Christian's 7th Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Christian's 7th birthday. He decided that he wanted to be batman for most of it as you can see above. We had a lot of fun! We went to church in the morning where Christian walked around all morning saying that it was his birthday to the air and then was surprised when people would tell him Happy Birthday. He would say, "How did you know it was my birthday?" After that we came home and grilled out. When that was over I finished his cake.

This is what his cake was supposed to look like.

This is what it ended up looking like.

fgThis is how many containers of frosting it took to get the cake to look like that.
While I was trying to make the boat the cake split in half after I had already started frosting it so then I had to piece it back together and frost it again. We kept telling Christian that we were going to have cake flavored frosting for his birthday.

It was a pretty rich piece of cake that's for sure!!

After I got done making the cake we went on a bike ride that took over an hour to get started. We rode to Pickard Park and played at the playground.
While we were there Christian practiced riding his scooter around that he got


and broke his two new Bokagon toys that we got him. (when I figure out what these toys are I'll let you know)


After we got home Christian blew out his candles.

We ate his cake,


and then had fun with his Kung Fu Panda party masks.

It was a blast!!!
Luckily this year he isn't sad because he can't be 6 anymore like he was last year.

Football Season Has Started!!!

Well yesterday was the official start to the Iowa football season. The Iowa Hawkeyes played the Maine Black Bears. Luckily we beat them 46 to 3. Ryan and Ron (Ryan's dad) both threatened to never come back if we had lost. Yeah right!! We decided to take Christian to the game beings it was supposed to be pretty good weather and there was also a good opportunity that we would be able to leave early.

A good time was had by all!!

We saw a lot of cool things while we were at the game.


Christian started asking if he could go home 2 minutes into the first quarter so I decided to walk around with him in the concourse after half time where he seemed to have the most fun of the day.



He played on the statues,

and after saying hi to every policeman he could find he finally found two that would take their picture with him.
He really likes policemen and police cars!

Overall a good time was had by everyone!!!

Bruiser

Kinnick is quite the character. He is finally potty trained and doing very well. No more diapers!!!! He loves to play with cars and trucks and trains. He'll spend forever just lining cars up and then moving one and starting all over. Kinnick is just like his brother in the way that he finds one toy and latches onto it for days never wanting to put it down. Right now the toy is Larry Boy which is kind of a problem because his brother wants to play with it as well.

This summer Kinnick...

discovered that the Buzz Lightyear ride wasn't that scary,


sat on the side of the pool while watching everyone else swim,

tried to be like Daddy,



played dress-up and



took a lot of naps in odd places.

Kinnick starts his first year of preschool this year with his cousin Bree. I hope he can sit long enough to learn something. He is talking clearer everyday, learning how to wrestle his brother and trying a few new foods every once in a while. I think he would love it if he could have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal. His giggle is infecteous and he is a true joy to have in our family.

Jo Jo

Joey is quite the character. People know her around Indianola as the screamer and she's only lived here a year. She loves to laugh and play but also loves to try to get Christian in trouble by crying wolf. She is probably smarter than all of our kids. It really is kind of freaky. If you show her something once she knows what she's doing from that moment on.

This summer Joey.....

played at the ocean,

got soaked at Disney World,

learned how to swim like a fish,

got along with her brother
(one day),

played at parks and ....




practiced her funny faces.

Joey is going to start her second year of preschool in a week. She's really excited and ready to go. Joey knows how to write all of her letters and how to spell her name. She's really close to riding her bike with no training wheels and is now trying to rollerskate. This is one active girl who only slows down to sleep. We're excited to see even more of her personality start to shine through this year. We are praying that the screaming does go away however, I don't think our ears can take much more!:)

Hayd-a-Babe

Hayden has become quite a loving sister. She is almost 6 years old and is always trying to make sure that everyone is happy by sharing her toys, giving a hug or just playing with the sibling that no one wants to play with that day. Although she has this great quality you had better watch out if she does get mad. It is NOT pretty!! Hayden has made up her own little language that she tries to get Kinnick and Joey to join in on. We have absolutely no clue what she is talking about half of the time.

Hayden did quite a bit this summer as well.

She discovered that she does not like the taste of the ocean.



She practiced her acting skills.

Hayden went to Disney World as well....

Where she clothes lined herself on one of the ropes that block things off.

She played...

and played....

and played.

Hayden got to play with a lot of cousins....


and hang out with Daddy and Mommy.

Hayden will start Kindergarten tomorrow where she thinks that she is going to go to the same class as Christian. Hopefully she'll be okay with just seeing him at two of their recesses. Hayden is quite the princess and I think she knows it. We're excited to see how much she is going to learn this year and how much more of a little lady she will become.