Chillin' wth the Chicks

We have moved into a fantastic neighborhood with amazing neighbors.  Last year, we left a great neighborhood with neighbors that we loved and we didn't know if we would find that again.  We are here to say that we have struck gold, twice!  The big difference is that most of our direct neighbor kids are girls, instead of all of the boys in our last neighborhood.  Oliver may have been heard last year asking "where are all of the boys" but we think that he is adjusting to being surrounded by cutie pie girls.

Saturday, they found themselves heading to Kaitlyn's 4th birthday party and the invite said "wear your favorite princess outfit".  Kaitlyn made it very clear in conversation that the boys could come and they didn't have to wear princess outfits.  (whew!  Good thing.  That could have been interesting)  Well this Mama wasn't about to let her boys go to a princess party without showing up with crowns fit for a prince.  Plus, the invite said there would be water fun, so these prince charming's were dressed to get wet.  Mama had fun shopping in the girl aisle, wrapped it in a princess bag, rounded up the boys and we travelled all of the way from our garage, across the patch of grass and rocks and to their front door.

As we blew past this AMAZING cake; the crowns, t-shirts and shoes came off and the boys were in the back yard in their swim suits.

Check this out.  The cake is 99% edible.  The decorations are all frosting.  The only thing that you couldn't eat was the mermaid that sat on top.

Outside, there were even Gold Fish.  Some for snacking on and some for swimming around.

The back yard was turned into Water World: the Back Yard Edition.

The boys were fishing in the pool in 2.2 seconds.

Oliver wasn't shy to dive down the slip and slide.

(Those of us who remember the original slip and slide had fun reminiscing about how it used to only be as wide as one color strip, it was yellow, it was held down by metal stakes and you had to try to avoid those stakes and you slid down the slide.  Oh ya.. and there was no built in pool to catch you at the end.  You just sailed off the end and hoped to come away without grass burns.)

Nemo came by to say hello and treat the kids to a ride.

Girls or no girls in the way, Oliver slipped and slid the afternoon away.

Miss Kaitlyn was in on the slip and slide action too.

Happy Birthday Miss Kaitlyn

As the girls ate lunch, the boys inhaled lunch and were back in action.

There were FOUR boys, that's it.  One was a cousin.  The rest were girls.  Everywhere we looked; girls, girls, girls.

Until, the girls were busy with lunch and then the boys deemed that there was no time for eating, only water fights.

Even Kellan was in on the action as he pulled out his water oozy and cool dude shades.

All targets were fair game, even the birthday girls Dad.

What, What, What?

The Little Mermaid.

Notice, mostly girls.  The boys were busy throwing water around and showing it who was boss.

Eventually, the boys gravitated toward the mystery lady with bright red hair, but they kept a safe distance.  At one point, Kellan asked me who she was.  Apparently, we are a little behind on our princess movies.

Ariel read stories, which our boys love.  Then, it was time for face paint.  Ariel was awesome and painted the boys faces first so that they could carry on with their water fight.  Not to be beat to the punch, Oliver was first in line.  (we clearly need to work on "birthday girl first" manners, but maybe next time).

A cute story to share:

See the green skirt that Kellan is holding.  Ariel busted out some dress up clothes and she said that while the girls dressed up, she would paint the boys faces so they could go play.  Kellan was very interested in the green skirt and didn't understand that it was for the girls.  Even with his brother leaning in his ear saying "no, Kellan, that's for the girls" while throwing the skirt back on the floor, he didn't seem to mind and picked it right back up.  Oh, the bliss of being two.

Then... he turned around.

It was then that he was swarmed by a sea of princesses.

It was then that a sparkle lit in his eye as he realized the volume of attention that he was getting from all of the girls.

It was then that he may have realized that it's not too bad to live on a street surrounded by girls.

It was then that all of us parents wondered what was in store for their teen years and we thought about investing in some heavy door/window locks.

Ta-Da

Evil Pirate

Well, that's what Ariel called it.

I'm not so sure that he looks very angry with that angelic smile.

Next up was Kellan.

He was very patient and stood perfectly still while Ariel painted a his face.

Just like his brother, the girls swarmed and he loved the attention however, he didn't get the sparkle in his eye.  He hasn't figured it out yet.  To him, wearing a green skirt sounds like fun and being swarmed by girls is just another day in the life of being two.  Give it time, he'll get the sparkle too when the light bulb goes off.

What's this? Snarly Pirate Face to go with his Pirate Ship.

From here, the party carried on but Mommy had to run to another commitment.  Daddy stayed with the boys and they had a fabulous time.  There were reports or soaking water fights for all attendees as well as an amazingly delicious mermaid cake.

Happy 4th Birthday, Kailtyn!!

Thanks for inviting our two handsome princes to your princess party.

Boys

After some busy weekends, the Sunday after Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Jeff left, the boys chilled out.

Kellan even spent some time with Fire Bolt and PIP while he serenaded them with a harmonica tune.

Later that morning, he chilled with an iPad show.

It was such a nice morning that he rated it Two-Arms-Up!

That afternoon, Oliver enjoyed some shade and a ginger ale at the bar.

The next day, we spied an afternoon snuggle on the couch.

There is no denying that these boys love each other.

We hope that as they grow into the men they are meant to be that they always remember that they will always be brothers, they will always have each other and they will always be each others favorite person.  As of now, they top each others list of most favorite person in the world and we we wouldn't want it any other way.  

We truly and completely love you boys!

Developing Memories

As I find myself an entire month behind on blog posts, I also find that I have the luxury of going back a month to look at and edit photos for the blog.  Even though I may be a month behind, this does not mean that we have stopped having fun and enjoying the summer.  In fact, this proves to be the opposite since we've been enjoying the long warm days and not going to bed early so that I can work on the blog with my laptop cozy on my lap while I'm snug in our tempur pedic bed.  As much as I would love to have real time blog posts, I'm also finding that there are hidden treasures in month old blog posts.  As a reader, this may not be thrilling.  I get that concept as a reader of other blogs.  As the author and a photographer, this takes me back to film days.  Back to the days when you had to fill up an entire roll of 24 or 36 exposure film, take it to the drug store, hope to drop it off before pick-up, wait 2 or 3 days for it to come back from the lab, drive in to town to pick up the photos and then look at them.  Sometimes, this was weeks after an event occurred.  For some, it could be months.  For me, usually days as I would fill up a roll of film in a blink of an eye (sometimes with eye blinks on film, get it?) and because I'm schedule oriented, I usually hit the film developing counter at the right times.  The added bonus was moving to the city life where they had ONE HOUR FILM DEVELOPING.  Can I hear a WHOOP WHOOP?  The best part was rushing to the Little Red Tercel to tear open the envelope and flip through photos of the night before, week before or month before.  There was a treat in every photo flip.  I loved it.  Sometimes, I miss it.  So, in this past month, I've found myself with similar behavior.  I didn't view and edit photos in real time.  I took photos and then waited.  When I did open them on my Mac, a month after the fact, I savored each one, each moment in time.  It was great fun to look back on times gone by.  It was fun to remember, hey, Oliver had a great play date, the back yard sure has gone through a transformation, hey look, we added to the family.  As we continue to create Memory Making Moments this summer, enjoy a look back at where we've been while we Develop Memories in month old blog posts.

Side Note... I'll leave this post at the top for now.  Be sure to scroll down to see if there is a little surprise of a new blog post.  Maybe they won't quite be a month old when you check back?  Maybe?   (Be sure to click Older Post below)

William and Isaac Come to Play

Jeff and Lindsey spent a week in Sheridan starting with the Fourth of July holiday and on their way back to Texas they stopped at the Ham Fam's house for a visit.  They hadn't been to our new house yet and we were so excited to have them stop by.  When we left William in Sheridan, I mentioned to him that we would have new toys for him to play with since he always gets excited to play with toys at a new house.  It took very little time for him and Isaac to discover that we had an entire room full of toys.  Oliver was quick to bust out a Bey Blade battle against his cousins and he was excited to have some new opponents.

Bey Blade, Bey Blade, LET IT RIP!

The next day was a Friday.  Keith had to work but the rest of us took a vacation day to go to the pool.

Isaac was geared up and ready to float.

Oliver was demonstrating his new swimming skills and was excited to swim with everyone, even if we spent most of our time in the baby pool.

Watch out fish, you never know who might be trying to catch you.

William watching the water.

Isaac appears to be having a very serious conversation with Oliver.  I'm sure it was in the torpedo sharing category of subjects.

Kellan was happy to be bobbing along.

"Bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea"

(name that tune)

Before long, the boys were ready for a snack.  It was a good thing that there were plenty of chairs for them to take over for snack time.

Kellan enjoying his favorite, a bar snack.

Mr William and his serious pose.

Isaac's ready for a quick snack and then to jump right back into the pool to float around.

This photo was a bit concerning and it has many teenage qualities about it.

Yes, he has the entire bag of chips on his belly as he digs through in search of his chip of choice.

I have no idea what to make of the towel on his head.

Lindsey and Carrie

Two babies each and still rockin' the bikini!

Lindsey and Jeff, soaking up some rays.

Since Keith's brother Jeff was in town and we had some new light fixtures, we took full advantage and the guys installed them.  Our original light fixtures have been a an eye sore for me since we bought the house.  There are three that I want replaced, but I didn't want to replace them with just anything that I found.  I searched and searched until I found the perfect fit.  I'm still in search of one for our entry way, but for now, we have replaced the dining room and kitchen light fixtures.

This is what was in our dining room.

EGADS!

I heard that this new light fixture wasn't easy to put up.

I also heard that it was definitely a two man job.

It's a good thing that there were two  men to do the job and that I love it so much that it will probably still be hanging in 30 years.

Horrible photo of the new light fixture in the dining room.

This room is currently under complete renovation, so stay tuned for better photos of the lights.

This is the light fixture that was over the kitchen table.

I love that I'm able to use the word "was".

This is the new light fixture.  We love this one too!!

Not the best photo, but I'll get a new one up when we talk renovations.

After some hard work, the guys retired to the backyard bar for a beer.

It's so nice to have this space to relax at.

There wasn't too much relaxing though as it was time to fire up some Guacamole followed by Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa.

After dinner, Lindsey and I were relaxing in the living when a voice from above yelled down, "honey, you've got to see this... and bring the camera!"

This is what I saw!

A full on sword battle of Boys vs Dad's.

The Dad's would hide and the boys would seek.  They ALL LOVED IT!

Don't let the Dad's fool you.  It may have looked like torture, but they giggled and loved each and every minute of it.

Don't worry, the swords are foam.  Well, most of them.

CHARGE!

It's such serious work that Kellan had to break out the hard hat (made of foam).

Go get 'em, buddy!

Ah ha... a Daddy found.

He might be the arm from under the bed, but that doesn't stop these boys.

Later that evening it was time to cut loose in the living room.

(Like there wasn't enough cutting loose upstairs)

The boys were high kicking to some tunes and Kellan was throwing down some serious attitude.

William whizzing by.

The boys' chairs were a big hit!

Isaac LOVED them!

Kellan keeping a sharp eye on Isaac.  I'm not sure if it's because he's climbing from chair to chair or if it's because he's moving in on Kellan's char.  Kellan gets a bit over protective of HIS chair.  Even Mommy can't sit it in.

I love the big eyes of wonder as Isaac approaches Kellan.

Ahhh... he got you!!!

Quick, Quick, a group photo.

William, Oliver, Isaac, Kellan.

This was the .3 seconds that the four of them sat still together.

William and Isaac, the birthday twins.

Yes, it's true, they were born on the EXACT SAME DAY, August 23, 2010, a mere 20 minutes apart.

Here in a few weeks, we'll be saying Happy Third Birthday to these big boys.

It was SO great to have Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Jeff, William and Isaac here to play.  Oh ya... plus William and Isaac's cousin Madison was here too as she was hopping a ride back home from her Grandma and Grandpa's house in Wyoming.  Thanks for stopping by, guys.  We can't wait to see you again soon!!