Happy Birthday Abbie!

Our friend Abbie turned four!

She had a superhero birthday party which the kids loved.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Angela made adorable cupcakes

Batman, Superwoman, and their mom

They got a jumpy and the kids LOVED it!

They had never been in one before & surprisingly had so much fun.

Happy Birthday Abbie!

Thanks for inviting us to a fun party!

A visit from Grandma

Grandma came to visit.

She was able to meet Kristyn & baby Kensington when she came.

Snuggles

Loving our swing set

Along with a lot of resting and playing at home, we went to Bates Nut Farm.

Cousins

Bennett & Autumn just LOVE their cousins!

We took Jolie to Bates Nut Farm here in Valley Center.

Checking out the crazy geese

Peacock strutting his stuff

Jolie & Bennett feeding the sheep and goats

3 monkeys

Timarie came to visit with the kids.  

As always, Bennett & Autumn had a blast with them.

Autumn & Shannon being girlies

Bennett & Kevin eating fake corn

End of VBS Performance

After Bennett's week of VBS, the kids sang a performance at the Sunday church service.

Bennett was a little hesitant about this idea at first.

Bennett feeling a little apprehensive

The preschool age kids did their song first.  All of the kids sat down on the bleachers and when the music came on, they all stood up.  That is, everyone except Bennett!  He sat in the second row on the bleachers hiding behind the rest of the kids!  It was hilarious!

(When we asked him later why he didn't stand up, he replied, "They didn't say blue group stand up."  We definitely have a rule follower on our hands...we had to have the conversation about social cues.)

B is on the left in the 2nd row. The blond boy is looking at him.

After the sermon, the whole group of VBS kids came back out and sang another song.  This time Bennett was much more happy about it and did all the hand movements.  

At least we ended on a good note!

The whole group of kids

Our crazy pic

Little Toes

Big Week

This week has been a big one for Bennett.

He went to VBS (Vacation Bible School) for the first time at Valley Center Community Church.  It isn't our home church, but it is really close by.  Bennett had so much fun playing games, singing songs, learning about the Bible, and making friends!

He also spent his first week sleeping on the top bunk.  The transition was smoother than we could have imagined.  He loved it!

Welcome to Cali

 Our good friends, Casey & Melissa, came back to California for a little vacation.  They moved back to Colorado some time ago and we always enjoy when we get a chance to visit with them.

Our five days were filled with lots of fun!

We started off with a sushi date night:

Szabos, Szabos, Wiederspans

Caterpillar roll

Sushi art

Melissa & I enjoying our yummy food

 Fourth of July Celebration:

Surfing to start off the day

The sand monsters

 

Melissa snuggling Jo & Auttie

Bennett getting excited about the water

The ladies

After the beach, we took a walk to the tennis courts nearby.

The kids enjoying the shade

Casey & Melissa vs...

Us

Back at Jordy & Darcy's house, we had a delicious BBQ.

Matching ladies

BBQ time

Story time

Then it was off to watch the fireworks.

Our firework watching spot

Happy 4th of July

Glow bracelets

Golf day for the boys & picnic dinner at Jazz in the Park for the girls:

Casey, Luke, Erik, Jordy

Enjoying the music & dinner

Beach day and lunch at Pizza Port:

We met up with Pat & Jessie (old friends who now live in Northern California).

 

Church on Sunday & a BBQ at our house with Jordy, Darcy, Jolie, Casey, & Melissa:

Reminiscing about old times

Always hard to say goodbye...until next year!

All Grown Up

Yes, I know, our kids are only 3 and 1.

I have a lot more years to go!

For some reason though, they seem so grown up!  I will retract this statement as soon as the whining and tears turn on for the 3 year old or the food is intentionally dropped on the floor by the 1 year old...but at this moment, this is how I feel!

Our new home project made me feel even more that way:

BUNK BEDS!

My dad made me a loft bed went I was in college.  We picked it up from my Grandma's house and brought it home.  My creative husband engineered a way to connect it to Bennett's bed that we already had set up.  Then he made railings for both beds, for obvious reasons! He gave Bennett a little shelf on the top bunk and B is psyched to sleep up there soon.

The old beds:

My college loft bed

Bennett's bed when he started sleeping in it

The kids got in on the fun, too!

Autumn loved it

"How many do you need, Daddy?"

Use your muscles, B!

The initial building of the loft bed

We'll keep you posted as to how that transition goes...