Summer Birthdays

We have several important birthdays in the summer!

Holden loves art projects. We went to Hobby Lobby to find something special for him to make for Daddy and Grammy's bdays. He chose some sun-catchers and worked very hard on painting them. Hunter surveyed his work and kept busy with one of his favorite items, a toothbrush. :)

Grammy's bday is July 15th. We celebrated with her and Papa at Chili's. Holden picked out a big dump truck balloon and helped Hunter choose an Elmo balloon for her. (Hunter just yelled, "Ball! Ball!" all the way through the store.) Holden helped her open all of her presents. He is a very good helper at age 4. :)

Our whole group

Some table shots with my silly boys. They sure make for a lively meal!
After Chili's, we went back to Papa and Grammy's for our usual routine of cake and ice cream. The boys enjoyed the leis and balloons. You just never know what might happen at Grammy and Papa's house! Jay got into the pirate spirit, and Hunter and Grammy busted out some maracas, and Papa and Holden got in touch with their feminine side in my old dollhouse.

Mom and I had a girl's day out with Granny. We ate lunch and shopped at Washington Square, and then we enjoyed dessert at Granny's place. I love this tradition for each of our bdays!

Aunt Allie turned 16 on July 29th! It is crazy to me that the little girl that I met when she was 3 is now driving and in her sophomore year of high school!! Allie had a sleepover party and was kind enough to let the boys crash it for a bit. We enjoyed her Hello Kitty ice cream cake. The boys enjoyed the attention from all of the girls. :)

Holden and Aunt Allie are buds. He just adores her.

Testing out Aunt Allie's new car!! She zebra-fied it as part of her bday presents. The boys think it is hysterical to sit in the back (while it is parked!) and listen to her blaring music. Allie prefers rap at the moment, and Hunter will start bobbing around the minute it comes on. When she switches to country, he stops. Too funny!

Jay's bday is July 18th. He had the day off and we were happy to hang out with him-literally-in his new green hammock from Memaw. It is so big and comfy! It was a scorching hot day, so they boys had some fun in the water (with their clothes on!) out back. Nobody does water fights like Daddy! Holden decided to jump on everyone in the hammock while soaking wet. :)

These are out of order-taken in the morning while Holden was still in his pj's. Birthdays are a big deal to him and he loves to be the present/card helper. The top middle picture is him dancing to the musical card he picked out for Jay. See how his arm is going and Jay is laughing? Holden loves his Daddy!

Hunter doesn't really understand birthdays, yet, although he does enjoy the cake and ice cream part. I managed to get him in Jay's lap but had to let him chew on some toy drumsticks in order for him to stay put. Chelsey and Allie came down to give Jay some birthday razzing and to play with the boys. My parents also stopped by with his card and gift.

Cake time! I love how Hunter is just blankly staring in all of these pictures, like,

"What are you people doing?"

My parents watched the boys so that Jay and I could go out on his birthday evening. We used the Red Lobster gift card that they got him (I love when I benefit from his birthday, too! Ha!) and then went to see "Horrible Bosses." We were the ONLY people in the theater until right before the movie began. Jay thought it would be cool to go down in front of the screen and dance. I am thinking the guy in the booth was getting a big kick out of him. Love how the ad for Angie Harmon is in the background and she appears to be giving him a "look."

My grandma Bourke turned 89 on July 15th! (She and Mom share a birthday!) We went up to the Chicago area to celebrate around her birthday at my Uncle Joe's. It was great to see her and the Bourke relatives.

Joe is a confirmed bachelor and lives in a nice little apartment. I was worried about how the boys (especially Hunter) would do in such a small, unchild-proofed area of space. Well, they LOVED it!! Joe is a train buff and has two big model train cities set up. He handed Holden a conductor's cap when he walked in the door and put him in charge of the trains. He was in heaven!! Hunter was a little trickier since he doesn't understand concepts such as, "Walking on top of the train set in the living room is NOT a good idea," "Pulling the trains off the table in the kitchen is not appropriate," and "No, you can't pull on any of the electrical cords." :) Fortunately, he was a big fan of Joe's bed. Uncle Eric helped him turn it into his own little trampoline.

It was a nice day so my dad, Jay, and I also took turns taking the boys to a little park across the street when the apartment seemed too small with them in it. :) There is an airport very nearby so we could see planes flying really low. The boys were fascinated!

Love their expressions as they are swinging and watching the jets fly over.

(Holden kept that conductor's hat on most of the day.)

My favorite little boys!

My grandma loves to read, so my aunt ordered a cake that looked like a book about her 89 years of life. When it came time to blow all of the candles out, she cheated and waved her hands over them instead. She is ornery. And of course, Holden helped her open all of her presents.

Party pictures

My brother also turned 28 on July 3rd, but for some reason he didn't want us celebrating with him at the Milwaukee fest. concerts. :) Happy birthday to all of the special summer birthday people in our lives! We loved celebrating with you!

Fourth of July, 2011

Wow, am I behind in blogging! I have been really good about loading all of my latest pics to fb, because it is so much quicker. But I definitely want to keep my blog going, as it is a way to preserve our memories through journaling as well. So, here is a peek back at our 4th of July, 3 months later! :)

These pics were taken on July 3rd. (Uncle Eric's 28th bday! He was celebrating at Milwaukee fest. so we didn't get to see him.) We were invited to some friends' house for a cookout, and we were looking patriotic.

My busy, silly boys, ages 15 mos. and 4 years.


At the Walker family cookout. Holden loves seeing his friend, Gabrielle, and lets her do really cool things like dressing him up in a purple butterfly costume. LOL!!

Future blackmail pictures of my cute little butterfly. Daddy was so proud.

Hunter loved climbing in this little chair and watching everyone.

Thad did sparklers with the kids. They had so much fun with them! When we got home, Memaw and Aunt Allie came down and helped Holden decorate his riding police car for the neighborhood parade. They did a great job! He was really into it this year and worked diligently with them to add just the right touches.

July 4th, 2011:
Holden Jay-age 4

July 4th, 2011:

Hunter James Paul-age 15 mos.

Brothers
(Can you see why we call Hunter "the giant baby?" Holden trying to wrangle
him is hilarious. They are almost the same size.)

This has become one of my favorite family pictures!



Grammy, Papa, and the boys before the parade
Pepaw, Memaw, and the boys

Love this of my dad and Hunter

Great Grandpa Schulz, Daddy, and the boys

And they're off!

Holden was very determined to drive his car in the parade this year all by himself. We didn't send Hunter with him because we feared he'd try to climb out before it was over. He was happy to stay on the sidelines and eat all of the yummy breakfast foods that the neighbors compiled. :)
Pepaw walked with Holden, and Papa and Hunter joined him at the end.

We actually got a good one of the two of us!

Holden enjoying the festivities. He was thrilled to have his buddy, Hannah, there to hang out with. She is so good to him. This year he loved all of the games and craft activities. He didn't want to miss one single thing-other than breakfast. He would always rather be playing than "wasting time" eating. :)

My little busy-body, Hunter. He LOVED the little wading pool filled with water, and spent much of his time splashing his hands in it. Can't blame him; it was about 90 degrees in the shade. He also of course loved the basketball hoop area (he is obsessed with any type of ball) and unlike his brother, ADORES eating and frequently resembled a chipmunk throughout the morning as he shoveled whole donut holes and mini muffins in his mouth.

Great Grandpa and Daddy helped with the candy toss. Hunter caught on really quickly to this game and plowed right in with the big kids to collect his fair share. Holden is an old pro at this now, but he was a good big brother and made sure Hunter got some, too.

Holden had a blast with the water balloon fights/games. I have decided that 4 is one of my favorite ages. He is so excited about everything, can understand and do so much, and is really growing into his little personality.

I realized looking at this that I repeated some of these pics from earlier, but I am including the collage anyway. I love watching my boys' brother dynamic! I hope that they will always love each other this much. They may drive each other nuts one minute, but the next they are right back together. And Holden can say/do what he wants to his baby brother, but nobody else better mess with him! He is his biggest advocate.

We came back home and cooled off out back. Jay bought the boys this inflateable pool for the summer, and we more than got our money's worth out of it. The dollar store had the foot long squirters and the provided endless entertainment.

After naps for everyone, we got ready for a cookout with our parents, our neighbors, Emma and Charles, and family friends, Cyndee and Dave. The boys enjoyed eating outside and being the center of attention. :)

Backyard cookout pics


Hunter had us all in stitches with his saggy diaper. I ran out of swim diapers and decided to just put one of his regular Pampers Baby-Dry diapers on him. They boast that a child can go up to 12 hours with no leaks. After a few trips into the pool, his trunks wouldn't even stay up all the way because the diaper was so bulgy. Didn't bother him a bit, nor did it slow him down!

After dinner, my parents joined us in heading to the ISU golf course, our annual fireworks spot. We met up with my good friend, Kara, her hubby and parents, and little Corinne. She and Holden always have a great time together. Gary caught some lightning bugs to show them, they looked at the pond, played with their glow rings/sticks, and just had fun chasing each other around the greens.

My family

The fireworks started off at dusk, and we were loving them-for about 1 full minute. Hunter had been "oohing" and clapping, and then all of a sudden NOTHING. He kept pointing to the sky and making noises, wondering where the lights went. We found out via the radio and fb (modern technology is amazing!) that they were having technical difficulties. So we waited. And waited. And waited....over a half hour. Just about the time we were ready to leave, they did get them going. Hunter absolutely loved his first fireworks display. I knew he would, as he is obsessed with lights right now. He was truly in awe. Holden enjoyed them until, just like last year, he fell asleep and slept through the LOUD grand finale! I don't know how he sleeps as hard as he does! He was wiped from a full day of activities.

We had a great July 4th, celebrating our country's birthday!