I celebrated my 26th birthday earlier this month and Dad called a few days before to let me know that he would be in town for work on my actual birthday.  The kids were VERY excited for Papa Tim to stop by and I was glad to catch up.  Unfortunately I didn’t get the camera out while he was here :(  However, I did get to enjoy a nice cup of coffee on my birthday with my Dad!

Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts, I had a great day! 

On a funny side note, Tim took the kids to get me a gift card from Michael’s.  While there, Emma picked out some lovely stickers to add to my gift.  She was so excited for me to open “my” gift that she forgot it was “mine” and immediately asked for the stickers she picked out.  Of course, she made me a lovely sticker collage with them.  I wonder why she picked them out for me?? :)

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s been 2 months since I’ve updated our blog.  This is me attempting to get it back to shape.  October has been unbelievably busy for us.  Between school, work and all of the birthday parties for friends this month we have been going crazy!

Everett is almost 11 months old, he’s crawling and cruising around furniture.  On occasion he’s stretching really far, without letting go, to get between the furniture!  Emma is almost FOUR!!!  She knows her alphabet (by recognition of each letter) and all of the sounds the letters make.  If you ask her what letter a word starts with, she can answer you (correctly, most of the time ;)!  She’s loving preschool and especially her teacher, Mrs. Howe.  She’s especially looking forward to Halloween and “trick or treating” at school.

Tim and I are doing well.  In fact, we are both losing weight and we have changed our lifestyles a little bit.  Tim has lost 16 lbs and I have lost over 30 lbs.  In addition to being more mindful of what, when and how much we eat, I go to the gym regularly and Tim is using the Wii Fit in the evenings and continues to ride his bicycle to work.  Tim is actually doing a weight loss challenge through work, “Lose a turkey by turkey day!”  The idea is to lose 10% of your body weight in 10 weeks (by Thanksgiving) and he’s almost two-thirds there at the halfway point!  I have been on my B-12 injections for a few months and am truly starting to notice the difference.  I am doing them every week at home now so I don’t have to go into the doctor’s office during cold and flu season. 

Anyways…enough about us…onto the kids!

Grandma ReeRee came to visit:

We got the kids a bubble machine for the bathtub!!  They LOVE it!

Spencer’s Birthday

My friend Kelly’s son, Spencer had his first birthday this month.  I made the “OSU” themed cake for his party!

Photos taken by Joel Culberson.

Everett was too cute, we were supposed to wear our “team gear” to the party!

Little Everett…he’s into everything now!!

Obviously, he LOVES Baby Einstein!!

Emma and Lucas on the Trampoline

We went up to Missouri to visit the fam and as always, we had a great time!  I went to Springfield to help mom decorate a wedding for a friend of hers.  We had a wonderful time visiting and decorating.  Tim, Emma and Everett stayed at the farm while I was gone. 

Towards the end of the trip our camera battery ran out…unfortunately, that’s when Aunt May got there so all of the pictures with her and the kids are on Grandma ReeRee’s camera.  Sorry Aunt May!

As you can tell from this picture, he’s getting very close to crawling!

While we were visiting, Tim invited Weston and Summer over to “hang out” and then Tim went with them over to Joplin to eat at IHOP.  Luckily for them, they got there before the kids went to bed soooo…they got to help entertain!  I’m sure they’re used to it, they have like a zillion nieces and nephews!  Emma really likes Weston though, probably because he’s a giant kid anyways. :)

Of course while they were there, the kids had to go on a farm tour.  Not like she’s never seen it before, but the kid LOVES the farm!  Everett enjoyed his ride too.

Everett is keeping a close eye on that cow!

As if we could take a trip to the farm and the kids not ride a horse!

Look Mom, NO hands!!!

Emma decided that if Grandma can feed Everett, then she could feed Grandma.

Papa Tim surprised us with a visit earlier this month.  He had some business down in the Fort and stayed the night with us.  Emma was VERY excited, but didn’t like having to share Papa with Everett.  And so the sharing feud begins!!

Emma bunked up with Everett and Papa stayed in the pink Carebear room.  She was very glad he was able to read stories with her before bed.

Mom came to visit this weekend.  Emma didn’t know she was coming, so Saturday morning when she woke up and found her in the living room she was VERY excited!  We had a great time and worked on some sewing projects for a friend of hers who is getting married. 

Grandma brought Emma some bubbles:

This is what happens when Grandma feeds Everett breakfast:

Lunch at Cheddar’s, the last picture is Everett stretching as far as he can in his high chair to see the cool ceiling fans:

Happy birthday Tim!  We had a great long weekend up in Missouri.  I went to a friend from high school, Chanel’s baby shower on Wednesday night.  It was nice to see old friends and I made the cake for the shower…

Then, Everett had an appointment with Dr. McDonald on Thursday afternoon and the doctor said he was the “poster child for plugs”.  He said his ears look wonderful, and that we’d see him again in 6 months.  I’ll take that!!

We sort of just had a lazy weekend.  Honestly, we didn’t do much…we usually don’t on 4th of July, per Tim’s request on his “birthday weekend”.  We did however go to the Hunter’s for a nice barbeque, Emma went swimming of course!

About this picture…somewhere, I have a picture of Mom holding Emma that looks just like this!  Isn’t he cute? :)

I made cupcakes for the party and a chocolate coffee ice cream filled cake for Tim’s birthday, it was AWESOME!!  Sorry about the picture, it’s in the freezer!  Also, the only shot we thought to get of the inside was the next day when it was almost gone!

Of course when we were there Emma wanted to do nothing but ride horses!  She is getting really good, I’m amazed at her skills!  She is now learning to groom them and feed them as well.

Everett also got to “ride” a horse this visit…although, I think he was more fascinated with his ears than anything!

A rare picture of Mommy (don’t look too close, I don’ have makeup on!)…

I just thought these were too cute, notice the really sweet authentic cowgirl boots…

Daddy and Everett…

Mom came down to visit the Saturday before Father’s day and then we decided to make a surprise trip to Missouri for Father’s day and the Monday after.  I think everyone was pretty excited when we showed up, Emma was definitely excited to see everyone!  Happy Father’s day to all the wonderful dads and papas in our lives!

Mom and Emma swimming in our little pool:

Emma in the “scuba gear” that mom bought her…brace yourselves, this is hilarious!!

With the Hunter’s on Father’s day!

Emma and Uncie Chase playing “dueling guitars” and “dueling pianos” (Emma got shy on the piano) :)