dinner...

is the messiest time around here...  I don't even bother with bibs anymore because they do nothing for us, both boys just pull them right off.  Sometimes I just feed them in their diapers to avoid mass amounts of laundry on a daily basis...

last nights dinner...

Wheelie has now been inducted into our weekly taco night...

Jerry was showing him how to blow 'raspberries' with his mouth full of food...

licking every last morsel off his fingers...

the big boy attempting to blow raspberries too...

We don't really have any big plans for the weekend... A little get together for bbq and swimming on Monday and that is it.

I do need to throw a shout out to our good friend 'The Big Tuna' who turned 30 yesterday!!  Happy Birthday Tim!  Can't wait to celebrate with you guys next weekend!  I told Hutson it was your birthday yesterday and he starting singing Happy Birthday for you.

its been over a week...

... since my last post.  Sorry.  We have been really busy lately.  This last weekend Papa and Grandma arrived from Florida to visit.  Its their annual pilgrimage from Florida to Minnesota by way of Texas to visit us... well I don't know if its so much to visit their son (my dad), the boys and I, or all of our children, their great-grandchildren.  I am pretty sure its the latter, and we love it!

Last Saturday the whole family came over to our house to hang out and visit.  I can remember a time not that long ago, when it was just my brothers and I and our parents, now in 5 years we have grown with 3 spouses and 5 children, which puts us at a total of 14, including GG, for family get-together's and when Papa and Grandma are here we top out 16.  That makes for a very busy and loud visit, especially with 5 kids 2 years and under, but its great time.

I also hosted my niece's 2nd birthday party.  We had a great little fairy party with wings and crowns, and fairy houses to decorate... and of course a bounce house*.

Side note... Tiffany found a bounce house for sale at a garage sale for $100 and immediately called me and we snapped it up!  Its great, and probably the best $100 purchase I have made in a very long time... until Jeff, Alex and I decided to have a little go at it, and Jerry who told us we shouldn't because we would put a hole in it... but we didn't.  Then Jerry decided he couldn't resist and his first go he promptly put a hole in it!  haha... not funny but totally funny.  But its on the outside platform part and not a big deal, its still very usuable.

Okay Okay here are some pictures...

Hutson directing Great Grandma on cleaning the pool...

hanging out with Papa...

baby J just sleeping away...

Evee...

Jeff enjoying an adult beverage in the bounce house...

Lily's party...

breaking out the pool...

Warm weather has officially arrived.  Its been in the 80's most days this past week, and the forcast only gets warmer... there is no looking back now... I will be sweating for the next 4 months.

This is how Hutson keeps cool....

Yes I make my kid swim in a plastic pool even though we have a real one... its just sooooo much easier on me.  I do NOT care for cold water and until it hits 100 degrees I can't do it...  So he plays in the little pool and doesn't seem to care.  Wheelie watched Hutson from the exersaucer on the back porch, envious of the water play, although he didn't seem to mind too much.... 

this baby is seriously so happy all the time...

I know I have mentioned before how obsessed Hutson is with the pool, well, here is proof...

cleaning out all the leaves just like daddy does...

making sure there is enough chlorine...

this picture makes me think of the cute little coppertone baby with the dog pulling at her bottoms... is it coppertone, or another brand?  anyway, doesn't matter.... its too cute.

....and yes I realize he isn't wearing pants, but I was too lazy to get a swim diaper and trunks for our impromptu water play.

this is my new favorite picture of Wheeler.. he is so damn cute, crumbs and all.

okay.. this one is pretty cute too.... this is his 'i'm about to get into something I shouldn't' smile...

and last but not least... here is 'the man'.  The one who works hard to keep us in our swim diapers, fruit snacks and lattes...  (you can see where my little men get their dimples...)

We are excited this week for Great Papa and Grandma to arrive from Florida.  Hutson received a little note in the mail that had a picture of Great Papa and a note that said he was going to take Hut for ice cream... now Hut looks at the picture and says 'great papa ICE CREAM' and repeats it over and over again....  thank goodness there is a DQ near by.  

Also this weekend I am helping out Lee, who is recovering nicely from her C-section last week, by hosting Lily's 2nd birthday party on Sunday.  We are having a fairy party and it should be lots and lots of fun.  We have wings, and garlands, and fairy houses to decorate... watch out for the post this weekend.

Baby J

She has arrived!!!  Here is my new, adorable niece....

Evee's Birthday Party

Our sweet little niece, Evee, turns ONE tomorrow!  Oh gosh that means that August is right around the corner and Wheeler will be turning one...  ahhh!  Too fast!

Anyways... Tiffany and Alex hosted a circus themed party for Evee yesterday and we had so much fun!  There was a bounce house slide, a mini pool, a clown, a sandbox and so much more.  Hut had a great time!  We worked on saying 'Happy Birthday Evee' the whole ride over there, and then he froze up when it came time to say it and sing, but he sure enjoyed the cake!

Here are just a few shots of the party... I will be posting the rest of them on smugmug shortly.

Grandi and the birthday girl...

Hutson enjoying some cake...

Wheelie always has a good time...

and a special picture for all of you always wondering where the pictures of me are... well here ya go.

What we have been up to...

I know I know I haven't posted in over a WEEK!  I am so sorry, we have been keeping ourselves busy and I got behind on uploading pictures.  I pretty much crash right after the boys go to bed most nights and so I haven't been getting much done.  Here is a picture recap of the last week or so...

We have been hanging with Papa at the ranch, picking his strawberries...

Okay... eating them too...

playing with the newborn kitties...

we like to pick up sticks and collect rocks... 

Hutson helped Papa make a rock border for GrAndi's rose garden...

 

 

and most of all, we like to ride in Papa's golfcart, although its so much more than a golfcart...

We have been learning to play together...

I had just gotten Hutson dressed and I was putting all the breakfast stuff away and I spilled the box of Cheerios all over the place, I went to get the broom and vacuum and came back to this....

... I love that he just happened to be wearing his 'I (heart) cheerio's' tshirt...

We have developed a 'cheese' smile for the camera...

We have been hitting the park with our lovely neighbors, who just got back from being in HI for 12 days!  Soooo jealous.  My neighbor is my lifeline out here in the middle of nowhere.  I talked to her several times a day, sometimes she is the only person over the age of two that I talk with during the week at all when Jer is gone... I told her she is forbidden to leave me for that long again.

lily...

iris...

the park...

Wheeler is getting so big now, he is almost walking.  He loves when you hold his hands and help him walk.  Hutson is a talking machine... sometimes I bribe him with crackers so he stops for a minute...  He loves tractors, well he thinks any piece of construction equipment is a tractor...  

 

'tractor move dirt mama, tractor move dirt'

He also is obsessed with the pool.  We have the little 'floaty thingies' (i'm sure that is the official name) in the pool that hold the chlorine tablets, and they have blue tops.  Jerry told Hutson that the chlorine is medicine for the pool, and that he always has to be very careful around the pool because we don't want him to fall in.  This is what Hutson says at any given time during the day...

 

'Daddy medicine pool, medicine blue, daddy medicine pool, chlorine, careful careful Hutson, medicine pool blue'

He talks about it all day long, he is such a little chatterbox, I love it.

 

We also started gymnastics this week with Cousin Lily and Uncle Jeff, it is a riot.  I would love to be able to take pictures or even video, but we spend half the night chasing the two of them down and making sure they are doing their activities that I don't think I could manage a camera as well.  Hut does love it though... especially 'big jumps' on the trampoline.

Tomorrow we are off to Cousin Evee's first birthday party, we are looking forward to seeing everyone and taking lots of pictures.  Stay tuned...