bedtime rituals...

For Micah's second birthday we decided it was time to move him to a "big boy bed."  This seemed the perfect plan.  The boys shared a room so we got them this bed:

However, now that they have this new "toy" in their room, they can't seem to go to bed without a struggle.  So, most nights we have to separate them.  We left Micah's crib up, just in case, and Noah gets moved to the floor next to our bed until we go to bed.  Most of this time they fall asleep in their respective places, but last night we went to get Noah up and he had dressed himself completely in my clothes before falling asleep.  The boy never ceases to make me laugh out loud!  Naturally, we had to get a picture of this!

Tandem tricycle?

Grandma and I took the boys outside to play last night to run out some of their energy. We were just sitting enjoying the evening and the next thing we knew, Micah had climbed onto Noah's tricycle and Noah was carting him around.  It was so funny.  It was perfect and I don't know when I have laughed quite so hard.  These truly are the days!!

What I love most about this picture is how serious Micah looks and how intense Noah looks.  This is not usually how they are, but I suppose this was just such an occasion for these looks...

A Day at the Zoo

Grandma (my mom) is visiting/helping this week while Chris is on a mission trip with the high schoolers.  So, we took a day trip to the zoo since I didn't have to work today.  It was a great day today!  There was hardly any humidity...a rareity here in the midwest...and the animals were all out and playful...including my own.  

This Milwaukee Zoo recently got a baby orangatan named Mahal.  He is adorable.  He's got kind of a rough story of how he got here, but we are just glad he's here and bonding with his surrogate mom.

This elephant is named Ruth.  Our zoo has two females...Ruth and Brittany...interesting names for elephants
A giraffe's tongue is approximately 18 inches long.  This was quite a site to see, watching this giraffe reach up to the branches with this REALLY long tongue.  Then Noah tried, unfortunately, I did not get a picture of this. 

Our polar bears are fun to watch.  This one was in the "superman" position just before jumping into the water...

Fairly certain that I would never want a picture taken of me like this, but it was hilarious to watch the polar bear try to get herself under the water.  Polar bears have around 4 inches of blubber on the bodies so they are VERY buoyant.

I wish that I would have been able to see the rhino when I was in Africa, but alas the zoo will have to do...and this was pretty close.  Probably much closer than I would have been able to get in the African lands.

They have a Family Farm at the zoo.  Today we got to see a cow in labor...we didn't stay for much of that.  I figured the boys might be scarred for life at seeing a cow deliver a calf.  So instead of a birth, we just got ice cream.  Here's a picture of Grandma and Noah.

My boys loving their treat...Noah got rainbow sherbet and Micah got he old standby of chocolate chip cookie dough...that's my boys!

Rocks and summersaults

My dear boys love to be outside.  I count this as a blessing...except that whenever we are outside, they want to collect rocks.  They find all sorts of great ones, but my purse or the diaper bag or pockets are filled with these lovely earth gems when we get home.  I'm currently in the process of finding a good rock holder.  This way I won't keep finding rocks all over the house.  This was one place where they found a lot of great rocks, lucky for me, it's right across the street from our house.  

Just next to our rock finding location is a great hill for running and rolling down.  Noah has become quite the gymnast and was doing summersaults down it this time.  It's not that easy to catch a good shot mid-sault, but these were fun and it reminded me of times when I would do the same thing...

I love this picture of Micah.  I think he was looking at his pile of rocks, but was just at the best angle for me...i think this was shortly before kicking his brother or something like that.  : ) 

oh what a day

What to do with a Sunday that is mostly "free?"  With Chris working at the church we don't often have these days.  The contemporary service has been moved to Thursday for the summer and so today was a dog day out...speaking of dogs...she might not make it to the blog all that often since I seem to take pictures of everything else, but this is our trusty guard dog...Emmaleigh.  She's almost 8.  And that just reminds me that Chris and I have been married for almost eight years.  We got Emmaleigh three months after we got married.  She was just a pup and got us kicked out of our apartment, but she has been with us through every move and each new kid.  She has seen her days of sleeping on our bed go to the wayside as we had to make room for new babies.  But, I couldn't imagine a day without her here and I know the boys feel the same way.  Chris on the other hand...

I was cleaning up the backyard and behind our garage we kind of have a small little dump spot for branches and what not that fell after the years pick-up was over.  I think we may actually have an old Christmas tree back there, but let's not get into how clean I am...Anyway, I saw a bit of pink out of the corner of my eye and was shocked to find this little flower growing up through all the grossness of that spot.  It kind of reminded me of the great work that I know is being done with me...Something I need to be reminded of from time to time.
And of course, I can't post without a couple pictures of my lovely boys...we had a family date to Starbucks today.  

Second Birthday

It is hard to believe that Micah is two years old already.  When I look back over the past two years I can't believe how much has happened, but at the same time, I feel like it was yesterday.  We had a small "party" tonight.  I tried my hand at making a fun cake.  I was thinking that since we live far away from family and won't probably do the big birthday party thing until they are older, I should at least try to make a fun cake...this was my attempt at a train.  Both the boys thought it was fun, so that's a bonus...

The boys got some really fun toys from their grandparents.  We've set up the pool they got and will set up their new game "Better Batter Baseball" tomorrow...they have been hilarious to watch with both these toys...here's a couple pictures from the pool play...I haven't figured out if the pool is what they love, or the hose attached.

so...blogging

I have been told that I need to try this blogging thing, so I'm giving it a go. I am hoping that it can help with family and friends staying connected to the craziness of our life...so, here's my first attempt. I'm sure I'll share some funny stories along the way because the truth is that life isn't easy, but the only way to make it through is with a lot of faith and a lot of laughter...

This is Noah and I at the Fourth of July Parade...he was loving all the candy being thrown out to the crowd

and Micah...

gotta get one with the hubby

Should he look this happy with that giant of a water blaster?  That's what we call them in our house...

This was a sight to see...