Parades and Parties

Having to work Thursday's again has really put a damper on my summer.  I missed Gopher Count because I had to work.  Luckily Erik took the day off so he could take the boys to the parade…by the way, parades on Thursday mornings?  Not at all convenient for the working crowd!

A bunch of the boy's friends happened to be at the parade too!

I love this picture.  It's a zoomed in picture from the original.  Guess what's coming up in the parade…a tractor!!  This kid LOVES tractors!

After the parade it's play time!!!

Erik said the boys couldn't get enough of the slide.  

Apparently Mason was shoving kids out of the way because he couldn't get up there fast enough.  I call Mason "My Little Playground Thug".  He's got 2 year old attitude with the size and strength of a 4 year old.

After play time it's fair food time!!!

Mini donuts!!  

Can you believe they actually saved a couple for me?!?!  I'm not sure if I would've done the same (or maybe I should say "could've")  :-)

They ran into our old neighbors, Michael and Taylor!!

What do you do when you run into old friends?  Share a step and a frozen treat, of course!!

The following weekend was Erik's sister, Erin and her husband, Kurt's, wedding celebration at the farm.  

We kind of clean up pretty well!!

Kade and cousin Carter.  Carter looks super cute, Kade looks super freaky.

That was the day Kade lost his tooth so instead of smiling like a normal human being, he thought he had to show everyone what was missing.

The day after the wedding picnic, we had a birthday party to attend!

Harper and Mason

No pressure, but if these 2 get married, we are more than set with super cute pictures of the super cute couple!

Kade's buddies from school!  

Nolan, Tucker, Kade and Charlie

It was Tucker's birthday party and his friends were more than willing to help him celebrate!

Celebrations, celebrations and celebrations!

We love summer.

I took a look back at June pictures and realized I've left out 2 posts worth of pictures!  It's been so busy I've been posting about our outings but I left out a fun night "in" we had a couple weeks ago.  It was pouring rain and the boys were having fun running and playing in it.  

There are a couple videos of Erik and I racing Kade in the rain too.  I've purposely left them out because:

1.  It wasn't my best run (read: Kade beats me, handily) and I'm just not ready to accept that yet (read:  I want a rematch)

2.  Kade made Erik take his shirt off for their race and no one wants to see a shirtless old man running in the rain!

3.  It turns out, the older I get the more I run like my mom.  That needs to be remedied STAT because that was one of the main sources of entertainment in my youth--watching my mom "run".  Karma--making fun of my mom has come back to haunt me!

Kade loves to pull his shorts up to get a laugh out of people.  It works too….cracks me up every time I look at the following pictures!

A rare moment of snuggling with my boys on the hammock while we watched the storm blow through.

My dad has been working on teaching Mason how to wink.

This is the best he's got so far...

Personally, I think that is the best wink I've ever seen!  But, I may be a bit biased.

Black eyes...

…and missing teeth.

Must've been one heck of a wrestling match!  

Just kidding, Mason is crazy sensitive to bug bites.  He swells up and gets giant welts wherever the mosquitoes get him.  And mosquitoes LOVE Mason!  He can have 20 bites while the rest of us don't get any.  Poor kid.  The only thing I can think of is that he's super delicious, I mean I can't resist him either so I can't blame the darn skeeters!  But, one little bite by his eye caused a swollen, black eye for 2 days.  

It just so happens that Kade lost his first tooth on the same day as Mason's eye.  So, they both looked a bit rough!!

Camping, Camping and More Camping

We've gone camping 3 out of the last 4 weekends...I'd say our summer is off to a great start!!  Here's a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures documenting our fun.

 Harper and Mason

Seriously…could these 2 be any cuter?!?!

Charlie and Kade

Could these 2 be any cuter?!?!  ha ha ha

The first night and these 2 were out cold.

Friday's are always so exciting exploring the campground and planning out all of the activities for the weekend!  Not to mention the build up of excitement from all week.  The kids are usually extra crazy, and extra tired, on Friday nights.

 Swim all day...

Party all night…

Makes for extra tired kids on the second night as well!!

Last weekend's camping trip unintentionally fell on Father's Day weekend.  Erik and I were reading the list of activities at the campground and noticed they all had something to do with Dad's and Kids.  We looked at each other and said, "Is it Father's Day on Sunday?!?"  Needless to say, Erik did not get a card or any gifts because I didn't exactly plan ahead :-)

The lucky guy did get to spend the weekend with all of these crazy kids though!

Owen and Mason

Little Miss Ellie Belle and me

Owen, Jack, Kade and Ellie

Owen, Ellie, Mason, Rylee and Kade

I love this picture of all the kids (minus Jack, he was already home and in bed--a day of camping is rough on an almost 1 year old!)

I can't believe I got 5 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time!  Miracles do happen!

I couldn't pick a favorite "silly face" picture so I posted them both :-)

A clown car

With Owen in charge.  This isn't going to end well.

The best we could do for a family picture…

at least the kids are cute :-)

On Sunday, Father's Day, we (by we, I mean, Kade) did a little fishing before packing up our weekend of fun and heading back to reality.  Can't wait to go again!!!

The fish slayer and his little side kick

Mason on the dock...

…requires extra vigilance...

…and an extra strong hold courtesy of Mom :-)

He was not happy taking this picture.

We didn't have any bait so we used leftover breakfast sausage.

Apparently fish like sausage (I hope it didn't kill them…oooops) because Kade caught this big guy after only 5 minutes of fishing!!

Erik doing his fatherly duty, taking the fish off the hook...

and letting the kids touch it before throwing it back.

Kade was way too busy sausage fishing to be bothered by pictures but look at how cute that little guy on the right is!!  Seriously…those cheeks.

My new favorite picture of all time of Mason…man, I love that smile!!!