Happy Birthday Mikey!

Our sweet Mikey has turned 4!!  We just adore little Mikey; he has such a sweet, yet spunky and silly personality.  He has been a great blessing to our family, making us laugh when we get too serious, giving cuddles and kisses without reservation, and using his super-hero skills to ward off any imaginary threat to the home-front.  I love this picture of Mikey because it captures his essence: happy, playful, rough-and-tumble, sweet little guy.

Mikey was really lucky that his cousins (Morgan and Rachael), their dog (Chief) and parents (Chris and Dee), AND Nana and Opa all got to come out for his birthday celebration.  It was a short visit, but we squeezed as much fun out of the time as we knew how.  (Thanks so much for making the trek out here guys!)  Here's some of the fun we had...opening presents...

...Eating Spiderman cupcakes and ice cream...

...Taking a ride on the "Little Hawkeye Express", and other "fair" rides at a nearby park...

...Getting spoiled by daddy, whose present to Mikey was a homemade tree-swing.  Of course, Daddy had to 'jumar' (rock climbing term--look it up!) up to the tree branch to hang the swing, and that was an adventure in and of itself.  Lots of fun for the kids (and for the people driving by--'What in the world are they doing?!!')...

(Spence 'jumared' all by himself up to the tree branch too!)

...And for the grand finale of fun-ness, the kids discovered another use for Jaron's half-pipe!  Take a look:

(It might be too small to see, but Mikey discovered that being in his "birthday suit" really gave him the advantage!)  Who needs a waterpark when all you have to do is build a skate ramp?!

Fun in Texas

At the beginning of August, we took a road trip down to Texas.  We had SOOOOOO (x 100!) much fun with the Sullivan's!  We spent a few days at the beach in Port Aransas, got to visit our best friends from med school, swung by the Haley's in San Antonio, and spent some time in Stephenville at Mammy and Pappy's house.  There was way more fun than I can convey in one measly post, but here's some highlights:

Pappy, Em, Mammy, Jaron, Trev, Mikey and Spence at the beach.

Jaron taking Mikey out to catch some big waves!

Of course, there was time for dummy-ropin' too!

All the cousins at Jaimie and Aaron's in San Antonio.

Getting spoiled by the Allred's in their pool.

Pappy took us out to lunch at the hottest new restaurant in Stephenville: McDonald's.  The kids got to eat inside a giant football!  Thanks Pappy!

Helping feed the horses.

Thank you so much Sullivan's, Haley's and Allred's for a wonderful vacation!  This is what we thought of it:

Bye-Bye Summer!

WOW.  Who knew summer could fly by so fast?? It's already back-to-school time in Iowa, and I'll miss having my boys around.  Spencer and Mikey are both going to school this year, Spence in 1st grade, Mikey in 5-day Preschool.  Jaron and I are blessed with extraordinary boys--loving, thoughtful, and lots of fun to play with!  I loved having my boys around all summer, and having lots of adventures with them.  Here's a sampling of some of the fun we had (and more yet to come!): 

Spence and Mikey love to invent and create, so here's a sample of some of the home-projects they did.  From top left, clockwise: plastic cup-with-string-telephone; "school" workbooks (they earned money for completing each one--BIG motivator!); "snakes" made from painted cylindrical wood pieces, string and beads; a "jet pack", made from an oatmeal container, paper towel tube, and string; in the middle is the remnant of Mikey's "binoculars", made from T.P. rolls.  Not pictured (just made today), is a rocket ship, constructed out of a box (it even has seats! Spencer's idea).  I love how innovative the boys are; they constantly challenge me to "think outside the box".

One of my FAVORITE things to do with the boys this summer was running on the beautiful trails around Iowa City.  It was gorgeous and green, and fairly mild all summer, so we got out a lot.  Spence and Mikey would ride bikes while I tried to keep up, pushing Trevor in the jogger.  Every time we'd go I'd think, "I've GOT to get a picture of this scenery!"  This is the one time I actually remembered (this trail runs along the Iowa River):

There's a few lakes really close to our home, and we made it out a few times.  Beautiful landscape, but notice Spencer's blue lips?  Our Iowa mild summer is to blame for that.

Spence and Mikey took swim lessons.  Spencer learned a lot--backstroke, diving, treading water, and swimming in the deep end, and Mikey had fun bopping about in the kiddie pool.

Fort-making is a staple at our house.

One of 3 public pools in our community--this one's a mile from the house, so sometimes the big boys would ride bikes here (me huffing to keep up).

And quicker'n you can say Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle, our school year has begun!  Here's our big boys posing with their packs on the first day.

Milestone

We've been having a BLAST this summer, the boys and I.  Unfortunately, after a trip to visit my family around Memorial Day, I haven't been able to find our camera, but we just got a new one, so I'll start taking pics to catch up on the fun we've been having.  

I was so broken-hearted to not have a camera to capture a very special moment for Spencer: his first piano recital!  I've been teaching him for about a year, and throughout the school year he would practice most mornings before school for 15 min.  Most times he'd complain and I'd have to pull out some serious incentives, but it's worth it for me to have a well-rounded son!  Our library hosts many fun summer activities for school-age children, one of which was a Talent Show.  Spencer said he wanted to play the piano, so we prepared two songs, which involved lots of practice (more than the usual 15 min).  I'm so proud of Spencer for being brave enough to play, and for being so diligent with his practicing (because he really doesn't love it, or even like it on most days)!  

He was spectacular at the Talent Show; he was calm even though there were 80 people in the room (I counted), and he played flawlessly.  I wanted to run up to him and smother him with kisses and hugs, but I held back.  Fast forward a couple weeks to today.  Spencer spontaneously, without any bribe or coersion, sat down and played the piano for a full 20 minutes!!  And it's not even one of our practice days! This is a serious milestone for him, to play for sheer pleasure; to get so absorbed in the playing that he loses track of time.  It reminds me how much I love music, and how I love to get lost in it.  It was a special moment for me.

Oldie but Goodie

Since our camera has been lost for a couple months *sigh*, I was looking through old pics to see if I could post one and trick everyone into thinking it was new!  I came across this SWEET moment captured with my creative older boys.  This was taken around the new year, just before Trevor was born.  This is what happens at our house when you take a nap and assume your mature young adults will play appropriately and NOT get into trouble... I came downstairs to find two "SPI's" (translation: SPY's) dawned with camo-skin gear, "bee-noculars" (painted on) for special night vision, and wielding special spy sword/gun contraptions (paper towel tubes). I can't believe I didn't post this sooner!

Our Angel

I was talking to Trevor in a public place the other day and a lady asked me, "Oh, is his name Angel?"  I wondered what in the world she was talking about, until I realized that I must have been calling him "My sweet Angel", like we do so often.  Other favorite nicknames include: Sweet Pea, Sweet Poopers, Puppy Dog (or Pup), Goo (and Gooey--both Spencer's inventions), and little Bubba.  We sure love our little Trev!  He is 4 months old now, and had a really special moment with Daddy today at his baby blessing.  Unfortunately, I had lost my camera, so didn't get that one documented, but here are some recent pictures of Trevor:

He likes reaching for things, although usually his fists are still clenched, and it's pure luck if he actually gets what he's reaching for.

If he's not sucking on his pacifier, he's got a finger or two or even both fists shoved in his mouth!

It's hard photographing a baby!

He's been rolling over, but we have few witnesses--he usually waits till we turn our backs!

There goes a thumb...

Sweet little Angel!

The Finished Product

Who's that Hottie by the half-pipe?  Oh, lucky-me!  It's my husband!!  Here's just a few photos of Jaron's masterpiece.  You can check out his facebook page for the full album. 

Just to give an idea of the amazing leveling job Jaron did: