather was married in her mom's stunning gardens. Seeing her beautiful blooms made me want to come home and pull some weeds or something. (Don't worry, that feeling was well worn off before I got home!). Here's Jacob resting in the garden after the ceremony.

Hmmm... I think maybe I need to get Jacob a belt!

Okay, here's one where we all managed to keep our clothes on. After this the boys hit the dance floor at the reception where they danced the night away. At first Noah was really upset by the MC's loud voice booming over the mic, but once the music and lights got going, I think these kids spent more time on the dance floor than anyone else at the wedding! I never new they had such amazing moves. They did get shy when it came time to dance with the beautiful bride, but they had such a good time they've been talking about the "dance party" ever since. Congratulations to Heather and Kevin, it was a beautiful wedding and reception and we wish them lots of love and happiness!

We stopped back by Aunt Barb and Uncle Bills house on Sunday to say goodbye and the boys were once again drawn to the garden. They loved running up and down the path through those beautiful flowers. Uncle Bill took them out to feed the fish in the pond and took Noah out for a paddle boat ride. They loved going into the barns and seeing the cows, and ooohed and aaahhhed over the giant tractors and farm equipment. Lots of fun for these city boys! The boys also loved seeing all the horse drawn buggies out here in Amish country.

Mooo!

We also stopped by to visit Great-Grandma Thenikl before heading up to Gladwin. This year Grandma Thenikl celebrated her 90th B-day!

Hittin' the Hard Balls

This weekend we packed up the car and hit the highway for Michigan. First stop: Grandma and Grandpa Masarik's house. As usual we set up the wickets for a down-and-dirty game of no mercy croquet in the back yard. Uncle Andy put up quite a fight, but in the end, Nate had to show him who was boss. Grandpa also took it pretty well, considering he's usually the winner of the family game. Grandma Karen fed us well (as always!) and the boys had a good nights sleep and lots of fun playing with all Grandpa's great antique toys before heading out the next day for the wedding in Newaygo.

Good Friends, Good Times!

Jake found this little roly poly while on a walk and decided to keep him. He named him Needle and carried him around while he played outside for the evening. He loved to see his little legs wiggle (while trying to escape). Unfortunately roly polys don't make for good best friends, since they don't hold up well for tricycle riding, getting shoved in pockets and intensive squeezing. So, after Needle got "broken" (in two) we had to put him down for a nice long nap under a rock. RIP poor little Needle.

Tuesday we had some of the neighbors over to play in the backyard. We set up a new slide pool for the kids and while Jacob is still considering going down the slide (he doesn't like to get wet, but prefers to spray everyone else with the hose instead) Noah and his buds had a blast. The top pic shows Zachary, Thomas, Molly, Mya, Jake and Noah having fun in the pool. Noah really just wanted to kick around on his "special boat" and make dolphin noises.

Yep, Jacob's a ladies man! The girls just flock to 'em. I guess it's hard to resist a guy in lizard shorts and a bucket hat.

Hangin' on the merry-go-round with our friends Jack and Margo. All morning the boys were so excited to go to the new water park. When we got there, there was nothing I could do to convince them to get within 10 feet of any water. So they just played on all the park equipment instead. I guess the water canons are pretty intimidating when you're only two.

Hittin' the Sidewalk

This little stone bunny sits in the yard of a house down the street from us and the boys call him "Dirty Bunny". This is because when they would try to kiss it, Nate told them not to because it's dirty. So now everytime we ride bikes on the sidewalk we get several requests from the boys to ride their bikes to see Dirty Bunny.

They also love this stone lion and have to greet the pair of them everytime they cruise by. Our neighborhood seems to have an infestation of stone creatures. Wonder who we should call about that??

My three boys sitting in front of the flowers in front of our house. Halfway through summer and I haven't killed em yet, that's pretty good! (The flowers, not the kids!)

Hmmm...maybe we need to get daddy a bigger bike. He's short, but not that short. Good thing he's got strong man Noah to push him along.

Noah jumping over "his favorite letter N" on the alphabet train puzzle. Who says white boys can't jump!!!

The past few days have been beautiful outside and the boys are loving the great outdoors. Especially when their best bud daddy is home to play with them and show them all kinds of crazy (aka dangerous) things that they wouldn't come up with on their own yet! Here's some pics of Noah from the last few days.

More Vacation Pics

Run, Run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man.

Taking killer whale for a dip in the "big water".

Our crib for the week. Lots of space for cruisin' tots.

Jacob's studly Baywatch pose.

Rub a dub, dub, three very sandy bottomed tots in a tub.

Family Vacation

Aye 'Aye Matey! The whole crew gather on the playset across from our rental to watch the garbage truck do it's business. Nothings cooler than seeing a garbage bin get dumped!

Helping dad attract fish by throwing rocks into the pond. (That's sure to make em bite!)

Full moon at the beach that day.

The boys loved digging in the rocks around the play area.

Here's our buddies Janna and Conner having fun at the beach.

"B"acation time! According to Jacob and Noah, there's definitely dolphins (many), humpback whales and baby killer whales (two to be exact) living in Indian Lake in Ohio. They were sure of this. I guess I didn't get any pics of them, but here's some other shots of the boys having a great time with our friends Janna, Jesse and little man Conner on our week long vacation. We swam in the pool, made rivers and castles in the sand at the beach, went fishing with dad and threw rocks into the pond by our rental house unless we had to drag the boys away.

Bust My Bumpers

Our little engineers (and Dad) riding the rails through beautiful Connersville, IN for Day Out with Thomas. The boy got to see a life-size Thomas the train then go for a train ride.

Here's the cheeky one himself, Thomas the Tank Engine.

Hanging with your best bud. (Jacob in red, Noah in blue)

Playing Catch-Up

Well, I've always been a hard core procrastinator, but 2.5 years is a bit extreme, I know. Our boys will be three in November, so I'll make the catch -up brief so we can get right to the happy chaos taking place every day in our casa.

On November 9, 2005 Nate and I were blessed with two little bundles, Noah and Jacob. They were like night and day from the beginning, from their personalities, to their hair color (wispy red vs. super-straight brown) and even their appetites (everything vs. nothing). The time (as it always does) has just flown by. It's funny how it seemed so so so hard that first year. Boy, I had no idea! At least then they weren't faster than we were. Now it's like trying to subdue two bolts of lightening zooming through the house. But of course it WAS hard, and we were basically exhausted for two years. But that's what this blog is all about. The payoff for all the hard times. Cuz when your exhausted and your house is a disaster and nobody's eaten the dinner you made and you've got two little toddlers telling you "NO" and "MINE" and they're fighting over who gets to empty your kitchen cupboards onto the floor, it's the little hugs and kisses and hearing, "love you mom" that make it all worthwhile.

And the Happy Plastic Garden....well it's our backyard of course! It's a messy, homey, overloaded place full of brightly colored toys and other stuff that the kids love. Just like our home! It's not about being the most organized, or the best kept or the most expensive. It's about having a safe and happy place for our family to live, play and grow.