{BirtHdaYs aLL mOntH loNg}

It seems like we celebrated Ayden and Jeremiah's birthdays the entire month of July!!  That seems to always be what happens when our family has a birthday!!  We celebrated at Grandma Brenda & Grandpa Gary's house.....the kids always love to help other people open their presents.....

Ayden got more legos.....

And some cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle gear.....

Maddix makes a pretty bad A ninja......LOL!!!!

Dang he's getting old!!  :)  When you're that old, you have to light the candles on your birthday cake with a cooking torch!!  HA!

Ayden had a Ninja Turtle cake!!  :)

"Happy Birthday To You......"

Make a wish.....we needed to turn the fans on after Jeremiah blew out his candles.....there was a LOT of smoke!!!!  

Ayden got MORE presents from out of state family!!!  :)  Lucky duck!!!

My mom and Jeremiah have birthdays 1 day apart, so we celebrated their birthdays when my parents came to visit!!  :)

Jeremiah and I got a sitter and went to sushi for dinner the weekend before his birthday and then again on his actual birthday!!  My two favorites.....hubby and sushi!!  :)

{BiG bOy MadDix}

He may not be 2 yet, but this kid is ready for school!!!  He is such a little genius baby!!!  Check out how smart he is with his math facts!!!!  :)  Hehe!!!  

Maddix is starting to become more fun because he is talking and interacting with us more!!  He is such a copy cat and always wants to do what his brother and sissy are doing!!!

He learned how to take his pants and diaper off and I found him like this when I checked on him during a nap one day!!  Luckily, he hadn't peed all over yet!!!  We decided we either had to start duct taping his diapers (we had to do the same with Ayden....haha) or potty train!!  So we potty trained!!  :)

He's becoming such a big boy and loves our trips to the park and loves to take his Puppi for a walk!!  :)

And hold Daddy's hand.....

He's following in Daddy's footsteps and likes to "tinker" on things!  He saw me with a screwdriver the other day....unscrewing a toy to put new batteries in....and now I often find him with a screwdriver trying to do the same!!!

He finally experienced his 1st timeout.....for almost killing Puppi!  He likes to torture her and pretty much body slams her every chance he gets!!  Poor dog!!  :(  I put him on the stairs for time out and walked away.....when I turned around, he looked so cute, so I had to take a picture!!  :)

He is a super picky eater still, but he sure loves cheese!!!  This is his face when we get the shredded cheese (and whipped cream) out......he wants us to stuff his face with cheese!!  "Gimme some cheese please"!!

I seriously love this face.....and I love how he looks in a hat!!!  :)

{biKinG baBy}

I know they say you shouldn't compare your kids cuz they all do different things at different ages!  But I really love to compare who's doing what and how old the others were when they started doing that thing!  Maddix's favorite thing is to be outside and doing something active.....whether that is riding a scooter, balancing on a skateboard, running in the middle of the street dodging oncoming cars (eeek), or running away from us as fast as he can!!  We can now add riding bikes to his long list of loves!!  Did he really have a choice being in this family?!?!  Ummm.....NO!!!  Jeremiah pretty much wanted to get him on a bike just minutes after he was born!!  And Maddix has seen everyone else ride around on their bikes, so he wanted to join in on the fun!!  

We got this little blue Specialized bike with 12 inch wheels for Ayden.....Ayden is exactly Maddix's age in this pic....

And then when it was Zoey's turn, Jeremiah had it painted pink....Zoey was 3 1/2 in this pic....

Now it's back to Maddix and Jeremiah had it painted blue again!  We have definitely gotten our money's worth with this bike!!  Jeremiah took the pedals off so it has been transformed into a balance bike for Maddix right now!  We can't believe how soon he is starting!!  Jeremiah's goal is to have him riding around by the time he turns 2....hmmm....only 2 months to go and I am not sure it's gonna happen?!!?  Both Ayden and Zoey were about 3 1/2 when they learned how to ride without training wheels, so we will see if Maddix can break their record!!  :)

But he sure is dang cute on that thing....

And he would scoot up and down and up and down the street ALL DAY LONG if I let him....

That's a proud Daddy right there....

Here's a little video of his 1st ride....

{JuLY 4tH JubiLeE}

It's taken me forever to sit down and get these pics on the blog from our 12 day vacation to Big Bear over the 4th of July!  It probably has something to do with the fact that I had over 1,000 pics that I took and had to go through!  Oh my!

We had THE. BEST. TIME!!!  It was really one of my most favorite vacations in a REALLY long time....right up there with our trip to Puerto Vallarta with my family and our house boating trip to Lake Powell with Jeremiah's family....both trips when Ayden was a little tiny baby!  It's funny how much fun you can have in your own backyard!!!!  That's one of my favorite things about Big Bear....it's so close, yet feels so far away!!  :)

We were super spoiled by my parents.....every day consisted of Jeremiah & I sleeping in til 7:00 or 8:00 am (which NEVER happens when we're at home....and in fact hasn't happened since before we were parents), we would walk into the kitchen (usually smelling breakfast cooking) and see the different choices of activities/things we could do that day written on a white board by my mom, we would go out on the boat AT LEAST once every day and most every day, either one or both of my parents would stay back home while Maddix napped so we could go out on the boat and not worry about him jumping over board (because he would TOTALLY do that)!  For some reason, Maddix becomes a SUPER napper in Big Bear.....he slept most days from 11 am til 4 pm!  Crazy!!  Some days we were out on the boat in the early evenings and I would get a text from my mom saying "dinner is ready when you are" and we would come back to the cabin to an AMAZING dinner!!  There was only 1 day that we had "leftovers" and other than that, we were BBQing and eating good in the neighborhood!!  :)  Kids would take a bath right before bed and then crash for the night after a hard day of fun!  We pretty much woke up, put on our swimsuits and wore them all day until we showered in the evening!!  I didn't wear makeup or do my hair for 12 days!!!  It was the BEST!!!  After the kids went to bed, we would sit outside, under the stars, by the firepit, talking with my parents!!  And then we would go to bed, wake up the next day and do it ALL OVER AGAIN.....every day for TWELVE days!!!!  :)  It was heaven!!  Now can you see why it was an amazing vacation?!?!  

We drove up after Jeremiah got off work on Thursday, June 27th.....Ayden's 7th birthday!!  :)  We always end up being up in Big Bear right around Ayden's birthday and he loves that!!  We stopped at McDonald's on the way up because that is what Ayden of course wanted for dinner!  When we got there, we weren't there for long before Ayden was ready to rip into his birthday presents from Grammy & Grandpa that were waiting for him!!

He got a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles DVD, a Ninja turtle action figure and Ninja turtle Legos!!!  

I love the gift of Legos......I always say that a gift of legos is a gift for Ayden.....and for ME!!!!  Pretty much because it guarantees that he will be quiet and busy for a good 3 hours!!  :)  Legos......BEST GIFT EVER!!!!  He quickly got to work since he didn't have much time before bed.....

Maddix found some trinkets that he was interested in and there just so happened to be a little "seat" that fit him perfectly.....so he sat down and played here for a while...this became one of his most favorite spots in the cabin!  :)

Zoey wasn't feeling so hot earlier that day, she didn't want to eat McDonald's for dinner (that's when you know they MUST be sick, right??) and by the time we got to the cabin, she wasn't feeling very good AT ALL!!  Good thing Grammy was right there.....Grammy's always know how to make you feel all better!!  :)

Here was our agenda for Day #2, Friday, June 28th......

Jeremiah and I slept in the "little cabin" the entire time and the kids slept in the big cabin with Grammy and Grandpa!  When I walked into the kitchen (at 8:00 am), I found Maddix drinking his milk and sitting with Grandpa while he drank his coffee and read the newspaper.....

Zoey was busy making blueberry muffins with Grammy.....

Jeremiah "worked from home" on Friday....he was happy to set up his "office" in the garage where my parents have a workspace!  Since he was working this day, the kids and I just hung around the cabin and played all day waiting for him to finish!

Zoey......(and Maddix) heading up to "Critter Cave"!!  Critter Cave is the room that my dad finished when the garage was built a couple years ago!  Hanging out in Critter Cave is one of the kids favorite things to do at the cabin!

Yes this is where I caught Maddix when he disappeared for a minute!!  On his way up to Critter Cave!!  Oh that boy is busy and definitely keeps us on our toes!!   I was so worried he was gonna fall, but thank goodness, he never did!

Ayden was at it again with the legos as soon as he woke up....and Grandpa helped!  :)

Grammy made a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday cake for Ayden!

Grammy gave the kids butterfly catchers and they did some exploring outside!!

Jeremiah finally finished working and it was BOAT TIME!!!! :)

Each day we went out, there was a group of baby ducks with their mama right off the dock.....the kids brought bread to feed them.....

Captain Ayden......

Captain Maddix....

Seriously, our kids LOVE the boat and LOVE the water!!  Since they were babies, we knew we wanted to raise kids that loved the boat and loved the water, so I couldn't be happier!!  :)

Fast boat rides are relaxing and make you sleepy!!  :)

I love how she is looking at him in this picture.....they sure love each other, these 2!!

Maddix wasn't having any fun at all!!  HAHA.....he LOVES to go FAST!!!!

Rock, paper, scissors to see who would be jumping in first....

Jeremiah doing his crazy flip for the day....

Maddix loved the water....even though it was a little chilly!!

After a fun boating adventure, we came back for dinner and got ready for bed....Maddix found his favorite little trinkets again....

We did a LOT of this.....

.....and a LOT of this.....

Here is our agenda for Day #3, Saturday, June 29th......it was gonna be the hottest day, so we knew we would be on the boat again all day!  :)

Zoey sometimes gets a little scared on the boat when we go fast.  She loves to go fast, but wants to be right next to me!  This time, she was up front with Ayden and I saw him with his arm around her.  I thought it was so cute, so I took a pic......and a little later, I saw Zoey turn her head a little so I could see her face and she was bawling!!!  Her face was covered in tears, but Ayden kept telling her "it's ok Zoey, I'm here to protect you"!!  :)  Big brothers are the BEST!!!

Jeremiah's back flip for the day.....

We swam.....

.....and jumped.....

....and relaxed....

When we drove by the floating bathroom, Ayden decided he had to go!  So we dropped him off for a minute....

When he jumped back in, I asked him if he washed his hands....he said he forgot and he said, "It's ok, I can just wash them in the lake"!  So he jumped out and washed his hands in the lake!  HA!  We laughed and thought he might as well just pottied in the lake too!!  LOL!

Then we went over to Kidd Cove, where the kids had been BEGGING us to go for DAYS!!!  They wanted to jump off the rocks that they always see kids jumping off!!  I of course was terrified of this idea, but when you have a daredevil husband, sometimes you just have to go with the flow!  So we went....and Jeremiah climbed the rock....and then DOVE off, even though I BEGGED him not to!!!  I had visions of him coming up with a broken neck and paralyzed for the rest of his life!!  I mean, he IS the same guy that dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool as a teenager and cracked his head open!!!  But he survived....and wasn't paralyzed....just lost his wedding ring underwater when he dove!!  :(  

After seeing Daddy do it, Ayden of course wanted his turn!!  So they went up together and Ayden was a little cautious and needed some coaxing!  They sat up there for a while...Ayden was stalling, but said he was just enjoying the view!!  :)  And then he got brave!!

Here's a video of their jumps!!

Maddix loves nuts!!!!

Here is our agenda for Day #4, Sunday, June 30th....

Maddix loves this rocking chair on the back porch.....he reminds me of an old man when he sits on it!!  :)

Love that smile....and those big brown eyes....and love those dimples....

We got the raft out on this day!!   We were just going slow to get out of the "no wake" zone and Ayden and Zoey were riding on the raft!  Zoey accidentally fell in and PANICKED!!!!!!  Ayden was trying to hold onto her for dear life and he kept saying, "uh....can I get a little help here?!?!"!!  LOL!  We thought that would've been the end of Zoey's relationship with the raft, but luckily it wasn't!!!!

It was my turn to get on the raft for a ride with Ayden and Zoey....and I was a little scared I must admit!!  We started going fast and bouncing around and flopping in and out of the waves and I might have been screaming and freaking out a little!!  It was funny cuz Ayden and Zoey kept telling me "it's ok Mommy, you're fine"!  HA!  Glad they were there to calm me!!  :)

I finally found out that Ayden had been holding his thumb up the whole time I was on....telling Jeremiah to go faster and faster!!!  Little stinker!!

Then Ayden went on by himself and he wanted to go fast and crazy!!  So Jeremiah took him for a joy ride and he got some air.....

And then did a face plant cuz he was bouncing around so crazy....

And that was that.....he was done for the day....and super MAD at Jeremiah!!!  HA!

Even when we got back to the dock, he was still mad and pouting.....

Craft time.....Grammy helped the kids make "flower dolls".....

Here is our agenda for Day #5....Monday, July 1st....

Ready for another day of boating.....

Grandpa came to drive the boat so Daddy could have a turn....

And he of course had to show off....

I love this picture of these 3 having a blast together....

Now it was Maddix's turn!!  I was a little nervous to take him on, so I held on for dear life!!  :)

He was super serious and then couldn't get enough of it!!!  Waving to Grandpa.....

Maddix's turn to show off....

Back to the cabin.....time to collect rolly polly's....

Lunchtime on the back porch....

Jeremiah took the kids down to the dock to fish......

Jeremiah wasn't feeling well.....

But a trip to the North Pole for ice cream cones and Root Beer floats made him feel better.....

Here is our agenda for Day #6.....Tuesday, July 2nd.....

We went to a yummy breakfast place in town.....I ran and got my exercise in and met everyone there!!  It was tasty!!  Then we went to check out the Farmer's Market with Grandpa while Grammy took Maddix back to the cabin for a nap!  The kids saw a flower booth and immediately decided they wanted to buy some flowers for Grammy!!  They know she loves her flowers!!  It was so thoughtful for them to think of all by themselves....they found the "PERFECT" ones that they thought she would LOVE....

Back to the cabin for the surprise....

"Close your eyes......"

She loved them.....

Homemade popsicle time....

We went for lots of walks.....this was cute....Maddix wanted to hold Grammy's hand on the walk.....

Here is our agenda for Day #7.....Wednesday, July 3rd.....

Ready for another day of boating!!!  I love this little diva.....

Seriously.....this NEVER gets old to me....I could do it all day, every day!!

Our neighbor friends from home got up to Big Bear this day.....Ayden and Zoey had been waiting for them all week!!!!  We met up at our favorite cove and when we saw them coming, the kids started flagging them down!!!  :)

There they are.....

It didn't take long and they were all together on the raft!!  Zoey, Hannah, Claire and Ayden.....

Tubing time for Hannah, Ayden and Zoey....

Typical Ayden always wanting to go faster.....thumbs up....

Genn's turn with her girls....

After some fun times with friends on the lake, we came back to the cabin to get ready for dinner!  We invited our friends for dinner!  :)  They brought our mail from home since we had been gone for almost a week and Ayden was excited that there was a package from his birth mom, Crystal, for his birthday!!!  He was SOOOOOOOO excited!!!  

After dinner we had Smores by the firepit!  It still wasn't dark yet, so you can't even see the fire in these pictures!!  HA!

Maddix loved the idea of making Smores!!

Ooooooooooooh.......

We brought our bounce house from home and set it up in the garage....it worked out perfectly!!!  :)  What a great fun day with friends!!

Here is our agenda for Day #8....Thursday, July 4th....

We had our traditional 4th of July Jubilee to get ready for, so Zoey helped me stuff the Ninja turtle pinata with candy..... 

Zoey stole my camera and took this pic of Jeremiah...hehe..... 

When we got our work done, we went out for a boat ride.....it was WAY too busy out on the water since everyone was there for 4th of July!!  So we didn't stay out long!!

I love having a little "first mate" on the boat.....I seriously walk on the boat and walk off....and do NOTHING!!!  So glad the boys in our family know what they're doing....and that Jeremiah is training Ayden  right....

When we approach the dock, Ayden puts the buoys out and grabs the rope....ready to jump out and make sure the boat doesn't hit the dock....

Zoey knows how to do nice knots.....cuz Grandpa is super meticulous about nice knots!!  :)

After boating, we waited....and waited....and waited.....for what seems like FOREVER (at least to a 7 year old).....for cousins to get there!!!  Ayden sat out on this rock for probably 30 minutes waiting for them!!  HA!

Thanks to Grammy, the kids always look super festive for 4th of July!!!!  :)

Oh these two.....and Zoey and her poses!!  HA!  :)

Hula hoopin'.....

Woohooo....cousins FINALLY arrived!!!!  Jeremiah quickly pointed out that my 13 year old nephew is officially taller than his 5'10" Auntie!!!  Ahhh.....scary!!! 

They brought their bunny, Cosmo, from home and my kids were super excited!!  Maddix couldn't believe his eyes.....

Again, this smile, those eyes and the dimples.....to die for!!!

Ayden holding Cosmo....

I think Maddix didn't realize that Cosmo was alive!!  He was super excited about him and wanted to hold him.....when we made him sit and Cooper went to put the bunny in his lap, Maddix freaked a little bit!!  LOL!!

Zoey loves Cosmo!!

Lots of playing going on.....riding bikes, scooters, skateboards.....

I love this pic....flash forward 10 years and I see Zoey carrying a little skateboard around for her boyfriend!! HA!

Ayden started passing out glow necklaces and fun stuff for fireworks on the boat!!

And since everyone was all dressed in their festive 4th of July gear, we had to take our traditional 4th of July cousin picture!!!  It's so fun to see how much they change every year!!  :)

Silly glasses pic!!  The glasses were too big for Zoey, so she didn't wear them...and then pouted about it!!

And here are our years past since Zoey was a baby....just cuz it's fun to look at old pics...

2008....

2009....

2010....

2011....

2012....

Cousins from oldest to youngest.....

Cooper 13 yrs...

Carter 11 yrs....

Ayden 7 yrs....

Crew 5 yrs...

Zoey 5 yrs....

Maddix 1 yr....

Dinner time....Hot dogs and Burgers on the grill....Mmmm.....

Time for Ayden to open more birthday gifts from cousins....

And Grandpa opening his belated Father's Day gifts....

Time to head out on the boat for fireworks.....loading in the back of Grandpa's truck to head down to the docks....

Beautiful.....this is my favorite time of day to be out on the lake....

Love it!!  Seriously, the best firework display has to be when you are sitting on a boat and fireworks are going off in the middle of the lake!!  Every year, we say we want to get closer to the fireworks, but we always end up staying back....just cuz there are a million boats out there and it's like the 91 freeway on a Friday night holiday weekend trying to get back, so we like getting in and getting out quickly!!  :)

Starting to feel like we've been here forever.....nobody is complaining tho (well, except maybe Grammy & Grandpa who want a quiet house back)!!  HA!!  Here is our agenda for Day #9....Friday, July 5th....

Time for boating with cousins......

The cousins aren't as comfortable and brave in the water as my kids are!  So they needed some coaxing....and a little teasing!  When you are 13 and getting teased by a 5 and 7 year old, I guess you just buck up and get in the water!!  :)  Cooper was brave and went on with Jeremiah.....he had a blast!!

Crew was brave too and went on with Zoey and Uncle Jeremiah....

Five seconds into the ride, he stood up!!

And then Zoey had to copy so she wasn't outdone by her cousin!!

Jeremiah and Ayden on a crazy fast ride by Grandpa!  You can see Ayden on the raft....butts up....he slammed his nose on the raft and came up in tears!!  That's when we decided enough was enough and we called it quits for the day!  

Time to head back to the cabin for the jubilee!!  We usually do this on the 4th, but didn't have time since they got up at the end of the day!  Grammy always has a huge prize basket full of goodies!!  The kids pretty much get a prize for breathing.....so they love that part of it!!  :)

We went into town to have a treat at the North Pole.  We shopped a little bit and then Grammy, Jeremiah, Joe, Cara and all the kids except Maddix went to see Despicable Me 2!  Maddix napped at the cabin and my dad and I stayed there too and enjoyed the peace and quiet!!!

Pinata time!!!!!

Mr. Leo Ninja Turtle....waiting to get a beating.....

The big boys (dads included) got distracted before the pinata and started shooting BB guns!

Not my favorite activity at the cabin cuz I'm not a gun fan....so I just close my eyes, turn away and pretend it's not happening!!  :)

Back to the pinata.....all lined up....youngest to oldest and ready for action.....

Batter up.....

Maddix's turn.....

Zoey's turn....

Maddix sat with Grammy when it wasn't his turn and he was so confused at what was going on!!!  Here we tell him all day long "no hitting" and then we were watching every hit and cheering everyone along!!  Talk about confusing!!

Crew's turn....

Ayden's turn....

Carter's turn....

Cooper's turn....

The first candies start to fall.....

Zoey is getting nervous cuz these boys are ruthless and take every piece of candy within reach!!!

And then....like every year....it's meltdown time!!!!  Pinata's are just too overwhelming for this little girl!!!!  :-/

Maddix finally got the hang of it and was snatching up candy left and right....

Grandpa was busy inside making his famous ribs for dinner.....

Maddix likes getting taken for walks by Cooper....

Old man Maddix on his favorite rocking chair again....

Here's our agenda for Day #10....Saturday, July 6th.... 

It was the last day with the cousins there!!  We didn't do much....boys went fishing....Zoey and Crew played and jumped in the bounce house!  

And after they left, we had a watermelon eating contest.....

Ayden & Maddix went crazy and ate like animals.....

And dainty, polite Zoey.....was.....well, she was the complete opposite of them!!  :)

It was seriously the BEST trip ever!!  We had such a blast and can't wait for next year!!!!  :)  Thanks Grammy and Grandpa for being such fun hosts and making the cabin such a fun and memorable place for us AND the kids!!!  :)