The Iowa Ladies

The long over-due update of our summer happenings thus far.  We counted down to this day for months, the arrival of the three aunts from Iowa (my sisters) and one of their friends (whom Sam really admires).  They were with us for two weeks and on the days Hans was off work we packed in what fun we could.  On the other days we tried to relax, enjoy the nice company, play at the park, catch some rays, and eat lots of sweets :)  They flew in on Kelsey's birthday and the ladies wanted to celebrate by going shopping.  One of the days we road tripped down to Oregon and spent the day in Seaside on the shore.  This was also Jill's first glimpse of the ocean.  Another sunny day was spent hiking in North Bend up to rattlesnake ledge (the same hike I did last summer at nearly 9 months pregnant).  Hans entertained by taking them practice shooting and also to go horseback riding.  While they were here our good friend, Lacy, took Britt's senior photos (see www.lacyjohnsonphotography.blogspot.com ).  Of course, almost a whole day was dedicated to shopping at the big mall, most of those hours were spent trying on many styles in Forever 21....these ladies LOVE this store!  Thanks for visiting Kelsey, Britt, Maks, and Jill....we missed you right after you left.  We had a  lot of fun and I very much appreciated the extra hands and laughs you shared.

The "besties" enjoying the waves

Our cookie bake-off....Kelsey and Britt's PB Chocolate Chip won hands-down!

What a difference a year makes...Sam's a foot taller and I think I'm a foot thinner :)

We all made it to the top...motivated by a handful of jelly beans to enjoy at the top.

This is all Hans' doing....they all had fun acting tough.

Our homemade tye-dye shirts....I think it may be Sam's new favorite shirt.

We took time to take some photos of us four sisters...I think this one is my favorite.

A Whole 2 HANDS!

That's right, Zeke is officially a whole 10 MONTHS old!!  I am late on my post, but we've been busy with visitors from Iowa...more on that to follow.  Ezekiel is trying really hard to crawl, but one of his darn legs just keeps getting in the way.  However, he has found some creative ways to scoot around on his bottom, pushing himself backwards, standing until his little legs give out, and grunting loudly and scowling at anyone who won't help him accomplish the goal he has his big eyes set on.  This last month he's eating lots more regular food.  He LOVES frozen blueberries (actually any berry), Nana's meatloaf recipe was a hit, and is always up for a freshly toasted piece of bread.  He's drinking out of a sippy cup pretty well and even manages to give his high chair tray a good cleaning in the process.  Zeke doesn't fight his naps as long as he has Pix (his lovie) to cuddle with and almost always wakes with a contagious smile on his face.  We are closing in on that big 1 to fast, but we are soaking up all the cuddles we can in the mean time.

Our 9 Month Old

It's hard to believe Zeke is 9 months already, but time continues to fly by.  I snapped a few quick pictures of him on his 9 month birthday and am learning all kinds of new tricks with my photoshop program.  He continues to be a happy baby boy and brings us joy every day.  He's learning all kinds of new tricks, check them out below.  We retired the well known monkey shoes...that's just further proof that he's growing.

The now out-grown monkey shoes that Zeke wore for 6+ months.

Long Over Due

We decided to grow Sam's out for a few months to see what it would look like.  It actually gets pretty curly when he is exposed to some humidity.  Sam decided it was time to cut it though and as we were cutting it I said "Your hair is all gone!", he got really worried and said "Mom, do I have any hair left!"  Everything is taken literally these days by Sam.

A 3 1/2 Year old

Celebrating Sam's half birthday with one of his favorites-rice krispy treats

Sam on his last day of preschool for the year.

Hans' Day

We tried to do some of Hans favorite things for father's day.  Sam helped him do a little work on the vehicles and then Hans got to take his boys horseback riding.  Hans always says that the best cookies are chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips...so we made him a big cookie with chocolate chips only on half of it.  Sam worked really hard on the crown and kept telling Hans it says "#1 dad on it" because we think he is #1.

Some "Light" Yard Work

We had a few stumps to dig up in our front yard and Hans was able to borrow this tractor do help with this "light" yard work.  Sam was in heaven and took his job as "supervisor" very seriously.  He was so excited for Hans to pull up with the tractor and was very sad to see it leave.  They had a lot of fun getting dirty and playing in the yard with this toy.