Story Time and the Big 6-0!

I caught these sweet pictures last night and had to share...


Ethan and Pop



Uncle Jared with Josiah and Paige


On a side note...My dad turned 60 on Tuesday!  Happy Birthday Dad!!  We love you!

Shower #2 For Abby

Last night we had a 'personal' shower for Abby, who is getting married on Saturday!  We had a great time and laughed a lot!!  Possibly even a blushing bride (and bride's mother) from time to time.  We had a wonderful dinner at The Gathering Place in Salem with a vintage-y theme.  (I would recommend this place to anyone needing a great venue with great food!)  Anyway, on to the pictures!
The Venue:

The Party:

Visit to Indy

Wednesday morning Ethan and I got up and headed to Indy to visit my good friend Elizabeth and her 2 boys, Sam and Andrew.  We had a great trip!  The Children's Museum was definitely a must see, so we went there pretty much as soon as Ethan and I got into town.  Elizabeth has a membership which was beneficial for us, since it allowed 2 guests!  It was also nice going with someone who knows where things are and what things are good for the 4 and under crowd.  First stop: Dora the Explorer!

Sam and Ethan in Dora land

Then we headed to Playscape.  This area was really good for toddlers since there were all kinds of things to climb on, push around, scoop up and dump out.

Ethan spent a lot of time at the sand table

Andrew and Ethan at the water tables

He's in a bird house!

Sweet Andrew playing in the sand

'Bob the Builder' truck as Ethan called it

We had a great time at the museum and will definitely plan a trip back.  We closed the place down and the boys still weren't ready to go.



Our Group Shot attempt (Soon after, Ethan fell off the rock)

A trip to the zoo had also been discussed for this visit, but since it was 105 out we opted for the pool!  This pool is close to the Jolliff's house and they go often, it was perfect for the boys.  Plenty of shallow area for them to 'swim' around in and slides to go down also! 

Sam and Ethan going down the frog slide...over and over!

Another group shot attempt

...And he's out of there

Elizabeth reading to the 3 boys

Thank-you Elizabeth, Sam and Andrew!  We had a great visit and can't wait to come back and see baby #3! 

Long time...

It's been over a week since I've blogged...sorry about that.  I have a few pictures to share to hopefully make up for it.  Last weekend we headed to Salem and had a great weekend.  Ethan and I spent all day Friday and Monday there while Jared was there for the weekend.  It is always nice to hang out with family.

Swinging with Pop

Aunt Abby taking advantage of my child :)

Pretend napping with Finley and Scout

Now for some story time

I also did some 'garage-saling' for baby girl.  We hit the jackpot!  Saturday morning was pretty successful with my mom and on Sunday, Karen (Grandma Karen) came over with 5 totes full of girls clothes to go through.  She knew someone who was trying to sell 3 girls worth of clothing.  We spent almost 2 hours going through all the pink and, again, came out pretty successful.  I didn't photograph our loot, but I will be sure to someday soon.  In Jared's words, "I'm not worried about her freezing..." 

Water Day!

Our church has an annual water day and Ethan was old enough this year to participate!  He had a great time, not that I was worried.  We were outside and there was water he was free to play, splash and jump in.  A few of his favorite things!  His friend from church and daycare, Noah, was there so they had a blast together.

Sliding down all by himself!

Just as much fun as sliding...jumping in the water at the end!

Noah and Ethan jumping

'Diving' into the pools

They even had an ice sculpter make ice blocks with little bowls carved in it for the kids to sit on, splash in and cool off around.  Pretty cool!

So much fun!  We stayed near the 'toddler' area and let the big kids play on those.  Oh, and that's Ethan running away from me in the far right of the picture.

Finally lunch time!  Noah and Ethan

Ethan...The Photographer

Ethan has really taken to my camera.  Not that I just hand it over, he usually climbs up on a chair or stool to get it off the counter.  Anyway, I thought I would share some of his better pictures.

His first few looked very similar to this one :)

Not too bad...

Flattering photo of a vacuuming Mama...or not.

 And now time for the self portraits!

So sweet! 

Our Latest DIY...

About a month or so ago, I took a look at our kitchen and thought 'It needs a face-lift'.  Jared loves it when I watch too much HGTV.  Haha.  Anyway, we weren't into spending mucho dinero, so replacing countertops, cabinets or floors were out.  I thought a tile backsplash would make a big impact without costing too much and Jared was on board.  He did an awesome job!

I forgot an actual 'before' so just imagine :)

Jared at work.  His first tiling attempt is a success!

Close-up of finished product

It's all back together!

 

Mini-Me

As we were getting ready for church this morning, Jared walked out in an orange shirt and Ethan had to match.  I had picked out a grey one, but he insisted on the orange one like Daddy.  I wouldn't let them change before taking a few pictures.  They matched pretty much down to the shoes :)!

Orange and White Stripes

Intense Swinging! He told us that this is how Jackson does it.  Jackson is Arika's (his sitter) 8 year old son. 

So handsome

Looking like such a big boy :(

 And I thought I should throw in a picture of me at 24 weeks...

Baby Girl is moving and growing like crazy!

July 4th Festivities!

We have been busy this weekend enjoying our time together and time with friends!  Saturday night, we invited the neighbors over for dinner/cookout.  It was a fun time and a great meal.  We all made different dishes to share and Jared grilled some steak, perfectly, I might add!  Miss Ruth brought a red icing cake and showed it to Ethan before dinner...needless to say, he was wanting to start with dessert.  He kept yelling 'I want cake!' 

Braden, Ethan and Zach having dinner.



They finally got their red cake!  Notice the big boys in the background with the Cardinal game on :)


Sunday, the Village of Mt. Zion, had their annual Blue Ribbon Day/Night.  They held it at a new park in town and doubled it up as a grand opening to the park.  We went to check it out after church and nap.  It was hot, but we had a nice time playing on the playground and walking around the nice new park.

Resting at the playground

Bouncy House!  He wasn't sure what to think at first...

Almost to the top...

Finally made it to slide down.

 The slide and Jared didn't agree very well,  it was more like bouncing down instead of sliding.  Haha.  But the 3 year old little girl after him didn't seem to have a problem :).

A view of the park and festivities from the playground

Photo op by the fountain.

We headed home for dinner and some cooling off before coming back out for the fireworks later that night.  Ethan is usually in bed around 8 or 8:30, but last night was a special occasion and he was up until after 10 (past my bedtime)!  We met up with Heather, Zach and Braden for the fireworks and the boys enjoyed every minute! 

Playing with the glow necklaces before the show started.

Braden

Daddy and Ethan





Grand Finale!

Happy Independence Day!!