Happy Birthday Mr. B!

Our neighbor and friend Braden is turning 1 on Wednesday and we celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a great party!  He and Ethan are 2 days apart and we all have a great time when we get together.  Ethan didn't get to try any cake...he will have to wait until his party : ).  

Braden with his first bite of cake and he liked it!

Ethan and Braden playing some sports.

Go Cards!!

Friday night we headed down to St. Louis for the Cardinals vs. Angels game.  My sister, Sarah, wanted to go while she was in town so we got 14 tickets in all.  It was a great game, one in which the starting pitcher hit a grand slam home run to help seal the 9-5 Cardinal winner!  I'm no baseball expert, but I would venture to say that that's not a very common occurrence!  My mom and Linda graciously volunteered to babysit Haley and Ethan at Libby's house while the rest of us enjoyed the game.

Timm, Caleb, Kendra, Sarah, Patrick & Lily

Mike, Patty, Dad & Wayne

Alex, Abby, Me & Jared

Josh & Libby

Haley & Ethan happily playing at the house

Lots of pictures!

Sorry for the time span between posts.  It's been a busy last few days.  My sister, Sarah and her family came into town from Washington so I took a day off work and spent some time in Salem.  We had a nice visit with lots of family.  Ethan had fun playing with Lily (his cousin who is 5 weeks younger than him), Finley, Scout, Haley, and Caleb.  We tried a group picture of the 6 of them, but it proved to be pretty difficult.  Here are some pictures from our extended weekend.  

Having fun with Grandma and Grandpa Collier

Sweet Smile

 Libby with Haley and Caleb (Timm and Kendra Squibb's little guy)

Cousins...Lily and Ethan playing

'Group Shot'

Finley, Ethan, Lily, Scout, Haley, Caleb

(At least they are all in the same area of the room)

We had a Birthday party for Lily, she turns 1 on July 4th

(Scout is helping with the tissue paper)

The girls with their cell phones in their pockets : )

Lily Rose

Ethan loves his Pop!

Meltdowns are so fun...

Poor Ethan has been teething up a storm.  He's drooling all over the place, his nose is runny and he's just not his normal happy self all the time.  Monday morning was especially full of meltdowns...so I snapped a few pictures.  I think he's still adorable...even when he's mad.   Happy Wednesday!

So pitiful, I know.

Before & After

One of our biggest projects this spring was landscaping our front door area.  We had tried different things in the past and never really liked how it turned out.  This year we looked at the area from a different perspective...and started the demolition!  I love how it turned out and I'm looking forward to seeing everything grow in.  Jared did A LOT of heavy lifting like moving a 12 x 8 section of grass, leveling/smoothing the remaining dirt and unloading/moving 1.5 tons of rock...not to mention helping me pick out the flowers and plants. 

Before (actually this is after the demo had started) & Jared smoothing out the dirt

After!!  We rocked both sides of the door and planted a few plants/flowers.

Note the front step...we had the concrete lifted since it was quite dangerous with a huge step from the sinking.  Surprising to me, it made a huge difference!

Happy Mothers Day!

This is my first Mothers Day and I have to say that I am enjoying it!  We had a good morning at church followed by a nice lunch (pizza, my favorite) and now just some relaxation.  Ethan and Jared got me a rain barrel for Mothers Day.  Actually Jared made the rain barrel.  He got a couple planters along with some hardware and other accessories and just put it all together.  I had seen them on advertisements and thought it was a neat idea.  He did a great job and I love it!  Now we just need some rain to fill it up. 

Mommy and Ethan on a beautiful Mothers Day!

1st Mothers Day present...a rain barrel made by my wonderful husband!

And a quick thanks to my mom for how amazing she is!  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  You are the best mom I could have ever asked for.  I can only hope that some of your mothering awesomeness has rubbed off on me.  Now that I'm a mom, I have a different kind of respect and love for you.  Thanks for everything!  I love you lots!

 

My Mama and I just a few weeks after I was born.

  

Look at all the animals!!

To round out our trip to St. Louis, we hit the zoo on Sunday.  The closest Ethan has gotten to animals (other than the dogs) is when we went to see the little chicks at Rural King.  He loved watching them run/hop around.  We had a feeling he would like seeing all the animals at the zoo, and we were right.  His favorites were the penguins.  He was so close he could almost touch them as they swam by and splashed him.  It was hard to get him to look at the camera for pictures because he just wanted to look at the animals the whole time.  Thanks Josh and Libby for a great weekend! 

PENGUINS!!

Ethan amazed by the puffins and the chimp!

Checking out the zebras with daddy

The little girls, Finley and Haley with the camels

Aunt Abby, this is for you!  I know how you like giraffes, Ethan did too.

Lunch time!  We were all ready!

Good bye St. Louis Zoo!  We will be back!

P.S. Keep scrolling down for more new posts!  We had a busy weekend, so lots of pictures to see. 

Pool Party!!

While in St. Louis this weekend, we had a pool party with the kids at the hotel.  This was Ethan's first pool experience and he loved it.  He always splashes in the tub, and this was like a huge tub for him!  He liked being thrown in the air by his daddy, though it made his mommy a little nervous : ). 

Just getting warmed up...

Family shot at the pool...Ethan is excited!

Doing what dads do with their babies in the pool

Warming up and drying off

After the pool party we had some pizza.  Here are the boys hanging out while we eat.

Linda had bubbles!  Ethan, Finley and Haley wanted some!

Happy Birthday Haley!

My cousin Libby's daughter, Haley, turned 2 yesterday!!  We celebrated her birthday with an awesome party on Saturday in St. Louis.  It's always fun to get together with family and friends.  Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Haley Blowing out the candles!

 

Cousins, Finley and Haley got their own table 

Opening presents!

Ethan and Daddy enjoying lunch

Scout and Ethan playing

Aunt Abby and Ethan

 Pop and Ethan riding the bike