Cutie Pies

One of my neighbors was doing a mini photo shoot at an orchard nearby so I signed the boys up for their 2 year and 5 year pictures. I wasn't feeling well for the couple days before the photo shoot which is when I was planning on going shopping. It got to be the morning of and I paniced trying to figure out what to dress them in. I ended up going the matchy matchy route which is exactly what I didn't want. I was so mad at myself for waiting until the last minute. I really don't love Shawn's outfit, but I do love these pictures.

This one is my absolute favorite!

Neighborhood Water Party

One of our neighbors held an end-of-year water party in her yard. My boys thought it was great and were happily getting as wet as possible. I bought these little squirters for the occasion which are much easier than water guns. I had to stay right with Evan the whole time because all the older kids kept trying to take his from him.

Evan's favorite thing was the water balloons.

Shawn asked me if he could go get a dessert then came back with this giant cup full of cantaloupe and blueberries. Man, my boys love fruit, but I am not complaining.

Cute Boys

Shawn saw kids out selling lemonade one day and begged me every day to do the same. He made his own poster and decided on putting the Eiffel Tower next to him so "people will know that I am selling something".  We decided to sell cookies instead and I put him out there right as all the kids were walking home from school. It worked like a charm. He had about 3 dozen cookies and sold them all within 1/2 hour. He used the money he made to buy a scripture case. Cute kid.  

I told Evan not to pick the strawberries yet. Being the good boy that he is, he listened and just ate them right off the vine instead.



I have mentioned before how much Shawn loves to clean. Not only does he love to clean but he is very efficient. He insists on vacuuming behind and under the couches. Which is fine with me  because I never want to get that detailed. 

Mothers Day Firsts

Shawn gave me his first school-made Mothers' Day gift. He was so excited and told me all about how he painted it purple because he knew I would love that. He was so proud of his little gift and carefully hid it from me. I remember being so excited to make those gifts in school and now here I am receiving those gifts. What a fun mom moment!

Hiking the Y

For date night last week we decided to go out to eat and then hike the Y. The restaurant was so busy because of Mother's Day that we ended up starting the hike later than we wanted. We hoped to be sitting on the Y to watch the sun set, but ended up watching it set as we hiked. It was still beautiful. After we had relaxed at the Y and started our way DOWN the mountain, I decided it was a really fun activity. ;)

This is the only bit of sun that we saw while hiking



Beautiful Views!!

There are 12 switch backs on the hike to the Y. What we didn't realize is that if you go straight
at turn 10 then it takes you to the bottom of the Y. Why oh why did we not know that. The
last switchback was so steep and horrible. Well, now we know.

Finally made it just before it got really dark

Caution: Inappropriate content

Evan turns 2!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, energetic, smart little guy. We love Evan so much and are so glad he is part of our family. He is talking more and more each day and always refers to himself in the 3rd person. Every morning he calls for me and then says good morning. As soon as he sees Shawn for the first time that day he always says, "Hi Shawn". He loves to be cuddled and held. He insists upon being rocked to sleep and requests which song he wants you to sing to him. He will climb as high as he can and jump from anything possible. We often talk about how we will probably end up in the ER with broken bones with him. His favorite place to be is outside in the dirt. I am not sure if he likes playing or eating the dirt more. He makes the funniest face that make me laugh everyday. Although he can completely exhaust me, I am so happy to be his mommy. He is a joy!

Getting ready for the party



Playing one of Evan's favorite games, London Bridges



Let the presents begin

Look at that face!



And that one



Once he opened a gift, he would take a moment to show everyone

He had plenty of help from all his boy cousins

Sadly, Evan reached a point where the party was too much and he couldn't handle it anymore. He just cried and wouldn't let anyone talk to him. He calmed down after people left and I turned on a Mickey Mouse show for him.

While I was cleaning up I found this little boy eating the leftover whip cream.



The morning of his actual birthday I made him Mickey Mouse pancakes



Blowing out the candles that I had to relight several times because he thought it was so fun.



Then we headed to Chukee-Cheese...




And played SkeeBall, and then SkeeBall, and then SkeeBall

My dad came with us and decided to help Evan roll the ball instead of throwing it overhand.

Went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. One of the workers asked what plans we had today and when I told her it was Evan's birthday she got him a shake for free.

Finished off the day with chasing bubbles

Golfing With Grandpa

My dad loves to golf. We all grew up with our own golf sets and spent many Saturdays out on the course with my dad. He has taken Shawn golfing before and bought him a golf set for his 4th birthay. However, this last week he decided to attempt taking all the grankids (minus Evan) golfing. He decided it was not possible to actually do a round of golf so they had golf lessons instead. He started with putting lessons, then on to the driving range, then took them to play mini golf. Amy decided to stay and help with crowd control, which my dad was very grateful for. I think he will be taking smaller groups in the future.

I let Evan play for a few minutes while we dropped off Shawn. He was not happy he wasn't invited to stay.



Grandpa with the kiddos

Practicing putting

Shawn eating a treat he got for answering Grandpa's golf questions

This little face was not happy to leave  "Evan Grandpa, Evan Grandpa"