Playdate with the Andersons

We are so sad to see the Andersons move! Heather is such a great friend and the boys love playing with her two little kids! Hannah and Neil came over to play one last time on June 24th while their parents finished packing up their things. We are really going to miss them!

Neil had a great time playing with all of our boy themed toys . .

but poor Hannah had to watch CARS instead of Cinderella . . .

and dress up in football gear instead of as a princess . . .

Logan's 1st Game

Logan started t-ball last week in the Douglass League on the "Look Out" team. He is loving every minute of it. And Mason wishes he could join in (he is actually bigger than some of the members on Logi's team, no surprise there). This league doesn't keep score, and everyone gets a turn to bat. It's more about teaching the fundamentals and having fun. It is so funny to watch all of these beginners. It usually takes a few swings for the batter to connect with the ball, and once he/she has hit it, it takes even longer for the fielding team to even notice. (Luckily all of the coaches stand on the field with the players to help them pay attention and to give instructions.) After one of the fielders finally retrieves the ball, they throw it to a first baseman who is looking out in the stands trying to find their parents! Its very entertaining to watch.
Logan is a great batter, he almost always hits it out into the grass, although he has a ways to go when it comes to fielding. Last night he actually sat down and was drawing in the dirt! Of course, I didn't have my camera with me then. The funny thing was, he really didn't look too out of place as his teammate next to him was trying to see how high he could throw his own mitt into the air and catch it. Fortunately, no one hit a ball their way! Anyways, here are some pics from last week's game:

Logan batting

In the dugout

Logan playing Short Stop (they change positions every time)

Logan and his coach, Miss Amanda

Cute Wall Art

Okay, so my friend sells vinyl art and had this really cute picture of her angelic little girls all dressed up and walking hand in hand with they saying "Lead me guide me, walk beside me." I thought that it was just the cutest thing ever and of course wanted to copy her. Well, trying to get my boys to walk hand in hand without fighting, running, or dragging the other one proved to be quite difficult. I tried to get a shot of this for about a year with the best one turning out like this . . . Then the other day after I dressed them up and bribed them with ice cream. I asked them to walk slowly to the fence and back while holding hands. They really wanted that ice cream and so here is what I got . . .

Then I went to Walmart's online photo center and had them blow it up in black and white, ordered the vinyl lettering from Sarah B. and here is how it turned out . . .

Happy Father’s Day!

Now I know that there will be others that may feel that I am biased in some way; however, I am being completely objective when I say that I have the very best Dad and also the very best husband! (And that my boys have the very best Grandpa and Daddy!) :) Thank you to both my Dad and to Jake for being such wonderful examples of service and patience and for having such a great sense of humor! The boys and I love you guys and appreciate all that you do!!!

Some pics of the boys with their Grandpa!

Christmas 2004

On the farm, feeding the cows 2006

Camping 2007

Jake with his Father's Day gifts - Cinderella Man movie and "Daddy's Can" made by the boys for him to put all of his things (i.e. pager, name tag, pens, paper, etc. in after work since he always forgets where he puts them)!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

So my children were supposed to be working on an art project. However, when it got too quiet I thought I had better go check on them. Much to my dismay, I found that Mason had decided to move on from cutting paper to cutting hair. I had just buzzed their hair a day or so ago, perhaps that was the inspiration for the trim??? First, Mason worked on his own hair . . .

Then he decided to turn the scissors on his brother. Logan, of course, had no problems with this and agreed to the cut . . .

I'm not sure what Logan was thinking, I would never trust my hair with someone that looked like this . . .

Fishing Excursion

Vacation time is a perfect time to go Bass fishing and June is a killer month to go after some lunkers. So I went down to Arrow-Head Lake with a buddy of mine, Chris Haubner. I rigged myself up on a medium action rod just for extra kicks. We probably caught close to 20 or more Largemouth ranging from 2 to 5 lbs. The ol' buzzbait was smoking at the crack of dawn, but as the temperature rose we slowed it down with some spinner baits, spoons, and chompers. I've never fished chompers before, but Chris swears by them and they seemed to be the most productive. I had a great time trying out chompers and slaying some big lazy Bass. I'll have to head to Bass Pro and buy myself an assortment.

I brought a few home to show the boys (Logan, Mason, and Blake - Logan's friend) Mason was scared to put his fingers in the mouth and pick up the Bass. Ofcourse, I didn't help the situation any and would make growling noises when he would get his fingers near the mouth.

Mason still isn't quite sure about holding the fish, but he has no problem eating them!

Here is a picture of Logan and I with some of the larger ones. Logan helped me clean them and get them ready for supper. All in all, any day fishing beats the best day at work.

Camping in Missouri?

Since we went to Bass Pro and bought a Columbia tent, we had to set up our tent in the yard and test it against the elements of Missouri!

Mason was suppose to be in time-out, but found himself too curious and was wondering what the heck was going on outside in the yard; "Hey, what you guys doing?"

So to get a better look, he strapped on his goggles, stood on his window ledge, and laughed hystericaly at the idea of tent in our back yard; "Wait a minute, this isn't camping!"

Well anyways, back to the story of our tent. Our tent held up in the wind, it held up to the rain, and it even held up to the boys. However, we could not hold up to the humidity and heat. Camping in Missouri during the summer time? Bad idea . . . . We finally called it quits around 10pm and decided to head inside to enjoy the AC and fall asleep.

Day Trip to Saint Louis

Since Jake is off this week for vacation we decided to head to the St. Louis Zoo. First some family pics . . .



and one of Jake and I courtesy of Logan . . .

The Zoo

We had a great time walking around and checking out all the different animals. (This was the first time we've gone to a place like this and not had to take a stroller or wagon--our boys are growing up!) Here are some pics of us and some of our favorite animals . . .

The boys take a break while admiring the zebras.

Mason checks out the napping hippopotamus.
The boys and I pose in front of my favorite animals, the giraffes.
Mason was impressed with the elephants, but Logan thought they smelled.
There is a grizzly bear in the background. It's a little difficult to see. This was the last exhibit that we looked at. You can see that the boys were starting to get worn out by this time. After the zoo, we enjoyed lunch at Denny's and then checked out St.Louis' Bass Pro shop (since going to ours a couple times a week just doesn't seem to cut it). The visit did payoff however as they had the tent in stock that Jake has been looking for. Perhaps in the future we'll have some camping pictures to share although its been so hot here that I'm hoping we don't break the tent in until it cools off a little.

Dino Island

At the zoo we were able to step back into prehistoric time and enter the world of the dinosaur! Sixteen life-size animatronic dinosaurs moved, roared and spit in the Zoo's dinosaur walk-through exhibit. It was pretty cool, Logan loved it, but Mason was a little scared. We had some fun taking pictures there.

Here Jake and the boys pose in front of one of the friendlier dinosaurs. There is a nest of baby dinosaur eggs behind the log that Mason is looking at.

The boys and I pretend to be scared of the roaring dino behind us. (Mason is actually really afraid. The poor boy had to run past some of the "mean dinosaurs" as he called them.)

Jake had to run for his life from the T-Rex. The T-Rex's eyes would actually follow you as you moved. After going through the exhibit, we braved it through a dino adventure 3-D movie. After leaving the zoo, we asked the boys what their favorite thing was. Logan said "EVERYTHING!" and Mason said, "Taking pictures with the nice dinosaurs, not the mean ones."

"New" bike & trike

The boys received "new" wheels this week. And have been racing them up and down the sidewalk ever since. All day long they ask, can we go out and ride our bikes now?

Logan got his bike from his friend Blake whose grandparents live across the street from us. They had gotten it at a garage sale for $5 and then found a nicer one at the dump! Can you believe it? It actually looks brand new. So lucky for Logan, he got Blake's old one.

Here are Logan and Mason playing with Blake after school. Logan and Blake go to the same school and ride the bus home together.

Mason got his tricycle from another neighbor friend that was trying to get rid of a few things before they moved. In fact, Mason still refers to it as Neil's bike. And as I'm sure you can tell from the picture, Mason dressed himself. Here he is wearing swim goggles, a Nebraska jersey, whitey tighties, and his favorite Spiderman shoes.

Mason just loves the secret hiding place under the seat. He uses it to store his silkie (blanket) while he rides so that it never has to leave his side.