memorial day fun...

monday was a busy day!
i headed out at 7:30 to get ready to walk in the memorial day parade with youth go.
we had about 15 kids join us for the parade including hannah...it was a fun time!
drew and max were headed to watch but missed us.

we dropped max off at grama's so we could get some work done at home.
it was a hot day...the perfect day for some hard work.
we removed the bricks in our backyard around one of our trees.
teddy came over to help and the two of us pulled up all the bricks and drew moved them to the side of the house.

after getting cleaned up and hydrated, we headed over to mom's for a cookout.
we pulled into the driveway and this is what we saw. :)

he was drenched!

max and hayden were playing in the water table and having a BLAST!

what a cheeseball!

i don't think he could have been any more soaked!

just take a look at hayden's face...you can just see the laughter!

such a cutie!

after the water fun we settled in for an awesome cookout. it was a great way to spend the holiday. celebrating with family and remembering those who fought and still fight for our freedom.

then it was time for ice cream!

sometimes at these family gatherings i just sit back and take it all in. the laughter, the smiles, the blessed feeling of being surrounded by those i love.

first cottage trip of the summer...

we travelled to the cottage for part of the memorial day weekend.
we went up saturday morning and stayed until sunday early afternoon.
for some reason i barely took any pictures, but here are the few that i have.

drew, lindsay and i went to the red oak winery for some wine tasting during max's naptime (thanks mom!) we enjoyed sampling some wines and relaxing with a glass of our favorite of the day. it was nice to sit back and chat and listen to some "interesting" live music.

i sure love this guy! :)

we brought back a bottle of wine for linda. drew decided to secure it safely in the carseat and buckled in buzz to protect it!

dada and max were wearing goofy hats.
here is our silly little boy!

and the ring-leader of the silliness!

thomas...

wearing thomas jammers...

and playing with thomas.

nothing could make an almost 2 year old boy happier! :)

hail...

watching the hail fall.
max thought they were balls and wanted to go outside and play with them.

it started with the sound of someone throwing things at our house.
there were about 10 or so large pieces of hail that fell in the backyard...about the size of a ping pong ball. then these small pea to marble sized ones just poured from the sky.

wow!

happy birthday hayden...

we travelled down for hayden's 2nd birthday party last weekend!

here is the birthday boy patiently waiting for his cupcake!

here he is blowing out his candles!

one down, one to go...

max must have been tired from all the playing.
he just sat there and licked the frosting off.

mmmm....

sugar!!!!

a little sidewalk chalk fun.

checking out hayden's sweet new ride.

bubble fun with his cousin!

thanks for the great party! we had so much fun!

boys night with dada...

every wednesday i work until 10pm.
max and dada have what they call "boys night."
usually it consists of pizza, time outside if it's nice, and tackling each other.
i found these pictures from a recent boys night.

dining with his new toy buffalo.
yes, he has a toy buffalo. dada and max went to menards together and max got to pick out a toy. of all the animals available, our son chose a buffalo. strange, i know.

apparently, dada made the buffalo a bib.

i have no words... i can only imagine what's to come! :)

my splurge...

and it's worth every penny!
we are loving this new coffee maker.

max's bathroom...

not sure if i ever posted pictures of max's bathroom.
so here are a couple!

fun at the park...

max and i picked hannah and teddy up from school on friday so that they could come over to play with max. we decided to head to the park after we had our snack.

max was on a mission!

peek!

teddy, max, and hannah on the teeter-totter.

i love this picture of max running across the field!!!

max enjoyed his first time on a tire swing. hannah and teddy made it extra fun for him.

all smiles!

max and momma playing in the little house.
he walked into this little wooden house and said, "momma in house too?" how could i say no! :)

starting to look like such a big boy!

we had a great time playing at the park. it's only a few blocks away from our house and i have a feeling we will spend many summer evenings playing there! :)

just a friday morning...

just a regular friday morning for max.

i got to make my coffee and come back to find my kid in a basket. at least he was sitting still enough to receive some kisses from maggie.

then he decided he wanted out but he was stuck.
so i heard, "momma, help you."

i decided to get his summer clothes out to wash them and put away some of the winter/spring stuff that was too small. i left the room, it got quiet, and i came back to everything in the "too big" bin being dumped out onto the floor!

after all that action and adventure, it was time for a little bit of relaxing and sesame street.