Touch a Truck and Thirsty for Trouble

Last week we went to a fun event at the Chaska Community Center called "Touch a Truck". They had all kinds of trucks for kids to climb on and "drive" including a police car, a Zamboni, and a fire truck, to name a few. They also had free ice cream, hot dogs, carnival games, and music. It down-poured that night so a few of the trucks did not stick around for long, but Elijah was non-the-wiser. He had so much fun climbing in and out of them and pretending to drive.

Jon's favorite moment was when Elijah was sitting in the forklift and pushed the garage door button that they had left in there. The big, giant arena garage door started closing (with a vehicle in the way) until a man ran over to push the button on the wall to stop it! Oops!

"Excuse me sir, do you know how fast you were going?"
While taking this picture Elijah accidentally "layed on the horn". Oops again!

Elijah also had fun running around like a crazy-man with his friend Caleb I was able to snag this shot of the two of them after the 80th attempt (okay maybe the 6th!). We finally were able to get them to sit down!

In other news, this just in:
"Amazing Baby makes Dishes Magically Disappear"

or alternately titled:
"Boy, These Doors Sure are Strong!"

or maybe:
"Is this a baby shower?"

"Is this the way to Narnia?"

but most likely:
"So the dishes fairy does exist!!!"
(do you all have a dishes fairy? She always forgets to stop at my house)

Party Like You're 3!!!

We all had a fun time celebrating Elijah's 3rd birthday. Since Jon works at our church we were able to rent out a room at and use their bouncy house for free. That made for a pretty fun party (well, at least for the kids!).

Here is Elijah's construction birthday cake before we devoured it (and before it all slid in the car and the writing disappeared in the Oreo "dirt" - but that is a different story)

Here are some of our photos from the party. I decided I did not want to be tied behind a camera the whole party so we did not end up getting too many photos and some just didn't turn out well. So for those of you in attendance, do you have doubles for me??? :)

I can't believe that Elijah is already into his 4th year of life! We have already learned that the "terrible twos" do not end on the 3rd birthday, but we are seeing a little bit of progress, thank goodness! (Please do not tell me horror stories of the "trying threes" of "frightening fours"!)

Happy Birthday Elijah!

(2 Days Old)

(2 Days Old)

It seems like just yesterday that you came into our lives, bright-eyed and always curious.

(1 Year Old)

You have grown so much, so fast.

(2 Years Old)

We are amazed at the little man that you are becoming.

(Almost 3-Years-Old)

We love you Elijah! You have been such a blessing to our lives! Happy 3rd Birthday!
Love, Mommy & Daddy

Cover Your Ears!

Boy, summer sure flies by fast! It seems like I was just in disbelief that it is was already the 4th of July and here we are two weeks later and I am just now posting the photos from the fun day. Where does the time go!?! We had a great day going to the parade in the the morning, a picnic in the afternoon, and the fireworks at night.

Elijah and Lilly are anxiously waiting for the parade to begin so they can start collecting candy. Elijah found a new love for Dum-Dum suckers and we have since been using them as a potty incentive with great results! (I know, I know, we shouldn't use food as a reward, but at this point we are doing whatever works!)

Evan had a fun time at the parade too! He loved seeing all the puppies that were in the parade and walking by.

Me and the boys.

The four of us in our red, white, and blue!

Here is Elijah with some of his parade loot - a Dum-Dum sucker, a wood plane, and sunglasses. Sweet!

This was the first time Elijah had been to fireworks (and our first time since having him), so it was extra fun this year! Here are jon and him waiting for them to start, with a Dum-Dum of course.

Mommy and Elijah

After the initial "scare" of the loud fireworks Elijah just loved them! He kept yelling out all the colors he saw and saying how pretty they were.

Here jon and Elijah are enjoying the fireworks, which were pretty much right above us. The "grand finale" was so loud and bright that Elijah covered his eyes while I coved his ears. Since my hands were busy I could not cover my own ears. I had to squint while watching them too. It has been a few years, but I am pretty sure that was the loudest and brightest grand finale that I have ever seen! Afterwards I was pretty sure that I had blown out my ear drums and retinas at the same time (but don't worry I recovered). We got home really late that night and Elijah was extra cranky the next day, but it was fun to see how excited he was! We can't wait until next year!

Splash!

A few weeks ago we joined the community center and we have been enjoying their splash pad. Elijah loves playing in the water and with all the fountains. I love that it only gets to 10" deep so I do not have to worry about him going too deep.


You can also bring your own toys, which makes it more fun for them. Here Elijah is "watering" the bear on the slide.


Weeeee! He loves going down the slide. We are still trying to teach him slide etiquette, such as don't sit at the top of the slide while everyone is waiting behind you. Also, don't sit at the bottom of the slide while everyone is waiting to go down! However, he is pretty good at waiting for someone to move from the bottom before he goes down.


Evan has learned that he loves the water too! The first time I brought him he was pretty upset that I sat him in an inch of water. It wasn't long before he was splashing away. Now he is the complete opposite of how he was. He likes me to bring him into the "deep" water and he stands and splashes or tries to lunge out of my arms to go on his tummy. I am going to have to keep my eye on him!


Elijah wanted me to take a ton of pictures of him going down the slide. One of the things that I enjoy is that they have a few cloth awnings (you can see it in the above picture) over part of the splash pad and some of the pool deck. I don't have to worry too much about them getting burnt (or me!).


Here are the two of them in the shallow end. Look at how Evan is on tummy facing the deep water. He then starts crawling out until the water is coming into his mouth! Silly kid!
So far it has never been crowded while we are there, so we are looking forward to many more summer days at the splash pad!

What Does Santa Do All Summer?

I know what you are thinking - Who is that scary man you have your children sitting with? I didn't know Santa took requests in the summer!
Why yes, as a matter of fact he does. If you travel down to the bayou you can find him spending his summer vacation at Crocodile Dock. He really lets himself go over the summer!


Okay, not really. This is actually Jon with the boys after his Thursday night VBS performance last week. This is his second year being part of the skit for the kids and their families. He has so much fun doing it. Elijah and Evan were a little unsure.


Here is Evan and Elijah watching the show from up in the balcony (so we wouldn't disturb everyone else). Elijah really liked watching his Daddy on stage. There was a part where Jon (Grandpa) was sleeping and one of the girls accidentally falls on him and wakes him up. Elijah yelled, "Get off my Daddy!" The rest of the time I had to try to quiet him when he was yelling, "Take off your beard Daddy!". For heaven's sake, we didn't want the other kids to know "Grandpa" was just some kids Daddy!



Here is Jon in action sharing the Good News.


In other exciting news, we had a great time spending a Saturday morning at a friends house. Here are the kids having a "picnic" breakfast.


We also got the pool out for the first time. We went out on one of the really hot and humid days last week. Elijah had a lot of fun playing in the water. I really wanted to jump in too, but I had to stay out and keep Evan company.


Evan is not yet used to playing in really cold hose water that is a foot deep so he spent the time playing in the exersaucer. It was so hot that I had to strip him down too and give him a wet washcloth to play with. He looks like he is having fun!

Literal

So, my friend from MOPS, Rachel, introduced me to literal videos when she posted one on her blog last week. Since that Jon and I have been watching them like crazy. They are so funny! They take real music videos and change the words to say what is literally going on. Here are a few of our favorites - enjoy!

Head Over Heels:

Head Over Heels: Literal Video Version - watch more funny videos

Penny Lane:

Take On Me:

Take on Me: Literal Video Version - watch more funny videos