Blake's 3rd Birthday!

Blake turned 3 last week and we celebrated a day early so Daddy could be with us. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast to start the day... balloons everywhere... and pizza for dinner.

My dad always made awesome birthday cakes for us when were growing up... mine are no where near the level of his but it's something I enjoy doing that I hope the kids will remember. He asked for a Mater cake... however, the thought of actually carving up cake into that shape and decorating it was a little too much to take on, especially after being here just a week and not having any of my "cake making supplies." So this is what we ended up with:
He still loved it though! :)

Blowing out the candles... or rather spitting out!

He actually didn't have a single Mater car, even though we have about 4 Lightnings so he was actually glad that it was plastic and not cake. (Funny thing: both N&B call him "Lightning THE Queen" instead of "McQueen." :)

Time for Presents!!Puzzle and Cars books Lincoln Logs from my parents. Brian's parents sent money which Blake loved holding in his hot little hand at the store as he picked out his prizes. Thanks!! And a train set from Mommy and Daddy. (Thanks Just Kids Resale! :) They have played with these new toys non-stop which has made the adjustment to the new house easier.

Natalie made this card for Blake. She cut out all the individual pieces and then glued them on another piece of paper.

We love you Blakey-B and we're so glad you're in our family! Tune in for more birthday celebrations soon--Brian turns 29 tomorrow... one more year before joining in me in the wonderful world of 30's! :)

Life in KY

We went to the water park on post (well, pool with slides :) The kids are I were there all day and had a blast! Unfortunately, school starts back up this week down here so all the pools are closing already so we were glad to get to go before it closed for the summer. Really shallow area, great for little ones.
Snack time!

They have life vests which was great so the kids could swim in the deeper area without me having to hold on to all three at a time. And you can see how many people were there by the end of the day!!

We found this great wooden playground near our house. It's huge!

It actually continues back 2 or 3 times as much as you can see!

It's been really humid and rained a lot lately so we haven't played outside all that much even though we have a huge backyard.

We have played chalk and with cars a few times though.

To show you our backyard... Brian was washing the vehicles out back... ... the kids were playing in a shady part...

.... WAY over there!! It's huge!!

As you can see, we're doing well although we miss you all! Keep in touch! :)

Last days in PA!

WELL...life is never dull with us!! For a variety of reasons, we packed everything up, sent it off to storage and moved down to KY to be near Brian during his training the next few months. We're staying in a rented furnished house about 20 minutes away and get to see him for dinner most nights and he gets to stay here with us most weekends. It's great to be all together again, even if everything is still a little in limbo. We're making the most of our time here but looking forward to getting all the way settled once we're in Colorado. Here's a recap of the past month or so. Our church does a sports camp each summer instead of VBS. Natalie loved that she was old enough to go and Blake loved that his Sunday School teacher was her teacher! :)
Brian came home for 4th of July to help us get ready to move. We got a lot done but also got to have a great picnic with our friends.

We had a great view of the fireworks near Beaver Stadium... they say Penn State's show is one of the Top 3 in the country--over 45 minutes long!

Spent lots of days at the pool with friends... went to Delgrossos Amusement Park with Jake and Cindy.

Train ride

Evan was big enough to go on the rides this year... he liked most but not this spin-y one... I don't blame him, I don't like spin-y ones either!!

Funnel Cake... so sad I won't be there to meet Cindy's baby girl!

MOPS "Mocktail" party... and last night with all of them... I miss you wonderful ladies! Thanks for the awesome cookbook... I love it! :)

Packing out! One great thing about all the moves with the military...they pack it up for you!!

Goodbye House!

On our way down to KY, I stopped off at Cedarville where I went to college... hadn't been back since. Hard to believe it was 12 years ago this month that I first set foot on campus! This was the Cowfarm that 5 of us rented our senior year. Pretty much the same...but no porch swing and probably no blue light special!! :)

We had grapes looking at Cedar Lake-- I took a bunch of pictures and we went in the DMC to use the bathroom. I was kinda glad it was summer... we were definitely in our travel clothes and looking pretty scrubby so I was glad I didn't see anyone I know! :)

On our way to KY!!

Evan Walking!

We had dinner outside with our neighbors over the weekend...complete with juicy drippy popsicles! Fun in the summertime!
Evan finally started walking the day after Brian left... this video is for you honey. (If you get this in email form, you may have to click to link up above to be able to watch the video.)

We love you Daddy!

So it's actually been two months to the day since I last posted but let me tell you all the reasons. (I planned to do it in pictures but we've had some computer trouble the last several weeks so I couldn't access any pics and well, now it frankly would just take too much time!)

SO here's what we've been up to: Brian finished up classes, graduated from Penn State, was commissioned as a 2LT, had lots of parties surrounding that, he and I went on a great 3 night trip to DC (sans kids-thanks Dad, Mom and Kath), we went on a lot of picnics and day trips as a family, Brian packed up everything and left for KY for his Armor training for the next lot of months and we're still here hanging out in PA.

See, we've been just a little busy! :)

And now, pictures for Daddy of the last couple weeks--with captions 100% from Natalie!

I am being silly.
I like to put my eyeballs up.

I like to say "I love you"

Blake is riding a pony.

We are feeding the birds at the zoo.

(Me here: we went to NJ to see my family and went to a great zoo for kids one day.)

That's me!

Blake is feeding the birds.

Blake smiling on the train.

Evy is on the chair at the beach. We went with Natalie and Blake and Grandma and Mommy. I like the water when we were standing close to the waves with Grandma.

This is Father's Day cake with Grandpa. And Happy Father's Day to you too Daddy!

Blakey is in his bathing suit playing at the pool at Grandma's and he likes to play in the water. That's all.

Blakey likes crackers and he's sitting on Mommy's lap.

Natalie is outside by the pool. That's all.

This is when we were eating on the back patio. I don't know... if you want to say something else Mom, you can.

(Me: We made Turkish food for dinner one night and I thought this pic turned out really pretty looking so I had to put in on. It was good! :)

Evy doesn't have his bathing suit on or even a daiper. That's so silly and you would laugh at it if you saw it!

I love you Daddy. I miss you and I'll see you in a couple weeks. That's all.