aquarium

tyler had a couple of days off from work, and his days off just happened to coincide with the aquarium's free day.   we decided to plan a little outing to check it out.  we were a little hesitant thinking it would be insanely crowded and that we would be waiting in line forever just to get in. turns out though, it either wasn't that crowded that day, or we happened to show up at the right time.  we got right in and were able to easily check out all exhibits and had a great time!  the kiddos loved it. 

the party

it was tanner's turn to have his own birthday party! i planned a party that i knew he would love and also one that would be very simple for me to prep. this turned out perfect! 

 we invited his best little friends to join us at a park for a camping themed birthday party. tanner waited patiently in the sand for all of them to show up. 

brynn thought it was so awesome that she could get out and explore.

once the guests arrived we went on a nature scavenger hunt, painted bird houses and went hunting for bugs (fake ones i had scattered around).  each activity kept the kids engaged!  seriously, so easy, but they loved it.

tanner turns five

our little guy turned five!  it was really fun to celebrate his big day.  he's not a kid that has this long list of expectations on his birthday, so he is really easy to please.

i took him to the store a couple of days before and let him pick out his own cake.  he chose a camouflage cake with bright, bright blue frosting.

tanner loves transformers, so for his birthday he got a big, talking optimus prime.

tanner does not lack in the personality department, that's for sure.  he loves to be goofy and loves taking pictures of him being goofy even more.

we love this kid with all our hearts!  he is our active, energetic, intense, loving, sweet, caring boy.  

best buddies

this is one of tanner's best buds.  seriously, they are the best of friends.  they will see each other from across the way and will yell each other's names while running to on another. they want to show each one their favorite toys, t.v. shows, games and tell each other the cool thing they just got to do with their families.  it is an absolutely adorable relationship.  it will be a sad day for everyone when one of the families moves away.

dirty feet and some laughs

these three kids were out playing with no shoes on (typical for the boys-not reese), so i decided to get a picture of their dirty, outside feet.   once i sat them down i realized their feet weren't that dirty.  apparently they had just washed their feet off from an outside hose.  oh well.  

we didn't get the dirty feet, but we did get some cute laughs on camera.  my neighbor was outside as well with a whoopie cushion and was using it to get the kids to look and smile.  it worked really well-you can see the concentration on their faces while they are waiting for the whoopie cushion to make some noise. they loved it!

random outside pictures

if i remember correctly, this was katelyn's picture day outfit at school.  i just wanted to document how cute she looked that day.

our neighbor, gray, loves, loves, loves to play with the little babies.  her favorite thing is pushing the babies around in the stroller.  this time around she took a break, and i pushed them both around.

it was obviously spaghetti night, and i obviously didn't take the time to wipe reese's face off.

this little lady learned how to pedal this big bike this past summer.

reese also learned how to ride the scooter like a pro.  however taking it from your baby sister probably isn't the best idea.

katelyn's favorite thing to do for a while was to play school.  she would gather anyone who was willing. 

brynn didn't play school.  she just sat and watched for a bit.

wiggle cars

probably one of the most popular ride-on toys amongst the kids in our courtyard is the wiggle car.  it always gets pulled out and always has a kid (big and small) riding on it.  even brynn loves getting in on the action.  she can't actually move the wiggle car by herself, but she tries.  she sits on it and moves the steering wheel around.  as her mom, i think it's one of the cutest things.

katelyn was so nice on this particular day to take her around for a ride.

  g   ,  

i had to throw in this last one.  these boys look like this quite a bit, sitting close together working on some project, talking about their next adventure or just playing together in their own world.