Nick and Erica's Big Day!

My younger brother Nick and his now wife Erica got married on June 11th! These two are sooo in love and it was fun to see them glowing all day. Erica is a great addition to the fam and I especially appreciate her kid skillz. The boys were so excited to come to the temple and join in the festivities. It was a great day.

I'm telling you, these 2 found each other! I offered to let Erica borrow my shoes but as you can see she had a little something different in mind :)

Does anyone know what goes through a Nani's head when she gives a 2 year old a BRIGHT red super frosting cupcake?! I told her she was incharge of clean up.

I guess Isaac must have inspired Nick and Erica with his frosting in the face idea!

The Storm

Here's the neighbor kids Lexi and Jarren's reaction to the crazy HUGE storm we had. It literally dumped rain and hail to the point where the gutters became rivers and soccer fields became lakes. It was really awesome and the kids (myself included) loved every second of it. Luckily we didn't have any flooding or I'm sure that would have put a damper on my enthusiam.

The hail made this sweet volcano once the drain had reach maximum capacity.

Here is little Squeak playing in the river/gutter. He had a blast and was soaked to the bone.

Heather's Birthday

On May 28th, We had a birthday party for Aunt Heather! Kim was gracious enought to host it at her house and we had a delightful time. Rob gets props for picking out a trendy black purse...we'll have to watch and see if we see it in the future or if it turned into Target cash :)

One of the best parts about these family get togethers is the boys spend quality time with their cousins Peyton, Haley and baby Ryker. What could be better than relaxing on a hammock on a warm spring evening after eating cake and icecream?

Kim and Mark have an awesome playset in their backyard and the boys thoroughly enjoy it!

Zekie's Preschool Program

On June 1st, Ms. Holly put on a lovely Mother Goose preschool program for Zekie's caterpillar class who are now graduating on to butterflies! Zekie was Jack (as in Jack and Jill) and "fell down and broke his crown" with as much flair and drama as he could muster. Actually he was quite stoic during falling bit, but as you can see from the pictures he bust out the cheese for the rest. Zekie has really LOVED preschool so much, and it's so fun to see him with all his friends. He was front and center and the other parents told me that he stole the show! Zekie has learned a ton from Ms. Holly this year and has done a great job socially and academically. We're so proud of our Zekes and thrilled that Ms. Holly decided to have Preschool Summer Camp this year :)

Grandma (Rob's mom, Diane) decided to make the trip down from Centerville to see Zekie in his big production, and we're so glad she came! 1. because we love her and 2. because she helped watch the other boys so we could video record and take pictures of Zekie and all his glory :) As you can see, Caleb was verrrrrrry happy to get some love and attention from his grandma.

Isaac's Obsession

Isaac is OBSESSED with driving. When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he says is "bankee bankee!" (van key). And there's no giving him a different key that would be safe. He has to have THE van key, so that he can put in in the ignition and start the car. That's right folks. My 2 year old can push the button on the fob key that opens the door, climbs in, pushes the garage door opener, turns on the radio and then turns on the engine to the car, and starts swerving the wheel back and forth...I'm quite worried that he'll be going to heaven, if he keeps this up! The above picture is of Zekie climbing into the van after Isaac and saying "Where are we going today Isaac?" Isaac of course, very seriously replied "The temple." Luckily he has been transitioning into requesting to ride his bike instead of the car, but he still thinks he needs to sit on my lap and "drive" Zekie back and forth to preschool.

Here Isaac is showing the correct wrist action for turning on the engine.

Several month's later Zekie is still telling people about our "new" van. It really has been a wonderful switch from our Honda Passport that we were squeezing the kids into. The fact that they could all reach each other was a recipe for disaster with 3 little boys. Isaac was regularly "debinking" Caleb and then chucking the binky to the back of the car. Our Honda Odyssey on the other hand has plenty of room for all. They can also climb in and out with ease and I love the auto doors. It was a little hard to admit that we were a officially a van family, but now we have embraced it and are loving the convenience and fun features as you can see the boys checking out here. Hooray for minivans!

Sugar Plum

 

My neighbors from Tennessee decided to go back home for the summer and we have missed them tons of bunches! Zekie still waves to their house everytime we drive by say "There's Chaffee's house!" Luckily before they left we had a little party and got some solid quality friend time in. Here's a pic of all the Mom's on the street...and Zekie and Jarren.

 

I took the previous picture so clearly I needed a picture with Erika too! Erika is a great listener, very dependable, generous, and really entertaining :) She is very passionate about life and always has a good story.

 

We call Erika "Sugar Plum" because she always calls the boys "sweetie" which really ticked "Zekie Bachman" off, who think everyone MUST call him ONLY by his true name. I tried to convince him him it was all just a game and when she said (in her sweet Southern accent) "HI SWEEEEEEEEEEETIE!" he was to respond with "HI Sugar Plum!" I don't know if that's really a southern thing to say, but it seemed fitting at the time. Well, happily Erika took to the game and made it all the more fun by mimicking Zekie and exclaiming with as much drama as she could muster "ME? I'm NOT a Sugar Plum!!" with a big smile on her face :) Zekie would then reply "Oh YES you ARE!!" And all was well in the world. Isaac also thoroughly enjoyed playing it up with Erika.

 

Caleb definitely picks favorites and Erika is one of them. He would regulary blow me off and crawl over to her and put his chubby little arms up to her to be held. I would always call Erika Caleb's "other mother", because she might as well have been considering how much they loved each other :)

Life with a 2 year old

 

It all started with a typical mom/son deal. "If you eat your watermelon for breakfast, I'll let you play in the car." Isaac responded vehemently with a "NO!" and pretended to hit me. To which I replied with a sincere heart "Fine. Whatever. But you can't play in the car UNTIL you eat your watermelon." Then I promptly left upstair to shower. That's when the revenge began. When I came downstairs the following is what I beheld: 1. the watermelon chunks strewn upon the floor 2. my large tumbler of water emptied upon the floor 3. the step stool had been drug out of the bathroom and placed at the bottom of the keys in an attempt to reach them 4.the other full watermelon had been rolled OFF of the counter and was cracked open oozing watermelon juice on my kitchen rug and finally 5. a red apple cinnamon candle had been smeared all over the gridle. This was the mess he was working on when I found him or I'm sure the destruction would have continued. Really. I mean WHAT kind of mother really thinks she can take a shower of all things with a 2 year old on the loose. Seriously. As you can see Squeaks had to help with the clean up. Oh the naughtiness!