Skype!

Skype is one of the greatest new inventions. We called Grammy and Grandpa via Skype on Friday night so they could watch Andrew open their presents to him. The boys love talking to the computer, and it's great because we can see and hear each other. So helpful when we are separated by so many miles!

Andrew's 5th birthday

Andrew turned 5 on Thursday and we celebrated that night with a little family party.

Puppy Pals Bingo

Jonathan appears happy for Andrew, but he kept asking, "Where my pwesent be?!"

a new baseball glove and ball

*disclaimer - Target made this super awesome cupcake cake. Not me! It was a pull-apart cake with both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. And it was yummy!

Andrew had to test the frosting before we could eat it.

And yes, those are hot dogs on the table. I let Andrew choose the menu for his birthday dinner. At first he said whatever I wanted to make, and after he heard some of my choices, he picked hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. The dinner of champions!

"Cheeeeese"

Jonathan has a slightly different method of eating cake than the rest of the world. He eats all of the frosting so that the cupcake appears to never have been frosted. Then he asks for more "cake." I tried to explain to him that he has lots of cake left, but he only wants the frosting.

A new climbing wall for the swing set.

Playing catch with daddy after dinner.

Happy 5th Birthday Andrew!

2 weeks old

7 months old

1 year old

2 years old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

almost 5

It's hard to believe that our baby boy is 5 years old already! This past year has flown by and Andrew has completed his first year of preschool and seems so old. He's going to preschool for another year before heading off to kindergarten. He amazes us daily with the things he comes up with and has the most amazing imagination. We can't imagine our life without him!

Here are some Andrewisms in honor of his birthday:

We always need to read the constructions instead of instructions when playing a new game.

Every one's mission in life should be to part of Andrew's abject. It's a running mental list of his favorite friends. Generally adults are not part of his abject and sometimes his brother is at the beginning of the list and sometimes he's at the end.

He likes to be the enter helper. The best description I have for this is he likes to be the one to start a race.

Future occupation - Race Boy

Harvest!

Jonathan wasn't too sure about harvest and being in the wheat field.

Andrew, on the other hand, was all about it and stuck to Uncle Matt like glue!

Driving in the wheat truck to the elevator. Jonathan didn't move the whole drive.

Andrew pretending to drive the wheat truck.

Calling strangers on the CB

Riding out with Matt on the 4-wheeler to get the tractor and grain cart.
(I was later informed that the 4-wheeler was much cooler than the Ranger we usually ride on and that Matt went super fast! I asked why the 4-wheeler was cooler and was told because it doesn't have a steering wheel or a roof! And did I mention that Matt went super fast?!)

Andrew with Grandpa in the combine

This year we had an extra combine help cut the wheat. After a weeks of rain and battling mud, dad was ready to cut the wheat as fast as possible.

On Tuesday, we went to Hutch to "help" with harvest. Jonathan wasn't sure about the big machines or the loud noises. We did get him to ride in the wheat truck, but only because we all went for a ride. I held him and the whole ride I never felt him move. He was scared to death when I tried to lift him to watch the wheat dump out the back window, even though he was still safe in my arms inside the truck. I think he's still a little young to appreciate harvest. Maybe next year!

Andrew was the opposite! He ran for Matt as soon as we got to the field and I finally had to drag him to the house at 1:30 to eat lunch. He rode in the tractor, wheat truck and the combine and was asking to go back out as soon as he ate. But it was very hot and they had moved to a different field, so we packed up and headed for home.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm a little late with this, but I wanted to post this picture from Father's Day. I forgot to take it right after church, when Keith was still in his nice clothes, but I thought it was a cute picture anyway!

Happy Father's Day, Keith! We love you!

Colorado - Day 5

Taking a train ride

The train was the perfect size for the boys and went through a miniature western town.

Go-Karts!
And the race is on!


Grandpa and Andrew
Keith and Jonathan


By the last lap, Jonathan had started to slide off his seat. His seat belt wasn't quite his size, but he loved every second of the ride and was very safe with daddy!

Andrew kept telling Grandpa to go faster so they wouldn't "lose the race!"

Having fun at the playground with Grandpa!

Andrew kept telling Grandpa to bounce it higher!

Jonathan loved the little slide

Posing in front of a little cabin at the playground.

This was the view of "Death Mountain" the day after we drove over it. So glad this wasn't the weather we encountered!

After dinner, we went for a drive through Estes to see if we could find some wildlife. We found this herd of elk feeding at a cemetery of all places and this is how close we were to them.

They looked at us, but never were afraid enough of our cameras to run.

On our last day in Colorado, we took in some of Estes Park. Mostly the little shops and then after the boys took a great afternoon nap, we went to a little amusement park. It was perfect for the boys. They had a little train and Go-Karts, which were the real hit of the day. They also had mini-golf, which we decided to skip because you had to play 18 holes and it was close to dinner time. So we went next door to a cute little playground by the marina at Lake Estes.

After using up some extra energy at the playground, we headed to dinner. It was still threatening rain after dinner, so we went for a drive a little ways up the mountain looking for wildlife, and we were not disappointed. When we were starting to give up on seeing any and heading back into town, we came upon a large herd of elk feeding. We drove right up, practically next to them and started taking pictures. It was amazing to see! And I'm sure if we had let the boys out of the car they would've scared off the elk in about 2 seconds!

The next morning we headed for home. I wish I could say the drive was easy and uneventful, but I can't. As we drove out of Estes Park, down the mountain, none of us felt very good. Andrew kept saying his tummy was sick and Jonathan didn't say anything at all. We descended from around 9,000 feet to 5,000 in about a half hour. And all of sudden, Jonathan threw up. We had just reached a little town, so we pulled over and changed him and cleaned up the car the best we could and continued driving. And then somewhere in western Kansas, Andrew got a bloody nose. I tried to stop it by leaning into the backseat, but we once again had to pull over to care for him. We eventually got it stopped and drove the rest of the way without incident. We were very happy to see our house after 10 hours in the car!

All in all, it was a great trip and now the boys judge distance by asking, "Is it as far as Colorado?" And the other day Jonathan asked me while driving if we were still in Kansas? Umm, yes and we will be for quite a while.