Rainbows Awards Night

For the past 8 months Sawyer has participated in the Rainbows Club at the Crosspoint Assembly of God church. Every week he looked forward to going and always proud to wear his Rainbows shirt. His teachers were Miss Donna Smalley and Miss Shari Meyer. At awards night he was presented with 7 badges that he had comleted! Class Moto: "We are helpers" Verse: "We are...helpers" 2 Corinthians 1:24 Mice (Helpers) Badge: "We are...helpers" 2 Corinthians 1:24 - I can be God's helper. Owls (The Bible) Badge: "I have hidden your word in my heart" Psalm 119:11 - The Bible is God's Word. Tigers (Wonderfully Made) Badge: "I am ...wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14 - God made me wonderful. Turkeys (Thanking) Badge: "Give thanks to the Lord" Psalm 107:1 - I can say, "Thank You." Zebras (To Be Like Jesus) Badge: "Jesus...went around doing good" Acts 10:38 - I want to be like Jesus. Butterflies (Forgiveness) Badge: "God forgave all our sins" Colossians 2:13 - Jesus forgives. Camels (God's Gift) Badge: "Thanks be to God for his...gift" 2 Corinthians 9:15 - Jesus is God's greatest gift.

Mason's 2nd Birthday!

Dear Mason, Happy 2nd Birthday!!! We are so blessed to have you as part of our family. Your personality is one that brings balance to this family. You don't say much but you say a lot with your expressions! We already know that you will be the class clown because you are able to make everyone around you laugh. You are also one that lives life at your own pace. We are pretty sure your first sentence will be "Come on Mason", "This way Mason" or "Let's Go Mason" because that is what you hear from us quite a bit. You always seem to be doing your own thing and discovering things on your own time. We love it! You gently remind us that there is always time to stop when we are running late to watch the ant cross the sidewalk, take notice of the fly on the window or take the longer way to make sure we walk in the puddle. We love you dearly Mason and thank you for teaching us so much in just two years. Love ~ Mom

We started your birthday celebration a couple of days early (May 26th) so that you could open your present over the weekend since Daddy had to work on your birthday.

We got you a Strider bike! It's a bike with no pedals so that you learn how to balance first before peddaling. You are always trying to get on Sawyer's bike so we knew you would love it!

You jumped right on and took off!

The morning you woke up and turned "2" you were not happy that I wanted to take your picture before I got your cup of milk.

Once your got your milk and greek yogurt with berries you were much more happy and willing to let me take your picture!

Apparently turning 2 is very hard work!

We went to Daddy's work to eat your birthday cake with him. All of Daddy's friends at work even sang "Happy Birthday" to you!

Now it's time to dish up and dig in unless of course you are the birthday boy then you can .....

eat your seconds right out of the box!!! Your words at 2 years: 1) Mom 2) Down 3) Cup 4) More 5) No 6) Papa 7) MieMie 8) Ride 9) Cookie 10) I'm Done 11) Carter 12) Gone 13) Poop 14) Pee 15) Tractor 16) Baby 17) Shhh 18) Shoe 19) Sock 20) Ball 21) Yup 22) Uh-Ah 23) Why 24) Outside 25) Bye 26) Dog 27) Out 28) Cheese 29) Duck 30) Cow 31) Up 32) Hi 33) Lock 34) Apple 35) Chip 36) Cop 37) Hot 38) Hotdog 39) Popcorn 40) Stuck 41) Truck 42) Moo 42) Daddy 43) Juice 44) Tree 45) Woof Woof 46) Bike 47) Ouch 48) Train

The Hilger's in WI

Our friends, Dave and Jenna, came to visit us (May 22nd - 26th)! We did not have anything big planned while they were here but highly enjoyed doing "life" together. They stayed at Mothermae's B&B (the apartment attached to my parent's house) and then hung out with us during the day.

Dave just completed his schooling for RN and fixed Mason right up when he randomly got a bloody nose.

It was a lot of fun just relaxing, hanging out and playing games together.

Sawyer came to Dave's rescue when he needed his back to be cracked.

We did venture out to the Dells to eat breakfast at Paul Bunyan's, played at a park and played miniature golf together. It was Mason's first time golfing!

We also got our fire pit going but once we all got settled in it started to rain; so we made s'mores inside! The morning that they left we all went to the Farmer's Market in Madison and to Hilldale Mall to find Dave some new shoes (he really needed them).

It was a wonderful time just being together and catching up. Thank you Dave & Jenna for making the trip up to see us!

Carter is 4 months!

Your brothers showing you all of your books ~ 04.23.12

04.27.12

First time in my highchair! ~ 05.06.12

05.08.12

First time in the Johnny Jumper! ~ 05.08.12

Moved up to 3-6 months clothes! ~ 05.09.12

Playing with the toy Mie Mie made me for the first time! ~ 05.10.12

D5 #14

What a FUN day! The weather was absolutely beautiful; it was sunny and hot, at one point the car said 93! We first headed to the Sassy Cow Creamery for Hay Day. They had pedal tractors which Sawyer absolutely loved and Mason couldn't quite reach the pedals but still had fun.

Then we got to watch a tractor bale hay! We were able to get to close that the tractor at one point plopped a hay bale out right in front of us! We then got to watch them pick them up with a forklift and then take it to the machine that wraps the bales.

The best thing about Sassy Cow Creamery is the ICE CREAM! Tom had the Blueberry Cheesecake, I had the Mocha Mud Pie, Sawyer had Bluemoon and Mason had Bubblegum.

They also have some pretty good tasting milk. Carter was proud to carry around his 2 pints of Chocolate Milk!

Once we got home Daddy and Sawyer went golfing while Mason and Carter were supposed to take their naps. Mason never did fall asleep so he got to enjoy both of the beaters after I made cookies for treats at church.

For dinner we all headed to the newly opened Pizza Ranch. All in all it was a very successful day in making lots of memories and enjoying being together as a family!

Maia's 18th Birthday Brewer Party!

Today we got to help Maia celebrate her 18th birthday by going to Miller Park and watching the Brewers take on the Cubs. Even though we did lose, 8-2, we still had a blast!

Now only did we get to hang out in a suite and eat delicious food but we also had visitors come into our suite as well. We first had a face/arm painter join us. She even gave the birthday girl some pretty cool glasses!

Bernie Brewer also came to see us - that was pretty special!

Then there was clown that came that made balloons animals/flowers/swords for us. Mason had a lot of fun beating up Papa with his sword!

And when we weren't eating or visiting with our guest it was nice to just hang out with each other!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so BLESSED that God choose me to be the mom to Sawyer, Mason and Carter! They light up my life every single day. I have learned so much from them and am learning to enjoy the little things in life. They have showed me that's its okay to have dirt under your toenails, to stop and look at a caterpillar even though you are on a mission or to waste the day away just by playing outside and enjoying God's creation! Today they blessed me with roses and wildflowers, Oreo cookies, a t-shirt that says "#1 Mom" and a gift card to Starbucks!

Sawyer also used his bucks that he earned at Rainbows and bought me something special. He then traced his hands which I will forever cherish as he continues to grow.

Spring Fling

Every year MieMie & Papa host the Annual Spring Fling - this year's theme was Cowboy!!! The day before the party Sawyer and I decided to help out with the decorations and we made a Sheriff's Station out of a cardboard box.

We all made sure we had on our Cowboy and Cowgirl gear on!

Carter and Nolan even had shirts on that said "Kickin' it with Grandpa/Grandma"

There is always tons of food, games, prizes and FUN!

The grandkids thought it was pretty cool to ride around in one of Papa's feeders!

The sure sign of a fun-filled day is when a little boy falls asleep in the arms of his Papa while riding the 4-wheeler!