Thank you GRANDMA'S!!

Ben came home with presents from the mailbox! One from each grandma! These cute kids must have been on the "granny mind" at the same time! Transformers books and Spiderman/Batman stickers! Life is good for these boys!

Here's a little video of how much Kate loved the MARKERS you sent Grandma Hatch! Thanks again for sending markers...for every birthday, every Christmas, and every event you can come up with. These new "splattering" markers are especially fun! At least they are washable...and she can't eat them! What fun it must be to be a grandma!

WE LOVE PANCAKES!!!!!

One of our most recent captives

(my personal favorite all summer)

This little guy was quite friendly and loved to hop, hop, hop all over the kids! They loved every minute of it. It even jumped out of Ethan's hand and onto Kate's head! She thought it was great! Of course this is the same girl who enjoys pulling dead bugs apart!

This was one of the only successful escapees of the entire summer. He got away and hopped far, far away. He was never found...tear...lucky little frog!

Note to all who wonder if my children ever wear clothes: it's a rare occasion to find all three of my children completly clothed at the same time. Someone seems to always be missing something! This happened to be right after breakfast where all three are sporting the "morning" look. Shoulder shrug...roll with it, I say!

It's BIRTHDAY time again!

Kate turns 2

Warm birthday greeting from daddy in the morning!

She loved waking up to all the decorations!

Modeling her candy jewelry

The PRESENTS!!

The dinner preps!

The Pretty cake

Everyone is ready to P-A-R-T-Y!!

Birthday classic - PIZZA!

...and POP (Kate's newest favorite thing)

Some serious blowing

Ethan insisted that we get the "blow things"

and boy, did they ALL have a good time with them!

Ethan could not keep out of the frosting!

Open, Open, Open!!

curlers...

Little People bus... (I found this at a thrift store, brand new and in the box one day. It was half price day, so I got it for 3 bucks!) It's been waiting in the closet for Kate's birthday.

Presents from Granny and Gramps Smith...

Little People scooter...

on to G&G Hatch...

markers - Luke likes them...

Her first My Little Pony!!!

Princess dishes... which got a cute little squeal out of Kate

You can never go Christmas or birthday without undies from Grandma!

"THANK YOU FOR ALL MY PRESENTS AND A FUN, FUN BIRTHDAY!"

"Boy will be Boys"

"We were just throwing balls!"

Our basement is filled with balls - all soft and "indoor approved"

"What ball did you throw?"

Ethan slowly reaches down and picks up a yellow "soft" ball.

Deep breath for mommy - call daddy - order new window (of course we pulled the classic parental punishment of seizing all the coins from their banks to "pay" for it - HA!!)

RIP camera!

It was right before our family vacation a few weeks ago that our camera bit the dust. The "LENS ERROR" report came up on the screen (we've seen that message before - on our last 2 cameras). It's been a painful month of 0 pictures, but we finally decided on a new camera (with a lens cap instead of retractable) and it should be here any day! The other day, I decided to download any last pictures from the broken camera and these were the FINAL pictures that were taken with the camera before it broke. Now we know how it happened!

"I think I'll take a picture of my hand"

"Wonder what would happen if I stuck my little fingers in this little opening and take a picture?"

"Wonder if I can ...FIT MY ENTIRE ARM INTO THE LITTLE HOLE????"

This was the FINAL picture taken...wonder why???

This is how the camera takes pictures now...

and a glimpse at how I feel about the whole issue!

Gone Fishin'

There's a little "fishin' hole" just down the road from our house and Ben and the boys have enjoyed some serious father-son time! They catch more turtles than anything, but they love it all the same. Kate and I were allowed to come on this trip provided that we did not get in the way of the fishin' men! We did our best!

Kate gives it a try!

WORMS!!

STRRRRETCH...

We were cracking up at the container the worms came in:

"Our worms catch fish or die trying"

Most died BEFORE trying!

All in a good day's work!

AND NOW... a few videos for your enjoyment!