Happy Fourth of July!

Here are the patriotic boys~ they love their flags and their new wagon (Thanks Gladys!)

We had a great time staying at Nana's and playing with our cousins! We loved the petting zoo at Kensington (especially the tractors), really enjoyed the lake (chasing butterflies) and partied hard at Grace's birthday party.

The cousins at Grace's birthday party.

Happy 5th birthday Grace!

Bob, Donna, Pat and Don at the lake. Didn't we have a great day!

Andrew in the sand in his 'suit'.

Here is a self-portrait after a long day of fun at Cedar Point. We rode 11 rides and it took all day~ completely worth it!

Thanks to all our friends and family in Michigan for making our trip so fun and memorable! We love you!

One more random picture of Mom and Aden at the petting zoo in Wichita. How cool are we in our shades?! Clearly Aden is having a lot of fun. He loves getting to go pet each of them.

The Barn Guys just started on our building today, so hopefully I will soon have pictures of it. Stay tuned!

Oh No! June is almost gone.

And I haven't posted a thing! So here is a quick update.

Andrew and Aden are growing like weeds. They are funnier and smarter by the minute. They are getting really good at their animal identification and make the best animals sounds ever! My personal favorite is rooster. They both can go pee on the big potty, but their mom isn't really into the whole potty training mood yet. Maybe in another month or so.

Aden taking it easy on the deck.

Talking is big now too. Some favorite words are: bird, g'all gone, flag, more, kitty, dog, good girl, 'Z (Lucy), no-no, night-night and bath.

Coloring is so much fun!

Today we are leaving for Michigan for a week to see Nana and our aunts, uncles and cousins. I am curious to see how they respond to fireworks. Hopefully I can get a July post up before the end of the month. Oh and I just noticed that they are 21 months today.

And also I did cut my finger working on the house and Paul thought I should share a gruesome photo of that as well. I happen to think it looks great!




Will post pics from Michigan when we get back.

Cool Kats!

Aden and Andrew are staying very busy this summer. Lots of tractor riding, some swimming, travelling, playing with toys, getting dirty and being all round 'cool kats'.

We had a visit from Nanny too. She was a huge hit with Aden and Andrew. They loved spending time with her and I think she likes them too.

Here are Aden and Andrew babysitting Lola. They thought she was pretty interesting.

Aden giving Stu a big hug.

Aden and Daddy sharing an air conditioner vent on a hot day.

Andrew knows anytime is a good time for playing tractor.

Hope everyone is doing well. We are hoping to stay a little drier this month and soon to have pictures of our newest building project. It should actually get finished in just a few weeks as we are not attempting to do it ourself. Oy vey! XXXOOO

Tractors

For any of you that don't know Paul and I have purchased our first tractor! We are having a ball with it and it is just a little tiny one. We have been digging, tilling and mowing maniacs (mainly Paul and the boys). They love riding with him and he loves giving them the ride. So that works out.
We had a lot of fun making Mother's day cards for Nana and Grandma. Aden and Andrew did some very fine finger painting.

Then we took these pictures to put on the front.

Aren't they a couple of cheeseballs! They are really digging their trikes and Daddy bought them each toy tractors that are a hit too.

Big Boy Haircuts and More

Hi all,

Well I broke down and let the boys get haircuts. They are big boys now for sure! They are both busy and very curious little guys. Yesterday we met Aunt Judy at the zoo. The animals are much more interesting now and the geese were a huge hit. Aden got a real kick from chasing one and making him fly. Both guys are starting to talk more all the time. Aden likes to say 'drive truck' and Andrew's favorite phrase is 'shoot ball'. Anytime we see a truck, tractor or heavy equipment Aden starts the motor noise and anytime there is anything like a ball or basket, Andrew says 'shoot' and 'ball'. Andrew says lots of words: chair, teeth, eye, keys, ear, up, eat, cheese, shoe just to name a few. Aden says a few of these, but is more into physical communication. He likes to grab our hands and put it on the toy or button like he wants and brings us things all the time. He also has learned to take us by the hand and lead us where he wants. They definitely have little minds of their own.

Bath time grins- they have to be contained to take a photo together.

Playing on the counter top this morning.

Aden at the zoo- Andrew is in the background.

Andrew- 'all gone'.

Pooped out after a day at the zoo.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Happy Easter

Well Easter came and went in a flash. I tried to get some cute Eastery pictures, but this is the best I could do. I am going to have to tie them together to get a good shot of them at the same time.

The boys are very busy. They love to color, play with bubbles and balloons, take baths, play ball and do anything outside. Andrew is getting better and better at walking and Aden almost breaks into a run occasionally. We are sort of working on going to the potty, but I am not sure if I am ready to really tackle that yet. Aden is ready is some ways, but still doesn't care if his diaper is soaking wet. All in good time. We had our 18 month check-up and shots last week. Andrew is still the undefeated heavy-weight weighing in one ounce shy of 29 lbs. Aden is almost 25 lbs. They are in a dead heat in height at 34". They are champs at the doctor and were done crying about their shots before we were checked out at the doctor's office.

Aden doing his KISS impersonation. Clearly the 'with make-up' version.

They love their cousins so much and always have a ton of fun when they are together.

'Pa is definitely on Andrew's short list of favorite people.

Hope everyone is doing well. We are enjoying the spring weather and we are so thankful for our big boys.

Happy Walking

I wanted a quick video of Andrew walking, but Aden was doing this litte funny tap dance. I hope he didn't steal Andrew's thunder! Andrew is improving rapidly.

Here they are opening their Easter baskets from Nana.




They loved the little cars and dinosaurs. They also like to take the eggs apart and put them back together again. Oh- and throw them across the room too! We are practicing our Easter egg hunting daily and hope to be ready for Sunday.

Just a few pictures from the GREAT outdoors!

I am so sad that this picture came out blurry- it is SO HARD to get a cute picture of them looking at me together- I will keep working on it.




Aden and Andrew positively love going outside. We are working to make it a safe and relatively mud-free environment. It is slow-going!

Tonight was beautiful and here are some shots of the guys doing a few of their favorite things- tasting rocks,poking rocks into holes, and running the opposite way when Mama calls.

Time for some Walking

I have been promising an update for so long now that I am embarrassed! Aden is a full-fledged toddler now and Bubba is not far behind. Andrew can take up to 6 or 7 steps, but only does so when the mood strikes him.

Here is an early video of Aden- I was trying to take a picture of him so the camera angle was wrong for video- but after some great advice from Lisa I was able to rotate it so now I have to share.



Poor guy- I had to stop the camera 'cause his joy turned to pain.

Here is Andrew showing off one of his many tricks.




And one more of Aden showing what a pro he is.




We are doing great and working on the house a lot lately. We are so thankful that we have been healthy. I really don't like it when the boys don't feel well.

Here are a few house pics as well.
The Shower

The Kitchenette

The Doors


We hope you all are doing great and hopefully we can get this house project under control so I can update a little more often!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We had a busy and fun holiday season and hope you all did too. We went to visit Santa Claus to ask for something for Christmas.


They got what they wanted: Off of Santa's lap!

We went to Oklahoma to see Grandma and Grandpa Newton and then drove to Michigan to see Nanna, and all of our Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends up there. We had a really nice time. Up until we all got sick- bah! We are finally getting well. Aden had pneumonia and ear infections and Andrew had an ear infection too. They both still have a bit of a cough. But we are a lot better now!

Aden is still not walking much- we try to bribe him, but he definitely has a mind of his own. Andrew sometimes stands up on his own. We are sure he won't be far behind once Aden really takes off. Andrew loves music and singing songs. He has a few hand motions down and likes to show off. He is a football loving fool. He brings me the remote and asks for 'ball'. I love it. They both love books and bring them to Mom and Dad to read all the time.

They are very good boys and a lot of fun to be with. Here's a quick video of the two of them being very sweet.

Early Christmas Present

We are obviously having a lot of fun with this!

Walking tall

Well Aden has decided he can walk. We still have not managed to catch the little bugger on video doing it though. We will keep trying. In the meantime here are a few pics.





Here's a couple of pictures from Halloween I found on the disk too. Only a month late!



Hope everyone is doing great!