A Visit from the North

 Uncle Eddie is going to be starting Med School soon.  They were up in Alaska and flew in to visit for a bit before school starts. Since we live right close to the airport we got to see them for a day!  It was awesome!

They got here at about 1am and after a quick hello went right to sleep.  Being used to Alaska time they all slept in till almost ten.  (I would too after a long traveling day, and that's about 7am Alaska time) I tell you we had some super impatient boys waiting for Uncle Eddie to emerge from his room.  : )    When they were finally ready to wake up it was giggles and smiles all around!

 These two are 3 days apart in age.  Rowan is the older, more mature one.  : )

 Cousins are the best!

 Since is was Chick Fil A's dress like a cow, get a free meal day Kaitlyn and I made some quick not so fancy cow costumes for everyone and we went out for dinner. (That is our friend Taylor (Matt's old missionary companion from Argentina) in the background grabbing his sons head.... I thought you might enjoy that Liz.  I'm sure he is saying, "Hey Walker!")

 Hannah and Rowan were pretty weary of the Cow man, but Walker was all smiles and giggles.  Such a cutie!


It felt slightly awkward to get up to the register, order and have them say, "Your order comes to $32.something, but your total is $0! Thanks for coming to Chick Fil A!"

I imagined that is how it will feel when we get to heaven, and have offered up our paper plate's worth of a costume worth of works and faith throughout our lives
and hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the Joy of the Lord."

 Daddy Rowan Eddie Kaitlyn Heath Me Houston Hannah     

It was SO fun to have you guys for a day! Hope to see you soon!



We drive past this sign almost every day we go somewhere.  It always makes me smile.


Since I wasn't driving and had the camera I finally got a picture of it!

Isn't it great. : )

Magic!

 Our great friend Levi invited us to go to the Magic House with him. We have lived here for 3+ years and never have been before.  It was SO super fun!

 The boys made parachutes and sent them flying up the tube.It was awesome.

The fishing pond.  After you caught a fish you could takeit up stream to put it in at the mouth. Then could chase it back down to the pond.  Houston could have done it all day long I'm sure.

 Giant forts

 Hannah loved the water table.  I looked away for a second to help Houston with the dam he was building (like right next to Hannah) and a kind woman said, "excuse me mam, is this girl yours...."  Hannah had climbed up onto the table and was totally SOAKED! She didn't care, just kept playing.

 She also loved this mirrored room. So many Hannah's.

 I thought this was brilliant.  A wall of lights with all different kinds of switches for little ones to play with.  Our kids loved them.  I thought it might be fun in a mouse house or something someday.

 This was also super fun. The bells rang as the ball went down the track.

 Build your own lego car and race it down the track... genius!

 Giant bean stock to climb several stories.

 The bubble room was a huge hit too.... pretty much everything was awesome!

 Ever been inside a bubble?  These two have.

 Giant hockey.

The boys had so much fun with this.  I was just a board on a pulley that you could pull yourself up on. 

 I tried to get the kids to do the static ball, but they were too afraid. They had fun watching me do it though.

 This room was so cool. The walls are made of a special shadow catching material.  You strike a pose, wait for the light to flash, then move away and check out your shadow. : )  It repeats every 15 seconds or so.

 The boys absolutely loved the art room.  It was so fun to go in and make a mess.

 They had walls of materials and tools you could use to create.  Kid heaven!






























Hannah even tried to decorate her bottle.

July

 Houston loves to make sure Hannah is, "Put dressed up."

He's always bringing me skirts and bows and sparkly things to put on her.

 These boys.... they are just too cute.

 So we were having mashed potatoes for dinner one night. Matt came into the kitchen and suggested using the apple cutter instead of chopping the potatoes. It worked like a charm. I know how I'll be chopping potatoes from now on.

 Hannah always holds her milk from the bottom. It's so cute.

Heath was asking how much longer it was going to be until we left to go to the park.  I told him it would be about 10 minutes.  I just had to get everyone ready and change Hannah's diaper etc....

He said, "It will take longer than ten minutes.  I know Mom.  Have faith."

 Right now we're going through about 8 or 9 gallons of milk a week.  We all love milk!

 Hannah's pretty dress pajamas, thanks Houston. : )

 This is Hannah's new excited face.  Every time she does it we all crack up.

One day Houston started telling me a story, "Mom, yesterday when you were dead...  well, you weren't dead, you were gone with the Young Women."
 I guess that's how he feels about me leaving him to be with the girls at church.

 While we were at the zoo one day the Children's hospital was giving out little first aid kits to all the kids.  After a day of Heath carrying it everywhere and even sleeping with it, I may have made it disappear so that Hannah wouldn't eat the contents.

Later that day Heath said, "Mom I think I need to make a 2nd day kit, because I lost my 1st day kit."

 These boys still love everything Knight.  I love Houston's face!

 There's her excited face again.

 Houston is crazy.

 Hannah is obsessed with shoes. When people come over she goes through and tries on all of their shoes.



She is also super good at saying Shooooz.

 I love how long it takes her to put on a pair.

 Little toes in flip flops are just too cute. : )

 Our friends gave us their old wooden train set. The boys have been in little boy heaven.

 One day we had to go up to Matt's school. Its in a bit of a shadier area of town.  Heath was talking about how weird it felt there. He asked why people would ever want to live in the city like that. I told him I didn't know. I guessed that it's probably where they grew up and they just feel comfortable there.

He was quiet for a while... then said, " Yeah I grew up in the country so that is where I feel comfortable. Our couches at our house are in the city so they are not very comfortable, but Grandpa's couches are in the country so they are way more comfortable."

 Hannah has figured out how to take off her clothes.

Quite often when I go to get her out of her crib after she takes a nap she has stripped down to her diaper.

 She also loves to dance on the table.

She also loves Heath.  She loves to follow him around and play with him.

She calls both of the boys Heath.  If you point to each of the boys and ask her who they are she answers Heas for both of them.
























We gave the kids a present.....  (I love Hannah's face as she watches her brothers ferociously tear into the package!)

 Inside the box was a baby doll.  It took some hints, but they finally figured it out....

(btw, Hannah loves the baby doll. She pushes it around everywhere in that tiny little stroller.)