Summer - Before the Heat Wave...

I hate how hot it's been lately.  I feel like I can't take the kids outside for longer than 30 minutes...and that's only if I manage to get them out of the house before 10 (or after 6).  Boo to being stuck inside when it looks like it's so nice outside...
Here's a few fun things we did before the excessive heat started. (In memory of the nice days, and in hopes of them returning soon.)

Strawberries!

Strawberry picking!  This was our first time and we all loved it.  The kids ate tons of strawberries and we got plenty to take home too. 

Still at the strawberry farm - Noah still loves tractors.  (Who doesn't?)

Sprinkler!

This is what we've been doing when we want to play with water at the house.  The baby pool got gross over the winter, so it's destined for the trash (though it may still be under our porch at the moment).   

Chloe doesn't like to get too wet or stay wet for too long, so this is perfect for her.

Noah on the other hand...could play in the sprinkler for hours it seems.

And more water!
We also fill up a bunch of buckets for water play too.  The kids like to water things: the grass, the tree, the plants, and of course, themselves.

Bubbles!

Catch!

Time to Ride!

Chloe loves her car, and she loves bubbles.  But when things don't do what she wants them to do she gets mad.  And makes this face.  And it's hard not to laugh. 

(Don't worry - I'm sure that as soon as I took this picture I told Noah that he had to wear shoes to ride his bike.  The kid takes them off every chance he gets.)

Construction & Gardening!

We (err, Matt) built a raised bed on the back deck.  The kids helped.  Noah really loved going to Lowe's with Matt to pick up everything he needed (they had to take 2-3 trips).  They helped put in some dirt too.  Unfortunately, the back deck doesn't get enough sun throughout the day to grow plants successfully.  Lots of work, and no veggies out back to show for it.  The plants in the front are still doing great though... 

Sandbox!

Noah got the sandbox from Granddaddy for his birthday.  The kids love it!

Paint!

 I got this idea from Hope - the kids had a ton of fun, and so did Matt and I. (We had blue, yellow, red and green...but Noah mixed them all up) 

Baby Birds!

 Back in May we had a momma bird with some eggs on the front of out house.  Noah loved watching her sit on her eggs, and once they hatched he got to see her feed her babies a few times.  

Beans!

This was actually back in May.  Had to get creative with entertaining the kiddos when we had all that rain...
Thank you Scottie for the idea!

Cousins!

We went to Ohio to visit the cousins (and meet our newest nephew Ryan) over Memorial Day weekend.  I really wish we lived closer so we could see them more - the kids had so much fun together.  The weekend had a rocky start when we decided to leave at 2 am for the drive instead of right after work (due to a thunderstorm).  Would have been fine, except both kids woke up and stayed awake for the entire drive.  They were actually amazingly good all weekend considering that they had so little sleep that first night (thank you Jesus!)
Noah obviously understood and remembered his cousins, so he was super excited and had an amazing time.  Chloe tried her hardest to keep up with all the big kids too. 

Aunt Rachel and Grammie got to come too...

Chloe and Allison - such sweet girls:)

Noah and Luke.  Noah really looked up to Luke and had such a great time playing with him.  Luke even let Noah play with some of his Legos - it was really sweet. 

Swingset in the backyard - Win!

We just love sweet Ryan. Noah doted on him quite a bit...

What a bunch of cuties!

The gorwn-ups had fun playing too...

Noah loves his cousin...

And he had so much fun playing big boy games with Luke and Uncle Michael.

Chloe, Noah, Ryan, Luke and Allison

The drive home - these were some tuckered out kids. 

Easter

First thing Easter morning we gave Noah his new Bible and talked to him about what Easter really means.  He'll still tell you that it's about eggs and Easter baskets if you ask him though.  We're working on it...

Here are their Easter Baskets.  I hid them so we could focus on talking about Easter before the kids started eating chocolate.  One of the first things Noah will tell you about this day is that he got a vitamin in an egg.  He was so excited even though he gets a gummy vitamin every day - somehow it was just thrilling that he found it in his egg.  And yes.  I'm that mom.  They each got 3 eggs containing 1 M&M and 1 egg with a PB cup (but Matt didn't let Chloe eat hers).  Sorry, but more chocolate than that before 8am is just madness in my book.  (Plus I knew that Mimi and Papa would make sure they got plenty of sugar later in the day.)


Chloe liked the grass - until she got some in her mouth. 

All dressed up.  I wonder when Noah will stop freaking out if we try to take a family picture without him holding at least one car or truck...

I just love this picture.  Special time with Papa. 

Easter Baskets from Mimi and Papa!  And yes, there was plenty of chocolate (AND cotton candy which is still hidden away.)

Love this boy!  And he loves lollipops.

Quality time with Joanna:)

It's egg hunting time!  Noah got A LOT of eggs.  He was too busy collecting them for me to get a good picture.  This kid is serious about his candy...

Chloe got quite a few eggs too...

...such a sweetie!

Love love love that the kids get to spend holidays with their cousins (some of them anyway).  Can you believe how big Micah is getting?!

Noah is 3 - Photo Dump

 Monster Truck madness this birthday.

 

Lightning McQueen Carrot Cake.  Decorating cakes like this takes a LOT longer than I thought.  But it was worth it to see Noah so excited about his cake.  

 Party at Hillandale - the weather ended up being wonderful.  (Remind me next year to bring a broom - the park wasn't officially open yet and everything was D-I-R-T-Y.

 So glad for all Noah's friends that came out.  We love you all - thanks for coming!

 Noah likes the frosting best...

All pictures were taken before Noah fell off the table and hit his head on the pavement.  Praise God he was fine - pretty shaken up, but fine.  We pretty much celebrated his birthday for a week leading up to his party...and had leftover cupcakes for another week after that (Noah just had the frosting of course).  So fun to celebrate my sweet Noah's first three years - and the many many years to come.