birthday cake

Although my birthday didn’t happen until the 11^th, we celebrated a little early while I was in Wisconsin. Besides, I usually celebrate the whole month…  28 sure looks like a LOT of candles!

 

My grandma made her specialty, angel food cake. She uses something like 12 egg whites to make it.  We covered it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. YUM! Thanks for the nice day!

pool

Matix and Hawken playing pool with grandpa Louie.  Silly Matix always making faces. He really is his father’s child.  Seriously.

Gramma Evie

We played at the kids’ great gramma Evie’s house one morning. She showed us her garden (which is amazing, I am so jealous), and we took her wagon out for rides in the driveway, and we played with her toys, and had a good time.

The kids were all so excited about their grandparents on this trip. I loved watching them give hugs and kisses and ask about each grandparent when they were missing. Hooray for grandmas and grandpas!  Thanks for the fun morning gramma!

movie

My dad took us out to see Ice Age.  It was a cute movie and the boys loved it. Lullaby, however, was a terrorist in the theatre and wouldn’t sit still or be happy in any one place for more than a few minutes. I didn’t really get to watch the whole movie, but the parts I did see were good.  So thanks dad! :)

rocking horse

More Wisconsin fun.  Lullaby was just barely big enough for this cute little rocking horse, but she loved it.

cool

Wearing your grandpa’s hat makes you cool, did you know that?

Day 2

We went to my dad's house, which is the main stomping ground for quite a few people.  We got to hang out with Hunter, Heather, Alexandra, Bradley, grandpa Chuck, auntie Jolie and Ridge! It was too fun.  The kids all had fun together.

Break for lunch and naps. Ridge fell asleep on the couch amongst all the chaos. Pretty impressive.  Lullaby got to nap for the first time in a big girl bed. She did pretty well, but when she woke up she screamed.  I think she didn't know where she was. She was out of sorts on this trip and very needy.

Ridge was scared of me and even more scared of Lullaby this whole trip. It was so sad, yet funny, to watch him try to get away from us. I didn't think we were that intimidating, but we apparently are. See?

Then in the evening we went with auntie Heather to a toy store! The boys, of course, were in heaven. They loved every second.

After the toy store we went to the ice cream shop where Heather treated for ice cream BEFORE dinner, which the boys were SUPER excited about.

Then dinner at a train restaurant.  Again, heaven. On our way out the owner made all the kids balloon animals and then we stopped and listened to a street performer for a while. It was a great day/night. Thanks Heather for all the yummy food!

Wisconsin Vacation day 1

Our vacation to Wisconsin was a short, but fun one. We never get to see everyone that we want to, but we did try.  Our flight was late leaving the Atlanta airport because there was a problem with one of the bathrooms onboard… Who needs three bathrooms anyway? I would have been fine with just the two, but oh well. We waited in the airport, and played, and walked around, and tried very hard to be happy doing nothing.

It worked out pretty well and by the time we actually got on the plane, the boys were VERY excited, and were thereby VERY good. I thought Lullaby would sleep, but she wanted to look around and play with the boys the whole time.  No crying, and that was wonderful.  Flying with three kids wasn't bad at all actually, which was a relief. These three are seasoned travelers though... So I figured it would go smoothly.

My gramma Evie came to get us from the airport and the boys both gave her HUGE hugs. They were so happy to see her.  She brought us to my mom’s house where there were new trains(!!!) from grandma Kim. There was also more hugging here. :)

Louie picked some beautiful sunflowers for us from the farm. I thought that was so sweet. I love getting flowers.

Then Jolie, Bradley, and Alexandra came over for some backyard fun. They played out here for longer than I thought, considering these kids think anything less than 90 degrees outside is freezing. Long lost cousins reunited at last!

baby bath time

Very rarely, Paul gets home from work before the kids are already asleep. When it happens, He is always more than willing to take over all the regular parenting duties (thank heavens!) to give me a break and spend some much needed quality time with the kids.  This night, he gave Lullaby a bath. This is the third bath he has ever given her. It was a rare treat and they both loved every second. Since I was off duty, I got to sit back and enjoy and take a few pictures. My idea of perfection.

Look at that bum! Other than when you are a baby, it is never cute to point out someone’s chubby bum, but she is a baby, so LOOK! I love it!  Cutest baby girl EVER.

the zoo

The zoo on daddy’s day off = heaven for these kids. They are totally in their element when they are outside, and able to run around, and in the presence of DADDY.  Too fun.  The carousel is a must.  (Lullaby was waiting with me)

Matix was being a kangaroo after watching how they hopped around.  He was convinced this looked exactly like them. Impressive, but not quite the same. :)

Lullaby thinks she is a big girl now and likes to crawl around on all the play equipment. She isn’t bothered in the slightest with all the big kids running right past her. 

At the petting zoo, Hawken continued to perfect his goat whispering skills…

And, although we look at lots of animals, I rarely take pictures of them.  But I had to take a picture of this bird. It (according to the little info sign) is a kind of pigeon, but as you can see from the picture, it’s HUGE and has red eyes. I would say it’s more like the size of a small turkey than a pigeon.  Crazy, right?