4th of July

Well I had my camera in my bag the entire weekend, because Becca and Annie had their cameras out...so my pictures don't do the weekend justice. It was a great weekend.
Mr. Ike with Great Grandma Jackie nothing says 4th of July like a snow cone!

Ivy's first time swimming.

Ike loving his first time at the Hebron Pool. The boys went from swimming in the baby pool only to only SWIMMING in the big pool. Kenner even went down the slide by himself (w/ mom catching him).

All three babies ready for the pool. I could NOT imagine having triplets! YIKES

Our fire lover...Patton and his smores. Only to be cut short by the DUMB snake in the limestone rocks!!! UGH!

Annie and Ike! It was so much fun getting to meet Aunt Annie in person.

Fun at the Zoo

It was awesome to get to go to the Zoo with BOTH my sisters and their children. For the big day, I pulled out all the stops to make sure they knew who was the best...hence the shirt thanks to Target. HANDS up for Rylan

Look...we got the paddles to count the fish that Hugo and Thelma eat...COOL!

Ridin' on the train with all the boys

Aunt Kenny and Kenna on the train!

What a great day to have such fun with all the Kenner cousins and Kenna

Very BELATED Birthday to our 6 year old

This picture reminds me of all the old pictures that everyone took on their birthday about 20 years ago. Kenner loved having 3 parties this year...or so he called them parties. i called them a chance to hang out with different family and friends each time. We are so blessed! Kenner's cake was an (lame) attempt at making a tire for Cars 2. I really didn't have time to make a cake, so this is the most pitiful cake i have make for the poor child...he loved it. It makes me realize that spending a lot of time on something isn't worth it, when he was satisfied with some and a candle! All about perspective, which is my latest "a-ha" moment in parenting. No need to go to a movie and spend a ton of money on the movie, treats, etc. Instead DVR America's Got Talent, pop popcorn and my boys are in Heaven!!! I can't believe my first baby is 6 and will be going to Kindergarten in a month. YIKES! Love em' when they are young!
Another story in perspective...for some random reason, Red Robin is our restaurant of choice for all birthdays or celebrations. The boys thought I would like it to go to for Mother's Day. we did have my 30th birthday there as well as Patton's birthday...so I guess you can call it a tradition that I didn't know we had. That was until Kenner's REAL birthday. We had a party for Kenner on the Sunday before. We went to the Cars 2 movie with Lane, Josh, Brock, Luke, Jasa, Olivia, Atlie, and family. I thought, "done with birthday." On his birthday, of course, I kept telling him Happy birthday...as birthdays are a BIG deal:) He went to Bible school, then to Sarah's. I had asked him the night before what I could make for his birthday. Ravioli it was (the real kind...not from the can). I went to work and picked up the boys. Kendra and Sarah both informed me that we WERE going to Red Robin for supper. Hmmm...not in the plans, but Kenner was NOT budging. So at 4:30 on his REAL birthday, I, only ME, took the three boys to Red Robin. Kenner was so excited! It was fun and we were home and in bed by 8. Gotta love boys and their dream Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to my BIG guy!

One Happy Adorable Baby

Enough said...I love his little guy!

Ike and Ivy's first time shopping at the outlets

mom couldn't figure out why Ivy wasn't moving around...it was because she was put to sleep. Ahh Ivy's first trip with Grandma shopping. Ike's first shopping trip...did he like it? Of course he did...he loves anything:)

Someone didn't want to be noticed in the Gymboree store (thanks Abby for making her incognito)

Boys having fun in the hotel. Patton asked, "mom can we move into a hotel?" It was a great trip to Colorado.

Tball fun for the whole family

An attempt at taking our first tball pic with all three boys. It will be fun to see this picture in the next years to see them all grow. Oh how fast they grow. It was just yesterday that we brought Kenner home.

Kenner at bat. He earned several quarters this season. Daddy said that if he hit the ball in the grass then he would give him a quarter.

Kenner's biggest fan...Ike

Look at his game face

Daddy and ike enjoying a night at the ball park.

Praying for our friend Bob

This picture was taken the night before Bob left for Illinois for a week then off to Afghanistan for a year. We look forward to taking this picture in a year from now to see how much they have grown and most importantly to see our friend Bob again.

Bob and his family have done so much for our family. Please take time to pray for both Bob and his family. He is going to serve a great mission, we just pray for his safety!

Fun with Grandparents

We are able to see our grandparents a lot and for that we are grateful! I have heard that the 3rd child rarely gets in pictures...I can see why. it is a lot easier to take pictures of big kids. i am getting used to getting Ike in more pictures. good thing the boys love their wittle brother.

I love how much fun these two have!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa at a Tball game. How lucky is he to have them to see him play!

First Tball game

Kenner was able to play Tball this year. Thanks to my mom for outfitting both Kenner and Patton. She felt sorry that Patton didn't have a uniform, so she had one made for Patton. The look on Patton's face when he came downstairs with his uniform on to thank Grandma was priceless. He was so proud! These pictures don't do Kenner justice...as still pictures weren't able to capture the endless movement when out on the field.

Kenner's shoes were too little, therefore Patton got his cleats before Kenner. Grandma Kenner brought Kenner's shoes with her to the first game. As Kenner tried them on in the dug out, he yelled back to Grandma Carlece, "You got it right Grandma. They fit." It was adorable.

Bathtime fun at Kenna's house

All 4 kids were in the bath at the same time. Crazy Aunt Kendra. The boys and I have been spending a lot of time at Aunt Kendra's house, because daddy has been there working to remodel their basement. It is finished now and ready for service. It was so nice to spend time with Kenna and Aunt Kendra.

Cardinal Returns

The Beloved Cardinal Buzz Windshield returned after Easter. As my dad said, "It is fitting that Cardinal returned from what we thought was the dead after Easter." It is nice to have a ½ time kitty. We are sure he is getting fed somewhere else, so we only have to feed him when he comes and begs. Patton is in heaven!

May Day and lovin’ on Kenna

Not sure why I didn't document Patton's sting better, but as you can see in the picture…his eye was very swollen. He got stung by one of our bees while just playing in the back yard. He went to move a bucket that had water in it and the bee got mad as it was his watering hole and showed Patton who was boss. Kenna was dedicated on May Day, so she gave out May Day baskets…and the boys caught her and kissed her. We got our May Day baskets out this year…but they were a day late. It is always such a joy to see the boys take pride in loving on our neighbors.

Kenner’s Big DAY

Kenner and I had a great day. Kenner and I haven't had an only child day since the day Patton was born. Kenner had his Kindergarten Physical, special lunch at Culver's and his big Preview Day at Norris. I need to make days w/ one child more often. I had some great conversations with Kenner. What a great day!

where has time gone...

I frankly don't have time to even begin to tell you of our adventures during this hiatus of a break from the blog. Long story short...too many stories to write and too little time to tell. We have recieved much love of family and friends. Hopefully pictures will soon follow.

3 most important stories to document:

1) Asparagus hunting in Aurora:
Me: Let's go hunt asparagus in the garden boys!
5 steps later, Kenner: Hey Bub! Let's go hunt asparagus in the garden.

Bub: Kenner, do I have ears?
Kenner: Well, yeah...
Bub: Then I HEARD it!

2) Kenner on his interpretation of Mulan.
Kenner: Hey mom in the movie they say, "Let's go kick some honey buns." Did you know what that means Mom?
Me: Uh (playing dumb), no what?
Kenner: That means the bad guys.
Me: Ah, yes, yes that is what that means!

3) Ike is eating oatmeal and rice cereal and sleeping through the night in his OWN bed. He is now too big to sleep in the little rocker beside my bed. He is rolling over all the time. When mad he almost resembles a crawl. Watch out big brothers...here I come!

I am still LOVING my job, having a great summer so far, and got my garden planted. I resorted to the simple garden this year: tomatoes (lots of them), green peppers, canteloupe (boys' choice), random pumpkin from last October's decorations, and zucchini. Our strawberries are becoming red and the rest of our flowers looks amazing! We were able to share some of the hostas that we split from Aurora a couple years ago. They don't look too amazing right now...but they will next year.

Hope you are all doing well. I am anxiously awaiting a vacation in a couple weeks to Colorado to see my cousin Casie get married and get TO SEE MY SISTER ANNIE and her family!!! Countdown is on.

I am not promising any posts...but hopefully as Ike becomes more independent and the laundry does itself I can get back to blogging.

Thanks for checking in!