nana and papa

truly blessed we are to have our nana and papa so close to us. it's a second home for our kiddos, and they love it there. i mean, who wouldn't? snacks for dinner, special "nana juice", naps on the couch, a pool to swim in, the list goes on and on......very lucky kiddos indeed. some snapshots from a recent get together with them.

cousins of sorts

these kiddos are real lucky to have each other. they're cousins of sorts if you will.....colton's mom and i are cousins. so that makes them second cousins? i can't say for sure- but either way- they are going to get to grow up together doing all sorts of fun stuff. boy stuff that is. it's unlikely they will be upstairs at g.g.'s playing office, hotel or bank. and it's true, they probably won't pretend they are married to kirk cameron. or tom cruise. or john travolta. or whomever else we dreamed up. in our world growing up with girls, girls, girls- these two have given us a whole new look at what "playtime" looks like. however, i'll have you know us girls played a mean game of kick-the-can back in the day- and we'll be teaching them the game real soon!

doesn't she look exceptionally happy? pictures are tough......
and all was good. and clean!
so great to see you and c-man bets- we can't wait to see you again soon!!

hay bail baby

who knew a hay bail could serve such purpose? and who knew she'd look so stinkin adorable on top of said hay bail?

still not exactly sure how we are 1 already......and on a lighter note, i'm pretty sure my almost 3 year old is now into rolling his eyes at me. ahhhh, that brings back memories!

savanah land

we took a trip "up north" a ways to savanah land today with a small {roughly 60!!} group of good friends for some animal education. and we had a great time. some animals a little friendlier than the rest, but fun to see something a little different. little pebbles here hung out in her stroller much of the morning, snacking and what not.

our first stop, the baby animals. this little monkey was tiNy, tiNy.....

and for some reason, noah was scared. huh? he barely pet it- and only if i was holding his hand.

this sweet little baby kangaroo was all packed up in his own little pouch and we were able to hold it.

tiny paw {maybe that's not what their called?}

a miniature horse. every home needs one :)

the scary bear cat i believe is what it is called. the male one had to stay in his cage because apparently he has somewhat of an anger problem. fine with me!
i was also appreciative that this gentle beast was in a cage. a tall cage with a top at that. only better.
and apparently being bit by this hopper would be like "being bit by a very large, angry rabbit" according to our 'tour guide'. no thanks.

a camel of sorts

there were lots of zebras, who are apparently sometimes friendly, sometimes not. we kept our distance.

the deer were very friendly, and we could even feed them from our hands.

and in the end, all was well since we had this ghost buster and a good friend keeping watch, you know, for ghosts and such.

so, thanks to all of our good friends who ventured up there with us- we had a great time!!

new shoes

aren't these shoes pretty? a new hand-me-down from a good friend. so pink, so sparkly, so girly.....

they would look nice on her, don't you think?

and isn't this a sweet picture of my train loving, everything destructing, very boyish boy?

and doesn't he look smashing in said pink, sparkly, girly shoes?

and being "that" mom, i even let him wear them to the neighborhood block party last night. cause i'm cool like that......or because i was tired and have bigger things to battle, but i'd rather be cool, so we'll go that way. and let me tell you, daddy was real excited to see that when he got home. he asked to wear them to mops this morning, but daddy's "that" dad, and suggested he wear his blue crocs or his red cars crocs......you know, something real boyish.

mini daddy......

gertin {grandpa} and a few of his neighbors have set themselves up a sweet little 15 hole golf course behind their condos.....and so we took advantage of our luxury golf course accommodations and hit the greens a few times while we were there. aside from tossing his clubs a few times {again, mini daddy} and playing in the yucky water on some of the holes he had a blast. i think gertin enjoyed himself too.

{searching for a lost ball......possibly, mini daddy again :)}

captivated....

there would be no other way to describe it, his love for trains is just.plain.amazing. this kiddo of ours is absolutely enthralled with all things train. and to actually sit on a real train track, one that maybe even thomas has been on, well......i wish i could have bottled up his excitement to savor it later.

showing his thomas which way we watched the train go

and more excitement. the engineer even made sure to wave to him. pure joy.

we're having a great time visiting gertin and gertin..... especially noah!

tears of joy!

can you imagine......we made them eat cake! and this is what we got. some serious tears. however, before these precious phots ops, there were lots of smiles. i promise. no torture here- just some good cake smashing fun.

i think she likes it, you?

miss caroline

miss rebecca

sweet luke

{you should know that luke is actually angry that he was removed from the cake- not the other way around like for the rest!!}

and sweet cory....who wanted nothing to do with anything other than his mommy. and that pack of wipes in his hand!

the "really big tub"

when you're 1- you get to take a bath in the "really big tub" as noah calls it. {note here- i can't even lay down in it because it's that "big"} none the less, big to him, and certainly even bigger to her since she's been trapped in the baby tub or the sink for the last year.....

she's such a big girl these days!

i'm sure listening to a very important "rule" from her big brother. that's our new thing~ "rules". maybe next we'll discuss how to follow said "rules".....

somebody slept good....

i can't say for sure that this is a direct indication as to how well he may have slept, but just in case it is.....i'd say it was pretty darn good. the blessing of good hair.