A couple of videos

My big girl swinging in a big kid swing

feelin' the music

Ayden is 3!

Yep, you read that right, my baby boy is the big THREE! I know, I can't believe it either! He is such a sweetheart, too. As I'm writing this he is sitting on a chair with his guitar playing a song for us and periodically asking, "how is everybody doing?" I don't know where he learned to work the crowd, but it is definitely adorable! The other day, he came into the room I was in playing his guitar. He stood there and rocked out for a moment before saying, "It's not louder enough!". Then he looked down at his right hand and said in all seriousness, "I think I need a new hand."

His cousin, Laine, loves knock knock jokes and told a bunch the last time we saw him. Ayden must have picked up on it because he just came up to me and told this joke:

Ayden: knock knock

Me: who's there?

Ayden: apple

Me: apple who?

Ayden: um, twenty! ahahahahaha

And to his daddy a minute later:

Ayden: knock knock

Daddy: who's there?

Ayden: banana

Daddy: banana who

Ayden: um, taxi! ahahahahaha

Ayden's birthday was on Saturday the 11th, so I know this post is way late. But in my defense, we didn't have his party until last Sunday, the 19th. And you have to allow a few days for me to be a lazy bum.

His party was very fun! Eric's parents graciously allowed us to invade their house for it, as they have more room and a nicer back yard. We rented a big blow-up slide, that Ayden didn't even go down once, but most of the other kids at the party enjoyed. Ayden spent most of his time in the sandbox. He got lots of great gifts and was super excited about all of them

The sand box was a big hit!

The birthday boy

Cousin Toby

Cousin Sage

Grandma Debbie made and frosted the cake, and I decorated it.

Hmm, I think she got the short end of the stick on this one.

Seeing his cake for the first time. Try to contain yourself, kid. Jeesh!

As we sang him Happy Birthday, he was trying

very hard to keep a straight face and not smile.

He finally cracked a little by the end of the song

He got:

new strings for his guitar from Papa, Boyd, and Doyle that

I didn't get a picture of because Papa just handed them to

Ayden as soon as he arrived. Papa did tell me that Ayden

was very appreciative of them. After all, it's hard to make

beautiful music on a guitar with only three strings.

a nerf gun from Grandma and Grandpa Knepprath

a remote control motorcycle from

Grandma and Grandpa Ackerman

cool guy sunglasses from Mom and Dad

a mystery horn from Mom and Dad.

I wonder what that could be for . . . hmmm

fun, swimming penguins for the bathtub from Aunt

Brandy, Uncle Rob, Toby, and Levi

A shovel and pail to play in the sandbox from

Uncle Kevin, Aunt Clarissa, Sage, Andy, and Dakota

and a new bike from Mom, Dad, and Anna!!!

I'm sure inside he is VERY excited,

it just hasn't made it's way out yet

trying out his new bike in the driveway

I just realized that I have no pictures of the big slide. I guess I was too busy visiting to take any pictures of the kids having fun on it.

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrate his birthday with us, he loved all of your thoughtful gifts! And thank you again to Eric's parents for letting us invade your house, and making all that great food. And to you Aunt Pam for your delicious potato salad!

A love story

The first thing Anna says pretty much every morning is, "Baby?" as she searches the crib, making sure Baby hasn't escaped during the night. Last night, Eric put Anna in her crib without Baby, so she asked for her. Eric didn't want to go downstairs and get her, so he brought Anna a different baby doll that was already upstairs. She pushed it away and pointed downstairs and told him, "Baby!". Anna absolutely LOVES her baby doll! She always makes sure that Baby is fed and she often tries to wrap her in a blanket, although she's not very good at that yet. She loves to put Baby in the stroller and stroll her around the house and she will even put her in the crib sometimes.

Making sure Baby is fed before their "outing"

I'm the one that wrapped Baby in the blanket.

Anna asked me to do it because she

can't really do a good wrap job yet.

Baby has everything she could ever want.

She is warm, fed, on-the-go, and Anna even

made sure she had a toy.

Isn't that the cutest!

I know you are wondering about Anna's interesting clothes.

This is what she slept in.

Daddy dressed her in her pjs, need I say more?

The Takedown

God and Country Festival

Yesterday evening, we went to the 42nd annual God and Country Festival in Nampa. The entertainment included several Christian bands, a skydiver trailing a huge American flag, and fireworks! We had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out together. The fireworks were a big hit, too. Ayden needed earplugs before he could enjoy them, but Anna couldn't take her eyes off the sky! She was oohing and aahing right along with everyone else (literally). As we were leaving, Ayden kept saying, "that was totally awesome!"

I just had my little camera, so these photos are not very good quality.

Showing some patriotism

"Wanna see this cool piece of grass?"

"Whistling" for the band

Showing off his moves

Trying to make a whistle with a piece of grass

After quite a few tries she actually did get it to whistle!

Grandma entertaining Anna for a bit

Nothing says patriotism more than using the

American flag as a gun

Trying to get Mom's camera

An Aydenism

Right now, at lunch:

Ayden: "Mama, you need to wash my hands!"
Me: "Why?"
Ayden: "Because. They are all graham crackerey."

Playing at the park and washing Daddy's truck

Yep, more pictures of playing at the park. I know it gets repetative, but I just can't help but want to show off my cute kiddos. These were taken last Thursday.

Love the hair!

Love the cheeks!

Ready, 1 . . 2 . . 3 . .Go! Tryin' her hand at tamin' a wild mustang Stick out your tongue. It's rad! All the cool kids are doing it.

Caught him midair (well, close enough) She's a climber
Monday we all went out front while Eric washed his truck. It was quite warm out, but pleasant in the shade.

Anna brought this trike out of the garage and spent most of her time on it. Of course, she can't reach the pedals, so she doesn't go anywhere. (Btw, I was playing with the black and white setting on my camera)


I love this one!




She looks like such a big, grown up girl!


There's that tongue again


Et tu, Ayden?


Getting a running start to hit the baseball off the tee


I can envision a Cardinal's jersey on him already!

Resting between innings

In these next three, Ayden was smiling because I asked him to. His cheesy smile isn't so cheesy anymore (thank goodness!). He is getting to be quite the good little poser.