My babies are becoming big kids.

Fancy Addison...Addison has taken to dressing up and clomping down the stairs in her Cinderella high heels.  I pretty much have a panic attack when I hear her coming down in them as I picture her tripping and falling and breaking her remaining teeth; but if I try to help her she  very adamantly tells me, "Mommy no!  I do it myself."  Yes, your majesty.  

Luke has moved onto bigger and better things too.  Check out his new ride.  The family wanted to go on longer bike rides so this allows Luke to have more freedom and our family bike ride to last longer than a trip down the driveway.  He LOVES this bike and asks for a bike ride every day.  One of our favorite trips is on Saturday morning to the farmer's market because we buy some truly addicting beef jerky.  The beef jerky man knows our family embarrassingly well and Addison will say, "We go get beef jewrkey today?"  Probably not the healthiest thing we could pick up from the Farmer's Market I guess but at least we ride our bikes there.

Amelia and daddy recently decided to ride bikes to her school as well.  Amelia rode like a champ to and from school but check out Stephen's pink and green polka dot back pack.  It cracked me up watching him ride away with a monogrammed "Amelia" backback on his back but he had to transport it for her because it was too heavy.  It really is ridiculously heavy, third grade is no joke.

Addison trying out our latest goal, potty training.  She is doing well so far except for one major issue in the shoe department of Kohls.  All day long I hear the frantic phrase, "Mommy, I have to go potty on the toilet!" and we run as fast as we can to the bathroom.  I am then promptly told "Mommy, don't say yay Addison."  So I have to sit there silently watching her relieve herself. This is one demanding two year old.  As excited as I am to be done with diapers soon, it will be such a big milestone of having all big kids instead of babies.  She is wearing panties, sleeping in a big girl bed, drinking out of big girl cups...sigh, before I know it, it will be training bras and beer.  Actually beer may come before training bras if she takes after her momma considering I probably didn't NEED a training bra until I was about 17.  But I didn't have beer until I was 21 mom and dad, I swear ;) 

Superman

Addison saw her Daddy wearing his superman tshirt today and she said "Look mommy, my Daddy is Superman!"  He sure is-look what he baked while I had the kids at the store.  They were pretty excited to see their own personalized cookie.  

Yummy.  What a good daddy.

Addison sure was excited about her cookie :)

I love this picture; although Addi might not love me for posting it when she gets bigger.  Look at that cute little booty and her signature look: crocs on the wrong feet.  I don't want to jinx us but Addison has kept panties dry for three days now, hooray, hooray, hooray!   

Amelia and Luke discussing big topics around the fire.  They looked so grown up sitting down there, deep in discussion.  

Our backyard last night.  

First Day of School

Say it isn't so...it's the first day of school for Amelia.  Back to waking up early, packing lunches and missing my very best babysitter.  Amelia started 3rd grade today with Mr. Bearden.  She told me she was "excited mixed with a little nervous."  I have kind of had a stomach ache all day, I don't really enjoy the kids going back to school.  I know it is important that they learn and blah, blah, blah but I really miss her during the day.  Amelia picked out her own back to school outfit this year-FABULOUS.  You sure are fabulous Amelia and you are going to have a fabulous third grade year.   After I did Amelia's hair this morning, she sat on my lap and gave me a huge hug and said, "Mom, I am going to miss hugging you during the day."  I don't think she saw my tears but I just hugged her tighter and told her we'd have to do twice as many in the morning and afternoon.  I hope she'll always want to sit on my lap and hug me.  Even when she is 30.     

Sleepover and Strike

Amelia requested a bowling party and a sleepover for her 8th birthday party.  Who could say no to this sweet girl?

Amelia had an interesting approach to bowling: run from the chairs as fast as you can and launch the bowling ball half way down the lane.  Effective because she did win with a score of 97 but I was very nervous that she was going to put a hole in the bowling lane.  

Hayden, Mckenzie and Amelia

Georgia and Amelia.  I had so much fun listening to all these girls giggle and talk.  One of the many conversations I overheard: You were born in 2003?  So was I!  Me too!  Scream, squeal, laugh.  

Anna seems to still be winning over Luke's heart, two years and counting.  Look at Loverboy's smile.

Let's bowl!!!

Back at the house for cake.  It was about 6:30 when we got back to the house and we had talked with Luke that he would be included for bowling and cake but then the party was just for the girls.  He would not be involved in the sleepover.  Look at him, sitting there in his jammies.  We were home about 10 seconds and he ran upstairs to put a jammie shirt on with boxers and declared he was ready for the sleepover!!!  Little brothers, sigh.

Amelia's Harry Potter Cake.  She loved it.  It was probably the most hideous cake I ever did see.

Movie and popcorn time.  Hooray!  The girls all brought their American Girl dolls too and put them in jammies. I love this age, the girls are all still sweet and innocent and all got along wonderfully.  After many games of 'Little Sally Walker' and 'Chicken in the Hen House' I got them to sleep by 11pm but some serious threats had to go down;)  We finished the party with doughnuts from Tatonut and sent 7 little girls home VERY tired.  Happy Birthday Amelia!

Ruzas Summer Visit and Mimi's Birthday!

This past week the Ruzas came for a visit and we could hardly control our excitement knowing our days would be filled with Horn Island, tubing, fishing, swimming, shell collecting and the like.  Well buzz kill number one: little Sam broke his arm the day before they were set to drive here.  Poor little man.  Well, there is no way we can miss out on a Bosko/Ruzas vacation so we called our Orthopedic surgeon friend  and  he came to our house to cast Sam in our kitchen!  What a VIP he was.  Buzz kill number two: RAIN!!!  It rained the first 36 hours they were here, continously.  The kids didn't let that slow down on their fun, they just put on their swimsuits (and Amelia added rain boots, so stinkin' cute) and collected toads, turtles (above) and crabs off our beach.  

Sam and Dr. Tom.  We love Dr. Tom-he saved our vacation!

Thank goodness the next day brought in loads of sunshine!  It had to be sunny, it was sweet Amelia's 8th birthday!!!  She was so excited to share it with her best friend Abby, just like her first four birthdays.  

Amelia's new bike, pretty cool stuff Mimi.  

After doughnuts and opening presents for Amelia, it was off to Horn Island to enjoy the beautiful day.  And what would a birthday be without your own personal dolphin show?  I was so excited the Ruzas got to see the dolphins play with our boat, the dolphins swam along side and under our boat for a good 15 minutes and we even got a spinning jump out of the water from one show off dolphin...AMAZING.

The kids enjoying the dolphin show.  

We always find something new on our island adventures and this time it was starfish.  Marcie and the kids collected a whole bucket of them but don't worry, we released them all like good beach goers.  

Addison carrying a giant hermit crab Marcie and Chris found.

This trip the kids also helped a fellow boater catch blue crab for his family's dinner that night.  Amelia followed this guy all over the island helping get the crabs out of the net and asking as many questions as he would answer about crabs and fishing.  This same gentleman, Mr. America, as Stephen called him; caught a GIANT stingray while fishing for sharks.  So the kids got to see a sting ray up close, Marcie even held the pole while Mr. America released him.  

Pint size best friends.

Grown up best friends.  I decked Marcie out in my MS finest beach apparel.  You look so cute Marcie, I just can't stand it.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL AMELIA!

About to leave for Amelia's birthday dinner at  The Dock, a restaurant on the water.  We took an evening boat ride there as a special treat and even brought her cake on the boat.  

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, you are an amazing 8 year old girl.  We don't know what we would do without your smiling face, golden heart and helpful attitude.  We are so proud of you Amelia Grace.  

The whole crew, well, except Luke who was hiding. 

Singing Happy Birthday to Amelia.  Classic picture, look at Luke pouting because Amelia told him Abby gets the second piece of cake, not him.  Love it.  

Tubing!  Sam was the man on this trip.  He wore a ziploc bag on his arm like a champ and had fun at the island, fishing, tubing, everything.  Way to go Sam!  The kids also went fishing off the dock behind our house and they all caught fish!  Luke even caught a speckled trout with his little teeny spiderman pole.  Abby and Sam caught a catfish and they thought it was neat that in the Gulf we fish with shrimp for our bait instead of worms.  We hired our wonderful babysitter Ashley one evening so we had an awesome night out just the adults:)  We had a delicious dinner and the Ruzas were surprised and impressed at how far Stephen and my taste buds have come in recent years.  We then headed out for drinks and plenty of laughter.  Love you guys.  

My girl.  What would I do without my Marcie?  Love you and I miss you so much already.  I can't wait to visit our feathered friend again soon;)

Midwest Trip 2011

It's summer and that means our annual migration up north to visit with my family.  This year we decided it made a lot of sense to drive since we have to visit three different cities.  It made a lot of sense until we actually started to drive the 20 hours to Minnesota; then we had a lot of time to talk about how this decision did not make sense.  But we continued on our journey and traveled nearly 3000 miles round trip in our trusty Kia minivan.   We started out in Minnesota visiting my sister Traci's family.  Amelia and Luke had fun playing at the park, splash pads and the beach with Max and Addison enjoyed being able to boss around another older kid.  

My sister Traci and Addison.  Addison cozied right up to Traci saying, "More ice cream Aunt Twaci."  What's not to like when your Aunt lives right across the road from an awesome Malt Shop? 

Max, Amelia and Luke went to the Twins game with the dads.  Lucky kids, they watched the Twins win and got to eat their weight in junk food at the park.  

My big sis and I.  

Luke waiting for the trolley in Minneapolis.  

Cousins.

And the best photo of the trip contest goes to Daddy!  Great shot of Addison on the trolley.  

We then moved on to Madison, WI to visit my sister Amy's family.  Here are the kids rocking out to Taylor Swift with Annie on vocals and Uncle Dan on the drums.  Amelia and Luke love playing with Evan and Annie and they especially enjoyed the family hamsters :)  

Then it was time to move on to Milwaukee, WI to visit Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jon.  Happy 4th of July!

Downtown Milwaukee for the fireworks.  

 The kids had a great time visiting their grandparents and were kept busy with games, walks in the woods, children's museum, Summerfest and lots more.  Amelia and Luke even both got a special day with their grandparents.  Luke and Grandpa Jon headed out to Miller Park to cheer on the Brewers (lucky 5 year old got to see two big league games in a week).  Amelia and Grandma Nancy went out for a special lunch, visited the book store and went to a movie together.  We were thoroughly exhausted with fun by the time the trip was done.  Thanks everyone for letting us stay with you :)